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[
"Kirby Puckett",
"1991-1995 (Second World Series title)",
"Who did Kirby Puckett play for?",
"the Twins",
"What position did he play?",
"Puckett was switched to right field",
"Did he have any awards?",
"in the year before winning their league pennant,",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games.",
"Who did they trail there three games to?",
"the Atlanta Braves,"
]
| C_be076763e9f04255825835a9500638a7_0 | How much did they win the second world series by? | 6 | How much did the Twins win the second world series by? | Kirby Puckett | In 1991, the Twins got back on the winning track and Puckett led the way by batting .319, eighth in the league and Minnesota surged past Oakland midseason to capture the division title. The Twins then beat the Toronto Blue Jays in five games in the American League Championship Series as Puckett batted .429 with two home runs and five RBI to win the ALCS MVP. The subsequent 1991 World Series was ranked by ESPN to be the best ever played, with four games decided on the final pitch and three games going into extra innings. The Twins and their opponent, the Atlanta Braves, had each finished last in their respective divisions in the year before winning their league pennant, something that had never happened before. Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games. Puckett gave the Twins an early lead by driving in Chuck Knoblauch with a triple in the first inning. Puckett then made a leaping catch in front of the Plexiglass wall in left field to rob Ron Gant of an extra-base hit in the third. The game went into extra innings, and in the first at-bat of the bottom of the 11th, Puckett hit a dramatic game-winning home run on a 2-1 count off of Charlie Leibrandt to send the Series to Game 7. This dramatic game has been widely remembered as the high point in Puckett's career. The images of Puckett rounding the bases, arms raised in triumph (often punctuated by CBS television broadcaster Jack Buck saying "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"), are always included in video highlights of his career. After Game 6, the Twins replaced the blue seat back and bottom where the walk off home run ball was caught with a gold colored set. Both of these sets remain in the Twins' archives. The original home run seat armrests and hardware, as well as the replacement blue seat back and bottom, are now in a private collection of Puckett memorabilia in Minnesota after the Metrodome was torn down. The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1-0, with Jack Morris throwing a 10-inning complete game, and claimed their second World Series crown in five years. However, the Twins did not make it back to the postseason during the rest of Puckett's career, although Puckett continued to play well. In 1994, Puckett was switched to right field and won his first league RBI title by driving in 112 runs. He was having another brilliant season in 1995 before having his jaw broken by a Dennis Martinez fastball on September 28. CANNOTANSWER | The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1-0, | Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett is the Twins' all-time leader in career hits, runs, and total bases. At the time of his retirement, his .318 career batting average was the highest by any right-handed American League batter since Joe DiMaggio.
Puckett was the fourth baseball player during the 20th century to record 1,000 hits in his first five full calendar years in Major League Baseball, and was the second to record 2,000 hits during his first ten full calendar years. After being forced to retire in 1996 at age 36 due to loss of vision in one eye from a central retinal vein occlusion, Puckett was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, his first year of eligibility.
Early life
Puckett was born in Chicago, Illinois, and he was raised in Robert Taylor Homes, a housing project on Chicago's South Side (the escape from which he frequently referred to during his career). He played baseball for Calumet High School. After receiving no scholarship offers following graduation, Puckett went to work on an assembly line for Ford Motor Company. However, he was given a chance to attend Bradley University and after one year transferred to Triton College. Despite his frame, the Minnesota Twins selected him in the first round (third pick) of the 1982 Major League Baseball January Draft-Regular Phase.
After signing with the team, he went to the rookie-league Elizabethton Twins in the Appalachian League, hitting .382, with 3 home runs, 35 RBI, and 43 steals in 65 games. In 1983, Puckett was promoted to the Single-A Visalia Oaks in the California League, where he hit .318 with nine home runs, 97 RBI, and 48 stolen bases over 138 games. After being promoted to the AAA Toledo Mud Hens to start the 1984 season, Puckett was brought up to the majors for good 21 games into the season.
MLB career
Puckett's major league debut came on May 8, 1984, against the California Angels, a game in which he went 4-for-5 with one run. That year, Puckett hit .296 and was fourth in the American League in singles. In 1985, Puckett hit .288 and finished fourth in the league in hits, third in triples, second in plate appearances, and first in at bats. Throughout his career, Puckett would routinely appear in the top 10 in the American League in such offensive statistical categories as games played, at bats, singles, doubles, and total bases and such defensive stats as putouts, assists, and fielding percentage for league center fielders.
In 1986, Puckett began to emerge as more than just a singles hitter. With an average of .328, Puckett was elected to his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game and he finished the season seventh in doubles, sixth in home runs, fourth in extra-base hits, third in slugging percentage, and second in runs scored, hits, total bases, and at-bats. Kirby was also recognized for his defensive skills, earning his first Gold Glove Award.
1987–1990 (First World Series title)
In 1987, the Twins reached the postseason for the first time since 1970 despite finishing with a mark of 85-77. Once there, Puckett helped lead the Twins to the 1987 World Series, the Twins' second series appearance since relocating to Minnesota and fifth in franchise history. For the season, Puckett batted .332 with 28 home runs and 99 RBI Although he hit only .208 in the Twins' five game AL Championship Series win over the Detroit Tigers, Puckett would produce in the seven-game World Series upset over the St. Louis Cardinals, where he batted .357.
During the year, Puckett put on his best performance on August 30 in Milwaukee against the Brewers, when he went 6-for-6 with two home runs, one off Juan Nieves in the third and the other off closer Dan Plesac in the ninth.
Statistically speaking, Puckett had his best all-around season in 1988, hitting .356 with 24 home runs and 121 RBI, finishing third in the AL MVP balloting for the second straight season. Although the Twins won 91 games, six more than in their championship season, the team finished a distant second in the American League West, 13 games behind the Oakland Athletics.
Puckett won the AL batting title in 1989 with a mark of .339, while also finishing fifth in at-bats, second in doubles, first in hits, and second in singles. The Twins, two years removed from the championship season, slumped, going 80–82 and ended in fifth place, 19 games behind the Athletics. In April 1989, he recorded his 1,000th hit, becoming the fourth player in Major League Baseball history to do so in his first five seasons. He continued to play well in 1990, but had a down season, finishing with a .298 batting average, and the Twins mirrored his performance as the team slipped all the way to last place in the AL West with a record of 74–88.
1991–1995 (Second World Series title)
In 1991, the Twins got back on the winning track and Puckett led the way by batting .319, eighth in the league and Minnesota surged past Oakland midseason to capture the division title. The Twins then beat the Toronto Blue Jays in five games in the American League Championship Series as Puckett batted .429 with two home runs and five RBI to win the ALCS MVP.
The subsequent 1991 World Series was ranked by ESPN to be the best ever played, with four games decided on the final pitch and three games going into extra innings. The Twins and their opponent, the Atlanta Braves, had each finished last in their respective divisions in the year before winning their league pennant, something that had never happened before.
Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games. Puckett gave the Twins an early lead by driving in Chuck Knoblauch with a triple in the first inning. Puckett then made a leaping catch in front of the Plexiglass wall in left field to rob Ron Gant of an extra-base hit in the third. The game went into extra innings, and in the first at-bat of the bottom of the 11th, Puckett hit a dramatic game-winning home run on a 2–1 count off of Charlie Leibrandt to send the Series to Game 7. This dramatic game has been widely remembered as the high point in Puckett's career. The images of Puckett rounding the bases, arms raised in triumph (often punctuated by CBS television broadcaster Jack Buck saying "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"), are frequently included in video highlights of his career. After Game 6, the Twins replaced the blue seat back and bottom where the walk-off home run ball was caught with a gold-colored set. Both of these sets remain in the Twins' archives. The original home run seat armrests and hardware, as well as the replacement blue seat back and bottom, are now in a private collection of Puckett memorabilia in Minnesota after the Metrodome was torn down. The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1–0, with Jack Morris throwing a 10-inning complete game, and claimed their second World Series crown in five years.
Though the Twins didn't make it to the postseason for the rest of Puckett's career, he remained an elite player. In 1994, Puckett was switched to right field and won his first league RBI title by driving in 112 runs in only 108 games; a pace that projects to 168 RBIs over a full season. But the 1994 season was cut short by a players' strike.
The next year, Puckett was posting a typically brilliant 1995 season before having his jaw broken in his final career at-bat by a Dennis Martínez fastball on September 28.
Retirement
After spending the spring of 1996 continuing to blister Grapefruit League batting with a .344 average, Puckett woke up on March 28 without vision in his right eye. He was diagnosed with glaucoma, and was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his professional career. Three surgeries over the next few months could not restore vision in the eye. When it was apparent that he would never be able to play again, Puckett announced his retirement on July 12, 1996, at the age of 36. Soon after, the Twins made him an executive vice-president of the team and he would also receive the 1996 Roberto Clemente Award for community service.
The Twins retired Puckett's number 34 in 1997. In 2001 balloting, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. In 1999, he ranked Number 86 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.
Puckett was admired throughout his career. His unquestionable baseball prowess, outgoing personality and energy, charity work, community involvement, and attitude earned him the respect and admiration of fans across the country. In 1993, he received the Branch Rickey Award for his lifetime of community service work.
Legal issues
Following his retirement, Puckett's reputation was damaged by a number of incidents. In March 2002, a woman filed for an order of protection against Puckett's wife, Tonya Puckett, claiming that Tonya had threatened to kill her over an alleged affair with Puckett. Later that same month, another woman asked for protection from Puckett himself, claiming in court documents that he had shoved her in his Bloomington condominium during the course of an 18-year relationship. In September 2002, Puckett was accused of groping a woman in a restaurant bathroom and was charged with false imprisonment, fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, and fifth-degree assault. He was found not guilty of all counts.
In the March 17, 2003, edition of Sports Illustrated, columnist George Dohrmann wrote an article titled "The Rise and Fall of Kirby Puckett". The article documented Puckett's alleged indiscretions and contrasted his private image with the much-revered public image he had previously maintained. Specifically, the article stated that Puckett had extramarital relationships with several women and that a female Minnesota Twins employee had obtained a financial settlement following a claim that Puckett had sexually harassed her. The article added Tonya Puckett had called police on December 21, 2001, to report that Puckett had threatened to kill her. Withdrawing from the Twins organization and from friends, Puckett moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, in the winter of 2003 with his fiancée, Jodi Olson, and her son Cameron. Those who did see him became concerned about Puckett's weight, with estimates putting it above 300 pounds. However, there was also optimism with news that Puckett planned to marry Olson in June 2005.
Death and legacy
On the morning of March 5, 2006, Puckett suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke at the home he shared with Olson. He underwent emergency surgery that day to relieve pressure on his brain; however, the surgery failed, and his former teammates and coaches were notified the following morning that the end was near. Many, including 1991 teammates Shane Mack and Kent Hrbek, flew to Phoenix to be at his bedside during his final hours along with his two children Kirby Jr. and Catherine. His fiancée never left his side. Puckett died on March 6, just eight days from his 46th birthday, shortly after being disconnected from life support.
In the subsequent autopsy, the official cause of death was recorded as "cerebral hemorrhage due to hypertension." Puckett died at the second-youngest age (behind Lou Gehrig) of any Hall of Famer inducted while living, and the youngest to die after being inducted in the modern era of the five-season waiting period. Puckett was survived by his son Kirby Jr. and daughter Catherine.
A private memorial service was held in the Twin Cities suburb of Wayzata on the afternoon of March 12 (declared "Kirby Puckett Day" in Minneapolis), followed by a public ceremony held at the Metrodome attended by family, friends, ballplayers past and present, and approximately 15,000 fans (an anticipated capacity crowd dwindled through the day due to an impending blizzard). Speakers at the latter service included Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Dave Winfield, and many former teammates and coaches.
On April 12, 2010, a statue of Puckett was unveiled at the plaza of Target Field in Minneapolis. The plaza runs up against the stadium's largest gate, Gate 34, numbered in honor of Puckett. The statue represents Puckett pumping his fist while running the bases, as he did after his winning home run in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series.
At the time of his own retirement in 2016, longtime Boston Red Sox first baseman/designated hitter David Ortiz stated that he had used uniform number 34 with the Red Sox to honor Puckett's friendship with him. Ortiz began his MLB career with the Twins.
See also
DHL Hometown Heroes
List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders
List of Major League Baseball batting champions
List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders
List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
List of Major League Baseball hit records
List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise
List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders
Major League Baseball titles leaders
References
Further reading
A children's picture-book autobiography, Be the Best You Can Be (), published by Waldman House Press in 1993;
An autobiography, I Love This Game: My Life and Baseball (), published by HarperCollins in 1993; and
A book of baseball games and drills, Kirby Puckett's Baseball Games (), published by Workman Publishing Company in 1996
External links
Baseball's 100 Greatest Players (#86) The Sporting News
Official Major League Baseball tribute site
SABR BioProject: Kirby Puckett
Obituary in the Star Tribune
1960 births
2006 deaths
African-American baseball players
American League All-Stars
American League batting champions
American League Championship Series MVPs
American League RBI champions
Baseball players from Chicago
Bradley Braves baseball players
Deaths from cerebrovascular disease
Elizabethton Twins players
Gold Glove Award winners
Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVPs
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Major League Baseball center fielders
Major League Baseball players with retired numbers
Minnesota Twins players
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
People acquitted of sex crimes
Silver Slugger Award winners
Baseball players from Minneapolis
Baseball players from Scottsdale, Arizona
Toledo Mud Hens players
Triton College alumni
Triton Trojans baseball players
Visalia Oaks players
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | false | [
"In computer programming a window class is a structure fundamental to the Microsoft Windows (Win16, Win32, and Win64) operating systems and its Application Programming Interface (API).\n\nThe structure provides a template, from which windows may be created, by specifying a window's icons, menu, background color and a few other features. It also holds a pointer to a procedure that controls how the window behaves in response to user interaction. It finally tells the operating system how much additional storage space is needed for the class itself and for each window created from it.\n\nThere have been two versions of window classes; the only non-technical addition brought by the second one is that of a small additional icon for the window. The first version was present in the Windows 3.x series; the second version appeared in Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.1.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nA manual page for window class on Microsoft's website\nAbout Window Classes\n\nMicrosoft application programming interfaces",
"Second Honeymoon (spelled as 2nd Honeymoon on its titlecard) was a Canadian game show hosted by Wayne Cox. Wink Martindale created and produced the show with his then-business partner Jerry Gilden, and radio personality Doc Harris was the announcer.\n\nThe Vancouver-based show aired on CBN from September 2, 1987 to May 1988 (with reruns aired until September 2, 1988) in the US, and on the Global Television Network in Canada.\n\nGameplay\nModeled on The Newlywed Game, three couples and their children (comprising three teams of four to six people) answered questions to win (as the title says) a second honeymoon. The children were asked a series of multiple-choice questions in the style of Newlywed to see how much they knew their parents.\n\nThe game was played in three rounds, with the first two rounds having two multiple-choice questions and the last round having a single free-response question.\n\nRound 1\nIn round one, the kids were asked two questions to see how much they knew their mothers. They predicted how their mothers would answer the same questions. A correct match on the first question was worth 20 points, while a correct match on the second question was worth 40 points.\n\nRound 2\nIn round two, the kids were asked two more questions except they predicted how their fathers would answer the questions. A correct match on the first question was worth 60 points, while a correct match on the second question was worth 80 points.\n\nRound 3\nIn the final round, the kids along with their mothers independently predicted how the fathers would answer one last question, with the responses written on sheets of paper provided to the family. Each match was worth 100 points (for a possible total of 300 points & a possible overall grand total of 500 points).\n\nThe family with the most points at the end of the game won the grand prize - the second honeymoon. If two or all three teams were tied, another question was asked, with first family getting a match being declared the winner.\n\nExternal links\nTammy Warner's 2nd Honeymoon Page\n\n1987 Canadian television series debuts\n1988 Canadian television series endings\nCable game shows\nEnglish-language television shows\nGlobal Television Network original programming\nTelevision series by Corus Entertainment\nTelevision shows filmed in Vancouver\n1980s Canadian game shows\nTelevision game shows with incorrect disambiguation"
]
|
[
"Kirby Puckett",
"1991-1995 (Second World Series title)",
"Who did Kirby Puckett play for?",
"the Twins",
"What position did he play?",
"Puckett was switched to right field",
"Did he have any awards?",
"in the year before winning their league pennant,",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games.",
"Who did they trail there three games to?",
"the Atlanta Braves,",
"How much did they win the second world series by?",
"The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1-0,"
]
| C_be076763e9f04255825835a9500638a7_0 | How about Game 8? | 7 | How about Game 8 of the Twins 1995 World Series? | Kirby Puckett | In 1991, the Twins got back on the winning track and Puckett led the way by batting .319, eighth in the league and Minnesota surged past Oakland midseason to capture the division title. The Twins then beat the Toronto Blue Jays in five games in the American League Championship Series as Puckett batted .429 with two home runs and five RBI to win the ALCS MVP. The subsequent 1991 World Series was ranked by ESPN to be the best ever played, with four games decided on the final pitch and three games going into extra innings. The Twins and their opponent, the Atlanta Braves, had each finished last in their respective divisions in the year before winning their league pennant, something that had never happened before. Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games. Puckett gave the Twins an early lead by driving in Chuck Knoblauch with a triple in the first inning. Puckett then made a leaping catch in front of the Plexiglass wall in left field to rob Ron Gant of an extra-base hit in the third. The game went into extra innings, and in the first at-bat of the bottom of the 11th, Puckett hit a dramatic game-winning home run on a 2-1 count off of Charlie Leibrandt to send the Series to Game 7. This dramatic game has been widely remembered as the high point in Puckett's career. The images of Puckett rounding the bases, arms raised in triumph (often punctuated by CBS television broadcaster Jack Buck saying "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"), are always included in video highlights of his career. After Game 6, the Twins replaced the blue seat back and bottom where the walk off home run ball was caught with a gold colored set. Both of these sets remain in the Twins' archives. The original home run seat armrests and hardware, as well as the replacement blue seat back and bottom, are now in a private collection of Puckett memorabilia in Minnesota after the Metrodome was torn down. The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1-0, with Jack Morris throwing a 10-inning complete game, and claimed their second World Series crown in five years. However, the Twins did not make it back to the postseason during the rest of Puckett's career, although Puckett continued to play well. In 1994, Puckett was switched to right field and won his first league RBI title by driving in 112 runs. He was having another brilliant season in 1995 before having his jaw broken by a Dennis Martinez fastball on September 28. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett is the Twins' all-time leader in career hits, runs, and total bases. At the time of his retirement, his .318 career batting average was the highest by any right-handed American League batter since Joe DiMaggio.
Puckett was the fourth baseball player during the 20th century to record 1,000 hits in his first five full calendar years in Major League Baseball, and was the second to record 2,000 hits during his first ten full calendar years. After being forced to retire in 1996 at age 36 due to loss of vision in one eye from a central retinal vein occlusion, Puckett was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, his first year of eligibility.
Early life
Puckett was born in Chicago, Illinois, and he was raised in Robert Taylor Homes, a housing project on Chicago's South Side (the escape from which he frequently referred to during his career). He played baseball for Calumet High School. After receiving no scholarship offers following graduation, Puckett went to work on an assembly line for Ford Motor Company. However, he was given a chance to attend Bradley University and after one year transferred to Triton College. Despite his frame, the Minnesota Twins selected him in the first round (third pick) of the 1982 Major League Baseball January Draft-Regular Phase.
After signing with the team, he went to the rookie-league Elizabethton Twins in the Appalachian League, hitting .382, with 3 home runs, 35 RBI, and 43 steals in 65 games. In 1983, Puckett was promoted to the Single-A Visalia Oaks in the California League, where he hit .318 with nine home runs, 97 RBI, and 48 stolen bases over 138 games. After being promoted to the AAA Toledo Mud Hens to start the 1984 season, Puckett was brought up to the majors for good 21 games into the season.
MLB career
Puckett's major league debut came on May 8, 1984, against the California Angels, a game in which he went 4-for-5 with one run. That year, Puckett hit .296 and was fourth in the American League in singles. In 1985, Puckett hit .288 and finished fourth in the league in hits, third in triples, second in plate appearances, and first in at bats. Throughout his career, Puckett would routinely appear in the top 10 in the American League in such offensive statistical categories as games played, at bats, singles, doubles, and total bases and such defensive stats as putouts, assists, and fielding percentage for league center fielders.
In 1986, Puckett began to emerge as more than just a singles hitter. With an average of .328, Puckett was elected to his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game and he finished the season seventh in doubles, sixth in home runs, fourth in extra-base hits, third in slugging percentage, and second in runs scored, hits, total bases, and at-bats. Kirby was also recognized for his defensive skills, earning his first Gold Glove Award.
1987–1990 (First World Series title)
In 1987, the Twins reached the postseason for the first time since 1970 despite finishing with a mark of 85-77. Once there, Puckett helped lead the Twins to the 1987 World Series, the Twins' second series appearance since relocating to Minnesota and fifth in franchise history. For the season, Puckett batted .332 with 28 home runs and 99 RBI Although he hit only .208 in the Twins' five game AL Championship Series win over the Detroit Tigers, Puckett would produce in the seven-game World Series upset over the St. Louis Cardinals, where he batted .357.
During the year, Puckett put on his best performance on August 30 in Milwaukee against the Brewers, when he went 6-for-6 with two home runs, one off Juan Nieves in the third and the other off closer Dan Plesac in the ninth.
Statistically speaking, Puckett had his best all-around season in 1988, hitting .356 with 24 home runs and 121 RBI, finishing third in the AL MVP balloting for the second straight season. Although the Twins won 91 games, six more than in their championship season, the team finished a distant second in the American League West, 13 games behind the Oakland Athletics.
Puckett won the AL batting title in 1989 with a mark of .339, while also finishing fifth in at-bats, second in doubles, first in hits, and second in singles. The Twins, two years removed from the championship season, slumped, going 80–82 and ended in fifth place, 19 games behind the Athletics. In April 1989, he recorded his 1,000th hit, becoming the fourth player in Major League Baseball history to do so in his first five seasons. He continued to play well in 1990, but had a down season, finishing with a .298 batting average, and the Twins mirrored his performance as the team slipped all the way to last place in the AL West with a record of 74–88.
1991–1995 (Second World Series title)
In 1991, the Twins got back on the winning track and Puckett led the way by batting .319, eighth in the league and Minnesota surged past Oakland midseason to capture the division title. The Twins then beat the Toronto Blue Jays in five games in the American League Championship Series as Puckett batted .429 with two home runs and five RBI to win the ALCS MVP.
The subsequent 1991 World Series was ranked by ESPN to be the best ever played, with four games decided on the final pitch and three games going into extra innings. The Twins and their opponent, the Atlanta Braves, had each finished last in their respective divisions in the year before winning their league pennant, something that had never happened before.
Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games. Puckett gave the Twins an early lead by driving in Chuck Knoblauch with a triple in the first inning. Puckett then made a leaping catch in front of the Plexiglass wall in left field to rob Ron Gant of an extra-base hit in the third. The game went into extra innings, and in the first at-bat of the bottom of the 11th, Puckett hit a dramatic game-winning home run on a 2–1 count off of Charlie Leibrandt to send the Series to Game 7. This dramatic game has been widely remembered as the high point in Puckett's career. The images of Puckett rounding the bases, arms raised in triumph (often punctuated by CBS television broadcaster Jack Buck saying "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"), are frequently included in video highlights of his career. After Game 6, the Twins replaced the blue seat back and bottom where the walk-off home run ball was caught with a gold-colored set. Both of these sets remain in the Twins' archives. The original home run seat armrests and hardware, as well as the replacement blue seat back and bottom, are now in a private collection of Puckett memorabilia in Minnesota after the Metrodome was torn down. The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1–0, with Jack Morris throwing a 10-inning complete game, and claimed their second World Series crown in five years.
Though the Twins didn't make it to the postseason for the rest of Puckett's career, he remained an elite player. In 1994, Puckett was switched to right field and won his first league RBI title by driving in 112 runs in only 108 games; a pace that projects to 168 RBIs over a full season. But the 1994 season was cut short by a players' strike.
The next year, Puckett was posting a typically brilliant 1995 season before having his jaw broken in his final career at-bat by a Dennis Martínez fastball on September 28.
Retirement
After spending the spring of 1996 continuing to blister Grapefruit League batting with a .344 average, Puckett woke up on March 28 without vision in his right eye. He was diagnosed with glaucoma, and was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his professional career. Three surgeries over the next few months could not restore vision in the eye. When it was apparent that he would never be able to play again, Puckett announced his retirement on July 12, 1996, at the age of 36. Soon after, the Twins made him an executive vice-president of the team and he would also receive the 1996 Roberto Clemente Award for community service.
The Twins retired Puckett's number 34 in 1997. In 2001 balloting, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. In 1999, he ranked Number 86 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.
Puckett was admired throughout his career. His unquestionable baseball prowess, outgoing personality and energy, charity work, community involvement, and attitude earned him the respect and admiration of fans across the country. In 1993, he received the Branch Rickey Award for his lifetime of community service work.
Legal issues
Following his retirement, Puckett's reputation was damaged by a number of incidents. In March 2002, a woman filed for an order of protection against Puckett's wife, Tonya Puckett, claiming that Tonya had threatened to kill her over an alleged affair with Puckett. Later that same month, another woman asked for protection from Puckett himself, claiming in court documents that he had shoved her in his Bloomington condominium during the course of an 18-year relationship. In September 2002, Puckett was accused of groping a woman in a restaurant bathroom and was charged with false imprisonment, fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, and fifth-degree assault. He was found not guilty of all counts.
In the March 17, 2003, edition of Sports Illustrated, columnist George Dohrmann wrote an article titled "The Rise and Fall of Kirby Puckett". The article documented Puckett's alleged indiscretions and contrasted his private image with the much-revered public image he had previously maintained. Specifically, the article stated that Puckett had extramarital relationships with several women and that a female Minnesota Twins employee had obtained a financial settlement following a claim that Puckett had sexually harassed her. The article added Tonya Puckett had called police on December 21, 2001, to report that Puckett had threatened to kill her. Withdrawing from the Twins organization and from friends, Puckett moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, in the winter of 2003 with his fiancée, Jodi Olson, and her son Cameron. Those who did see him became concerned about Puckett's weight, with estimates putting it above 300 pounds. However, there was also optimism with news that Puckett planned to marry Olson in June 2005.
Death and legacy
On the morning of March 5, 2006, Puckett suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke at the home he shared with Olson. He underwent emergency surgery that day to relieve pressure on his brain; however, the surgery failed, and his former teammates and coaches were notified the following morning that the end was near. Many, including 1991 teammates Shane Mack and Kent Hrbek, flew to Phoenix to be at his bedside during his final hours along with his two children Kirby Jr. and Catherine. His fiancée never left his side. Puckett died on March 6, just eight days from his 46th birthday, shortly after being disconnected from life support.
In the subsequent autopsy, the official cause of death was recorded as "cerebral hemorrhage due to hypertension." Puckett died at the second-youngest age (behind Lou Gehrig) of any Hall of Famer inducted while living, and the youngest to die after being inducted in the modern era of the five-season waiting period. Puckett was survived by his son Kirby Jr. and daughter Catherine.
A private memorial service was held in the Twin Cities suburb of Wayzata on the afternoon of March 12 (declared "Kirby Puckett Day" in Minneapolis), followed by a public ceremony held at the Metrodome attended by family, friends, ballplayers past and present, and approximately 15,000 fans (an anticipated capacity crowd dwindled through the day due to an impending blizzard). Speakers at the latter service included Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Dave Winfield, and many former teammates and coaches.
On April 12, 2010, a statue of Puckett was unveiled at the plaza of Target Field in Minneapolis. The plaza runs up against the stadium's largest gate, Gate 34, numbered in honor of Puckett. The statue represents Puckett pumping his fist while running the bases, as he did after his winning home run in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series.
At the time of his own retirement in 2016, longtime Boston Red Sox first baseman/designated hitter David Ortiz stated that he had used uniform number 34 with the Red Sox to honor Puckett's friendship with him. Ortiz began his MLB career with the Twins.
See also
DHL Hometown Heroes
List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders
List of Major League Baseball batting champions
List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders
List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
List of Major League Baseball hit records
List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise
List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders
Major League Baseball titles leaders
References
Further reading
A children's picture-book autobiography, Be the Best You Can Be (), published by Waldman House Press in 1993;
An autobiography, I Love This Game: My Life and Baseball (), published by HarperCollins in 1993; and
A book of baseball games and drills, Kirby Puckett's Baseball Games (), published by Workman Publishing Company in 1996
External links
Baseball's 100 Greatest Players (#86) The Sporting News
Official Major League Baseball tribute site
SABR BioProject: Kirby Puckett
Obituary in the Star Tribune
1960 births
2006 deaths
African-American baseball players
American League All-Stars
American League batting champions
American League Championship Series MVPs
American League RBI champions
Baseball players from Chicago
Bradley Braves baseball players
Deaths from cerebrovascular disease
Elizabethton Twins players
Gold Glove Award winners
Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVPs
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Major League Baseball center fielders
Major League Baseball players with retired numbers
Minnesota Twins players
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
People acquitted of sex crimes
Silver Slugger Award winners
Baseball players from Minneapolis
Baseball players from Scottsdale, Arizona
Toledo Mud Hens players
Triton College alumni
Triton Trojans baseball players
Visalia Oaks players
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | false | [
"How About A Nice Game of Chess? is a 1984 video game published by Odesta.\n\nGameplay\nHow About A Nice Game of Chess? is a game in which the player can go to earlier moves and replay, trade sides with the computer, ask the computer for advice, or play against a human opponent.\n\nReception\nBob Proctor reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that \"You have no excuse not to learn the game with this package on your shelf. There is a complete on-screen tutorial that covers how the pieces move and the rules of the game.\" The game was also reviewed in Hardcore Computist.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nReview in Commodore Microcomputers\nReview in Washington Apple Pi\nArticle in Ahoy!\nReview in Hardcore Computist\n\n1984 video games\nApple II games\nChess software\nCommodore 64 games\nVideo games developed in the United States",
"Persuasive Games is a video game developer founded by Ian Bogost and Gerard LaFond in 2003. The company focuses on making advergames with strong opinions. Their first game, Howard Dean for Iowa is about trying to get Howard Dean to win the Iowa caucuses. They have also created the first computer game to be included as part of a newspaper's editorial, Food Import Folly for the New York Times. Other notable games are Disaffected!, a satire about a copy store, and Airport Security, a game about airport contraband.\n\nGames\n\nKiller Flu: Commissioned by the UK Clinical Virology Network and produced in association with Scotland's Traffic Games, this is a game about how the flu virus spreads.\nDebt Ski: A game that teaches one how to handle one's money. Commissioned by MTV's college network, mtvU, and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.\n\nExternal links\n Persuasive Games\n\nReferences\n\nVideo game development companies\nAdvergames\nBrowser-based game websites\nVideo game companies of the United States"
]
|
[
"Kirby Puckett",
"1991-1995 (Second World Series title)",
"Who did Kirby Puckett play for?",
"the Twins",
"What position did he play?",
"Puckett was switched to right field",
"Did he have any awards?",
"in the year before winning their league pennant,",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games.",
"Who did they trail there three games to?",
"the Atlanta Braves,",
"How much did they win the second world series by?",
"The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1-0,",
"How about Game 8?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_be076763e9f04255825835a9500638a7_0 | What was his batting average? | 8 | What was Kirby Puckett's batting average? | Kirby Puckett | In 1991, the Twins got back on the winning track and Puckett led the way by batting .319, eighth in the league and Minnesota surged past Oakland midseason to capture the division title. The Twins then beat the Toronto Blue Jays in five games in the American League Championship Series as Puckett batted .429 with two home runs and five RBI to win the ALCS MVP. The subsequent 1991 World Series was ranked by ESPN to be the best ever played, with four games decided on the final pitch and three games going into extra innings. The Twins and their opponent, the Atlanta Braves, had each finished last in their respective divisions in the year before winning their league pennant, something that had never happened before. Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games. Puckett gave the Twins an early lead by driving in Chuck Knoblauch with a triple in the first inning. Puckett then made a leaping catch in front of the Plexiglass wall in left field to rob Ron Gant of an extra-base hit in the third. The game went into extra innings, and in the first at-bat of the bottom of the 11th, Puckett hit a dramatic game-winning home run on a 2-1 count off of Charlie Leibrandt to send the Series to Game 7. This dramatic game has been widely remembered as the high point in Puckett's career. The images of Puckett rounding the bases, arms raised in triumph (often punctuated by CBS television broadcaster Jack Buck saying "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"), are always included in video highlights of his career. After Game 6, the Twins replaced the blue seat back and bottom where the walk off home run ball was caught with a gold colored set. Both of these sets remain in the Twins' archives. The original home run seat armrests and hardware, as well as the replacement blue seat back and bottom, are now in a private collection of Puckett memorabilia in Minnesota after the Metrodome was torn down. The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1-0, with Jack Morris throwing a 10-inning complete game, and claimed their second World Series crown in five years. However, the Twins did not make it back to the postseason during the rest of Puckett's career, although Puckett continued to play well. In 1994, Puckett was switched to right field and won his first league RBI title by driving in 112 runs. He was having another brilliant season in 1995 before having his jaw broken by a Dennis Martinez fastball on September 28. CANNOTANSWER | Puckett batted .429 with two home runs and five RBI to win the ALCS MVP. | Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett is the Twins' all-time leader in career hits, runs, and total bases. At the time of his retirement, his .318 career batting average was the highest by any right-handed American League batter since Joe DiMaggio.
Puckett was the fourth baseball player during the 20th century to record 1,000 hits in his first five full calendar years in Major League Baseball, and was the second to record 2,000 hits during his first ten full calendar years. After being forced to retire in 1996 at age 36 due to loss of vision in one eye from a central retinal vein occlusion, Puckett was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, his first year of eligibility.
Early life
Puckett was born in Chicago, Illinois, and he was raised in Robert Taylor Homes, a housing project on Chicago's South Side (the escape from which he frequently referred to during his career). He played baseball for Calumet High School. After receiving no scholarship offers following graduation, Puckett went to work on an assembly line for Ford Motor Company. However, he was given a chance to attend Bradley University and after one year transferred to Triton College. Despite his frame, the Minnesota Twins selected him in the first round (third pick) of the 1982 Major League Baseball January Draft-Regular Phase.
After signing with the team, he went to the rookie-league Elizabethton Twins in the Appalachian League, hitting .382, with 3 home runs, 35 RBI, and 43 steals in 65 games. In 1983, Puckett was promoted to the Single-A Visalia Oaks in the California League, where he hit .318 with nine home runs, 97 RBI, and 48 stolen bases over 138 games. After being promoted to the AAA Toledo Mud Hens to start the 1984 season, Puckett was brought up to the majors for good 21 games into the season.
MLB career
Puckett's major league debut came on May 8, 1984, against the California Angels, a game in which he went 4-for-5 with one run. That year, Puckett hit .296 and was fourth in the American League in singles. In 1985, Puckett hit .288 and finished fourth in the league in hits, third in triples, second in plate appearances, and first in at bats. Throughout his career, Puckett would routinely appear in the top 10 in the American League in such offensive statistical categories as games played, at bats, singles, doubles, and total bases and such defensive stats as putouts, assists, and fielding percentage for league center fielders.
In 1986, Puckett began to emerge as more than just a singles hitter. With an average of .328, Puckett was elected to his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game and he finished the season seventh in doubles, sixth in home runs, fourth in extra-base hits, third in slugging percentage, and second in runs scored, hits, total bases, and at-bats. Kirby was also recognized for his defensive skills, earning his first Gold Glove Award.
1987–1990 (First World Series title)
In 1987, the Twins reached the postseason for the first time since 1970 despite finishing with a mark of 85-77. Once there, Puckett helped lead the Twins to the 1987 World Series, the Twins' second series appearance since relocating to Minnesota and fifth in franchise history. For the season, Puckett batted .332 with 28 home runs and 99 RBI Although he hit only .208 in the Twins' five game AL Championship Series win over the Detroit Tigers, Puckett would produce in the seven-game World Series upset over the St. Louis Cardinals, where he batted .357.
During the year, Puckett put on his best performance on August 30 in Milwaukee against the Brewers, when he went 6-for-6 with two home runs, one off Juan Nieves in the third and the other off closer Dan Plesac in the ninth.
Statistically speaking, Puckett had his best all-around season in 1988, hitting .356 with 24 home runs and 121 RBI, finishing third in the AL MVP balloting for the second straight season. Although the Twins won 91 games, six more than in their championship season, the team finished a distant second in the American League West, 13 games behind the Oakland Athletics.
Puckett won the AL batting title in 1989 with a mark of .339, while also finishing fifth in at-bats, second in doubles, first in hits, and second in singles. The Twins, two years removed from the championship season, slumped, going 80–82 and ended in fifth place, 19 games behind the Athletics. In April 1989, he recorded his 1,000th hit, becoming the fourth player in Major League Baseball history to do so in his first five seasons. He continued to play well in 1990, but had a down season, finishing with a .298 batting average, and the Twins mirrored his performance as the team slipped all the way to last place in the AL West with a record of 74–88.
1991–1995 (Second World Series title)
In 1991, the Twins got back on the winning track and Puckett led the way by batting .319, eighth in the league and Minnesota surged past Oakland midseason to capture the division title. The Twins then beat the Toronto Blue Jays in five games in the American League Championship Series as Puckett batted .429 with two home runs and five RBI to win the ALCS MVP.
The subsequent 1991 World Series was ranked by ESPN to be the best ever played, with four games decided on the final pitch and three games going into extra innings. The Twins and their opponent, the Atlanta Braves, had each finished last in their respective divisions in the year before winning their league pennant, something that had never happened before.
Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games. Puckett gave the Twins an early lead by driving in Chuck Knoblauch with a triple in the first inning. Puckett then made a leaping catch in front of the Plexiglass wall in left field to rob Ron Gant of an extra-base hit in the third. The game went into extra innings, and in the first at-bat of the bottom of the 11th, Puckett hit a dramatic game-winning home run on a 2–1 count off of Charlie Leibrandt to send the Series to Game 7. This dramatic game has been widely remembered as the high point in Puckett's career. The images of Puckett rounding the bases, arms raised in triumph (often punctuated by CBS television broadcaster Jack Buck saying "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"), are frequently included in video highlights of his career. After Game 6, the Twins replaced the blue seat back and bottom where the walk-off home run ball was caught with a gold-colored set. Both of these sets remain in the Twins' archives. The original home run seat armrests and hardware, as well as the replacement blue seat back and bottom, are now in a private collection of Puckett memorabilia in Minnesota after the Metrodome was torn down. The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1–0, with Jack Morris throwing a 10-inning complete game, and claimed their second World Series crown in five years.
Though the Twins didn't make it to the postseason for the rest of Puckett's career, he remained an elite player. In 1994, Puckett was switched to right field and won his first league RBI title by driving in 112 runs in only 108 games; a pace that projects to 168 RBIs over a full season. But the 1994 season was cut short by a players' strike.
The next year, Puckett was posting a typically brilliant 1995 season before having his jaw broken in his final career at-bat by a Dennis Martínez fastball on September 28.
Retirement
After spending the spring of 1996 continuing to blister Grapefruit League batting with a .344 average, Puckett woke up on March 28 without vision in his right eye. He was diagnosed with glaucoma, and was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his professional career. Three surgeries over the next few months could not restore vision in the eye. When it was apparent that he would never be able to play again, Puckett announced his retirement on July 12, 1996, at the age of 36. Soon after, the Twins made him an executive vice-president of the team and he would also receive the 1996 Roberto Clemente Award for community service.
The Twins retired Puckett's number 34 in 1997. In 2001 balloting, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. In 1999, he ranked Number 86 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.
Puckett was admired throughout his career. His unquestionable baseball prowess, outgoing personality and energy, charity work, community involvement, and attitude earned him the respect and admiration of fans across the country. In 1993, he received the Branch Rickey Award for his lifetime of community service work.
Legal issues
Following his retirement, Puckett's reputation was damaged by a number of incidents. In March 2002, a woman filed for an order of protection against Puckett's wife, Tonya Puckett, claiming that Tonya had threatened to kill her over an alleged affair with Puckett. Later that same month, another woman asked for protection from Puckett himself, claiming in court documents that he had shoved her in his Bloomington condominium during the course of an 18-year relationship. In September 2002, Puckett was accused of groping a woman in a restaurant bathroom and was charged with false imprisonment, fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, and fifth-degree assault. He was found not guilty of all counts.
In the March 17, 2003, edition of Sports Illustrated, columnist George Dohrmann wrote an article titled "The Rise and Fall of Kirby Puckett". The article documented Puckett's alleged indiscretions and contrasted his private image with the much-revered public image he had previously maintained. Specifically, the article stated that Puckett had extramarital relationships with several women and that a female Minnesota Twins employee had obtained a financial settlement following a claim that Puckett had sexually harassed her. The article added Tonya Puckett had called police on December 21, 2001, to report that Puckett had threatened to kill her. Withdrawing from the Twins organization and from friends, Puckett moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, in the winter of 2003 with his fiancée, Jodi Olson, and her son Cameron. Those who did see him became concerned about Puckett's weight, with estimates putting it above 300 pounds. However, there was also optimism with news that Puckett planned to marry Olson in June 2005.
Death and legacy
On the morning of March 5, 2006, Puckett suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke at the home he shared with Olson. He underwent emergency surgery that day to relieve pressure on his brain; however, the surgery failed, and his former teammates and coaches were notified the following morning that the end was near. Many, including 1991 teammates Shane Mack and Kent Hrbek, flew to Phoenix to be at his bedside during his final hours along with his two children Kirby Jr. and Catherine. His fiancée never left his side. Puckett died on March 6, just eight days from his 46th birthday, shortly after being disconnected from life support.
In the subsequent autopsy, the official cause of death was recorded as "cerebral hemorrhage due to hypertension." Puckett died at the second-youngest age (behind Lou Gehrig) of any Hall of Famer inducted while living, and the youngest to die after being inducted in the modern era of the five-season waiting period. Puckett was survived by his son Kirby Jr. and daughter Catherine.
A private memorial service was held in the Twin Cities suburb of Wayzata on the afternoon of March 12 (declared "Kirby Puckett Day" in Minneapolis), followed by a public ceremony held at the Metrodome attended by family, friends, ballplayers past and present, and approximately 15,000 fans (an anticipated capacity crowd dwindled through the day due to an impending blizzard). Speakers at the latter service included Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Dave Winfield, and many former teammates and coaches.
On April 12, 2010, a statue of Puckett was unveiled at the plaza of Target Field in Minneapolis. The plaza runs up against the stadium's largest gate, Gate 34, numbered in honor of Puckett. The statue represents Puckett pumping his fist while running the bases, as he did after his winning home run in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series.
At the time of his own retirement in 2016, longtime Boston Red Sox first baseman/designated hitter David Ortiz stated that he had used uniform number 34 with the Red Sox to honor Puckett's friendship with him. Ortiz began his MLB career with the Twins.
See also
DHL Hometown Heroes
List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders
List of Major League Baseball batting champions
List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders
List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
List of Major League Baseball hit records
List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise
List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders
Major League Baseball titles leaders
References
Further reading
A children's picture-book autobiography, Be the Best You Can Be (), published by Waldman House Press in 1993;
An autobiography, I Love This Game: My Life and Baseball (), published by HarperCollins in 1993; and
A book of baseball games and drills, Kirby Puckett's Baseball Games (), published by Workman Publishing Company in 1996
External links
Baseball's 100 Greatest Players (#86) The Sporting News
Official Major League Baseball tribute site
SABR BioProject: Kirby Puckett
Obituary in the Star Tribune
1960 births
2006 deaths
African-American baseball players
American League All-Stars
American League batting champions
American League Championship Series MVPs
American League RBI champions
Baseball players from Chicago
Bradley Braves baseball players
Deaths from cerebrovascular disease
Elizabethton Twins players
Gold Glove Award winners
Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVPs
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Major League Baseball center fielders
Major League Baseball players with retired numbers
Minnesota Twins players
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
People acquitted of sex crimes
Silver Slugger Award winners
Baseball players from Minneapolis
Baseball players from Scottsdale, Arizona
Toledo Mud Hens players
Triton College alumni
Triton Trojans baseball players
Visalia Oaks players
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people | true | [
"The 1910 Portland Beavers season was the eighth season in the history of the Portland Beavers baseball team. The team compiled a 114–87 record and won the Pacific Coast League (PCL) pennant by one-and-a-half games over the Oakland Oaks. The Beavers won five PCL pennants between 1906 and 1914.\n\nWalt McCredie was the team's player-manager, and shortstop Pearl Casey was the team captain. Pitchers Gene Krapp and Vean Gregg finished first and second in the PCL in both strikeouts and earned run average (ERA).\n\nManagement\n\nThe team was owned by Judge William Wallace McCredie, who later represented the State of Washington in the U.S. House of Representatives. McCredie also served as the club's president while his son, Hugh, was the business manager and his wife, Alice, managed the ticket office. His nephew Walt McCredie played in the National League, batting .324 in 1903, but joined the Portland club as player-manager in 1904 after his uncle became the owner. Walt McCredie was both the manager and appeared in 61 games, mostly in right field. Shortstop Pearl Casey was the team captain.\n\nPitchers\n\nThe pitching staff was the strength of the 1910 Beavers team.\n\nVean Gregg, a native of Chehalis, Washington, appeared in 53 games (383-1/3 innings) and compiled a 32–18 record. He led the PCL with 373 strikeouts and ranked second in the league with a 1.53 earned run average (ERA) and 32 wins.\n\nGene Krapp, a New York native, appeared in 54 games (442 innings) and compiled a 29–16 record. He led the PCL with a 1.26 ERA and ranked second in the league with 265 strikeouts.\n\nBill Steen, a Pittsburgh native, appeared in 54 games (414-2/3 innings) and compiled a 27–17 record with 188 strikeouts.\n\nNebraska native Tom Seaton appeared in 52 games and compiled a 17–17 record with a 1.99 ERA.\n\nInfielders\n\nFirst baseman Bill Rapps, a Missouri native, appeared in 207 games and compiled a .236 batting average with 31 stolen bases, 32 doubles, nine triples, and three home runs.\n\nSecond baseman and team captain Pearl Casey appeared in 177 games and compiled a .241 batting average with 22 doubles and four triples.\n\nShortstop Ivy Olson appeared in a team-high 210 games, led the team with 39 stolen bases, and compiled a .237 batting average with 25 doubles and four triples.\n\nThe third base position was shared between Gus Hetling (.234 batting average in 86 games) and Sacramento native Tommy Sheehan (.201 batting average in 110 games).\n\nCatcher Gus Fisher appeared in 163 games, led the team with a .382 slugging percentage and tallied 31 doubles, eight triples, and five home runs.\n\nOutfielders\n\nCenter fielder Buddy Ryan, a Denver native, anchored the outfield. Appearing in 206 games, he compiled a .242 batting average and led the team with 190 hits and 13 home runs.\n\nArt Kruger appeared in 63 games in left field and center field. His .281 batting average was identical to batting champion Hunky Shaw, but Shaw was awarded the batting title as he had more than double Kruger's at bats.\n\nBill Speas appeared in 151 games, principally in left field and center field. He compiled a .200 batting average and stole 22 bases.\n\nGeorge Ort appeared in 151 games, principally in right field and at second base. He compiled a .213 batting average.\n\nFelix Martinke, a native of Germany, was purchased by Portland from the Vernon Tigers on June 19, 1910. Player-manager McCredie said at the time he would play Martinke in right field, allowing McCredie to \"retire to the bench\" and devote his full time to managing the team. During his combined time with Vernon and Portland, Martinke appeared in 101 games and compiled a .230 batting average.\n\n1910 PCL standings\n\nStatistics\n\nBatting \nNote: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; SLG = Slugging percentage; SB = Stolen bases\n\nPitching \nNote: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; PCT = Win percentage; ERA = Earned run average\n\nReferences\n\n1910 in sports in Oregon\nPacific Coast League seasons",
"In baseball, batting average (BA) is determined by dividing a player's hits by his total at-bats. It is usually rounded to three decimal places and read without the decimal: A player with a batting average of .300 is \"batting three-hundred\". If necessary to break ties, batting averages could be taken beyond the .001 measurement. In this context, .001 is considered a \"point\", such that a .235 batter is 5 points higher than a .230 batter.\n\nHistory\nHenry Chadwick, an English statistician raised on cricket, was an influential figure in the early history of baseball. In the late 19th century he adapted the concept behind the cricket batting average to devise a similar statistic for baseball. Rather than simply copy cricket's formulation of runs scored divided by outs, he realized that hits divided by at bats would provide a better measure of individual batting ability. This is because while in cricket, scoring runs is almost entirely dependent on one's own batting skill, in baseball it is largely dependent on having other good hitters on one's team. Chadwick noted that hits are independent of teammates' skills, so he used this as the basis for the baseball batting average. His reason for using at bats rather than outs is less obvious, but it leads to the intuitive idea of the batting average being a percentage reflecting how often a batter gets on base, whereas hits divided by outs is not as simple to interpret in real terms.\n\nValues\n\nIn modern times, a season batting average of .300 or higher is considered to be excellent, and an average higher than .400 a nearly unachievable goal. The last Major League Baseball (MLB) player to do so, with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting championship, was Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox, who hit .406 in 1941. Note that batting averages are rounded; entering the final day of the 1941 season, Williams was at 179-for-448, which is .39955 and would have been recorded as .400 via rounding. However, Williams played in both games of a doubleheader, went 6-for-8, and ended the season 185-for-456, which is .40570 and becomes .406 when rounded.\n\nSince 1941, the highest single-season average has been .394 by Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres in 1994. Wade Boggs hit .401 over a 162-game span with Boston from June 9, 1985, to June 6, 1986, but never hit above .368 for an MLB season. There have been numerous attempts to explain the disappearance of the .400 hitter, with one of the more rigorous discussions of this question appearing in Stephen Jay Gould's 1996 book Full House.\n\nTy Cobb holds the record for highest career batting average with .366, eight points higher than Rogers Hornsby who has the second-highest career average at .358. The record for lowest career batting average for a player with more than 2,500 at-bats belongs to Bill Bergen, a catcher who played from 1901 to 1911 and recorded a .170 average in 3,028 career at-bats. Hugh Duffy, who played from 1888 to 1906, is credited with the highest single-season batting average, having hit .440 in 1894. The modern-era (post-1900) record for highest batting average for a season is held by Nap Lajoie, who hit .426 in 1901, the first year of play for the American League. The modern-era record for lowest batting average for a player that qualified for the batting title is held by Chris Davis, who hit .168 in 2018. While finishing six plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title, Adam Dunn of the Chicago White Sox hit .159 for the 2011 season, nine points lower than the record. The highest batting average for a rookie was .408 in 1911 by Shoeless Joe Jackson.\n\nThe league batting average in MLB for the 2018 season was .248, with the highest modern-era MLB average being .296 in 1930, and the lowest being .237 in 1968. For non-pitchers, a batting average below .230 is often considered poor, and one below .200 is usually unacceptable. This latter level is sometimes referred to as \"The Mendoza Line\", named for Mario Mendoza — a lifetime .215 hitter but a good defensive shortstop. \n\nSabermetrics, the study of baseball statistics, considers batting average a weak measure of performance because it does not correlate as well as other measures to runs scored, thereby causing it to have little predictive value. Batting average does not take into account bases on balls (walks) or power, whereas other statistics such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage have been specifically designed to measure such concepts. Adding these statistics together form a player's on-base plus slugging or \"OPS\". This is commonly seen as a much better, though not perfect, indicator of a player's overall batting ability as it is a measure of hitting for average, hitting for power and drawing walks.\n\nAnomalies\nIn , bases on balls were counted as hits by the major leagues in existence at the time. This inflated batting averages, with 11 players batting .400 or better, and the experiment was abandoned the following season. Historical statistics for the season were later revised, such that \"Bases on balls shall always be treated as neither a time at bat nor a hit for the batter.\"\n\nIn rare instances, MLB players have concluded their careers with a perfect batting average of 1.000. John Paciorek had three hits in all three of his turns at bat. Esteban Yan went two-for-two, including a home run. Hal Deviney's two hits in his only plate appearances included a triple, while Steve Biras, Mike Hopkins, Chet Kehn, Jason Roach and Fred Schemanske also went two-for-two. A few dozen others have hit safely in their one and only career at-bat.\n\nQualifications for the batting title\nThe MLB batting averages championships (often referred to as \"the batting title\") are awarded annually to the player in each league who has the highest batting average. Ty Cobb holds the MLB and American League (AL) record for most batting titles, officially winning 11 in his career. The National League (NL) record of eight batting titles is shared by Honus Wagner and Tony Gwynn. Most of Cobb's career and all of Wagner's career took place in what is known as the Dead-Ball Era, which was characterized by higher batting averages by star players (although the overall league batting average was historically at its lowest during that era) and much less power, whereas Gwynn's career took place in the Live-Ball Era.\n\nTo determine which players are eligible to win the batting title, the following conditions have been used over the sport's history:\n\n Pre-1920 – A player generally is required to appear in at least 100 or more games when the schedule was 154 games, and 90 games when the schedule was 140 games. An exception to the rule was made for Ty Cobb in 1914, who appeared in 98 games but had a big lead and was also a favorite of American League President Ban Johnson.\n 1920–1949 – A player had to appear in 100 games to qualify in the NL; the AL used 100 games from 1920 to 1935, and 400 at-bats from 1936 to 1949. The NL was advised to adopt 400 at-bats for the 1945 season, but National League President Ford Frick refused, feeling that 100 games should stand for the benefit of catchers and injured players. (Taffy Wright is often erroneously said to have been cheated out of the 1938 batting title; he batted .350 in exactly 100 games, with 263 ABs. Jimmie Foxx hit .349, in 149 games and 565 AB. But since the AL requirement that year was 400 at-bats, Foxx's batting title is undisputed.)\n 1950–1956 – A player needed 2.6 at-bats per team game originally scheduled. (With the 154-game schedule of the time, that meant a rounded-off 400 at-bats.) From 1951 to 1954, if the player with the highest average in a league failed to meet the minimum at-bat requirement, the remaining at-bats until qualification (e.g., five at-bats, if the player finished the season with 395 at-bats) were hypothetically considered hitless at-bats; if his recalculated batting average still topped the league, he was awarded the title. This standard applied in the AL from 1936 to 1956.\n 1957 to the present – A player has needed 3.1 plate appearances per team game originally scheduled; thus, players were no longer penalized for walking so frequently, nor did they benefit from walking so rarely. (In 1954, for example, Ted Williams batted .345 but had only 386 ABs, while topping the AL with 136 walks. Williams thus lost the batting title to Cleveland's Bobby Ávila, who hit .341 in 555 ABs.) In the 154-game schedule, the required number of plate appearances was 477, and since the era of the 162-game schedule, the requisite number of plate appearances has been 502. Adjustments to this figure have been made during strike-shortened seasons, such as 1972, 1981, 1994, and 1995.\n\nFrom 1967 to the present, if the player with the highest average in a league fails to meet the minimum plate-appearance requirement, the remaining at-bats until qualification (e.g., five at-bats, if the player finished the season with 497 plate appearances) are hypothetically considered hitless at-bats; if his recalculated batting average still tops the league, he is awarded the title. This is officially Rule 10.22(a), but it is also known as the Tony Gwynn rule because the Padres' player won the batting crown in 1996 with a .353 average on just 498 plate appearances (i.e., he was four shy). Gwynn was awarded the title since he would have led the league even if he'd gone 0-for-4 in those missing plate appearances. His average would have dropped to .349, five points better than second-place Ellis Burks' .344. In 2012, a one-time amendment to the rule was made to disqualify Melky Cabrera from the title. Cabrera requested that he be disqualified after serving a suspension that season for a positive testosterone test. He had batted .346 with 501 plate appearances, and the original rule would have awarded him the title over San Francisco Giants teammate Buster Posey, who won batting .336.\n\nAll-time leaders\n\nMajor League Baseball\n\nDifferent sources of baseball records present somewhat differing lists of career batting average leaders. There is consensus that Ty Cobb leads this category. Further rankings vary by source, primarily due to differences in minimums needed to qualify (number of games played or plate appearances), or differences in early baseball records. Baseball-Reference.com includes the Negro League teams considered major leagues by Major League Baseball. The below table presents the top ten lists as they appear in four well-known sources, with the rankings and degree of precision (decimal places) as provided in the source. The main article linked above is sourced from Baseball-Reference.com, which is also presented here. None of the players listed below are still living; each is an inductee of the Baseball Hall of Fame, with the exception of Lefty O'Doul, Pete Browning, and Shoeless Joe Jackson (who is ineligible due to his alleged role in the Black Sox Scandal of 1919).\n\nMinor League Baseball\nThe highest recorded single-season batting average in Minor League Baseball is .462, accomplished by Gary Redus in 1978, when he played for the Billings Mustangs, an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds in the Rookie Advanced-level Pioneer League. Redus was 117-for-253 in 68 games, as the Pioneer League only plays from June to early September. Redus went on to play in MLB from 1982 through 1994, batting .252 during his MLB career.\n\nNippon Professional Baseball\n\nIn Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the leader in career batting average is Nori Aoki, an active player who has hit .326 in his NPB career, . Aoki played in MLB from 2012 to 2017, where he compiled a .285 batting average. Ichiro Suzuki batted .353 in NPB, but does not have enough NPB career at-bats to qualify for that league's title.\n\nSee also\nList of Major League Baseball batting champions\nBaseball statistics\nBatting average\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\nExternal links\n Career Leaders & Records for Batting Average at Baseball-Reference.com\n\nBatting statistics"
]
|
[
"Kurt Warner",
"2007 season"
]
| C_a8a67f52857944cbb03d0ee936cf17c7_0 | What was Warner's record in the 2007 season? | 1 | What was Kurt Warner's record in the 2007 season? | Kurt Warner | Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23-6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23-23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26-23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal. On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season. Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37-31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6-6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000. CANNOTANSWER | 37-31 | Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend from an undrafted free agent to a two-time Most Valuable Player and Super Bowl MVP, is regarded as one of the greatest stories in NFL history.
After playing college football at Northern Iowa from 1990 to 1993, Warner spent four years without being named to an NFL roster. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, but released before the regular season and instead played three seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League (AFL). Warner landed his first NFL roster spot in 1998 with the Rams, holding a backup position until he was thrust into becoming St. Louis' starter the following season. During his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Warner led The Greatest Show on Turf offense to the Rams' first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXIV, earning him league and Super Bowl MVP honors. He won his second league MVP award in 2001, en route to a Super Bowl XXXVI appearance, and also appeared in Super Bowl XLIII with the Cardinals.
Considered the NFL's greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
High school and college
Born in Burlington, Iowa, Warner played football at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, graduating in 1989. After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Northern Iowa, graduating in 1993. At UNI, Warner was third on the Panthers' depth chart until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and first team all-conference.
Professional career
Green Bay Packers
Following his college career, Warner went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft. He was invited to try out for the Green Bay Packers' training camp in 1994, but was released before the regular season began. Warner was competing for a spot against Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and former Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. While Warner was with the Packers, the head coach was Mike Holmgren, the quarterback coach was Steve Mariucci, and Andy Reid was the offensive assistant.
After his release, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. Warner often cites this starting point when telling of his rise to NFL stardom in 1999. He also mentions that his deepened dedication to Christianity occurred around 1997. Warner returned to Northern Iowa and worked as a graduate assistant coach with the football team, while still hoping to get another tryout with an NFL team.
Iowa Barnstormers
With no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1995, and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. He was named to the AFL's First-team All-Arena in both 1996 and 1997 after he led the Barnstormers to ArenaBowl appearances in both seasons. Warner's performance was so impressive that he was later named twelfth out of the 20 Best Arena Football Players of all time.
Before the 1997 NFL season, Warner requested and got a tryout with the Chicago Bears, but an injury to his throwing elbow caused by a spider bite sustained during his honeymoon prevented him from attending.
In 2000, after Warner's breakout NFL season, the AFL used his new fame for the name of its first widely available video game, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed. Years later, on August 12, 2011, he would be named as an inductee into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
St. Louis Rams
Amsterdam Admirals
In December 1997 after the St. Louis Rams' season ended, Warner signed a futures contract with the team. In February 1998, he was allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Amsterdam Admirals, where he led the league in touchdowns and passing yards. His backup at the time was future Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. Returning to the United States, Warner spent the 1998 season as St. Louis' third-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He ended his season completing only 4 of 11 pass attempts for 39 yards and a 47.2 QB rating.
1999 season
Prior to the 1999 free-agency period, the Rams chose Warner to be one of the team's five unprotected players in the 1999 NFL expansion draft. Warner went unselected by the Cleveland Browns, who chose no Rams and whose only quarterback selection was Scott Milanovich.
The Rams let Bono leave in free agency and signed Trent Green to be the starter. Banks was traded to the Ravens, and Warner now found himself second on the depth chart. After Green suffered a torn ACL via a low hit by Rodney Harrison in a preseason game, Rams coach Dick Vermeil named Warner as the Rams' starter. In an emotional press conference, Vermeil—who hadn't seen Warner work with the first-string offense—said, "We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we'll play good football." With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim, and Ricky Proehl, Warner put together one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf" and registered the first in a string of three consecutive 500-point seasons, an NFL record.
Warner threw three touchdown passes in each of his first three NFL starts, an NFL record until it was surpassed by Patrick Mahomes in 2018. Warner drew more attention in the Rams' fourth game of the season, a home game against the San Francisco 49ers (who had been NFC West division champions for 12 of the previous 13 seasons). The Rams lost their last 17 meetings with the 49ers, but Warner proceeded to throw a touchdown pass on each of the Rams' first three possessions of the game, and four touchdowns in the first half alone, to propel the Rams to a 28–10 halftime lead on the way to a 42–20 victory. Warner finished the game with five touchdown passes, giving him 14 in four games and the Rams a 4–0 record. Warner's breakout season from a career in anonymity was so unexpected that Sports Illustrated featured him on their October 18 cover with the caption "Who Is This Guy?" He was named the 1999 NFL MVP at the season's end for leading the Rams to their first playoff berth since 1989 (when they were still in Los Angeles) and their first division title since 1985.
In the NFL playoffs, Warner ultimately led the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans. In the game, he threw for two touchdowns and a then Super Bowl-record 414 passing yards, including a 73-yard touchdown to Isaac Bruce when the game was tied with just over two minutes to play, which proved to be the game-winning score. Warner also set a Super Bowl record by attempting 45 passes without a single interception. For his performance, Warner was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award. As of 2021, Warner is the most recent player to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year.
2000 season
On July 21, Warner signed a seven-year contract worth $47 million. He started the 2000 season where he had left off in his record-setting 1999 season, racking up 300 or more passing yards in each of his first six games (tying Steve Young's record) and posting 19 touchdown passes in that stretch. Warner broke his hand and missed the middle of the season, but Trent Green filled in ably and the Warner/Green duo led the Rams to the highest team passing yard total in NFL history, with 5,232 net yards. Warner and Green's combined gross passing yards total was 5,492. In contrast to his previous season, however, Warner's turnover rate drastically increased in 2000, as he threw an interception in 5.2% of his attempts (compared to just 2.6% in 1999). Despite one of the most productive offensive years by an NFL team, the Rams won only ten games and lost in the wild card round to the New Orleans Saints. In response to the disappointing season, the Rams cut nine of their eleven defensive starters during the offseason, and Trent Green was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
2001 season
Warner returned to MVP form in 2001. Although his performance lagged behind his 1999 performance, he amassed a league-high 36 touchdown passes and 4,830 passing yards, and another league high mark in passer rating (101.4). Warner's tendency for turnovers carried over from 2000, as he tossed a career-high 22 interceptions (despite completing a career-high 68.7% of his passes), but he still led "The Greatest Show on Turf" to its third consecutive 6–0 start (becoming the first NFL team to do so, later equaled by the 2005–2007 Indianapolis Colts), an NFL-best 14–2 record, and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVI. Warner was also named the NFL MVP for the second time in three seasons, giving the Rams their third winner in as many years (running back Marshall Faulk won in 2000).
In Super Bowl XXXVI, Warner threw for 365 yards (then the second-highest, now the sixth-highest total in Super Bowl history) and a passing touchdown along with a rushing touchdown, but his rhythm was disrupted by New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's defensive game plan and he tossed two costly interceptions which helped stake the heavy-underdog Patriots to a two-touchdown lead. After falling behind to the Patriots 17–3, though, the Rams rallied to tie the game late in the fourth quarter on a one-yard Warner quarterback sneak touchdown run and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl. The game ended in a 20-17 loss for Warner and the Rams when Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired, giving the Patriots the first of three Super Bowl wins in four years.
2002–2003 seasons
Warner began the 2002 season as the Rams' starter, but he played poorly, throwing seven interceptions against only one touchdown as the team went 0–3. In the Rams' fourth game, this one against the Dallas Cowboys, Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand. Warner attempted to come back later in the season, but his injury allowed him to play only two more games (both losses). In contrast to his 103.0 career passer rating entering the season, Warner posted a minuscule 67.4 rating in 2002.
The following season, Warner was replaced as the Rams' starting quarterback for good after fumbling six times in the team's opening-day game against the New York Giants. Warner later revealed that he had previously broken his hand and that it had not fully healed, making it more difficult to grip the football. His successor as the Rams' starting quarterback, Marc Bulger (another relatively unheralded quarterback coming out of college), stepped into the breach and played reasonably well upon replacing Warner.
The Rams signed veteran Chris Chandler as Bulger's backup. The Rams released Warner on June 1, 2004 with three years left on his contract.
New York Giants
Two days after his release from the Rams, he signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the New York Giants, with a second year player option worth $6 million. Warner started the 2004 season as the Giants' starting quarterback, winning five of his first seven games, but following a two-game losing streak, highly touted rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. The Giants had a 5–4 win-loss record at the time of Warner's benching, finishing at 6–10 overall (going only 1–6 under Manning). Following the season, Warner chose to void the second year of his contract, and thus became a free agent.
Arizona Cardinals
2005 season
In early 2005, Warner signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starter by coach Dennis Green. Warner posted three relatively mediocre performances before injuring his groin and being replaced by former starter Josh McCown. McCown performed well enough in the two games Warner missed that McCown remained the starter.
After McCown struggled in two straight games, Green re-inserted Warner into the starting line-up. After playing fairly well in two consecutive losses (passing for a total of nearly 700 yards), Warner defeated his former team, the Rams, by a score of 38–28. He passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns while posting a quarterback rating of 115.9. Warner's season ended in week 15 when he partially tore his MCL.
Warner signed a new three-year extension with the Cardinals on February 14, 2006. The deal had a base salary of $18 million and, with performance incentives, could have been worth as much as $24 million.
2006 season
In Week 1 of the 2006 NFL season, Warner won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, Warner passed the 20,000-yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second-quickest of any player in NFL history (Warner accomplished the feat in one game more than it took record-holder Dan Marino).
After three subpar games in Weeks 2-4, Warner was replaced as quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of week 4. Then-coach Dennis Green stated that Warner would be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season. In week 16, Leinart went down with a shoulder injury against the 49ers, forcing Warner to see his first action since week 4. Warner filled in nicely, as he was able to hang on for the Cardinals win. In week 17 against the San Diego Chargers, Warner started again in place of the injured Leinart, throwing for 365 yards (which led the NFL for that week) and a touchdown, though the Chargers were able to hold on for a 27–20 win.
2007 season
Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23–6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23–23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26–23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal.
On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season.
Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37–31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6–6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000.
2008 season
Leinart was named the Cardinals' starting quarterback going into the 2008 off-season, but Ken Whisenhunt stated that it would be very possible for Warner to be the starter before week one of the regular season. Indeed, Warner was named the starter on August 30, 2008. That season, Warner had 4,583 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 67.1%. He was the top ranked passer in the National Football Conference for the third time, and only trailed Philip Rivers and Chad Pennington of the AFC in NFL passer rating for the season. Warner also received FedEx Air Player of the Week honors for his performance during weeks 9 and 11 of the season. He had his struggles during the season, as in week 3 of the season vs. the New York Jets, his team turned the ball over 7 times. This included an interception for a touchdown, and 2 picks resulting in a touchdown and a field goal in just the second quarter. Warner still managed to get his team to score 35 points in a 56-35 loss.
On December 7, 2008, Warner led the Cardinals to a 34–10 win over his former team, the Rams, securing for the Cardinals the NFC West Division title and their first playoff berth since 1998. It was the Cardinals' first division title since 1975 and third of the post-merger era. As a result, the Cardinals earned a home playoff game, only their second ever, and their first in Arizona. (Despite winning division titles in the 1974 and 1975 seasons in St. Louis, the Cardinals played on the road in the playoffs as a result of the playoff structure in those days.) On December 16, 2008, Warner was named the starting quarterback for the NFC team in the 2009 Pro Bowl.
2008 postseason
On January 3, 2009, Warner led the Cardinals in their victory over the Atlanta Falcons 30–24 at home in the first round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 19 for 32 passing, a completion percentage of 59.4%, for 271 yards. He threw two touchdowns and one interception. This win represented the first time the Cardinals had won a post-season home game since the 1947 NFL Championship Game.
On January 10, Warner helped the Cardinals defeat the Carolina Panthers 33–13 in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 21 for 32 passing, for 220 yards, a completion percentage of 65.6%, with two touchdowns and one interception. This win was the first time the Cardinals had won a game on the East Coast the entire 2008 season, after having lost away games to the Panthers, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, and the New England Patriots.
On January 18, Warner threw for 279 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles to lead the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in history. Warner is one of four quarterbacks who made Super Bowl starts with two teams (alongside Craig Morton, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady).
In Warner's third career Super Bowl appearance on February 1, the Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, leaving him with a career 1–2 record in Super Bowls. Despite losing, Warner still managed to throw for 377 yards (the fourth-highest total in Super Bowl history). He completed 72.1% of his passes, and had a quarterback rating of 112.3. Warner had now recorded the three highest single-game passing yardage totals in the history of the Super Bowl, and joined Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, John Elway, and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to throw a touchdown pass in three Super Bowls. Warner took his team to the Super Bowl every year that he played as the starting quarterback during all regular and post season games.
2009 season
Warner announced his desire to return to the Cardinals for the 2009 season. The Cardinals offered him a two-year contract worth around $20 million but Warner was looking for a contract that would pay him about $14 million a year and the two sides could not come to an agreement. On February 27, 2009, Warner became a free agent and went on to have talks with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers offered Warner a contract worth more than that offered by the Cardinals. On March 4, Warner re-signed with the Cardinals to a two-year deal worth $23 million total, $4 million for each of the next two years, with a $15 million signing bonus, and $19 million guaranteed. Warner underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on March 17, 2009. On September 20, 2009, Warner broke the NFL's single-game record for completion percentage in the regular season, completing 24 of 26 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Warner's 92.3 percent completion rate broke the previous NFL record set by Vinny Testaverde in 1993.
On November 1, 2009, Warner threw a career-high-equaling five interceptions during a loss to the Carolina Panthers. During the same game Warner became the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 14,000 yards with two teams. On November 8, Warner equaled his career-high of five touchdown passes in a single game during a 41–21 victory over the Chicago Bears. This performance led to Warner being named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week. On November 15, 2009, Warner reached a career milestone with his 200th touchdown pass during a 31–20 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
On November 22, 2009, during a 21–13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Warner left the game after suffering a concussion. Warner continued to suffer from post-concussion symptoms and on November 29, 2009, he was deactivated against the Tennessee Titans, breaking his consecutive starts streak at 41 games. On December 6, 2009, Warner returned to action as the Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30–17. Warner registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him only the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After his three-touchdown performance, Warner was named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.
On December 27, 2009, Warner became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is the other), in the Cardinals' 31–10 win over the St. Louis Rams. On December 29, 2009, Warner was named an alternate quarterback for the NFC team in the 2010 Pro Bowl.
2009 postseason
On January 10, 2010, Warner threw five touchdowns and completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards in a 51–45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The game had the highest combined total score in NFL playoff history. Warner became one of the very few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4) in a playoff game. Warner finished the game with the second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history with a rating of 154.1. He also became the second quarterback to throw for five touchdown passes in a playoff game twice, and the first to do so since the merger of the leagues. He is also the oldest player to have thrown that many touchdown passes in a playoff game (38 years, 202 days). Warner also tied the NFL record for consecutive playoff games with at least three touchdown passes (three games). Since the playoff game was his last at home in the playoffs during his career, he finished a perfect 7-0 in home contests (4-0 with St. Louis; 3-0 with Arizona).
On January 16, Warner was injured in the first half trying to tackle the ball carrier after an interception on the way to a 45–14 loss at New Orleans in the NFC Divisional round. He returned for the second half, but yielded to understudy Matt Leinart midway through the fourth quarter. In 2012, the NFL discovered the Saints had placed a bounty on Warner. Warner never accused the Saints of making an illegal hit or ending his career, saying "It was a violent hit, no question. But I also believe it was a legal hit."
Retirement
Warner officially announced his retirement from the NFL in January 2010. He said he was looking forward to finally being a true father to his seven kids, and that he wanted to spend time with his wife. He spoke on the impact and influence of his family, former teammates, and God. He became eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame following the 2014 season. In December 2014, Warner admitted he briefly considered coming out of retirement and returning to the Cardinals following the team losing Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton due to injuries.
Post-retirement career
Warner became an Iowa Barnstormers broadcaster for the 2011 Arena Football League season. In May 2010, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Iowa Barnstormers Hall of Fame.
Warner was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Warner was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2017. He was inducted on August 5, 2017, alongside Morten Andersen, Terrell Davis, Kenny Easley, Jerry Jones, Jason Taylor, and LaDainian Tomlinson. He is the only person inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
From 2015 to 2018, Warner was a coach at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Notably, Kedon Slovis played under Warner before being recruited by the USC Trojans for the 2019 college football season.
Since 2019, Warner is the quarterbacks coach at Brophy College Preparatory.
Career statistics and records
NFL statistics
Regular season
Postseason
Super Bowl
NFL records
First quarterback to throw 400+ yards in a Super Bowl game – 414 yards against Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV
Was the most passing yards in a Super Bowl game until surpassed by Tom Brady in Super Bowl LI
Most touchdown passes in a single postseason – 11 touchdowns (in 2009, tied with Joe Montana in 1990 and Joe Flacco in 2013)
Most yards passing in a single postseason, 3 games played – 1,063 yards (in 1999)
Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing (min. 100 games played) – 41.9% (52/124)
First quarterback to throw 40 touchdowns and win a Super Bowl in the same season (in 1999; Tom Brady accomplished the same feat in 2020 when he threw 40 touchdowns and won Super Bowl LV.)
Most yards passing in the first four games of a season – 1557 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first five games of a season – 1947 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first six games of a season – 2260 yards (2000)
Highest average passing yards per game on Monday Night Football – 329.4 yards (min 7 games)
Most wins in the NFC Championship Game without a loss (3-0; 1999, 2001, 2008).
Warner shares several records:
One of three quarterbacks to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Fran Tarkenton and Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks tied to throw five touchdown passes in two playoff games – (following Daryle Lamonica)
One of two quarterbacks to complete 80% of his passes in two playoff games (tied with Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks with four consecutive games with a passer rating over 120 (in 2009, tied with Johnny Unitas)
One of four quarterbacks to make Super Bowl starts with two teams (with Craig Morton – Dallas Cowboys (in 1970) and Denver Broncos (in 1977), Peyton Manning – Indianapolis Colts (in 2006 and 2009) and Denver Broncos (in 2013 and 2015), and Tom Brady - New England Patriots (in 2002, 2004-2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2017-2019) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in 2021))
One of five quarterbacks to win a Conference championship with two teams (with Craig Morton and Earl Morrall and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady)
Rams franchise records
Most touchdown passes in a single season (41, 1999) (tied with Matthew Stafford, 2021)
Single season leader in passer rating (109.2, 1999)
Cardinal records
Most pass completions in a single game – 40 (September 28, 2008)
Highest pass completion percentage with at least 11 passes – 92.3% (September 20, 2009)
4th Cardinal to post a perfect passer rating
Most passes completed in a single season – 401 (2008)
Most passes attempted in a single season – 598 (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a single season – 67.1% (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a career – 65.1%
Highest passer rating in a career – 91.9
Personal life
Childhood
Kurt Warner was born to Gene and Sue Warner. Warner's parents divorced when he was six. Kurt and his brother, Matt, lived with their mother, including through another short marriage and divorce.
Kurt's father, Gene Warner, remarried a year after divorcing Kurt's mom. Warner's stepmother, Mimi Warner, also had a son named Matt (Post). The three boys formed a close relationship soon thereafter. Kurt graduated in 1989 from Regis High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was quarterback of the school's Class 3A football team.
College
Warner graduated from University of Northern Iowa with a degree in communications.
Marriage
During college, Warner met his future wife, Brenda Carney Meoni; they married on October 11, 1997. Brenda is a former United States Marine Corps corporal. She was divorced with two children, one of whom was left brain damaged and blind after being accidentally dropped by Brenda's ex-husband, leading to her hardship discharge from the Marines in 1990.
After Warner was cut from the Packers' training camp in 1994, he got a job working the night shift as a night stock clerk at a local Hy-Vee grocery store, in addition to his work as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. While Warner was working as an assistant coach, the couple were living in Brenda's parents' basement in Cedar Falls. Brenda's parents were killed in 1996 when their Mountain View, Arkansas home was destroyed by a tornado. Warner and Brenda married on October 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church, the same place where the service for Brenda's parents was held. Warner was still hoping to get an NFL tryout, but with that possibility appearing dim and the long hours at Hy-Vee for minimum wage taking their toll, Warner began his Arena League career.
After marrying Brenda, Warner officially adopted her two children from her first marriage; they have since added five children of their own.
Christian faith and testimony
Kurt and Brenda Warner are devout evangelical Christians. His faith first emerged on the national stage following the Rams' Super Bowl victory, where he was named the game's MVP:
Nine years later, upon leading the Cardinals to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl, Warner's response was similar:
Warner has usually attended charismatic churches, and believes that God healed him from a concussion he suffered in 2000. However, he eschews the term "charismatic." In 2001, he told Charisma, "I'm just a Christian."
Broadcasting
In 2010, Warner joined NFL Network as an analyst. He can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access, as well as in-studio on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football pregame show, Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Sears. Warner also served as an analyst for the NFL Network's coverage of the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs. Warner tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021, and was unable to serve on the studio panel for NFL GameDay Morning for the wild card playoff round.
In August 2010, Fox Sports announced that Warner would be serving as a color analyst on the network's NFL coverage in the 2010 season. He teamed with play-by-play announcers Chris Rose or Chris Myers to call regional games.
In 2014, Westwood One radio hired Warner as a substitute analyst on Monday Night Football games when regular analyst Boomer Esiason is unavailable. In 2018, Warner became the full-time radio analyst.
Television appearances
On January 27, 2009, Warner made a special appearance on the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser.
Warner made a guest appearance on Disney's The Suite Life on Deck as himself, in the episode "Any Given Fantasy" which aired on January 18, 2010.
On February 9, 2010, Warner was a surprise guest on the final episode of The Jay Leno Show.
On August 30, 2010, it was announced on live television that Warner would be appearing as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. His professional dance partner was Anna Trebunskaya; the couple was eliminated in week 8, the Instant Choreography Week.
Warner appeared as the host of The Moment, a reality series on USA Network, in 2013.
Film and video
In 2003, GoodTimes Entertainment released the direct-to-home video Kurt Warner's Good Sports Gang, a film featuring Warner as the "coach" of a group of animated sports balls. The series was sponsored by Warner, and focused on religious faith and moral values. A portion of the proceeds went to Warner's First Things First Foundation. Although it was originally planned as a series, Episode 1: Elliot the Invincible, was the only release along with Together, We're Better (Episode 2) and a few shorts featuring Warner and his adopted daughter, Jesse Warner.
In February 2020, it was announced that the Erwin Brothers were creating, and releasing a theatrical film about Kurt's life titled American Underdog, with Zachary Levi as Warner. The film was produced by Kingdom Story Company, and distributed by Lionsgate on December 25, 2021 to generally favorable reviews.
Endorsements
On December 3, 2010, Warner's first multi-year post-retirement endorsement agreement was announced. Amway North America announced that it had signed Warner to a multi-year endorsement agreement to represent the Nutrilite brand. Amway reportedly agreed to make a $50,000 donation to Kurt Warner's First Things First Foundation.
In addition to his post-retirement endorsements and charity work, Warner has invested in the Elite Football League of India, a South Asian professional football league. Other prominent American backers include former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, and actor Mark Wahlberg. Warner's total investment amount remains undisclosed, although $50,000 of it will go towards a donation of footballs to schools and underprivileged children throughout India.
Public service
Warner has also appeared in several public service announcements for Civitan International, promoting his and Brenda's volunteer efforts and their work with the developmentally disabled. This issue is personally close to Warner, as Zachary, his adopted son from Brenda's first marriage, suffered major brain damage as an infant when his biological father accidentally dropped him.
Warner has devoted time and money to his First Things First Foundation, the name of which was derived from his interview after winning the Super Bowl in 1999. The foundation is dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put 'first things first.' The foundation has been involved with numerous projects for causes such as children's hospitals, people with developmental disabilities and assisting single parents. Warner's work both on and off the field resulted in him being awarded the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award 2008, which was presented to him at the start of Super Bowl XLIII. In March 2009, Warner was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Leadership Award. Warner was selected by USA Weekend as the winner of its annual Most Caring Athlete Award for 2009. In December 2009, Warner topped a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players to name the best role model on and off the field in the NFL.
In February 2010, Warner received the annual Bart Starr Award, given for outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community. At the award presentation, Bart Starr said of Warner: "We have never given this award to anyone who is more deserving".
See also
List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of Arena Football League and National Football League players
NFL starting quarterback playoff records
References
Further reading
Warner, Kurt & Silver, Michael, (2000). All Things Possible. San Francisco: HarperCollins. (cloth) (paper back).
Warner, Kurt & Brenda, (2009). First Things First. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Inc. (Hardcover)
External links
1971 births
Alliance of American Football announcers
American Christians
American football quarterbacks
Amsterdam Admirals players
Arena football announcers
Arizona Cardinals players
Green Bay Packers players
Iowa Barnstormers players
Living people
National Conference Pro Bowl players
National Football League announcers
National Football League Most Valuable Player Award winners
New York Giants players
Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches
Northern Iowa Panthers football players
People from Burlington, Iowa
Players of American football from Iowa
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
St. Louis Rams players
Super Bowl MVPs | false | [
"Curtis Edward Warner (born March 18, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) A two-time All-American at Penn State University, Warner was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft. Warner was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on December 8, 2009.\n\nWarner was the 1983 AFC Offensive Player of the Year in his rookie NFL season.\n\nPenn State\nWarner was a standout at Pineville High School in Pineville, West Virginia, graduating in a class of only 90 students. He would lead Penn State in rushing in 1980, 1981, and 1982, and help the Nittany Lions capture their first national championship in the 1983 Sugar Bowl. When his collegiate career was over, he owned 42 Penn State records (his 3,398 career rushing yards is 3rd in school history, and his 18 100-yard rushing games remains a Penn State record). On October 30, 2010, Evan Royster surpassed Warner to take over the career rushing yards record. He was named an All-American twice, in 1981 and 1982.\n\nWarner earned a Bachelor of Arts in speech communication from Penn State in 1983.\n\nStatistics\n\nProfessional career\nWarner was the third overall pick of the 1983 NFL draft, selected by the Seattle Seahawks. He followed future hall of famers John Elway and Eric Dickerson.\n\nWarner led the AFC in rushing yards his rookie season in 1983, helping Seattle to its first Conference Championship game which they lost to the Los Angeles Raiders, the eventual league champion. The following year Warner suffered a torn ACL in the 1984 season opener against Cleveland and was sidelined for the rest of the year. He came back in 1985 and had a number of successful seasons before ending his career with the Los Angeles Rams.\n\nWarner is a three-time Pro Bowler (1983, 1986, 1987), and was inducted into the Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor in 1994.\n\nAfter football\nWarner owned Curt Warner Chevrolet in Vancouver, Washington from 1999 until 2010. He is the current running backs coach at Camas High School in Camas, Washington and founder and president of the Curt Warner Autism Foundation.\n\nWarner and his wife Ana have three sons, Jonathan, twins Austin and Christian, and a daughter, Isabella.\n\nIn 2018, Little A published The Warner Boys: Our Family's Story of Autism and Hope, written by Curt Warner and Ana Warner with Dave Boling. The book explores Warner's family life, including how it has been impacted by having twin boys (Austin and Christian) severely impacted by autism.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Pro Football Reference Career Stats\n More Career Stats\n Greenxoblue – Curt Warner 1988–89 Helmet Details\n\n1961 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Pineville, West Virginia\nAmerican football running backs\nPenn State Nittany Lions football players\nSeattle Seahawks players\nLos Angeles Rams players\nAmerican Conference Pro Bowl players\nCollege Football Hall of Fame inductees",
"Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend from an undrafted free agent to a two-time Most Valuable Player and Super Bowl MVP, is regarded as one of the greatest stories in NFL history.\n\nAfter playing college football at Northern Iowa from 1990 to 1993, Warner spent four years without being named to an NFL roster. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, but released before the regular season and instead played three seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League (AFL). Warner landed his first NFL roster spot in 1998 with the Rams, holding a backup position until he was thrust into becoming St. Louis' starter the following season. During his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Warner led The Greatest Show on Turf offense to the Rams' first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXIV, earning him league and Super Bowl MVP honors. He won his second league MVP award in 2001, en route to a Super Bowl XXXVI appearance, and also appeared in Super Bowl XLIII with the Cardinals.\n\nConsidered the NFL's greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.\n\nHigh school and college\nBorn in Burlington, Iowa, Warner played football at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, graduating in 1989. After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Northern Iowa, graduating in 1993. At UNI, Warner was third on the Panthers' depth chart until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and first team all-conference.\n\nProfessional career\n\nGreen Bay Packers\nFollowing his college career, Warner went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft. He was invited to try out for the Green Bay Packers' training camp in 1994, but was released before the regular season began. Warner was competing for a spot against Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and former Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. While Warner was with the Packers, the head coach was Mike Holmgren, the quarterback coach was Steve Mariucci, and Andy Reid was the offensive assistant.\n\nAfter his release, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. Warner often cites this starting point when telling of his rise to NFL stardom in 1999. He also mentions that his deepened dedication to Christianity occurred around 1997. Warner returned to Northern Iowa and worked as a graduate assistant coach with the football team, while still hoping to get another tryout with an NFL team.\n\nIowa Barnstormers\nWith no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1995, and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. He was named to the AFL's First-team All-Arena in both 1996 and 1997 after he led the Barnstormers to ArenaBowl appearances in both seasons. Warner's performance was so impressive that he was later named twelfth out of the 20 Best Arena Football Players of all time.\n\nBefore the 1997 NFL season, Warner requested and got a tryout with the Chicago Bears, but an injury to his throwing elbow caused by a spider bite sustained during his honeymoon prevented him from attending.\n\nIn 2000, after Warner's breakout NFL season, the AFL used his new fame for the name of its first widely available video game, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed. Years later, on August 12, 2011, he would be named as an inductee into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.\n\nSt. Louis Rams\n\nAmsterdam Admirals\nIn December 1997 after the St. Louis Rams' season ended, Warner signed a futures contract with the team. In February 1998, he was allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Amsterdam Admirals, where he led the league in touchdowns and passing yards. His backup at the time was future Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. Returning to the United States, Warner spent the 1998 season as St. Louis' third-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He ended his season completing only 4 of 11 pass attempts for 39 yards and a 47.2 QB rating.\n\n1999 season\nPrior to the 1999 free-agency period, the Rams chose Warner to be one of the team's five unprotected players in the 1999 NFL expansion draft. Warner went unselected by the Cleveland Browns, who chose no Rams and whose only quarterback selection was Scott Milanovich.\n\nThe Rams let Bono leave in free agency and signed Trent Green to be the starter. Banks was traded to the Ravens, and Warner now found himself second on the depth chart. After Green suffered a torn ACL via a low hit by Rodney Harrison in a preseason game, Rams coach Dick Vermeil named Warner as the Rams' starter. In an emotional press conference, Vermeil—who hadn't seen Warner work with the first-string offense—said, \"We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we'll play good football.\" With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim, and Ricky Proehl, Warner put together one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed \"The Greatest Show on Turf\" and registered the first in a string of three consecutive 500-point seasons, an NFL record.\n\nWarner threw three touchdown passes in each of his first three NFL starts, an NFL record until it was surpassed by Patrick Mahomes in 2018. Warner drew more attention in the Rams' fourth game of the season, a home game against the San Francisco 49ers (who had been NFC West division champions for 12 of the previous 13 seasons). The Rams lost their last 17 meetings with the 49ers, but Warner proceeded to throw a touchdown pass on each of the Rams' first three possessions of the game, and four touchdowns in the first half alone, to propel the Rams to a 28–10 halftime lead on the way to a 42–20 victory. Warner finished the game with five touchdown passes, giving him 14 in four games and the Rams a 4–0 record. Warner's breakout season from a career in anonymity was so unexpected that Sports Illustrated featured him on their October 18 cover with the caption \"Who Is This Guy?\" He was named the 1999 NFL MVP at the season's end for leading the Rams to their first playoff berth since 1989 (when they were still in Los Angeles) and their first division title since 1985.\n\nIn the NFL playoffs, Warner ultimately led the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans. In the game, he threw for two touchdowns and a then Super Bowl-record 414 passing yards, including a 73-yard touchdown to Isaac Bruce when the game was tied with just over two minutes to play, which proved to be the game-winning score. Warner also set a Super Bowl record by attempting 45 passes without a single interception. For his performance, Warner was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award. As of 2021, Warner is the most recent player to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year.\n\n2000 season\nOn July 21, Warner signed a seven-year contract worth $47 million. He started the 2000 season where he had left off in his record-setting 1999 season, racking up 300 or more passing yards in each of his first six games (tying Steve Young's record) and posting 19 touchdown passes in that stretch. Warner broke his hand and missed the middle of the season, but Trent Green filled in ably and the Warner/Green duo led the Rams to the highest team passing yard total in NFL history, with 5,232 net yards. Warner and Green's combined gross passing yards total was 5,492. In contrast to his previous season, however, Warner's turnover rate drastically increased in 2000, as he threw an interception in 5.2% of his attempts (compared to just 2.6% in 1999). Despite one of the most productive offensive years by an NFL team, the Rams won only ten games and lost in the wild card round to the New Orleans Saints. In response to the disappointing season, the Rams cut nine of their eleven defensive starters during the offseason, and Trent Green was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.\n\n2001 season\nWarner returned to MVP form in 2001. Although his performance lagged behind his 1999 performance, he amassed a league-high 36 touchdown passes and 4,830 passing yards, and another league high mark in passer rating (101.4). Warner's tendency for turnovers carried over from 2000, as he tossed a career-high 22 interceptions (despite completing a career-high 68.7% of his passes), but he still led \"The Greatest Show on Turf\" to its third consecutive 6–0 start (becoming the first NFL team to do so, later equaled by the 2005–2007 Indianapolis Colts), an NFL-best 14–2 record, and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVI. Warner was also named the NFL MVP for the second time in three seasons, giving the Rams their third winner in as many years (running back Marshall Faulk won in 2000).\n\nIn Super Bowl XXXVI, Warner threw for 365 yards (then the second-highest, now the sixth-highest total in Super Bowl history) and a passing touchdown along with a rushing touchdown, but his rhythm was disrupted by New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's defensive game plan and he tossed two costly interceptions which helped stake the heavy-underdog Patriots to a two-touchdown lead. After falling behind to the Patriots 17–3, though, the Rams rallied to tie the game late in the fourth quarter on a one-yard Warner quarterback sneak touchdown run and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl. The game ended in a 20-17 loss for Warner and the Rams when Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired, giving the Patriots the first of three Super Bowl wins in four years.\n\n2002–2003 seasons\nWarner began the 2002 season as the Rams' starter, but he played poorly, throwing seven interceptions against only one touchdown as the team went 0–3. In the Rams' fourth game, this one against the Dallas Cowboys, Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand. Warner attempted to come back later in the season, but his injury allowed him to play only two more games (both losses). In contrast to his 103.0 career passer rating entering the season, Warner posted a minuscule 67.4 rating in 2002.\n\nThe following season, Warner was replaced as the Rams' starting quarterback for good after fumbling six times in the team's opening-day game against the New York Giants. Warner later revealed that he had previously broken his hand and that it had not fully healed, making it more difficult to grip the football. His successor as the Rams' starting quarterback, Marc Bulger (another relatively unheralded quarterback coming out of college), stepped into the breach and played reasonably well upon replacing Warner.\n\nThe Rams signed veteran Chris Chandler as Bulger's backup. The Rams released Warner on June 1, 2004 with three years left on his contract.\n\nNew York Giants\nTwo days after his release from the Rams, he signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the New York Giants, with a second year player option worth $6 million. Warner started the 2004 season as the Giants' starting quarterback, winning five of his first seven games, but following a two-game losing streak, highly touted rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. The Giants had a 5–4 win-loss record at the time of Warner's benching, finishing at 6–10 overall (going only 1–6 under Manning). Following the season, Warner chose to void the second year of his contract, and thus became a free agent.\n\nArizona Cardinals\n\n2005 season\nIn early 2005, Warner signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starter by coach Dennis Green. Warner posted three relatively mediocre performances before injuring his groin and being replaced by former starter Josh McCown. McCown performed well enough in the two games Warner missed that McCown remained the starter.\n\nAfter McCown struggled in two straight games, Green re-inserted Warner into the starting line-up. After playing fairly well in two consecutive losses (passing for a total of nearly 700 yards), Warner defeated his former team, the Rams, by a score of 38–28. He passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns while posting a quarterback rating of 115.9. Warner's season ended in week 15 when he partially tore his MCL.\n\nWarner signed a new three-year extension with the Cardinals on February 14, 2006. The deal had a base salary of $18 million and, with performance incentives, could have been worth as much as $24 million.\n\n2006 season\nIn Week 1 of the 2006 NFL season, Warner won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, Warner passed the 20,000-yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second-quickest of any player in NFL history (Warner accomplished the feat in one game more than it took record-holder Dan Marino).\n\nAfter three subpar games in Weeks 2-4, Warner was replaced as quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of week 4. Then-coach Dennis Green stated that Warner would be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season. In week 16, Leinart went down with a shoulder injury against the 49ers, forcing Warner to see his first action since week 4. Warner filled in nicely, as he was able to hang on for the Cardinals win. In week 17 against the San Diego Chargers, Warner started again in place of the injured Leinart, throwing for 365 yards (which led the NFL for that week) and a touchdown, though the Chargers were able to hold on for a 27–20 win.\n\n2007 season\nLeinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23–6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23–23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26–23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal.\n\nOn September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season.\n\nWarner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37–31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6–6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000.\n\n2008 season\nLeinart was named the Cardinals' starting quarterback going into the 2008 off-season, but Ken Whisenhunt stated that it would be very possible for Warner to be the starter before week one of the regular season. Indeed, Warner was named the starter on August 30, 2008. That season, Warner had 4,583 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 67.1%. He was the top ranked passer in the National Football Conference for the third time, and only trailed Philip Rivers and Chad Pennington of the AFC in NFL passer rating for the season. Warner also received FedEx Air Player of the Week honors for his performance during weeks 9 and 11 of the season. He had his struggles during the season, as in week 3 of the season vs. the New York Jets, his team turned the ball over 7 times. This included an interception for a touchdown, and 2 picks resulting in a touchdown and a field goal in just the second quarter. Warner still managed to get his team to score 35 points in a 56-35 loss.\n\nOn December 7, 2008, Warner led the Cardinals to a 34–10 win over his former team, the Rams, securing for the Cardinals the NFC West Division title and their first playoff berth since 1998. It was the Cardinals' first division title since 1975 and third of the post-merger era. As a result, the Cardinals earned a home playoff game, only their second ever, and their first in Arizona. (Despite winning division titles in the 1974 and 1975 seasons in St. Louis, the Cardinals played on the road in the playoffs as a result of the playoff structure in those days.) On December 16, 2008, Warner was named the starting quarterback for the NFC team in the 2009 Pro Bowl.\n\n2008 postseason\n\nOn January 3, 2009, Warner led the Cardinals in their victory over the Atlanta Falcons 30–24 at home in the first round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 19 for 32 passing, a completion percentage of 59.4%, for 271 yards. He threw two touchdowns and one interception. This win represented the first time the Cardinals had won a post-season home game since the 1947 NFL Championship Game.\n\nOn January 10, Warner helped the Cardinals defeat the Carolina Panthers 33–13 in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 21 for 32 passing, for 220 yards, a completion percentage of 65.6%, with two touchdowns and one interception. This win was the first time the Cardinals had won a game on the East Coast the entire 2008 season, after having lost away games to the Panthers, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, and the New England Patriots.\n\nOn January 18, Warner threw for 279 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles to lead the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in history. Warner is one of four quarterbacks who made Super Bowl starts with two teams (alongside Craig Morton, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady).\n\nIn Warner's third career Super Bowl appearance on February 1, the Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, leaving him with a career 1–2 record in Super Bowls. Despite losing, Warner still managed to throw for 377 yards (the fourth-highest total in Super Bowl history). He completed 72.1% of his passes, and had a quarterback rating of 112.3. Warner had now recorded the three highest single-game passing yardage totals in the history of the Super Bowl, and joined Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, John Elway, and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to throw a touchdown pass in three Super Bowls. Warner took his team to the Super Bowl every year that he played as the starting quarterback during all regular and post season games.\n\n2009 season\nWarner announced his desire to return to the Cardinals for the 2009 season. The Cardinals offered him a two-year contract worth around $20 million but Warner was looking for a contract that would pay him about $14 million a year and the two sides could not come to an agreement. On February 27, 2009, Warner became a free agent and went on to have talks with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers offered Warner a contract worth more than that offered by the Cardinals. On March 4, Warner re-signed with the Cardinals to a two-year deal worth $23 million total, $4 million for each of the next two years, with a $15 million signing bonus, and $19 million guaranteed. Warner underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on March 17, 2009. On September 20, 2009, Warner broke the NFL's single-game record for completion percentage in the regular season, completing 24 of 26 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Warner's 92.3 percent completion rate broke the previous NFL record set by Vinny Testaverde in 1993.\n\nOn November 1, 2009, Warner threw a career-high-equaling five interceptions during a loss to the Carolina Panthers. During the same game Warner became the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 14,000 yards with two teams. On November 8, Warner equaled his career-high of five touchdown passes in a single game during a 41–21 victory over the Chicago Bears. This performance led to Warner being named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week. On November 15, 2009, Warner reached a career milestone with his 200th touchdown pass during a 31–20 win against the Seattle Seahawks.\n\nOn November 22, 2009, during a 21–13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Warner left the game after suffering a concussion. Warner continued to suffer from post-concussion symptoms and on November 29, 2009, he was deactivated against the Tennessee Titans, breaking his consecutive starts streak at 41 games. On December 6, 2009, Warner returned to action as the Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30–17. Warner registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him only the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After his three-touchdown performance, Warner was named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.\n\nOn December 27, 2009, Warner became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is the other), in the Cardinals' 31–10 win over the St. Louis Rams. On December 29, 2009, Warner was named an alternate quarterback for the NFC team in the 2010 Pro Bowl.\n\n2009 postseason\nOn January 10, 2010, Warner threw five touchdowns and completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards in a 51–45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The game had the highest combined total score in NFL playoff history. Warner became one of the very few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4) in a playoff game. Warner finished the game with the second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history with a rating of 154.1. He also became the second quarterback to throw for five touchdown passes in a playoff game twice, and the first to do so since the merger of the leagues. He is also the oldest player to have thrown that many touchdown passes in a playoff game (38 years, 202 days). Warner also tied the NFL record for consecutive playoff games with at least three touchdown passes (three games). Since the playoff game was his last at home in the playoffs during his career, he finished a perfect 7-0 in home contests (4-0 with St. Louis; 3-0 with Arizona).\n\nOn January 16, Warner was injured in the first half trying to tackle the ball carrier after an interception on the way to a 45–14 loss at New Orleans in the NFC Divisional round. He returned for the second half, but yielded to understudy Matt Leinart midway through the fourth quarter. In 2012, the NFL discovered the Saints had placed a bounty on Warner. Warner never accused the Saints of making an illegal hit or ending his career, saying \"It was a violent hit, no question. But I also believe it was a legal hit.\"\n\nRetirement\nWarner officially announced his retirement from the NFL in January 2010. He said he was looking forward to finally being a true father to his seven kids, and that he wanted to spend time with his wife. He spoke on the impact and influence of his family, former teammates, and God. He became eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame following the 2014 season. In December 2014, Warner admitted he briefly considered coming out of retirement and returning to the Cardinals following the team losing Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton due to injuries.\n\nPost-retirement career\nWarner became an Iowa Barnstormers broadcaster for the 2011 Arena Football League season. In May 2010, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Iowa Barnstormers Hall of Fame.\n\nWarner was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.\n\nWarner was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2017. He was inducted on August 5, 2017, alongside Morten Andersen, Terrell Davis, Kenny Easley, Jerry Jones, Jason Taylor, and LaDainian Tomlinson. He is the only person inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.\n\nFrom 2015 to 2018, Warner was a coach at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Notably, Kedon Slovis played under Warner before being recruited by the USC Trojans for the 2019 college football season.\n\nSince 2019, Warner is the quarterbacks coach at Brophy College Preparatory.\n\nCareer statistics and records\n\nNFL statistics\n\nRegular season\n\nPostseason\n\nSuper Bowl\n\nNFL records\n First quarterback to throw 400+ yards in a Super Bowl game – 414 yards against Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV\nWas the most passing yards in a Super Bowl game until surpassed by Tom Brady in Super Bowl LI\n Most touchdown passes in a single postseason – 11 touchdowns (in 2009, tied with Joe Montana in 1990 and Joe Flacco in 2013)\n Most yards passing in a single postseason, 3 games played – 1,063 yards (in 1999)\n Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing (min. 100 games played) – 41.9% (52/124)\n First quarterback to throw 40 touchdowns and win a Super Bowl in the same season (in 1999; Tom Brady accomplished the same feat in 2020 when he threw 40 touchdowns and won Super Bowl LV.)\n Most yards passing in the first four games of a season – 1557 yards (2000)\n Most yards passing in the first five games of a season – 1947 yards (2000)\n Most yards passing in the first six games of a season – 2260 yards (2000)\n Highest average passing yards per game on Monday Night Football – 329.4 yards (min 7 games)\n Most wins in the NFC Championship Game without a loss (3-0; 1999, 2001, 2008).\n\nWarner shares several records:\n\n One of three quarterbacks to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Fran Tarkenton and Peyton Manning)\n One of two quarterbacks tied to throw five touchdown passes in two playoff games – (following Daryle Lamonica)\n One of two quarterbacks to complete 80% of his passes in two playoff games (tied with Peyton Manning)\n One of two quarterbacks with four consecutive games with a passer rating over 120 (in 2009, tied with Johnny Unitas)\n One of four quarterbacks to make Super Bowl starts with two teams (with Craig Morton – Dallas Cowboys (in 1970) and Denver Broncos (in 1977), Peyton Manning – Indianapolis Colts (in 2006 and 2009) and Denver Broncos (in 2013 and 2015), and Tom Brady - New England Patriots (in 2002, 2004-2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2017-2019) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in 2021))\n One of five quarterbacks to win a Conference championship with two teams (with Craig Morton and Earl Morrall and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady)\n\nRams franchise records\n Most touchdown passes in a single season (41, 1999) (tied with Matthew Stafford, 2021)\n Single season leader in passer rating (109.2, 1999)\n\nCardinal records\n Most pass completions in a single game – 40 (September 28, 2008)\n Highest pass completion percentage with at least 11 passes – 92.3% (September 20, 2009)\n 4th Cardinal to post a perfect passer rating \n Most passes completed in a single season – 401 (2008)\n Most passes attempted in a single season – 598 (2008)\n Highest passing completion percentage in a single season – 67.1% (2008)\n Highest passing completion percentage in a career – 65.1%\n Highest passer rating in a career – 91.9\n\nPersonal life\n\nChildhood\nKurt Warner was born to Gene and Sue Warner. Warner's parents divorced when he was six. Kurt and his brother, Matt, lived with their mother, including through another short marriage and divorce.\n\nKurt's father, Gene Warner, remarried a year after divorcing Kurt's mom. Warner's stepmother, Mimi Warner, also had a son named Matt (Post). The three boys formed a close relationship soon thereafter. Kurt graduated in 1989 from Regis High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was quarterback of the school's Class 3A football team.\n\nCollege\nWarner graduated from University of Northern Iowa with a degree in communications.\n\nMarriage\nDuring college, Warner met his future wife, Brenda Carney Meoni; they married on October 11, 1997. Brenda is a former United States Marine Corps corporal. She was divorced with two children, one of whom was left brain damaged and blind after being accidentally dropped by Brenda's ex-husband, leading to her hardship discharge from the Marines in 1990.\n\nAfter Warner was cut from the Packers' training camp in 1994, he got a job working the night shift as a night stock clerk at a local Hy-Vee grocery store, in addition to his work as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. While Warner was working as an assistant coach, the couple were living in Brenda's parents' basement in Cedar Falls. Brenda's parents were killed in 1996 when their Mountain View, Arkansas home was destroyed by a tornado. Warner and Brenda married on October 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church, the same place where the service for Brenda's parents was held. Warner was still hoping to get an NFL tryout, but with that possibility appearing dim and the long hours at Hy-Vee for minimum wage taking their toll, Warner began his Arena League career.\n\nAfter marrying Brenda, Warner officially adopted her two children from her first marriage; they have since added five children of their own.\n\nChristian faith and testimony\nKurt and Brenda Warner are devout evangelical Christians. His faith first emerged on the national stage following the Rams' Super Bowl victory, where he was named the game's MVP:\n\nNine years later, upon leading the Cardinals to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl, Warner's response was similar:\n\nWarner has usually attended charismatic churches, and believes that God healed him from a concussion he suffered in 2000. However, he eschews the term \"charismatic.\" In 2001, he told Charisma, \"I'm just a Christian.\"\n\nBroadcasting\nIn 2010, Warner joined NFL Network as an analyst. He can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access, as well as in-studio on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football pregame show, Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Sears. Warner also served as an analyst for the NFL Network's coverage of the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs. Warner tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021, and was unable to serve on the studio panel for NFL GameDay Morning for the wild card playoff round.\n\nIn August 2010, Fox Sports announced that Warner would be serving as a color analyst on the network's NFL coverage in the 2010 season. He teamed with play-by-play announcers Chris Rose or Chris Myers to call regional games.\n\nIn 2014, Westwood One radio hired Warner as a substitute analyst on Monday Night Football games when regular analyst Boomer Esiason is unavailable. In 2018, Warner became the full-time radio analyst.\n\nTelevision appearances\nOn January 27, 2009, Warner made a special appearance on the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser.\n\nWarner made a guest appearance on Disney's The Suite Life on Deck as himself, in the episode \"Any Given Fantasy\" which aired on January 18, 2010.\n\nOn February 9, 2010, Warner was a surprise guest on the final episode of The Jay Leno Show.\n\nOn August 30, 2010, it was announced on live television that Warner would be appearing as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. His professional dance partner was Anna Trebunskaya; the couple was eliminated in week 8, the Instant Choreography Week.\n\nWarner appeared as the host of The Moment, a reality series on USA Network, in 2013.\n\nFilm and video\nIn 2003, GoodTimes Entertainment released the direct-to-home video Kurt Warner's Good Sports Gang, a film featuring Warner as the \"coach\" of a group of animated sports balls. The series was sponsored by Warner, and focused on religious faith and moral values. A portion of the proceeds went to Warner's First Things First Foundation. Although it was originally planned as a series, Episode 1: Elliot the Invincible, was the only release along with Together, We're Better (Episode 2) and a few shorts featuring Warner and his adopted daughter, Jesse Warner.\n\nIn February 2020, it was announced that the Erwin Brothers were creating, and releasing a theatrical film about Kurt's life titled American Underdog, with Zachary Levi as Warner. The film was produced by Kingdom Story Company, and distributed by Lionsgate on December 25, 2021 to generally favorable reviews.\n\nEndorsements\nOn December 3, 2010, Warner's first multi-year post-retirement endorsement agreement was announced. Amway North America announced that it had signed Warner to a multi-year endorsement agreement to represent the Nutrilite brand. Amway reportedly agreed to make a $50,000 donation to Kurt Warner's First Things First Foundation.\n\nIn addition to his post-retirement endorsements and charity work, Warner has invested in the Elite Football League of India, a South Asian professional football league. Other prominent American backers include former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, and actor Mark Wahlberg. Warner's total investment amount remains undisclosed, although $50,000 of it will go towards a donation of footballs to schools and underprivileged children throughout India.\n\nPublic service\nWarner has also appeared in several public service announcements for Civitan International, promoting his and Brenda's volunteer efforts and their work with the developmentally disabled. This issue is personally close to Warner, as Zachary, his adopted son from Brenda's first marriage, suffered major brain damage as an infant when his biological father accidentally dropped him.\n\nWarner has devoted time and money to his First Things First Foundation, the name of which was derived from his interview after winning the Super Bowl in 1999. The foundation is dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put 'first things first.' The foundation has been involved with numerous projects for causes such as children's hospitals, people with developmental disabilities and assisting single parents. Warner's work both on and off the field resulted in him being awarded the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award 2008, which was presented to him at the start of Super Bowl XLIII. In March 2009, Warner was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Leadership Award. Warner was selected by USA Weekend as the winner of its annual Most Caring Athlete Award for 2009. In December 2009, Warner topped a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players to name the best role model on and off the field in the NFL.\n\nIn February 2010, Warner received the annual Bart Starr Award, given for outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community. At the award presentation, Bart Starr said of Warner: \"We have never given this award to anyone who is more deserving\".\n\nSee also\n List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating\n List of Arena Football League and National Football League players\n NFL starting quarterback playoff records\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n Warner, Kurt & Silver, Michael, (2000). All Things Possible. San Francisco: HarperCollins. (cloth) (paper back).\n Warner, Kurt & Brenda, (2009). First Things First. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Inc. (Hardcover)\n\nExternal links\n \n\n \n\n1971 births\nAlliance of American Football announcers\nAmerican Christians\nAmerican football quarterbacks\nAmsterdam Admirals players\nArena football announcers\nArizona Cardinals players\nGreen Bay Packers players\nIowa Barnstormers players\nLiving people\nNational Conference Pro Bowl players\nNational Football League announcers\nNational Football League Most Valuable Player Award winners\nNew York Giants players\nNorthern Iowa Panthers football coaches\nNorthern Iowa Panthers football players\nPeople from Burlington, Iowa\nPlayers of American football from Iowa\nPro Football Hall of Fame inductees\nSportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa\nSt. Louis Rams players\nSuper Bowl MVPs"
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[
"Kurt Warner",
"2007 season",
"What was Warner's record in the 2007 season?",
"37-31"
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| C_a8a67f52857944cbb03d0ee936cf17c7_0 | How many passing yards did he throw? | 2 | How many passing yards did Kurt Warner throw? | Kurt Warner | Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23-6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23-23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26-23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal. On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season. Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37-31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6-6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000. CANNOTANSWER | finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards | Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend from an undrafted free agent to a two-time Most Valuable Player and Super Bowl MVP, is regarded as one of the greatest stories in NFL history.
After playing college football at Northern Iowa from 1990 to 1993, Warner spent four years without being named to an NFL roster. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, but released before the regular season and instead played three seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League (AFL). Warner landed his first NFL roster spot in 1998 with the Rams, holding a backup position until he was thrust into becoming St. Louis' starter the following season. During his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Warner led The Greatest Show on Turf offense to the Rams' first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXIV, earning him league and Super Bowl MVP honors. He won his second league MVP award in 2001, en route to a Super Bowl XXXVI appearance, and also appeared in Super Bowl XLIII with the Cardinals.
Considered the NFL's greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
High school and college
Born in Burlington, Iowa, Warner played football at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, graduating in 1989. After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Northern Iowa, graduating in 1993. At UNI, Warner was third on the Panthers' depth chart until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and first team all-conference.
Professional career
Green Bay Packers
Following his college career, Warner went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft. He was invited to try out for the Green Bay Packers' training camp in 1994, but was released before the regular season began. Warner was competing for a spot against Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and former Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. While Warner was with the Packers, the head coach was Mike Holmgren, the quarterback coach was Steve Mariucci, and Andy Reid was the offensive assistant.
After his release, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. Warner often cites this starting point when telling of his rise to NFL stardom in 1999. He also mentions that his deepened dedication to Christianity occurred around 1997. Warner returned to Northern Iowa and worked as a graduate assistant coach with the football team, while still hoping to get another tryout with an NFL team.
Iowa Barnstormers
With no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1995, and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. He was named to the AFL's First-team All-Arena in both 1996 and 1997 after he led the Barnstormers to ArenaBowl appearances in both seasons. Warner's performance was so impressive that he was later named twelfth out of the 20 Best Arena Football Players of all time.
Before the 1997 NFL season, Warner requested and got a tryout with the Chicago Bears, but an injury to his throwing elbow caused by a spider bite sustained during his honeymoon prevented him from attending.
In 2000, after Warner's breakout NFL season, the AFL used his new fame for the name of its first widely available video game, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed. Years later, on August 12, 2011, he would be named as an inductee into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
St. Louis Rams
Amsterdam Admirals
In December 1997 after the St. Louis Rams' season ended, Warner signed a futures contract with the team. In February 1998, he was allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Amsterdam Admirals, where he led the league in touchdowns and passing yards. His backup at the time was future Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. Returning to the United States, Warner spent the 1998 season as St. Louis' third-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He ended his season completing only 4 of 11 pass attempts for 39 yards and a 47.2 QB rating.
1999 season
Prior to the 1999 free-agency period, the Rams chose Warner to be one of the team's five unprotected players in the 1999 NFL expansion draft. Warner went unselected by the Cleveland Browns, who chose no Rams and whose only quarterback selection was Scott Milanovich.
The Rams let Bono leave in free agency and signed Trent Green to be the starter. Banks was traded to the Ravens, and Warner now found himself second on the depth chart. After Green suffered a torn ACL via a low hit by Rodney Harrison in a preseason game, Rams coach Dick Vermeil named Warner as the Rams' starter. In an emotional press conference, Vermeil—who hadn't seen Warner work with the first-string offense—said, "We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we'll play good football." With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim, and Ricky Proehl, Warner put together one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf" and registered the first in a string of three consecutive 500-point seasons, an NFL record.
Warner threw three touchdown passes in each of his first three NFL starts, an NFL record until it was surpassed by Patrick Mahomes in 2018. Warner drew more attention in the Rams' fourth game of the season, a home game against the San Francisco 49ers (who had been NFC West division champions for 12 of the previous 13 seasons). The Rams lost their last 17 meetings with the 49ers, but Warner proceeded to throw a touchdown pass on each of the Rams' first three possessions of the game, and four touchdowns in the first half alone, to propel the Rams to a 28–10 halftime lead on the way to a 42–20 victory. Warner finished the game with five touchdown passes, giving him 14 in four games and the Rams a 4–0 record. Warner's breakout season from a career in anonymity was so unexpected that Sports Illustrated featured him on their October 18 cover with the caption "Who Is This Guy?" He was named the 1999 NFL MVP at the season's end for leading the Rams to their first playoff berth since 1989 (when they were still in Los Angeles) and their first division title since 1985.
In the NFL playoffs, Warner ultimately led the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans. In the game, he threw for two touchdowns and a then Super Bowl-record 414 passing yards, including a 73-yard touchdown to Isaac Bruce when the game was tied with just over two minutes to play, which proved to be the game-winning score. Warner also set a Super Bowl record by attempting 45 passes without a single interception. For his performance, Warner was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award. As of 2021, Warner is the most recent player to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year.
2000 season
On July 21, Warner signed a seven-year contract worth $47 million. He started the 2000 season where he had left off in his record-setting 1999 season, racking up 300 or more passing yards in each of his first six games (tying Steve Young's record) and posting 19 touchdown passes in that stretch. Warner broke his hand and missed the middle of the season, but Trent Green filled in ably and the Warner/Green duo led the Rams to the highest team passing yard total in NFL history, with 5,232 net yards. Warner and Green's combined gross passing yards total was 5,492. In contrast to his previous season, however, Warner's turnover rate drastically increased in 2000, as he threw an interception in 5.2% of his attempts (compared to just 2.6% in 1999). Despite one of the most productive offensive years by an NFL team, the Rams won only ten games and lost in the wild card round to the New Orleans Saints. In response to the disappointing season, the Rams cut nine of their eleven defensive starters during the offseason, and Trent Green was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
2001 season
Warner returned to MVP form in 2001. Although his performance lagged behind his 1999 performance, he amassed a league-high 36 touchdown passes and 4,830 passing yards, and another league high mark in passer rating (101.4). Warner's tendency for turnovers carried over from 2000, as he tossed a career-high 22 interceptions (despite completing a career-high 68.7% of his passes), but he still led "The Greatest Show on Turf" to its third consecutive 6–0 start (becoming the first NFL team to do so, later equaled by the 2005–2007 Indianapolis Colts), an NFL-best 14–2 record, and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVI. Warner was also named the NFL MVP for the second time in three seasons, giving the Rams their third winner in as many years (running back Marshall Faulk won in 2000).
In Super Bowl XXXVI, Warner threw for 365 yards (then the second-highest, now the sixth-highest total in Super Bowl history) and a passing touchdown along with a rushing touchdown, but his rhythm was disrupted by New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's defensive game plan and he tossed two costly interceptions which helped stake the heavy-underdog Patriots to a two-touchdown lead. After falling behind to the Patriots 17–3, though, the Rams rallied to tie the game late in the fourth quarter on a one-yard Warner quarterback sneak touchdown run and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl. The game ended in a 20-17 loss for Warner and the Rams when Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired, giving the Patriots the first of three Super Bowl wins in four years.
2002–2003 seasons
Warner began the 2002 season as the Rams' starter, but he played poorly, throwing seven interceptions against only one touchdown as the team went 0–3. In the Rams' fourth game, this one against the Dallas Cowboys, Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand. Warner attempted to come back later in the season, but his injury allowed him to play only two more games (both losses). In contrast to his 103.0 career passer rating entering the season, Warner posted a minuscule 67.4 rating in 2002.
The following season, Warner was replaced as the Rams' starting quarterback for good after fumbling six times in the team's opening-day game against the New York Giants. Warner later revealed that he had previously broken his hand and that it had not fully healed, making it more difficult to grip the football. His successor as the Rams' starting quarterback, Marc Bulger (another relatively unheralded quarterback coming out of college), stepped into the breach and played reasonably well upon replacing Warner.
The Rams signed veteran Chris Chandler as Bulger's backup. The Rams released Warner on June 1, 2004 with three years left on his contract.
New York Giants
Two days after his release from the Rams, he signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the New York Giants, with a second year player option worth $6 million. Warner started the 2004 season as the Giants' starting quarterback, winning five of his first seven games, but following a two-game losing streak, highly touted rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. The Giants had a 5–4 win-loss record at the time of Warner's benching, finishing at 6–10 overall (going only 1–6 under Manning). Following the season, Warner chose to void the second year of his contract, and thus became a free agent.
Arizona Cardinals
2005 season
In early 2005, Warner signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starter by coach Dennis Green. Warner posted three relatively mediocre performances before injuring his groin and being replaced by former starter Josh McCown. McCown performed well enough in the two games Warner missed that McCown remained the starter.
After McCown struggled in two straight games, Green re-inserted Warner into the starting line-up. After playing fairly well in two consecutive losses (passing for a total of nearly 700 yards), Warner defeated his former team, the Rams, by a score of 38–28. He passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns while posting a quarterback rating of 115.9. Warner's season ended in week 15 when he partially tore his MCL.
Warner signed a new three-year extension with the Cardinals on February 14, 2006. The deal had a base salary of $18 million and, with performance incentives, could have been worth as much as $24 million.
2006 season
In Week 1 of the 2006 NFL season, Warner won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, Warner passed the 20,000-yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second-quickest of any player in NFL history (Warner accomplished the feat in one game more than it took record-holder Dan Marino).
After three subpar games in Weeks 2-4, Warner was replaced as quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of week 4. Then-coach Dennis Green stated that Warner would be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season. In week 16, Leinart went down with a shoulder injury against the 49ers, forcing Warner to see his first action since week 4. Warner filled in nicely, as he was able to hang on for the Cardinals win. In week 17 against the San Diego Chargers, Warner started again in place of the injured Leinart, throwing for 365 yards (which led the NFL for that week) and a touchdown, though the Chargers were able to hold on for a 27–20 win.
2007 season
Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23–6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23–23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26–23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal.
On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season.
Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37–31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6–6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000.
2008 season
Leinart was named the Cardinals' starting quarterback going into the 2008 off-season, but Ken Whisenhunt stated that it would be very possible for Warner to be the starter before week one of the regular season. Indeed, Warner was named the starter on August 30, 2008. That season, Warner had 4,583 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 67.1%. He was the top ranked passer in the National Football Conference for the third time, and only trailed Philip Rivers and Chad Pennington of the AFC in NFL passer rating for the season. Warner also received FedEx Air Player of the Week honors for his performance during weeks 9 and 11 of the season. He had his struggles during the season, as in week 3 of the season vs. the New York Jets, his team turned the ball over 7 times. This included an interception for a touchdown, and 2 picks resulting in a touchdown and a field goal in just the second quarter. Warner still managed to get his team to score 35 points in a 56-35 loss.
On December 7, 2008, Warner led the Cardinals to a 34–10 win over his former team, the Rams, securing for the Cardinals the NFC West Division title and their first playoff berth since 1998. It was the Cardinals' first division title since 1975 and third of the post-merger era. As a result, the Cardinals earned a home playoff game, only their second ever, and their first in Arizona. (Despite winning division titles in the 1974 and 1975 seasons in St. Louis, the Cardinals played on the road in the playoffs as a result of the playoff structure in those days.) On December 16, 2008, Warner was named the starting quarterback for the NFC team in the 2009 Pro Bowl.
2008 postseason
On January 3, 2009, Warner led the Cardinals in their victory over the Atlanta Falcons 30–24 at home in the first round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 19 for 32 passing, a completion percentage of 59.4%, for 271 yards. He threw two touchdowns and one interception. This win represented the first time the Cardinals had won a post-season home game since the 1947 NFL Championship Game.
On January 10, Warner helped the Cardinals defeat the Carolina Panthers 33–13 in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 21 for 32 passing, for 220 yards, a completion percentage of 65.6%, with two touchdowns and one interception. This win was the first time the Cardinals had won a game on the East Coast the entire 2008 season, after having lost away games to the Panthers, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, and the New England Patriots.
On January 18, Warner threw for 279 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles to lead the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in history. Warner is one of four quarterbacks who made Super Bowl starts with two teams (alongside Craig Morton, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady).
In Warner's third career Super Bowl appearance on February 1, the Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, leaving him with a career 1–2 record in Super Bowls. Despite losing, Warner still managed to throw for 377 yards (the fourth-highest total in Super Bowl history). He completed 72.1% of his passes, and had a quarterback rating of 112.3. Warner had now recorded the three highest single-game passing yardage totals in the history of the Super Bowl, and joined Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, John Elway, and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to throw a touchdown pass in three Super Bowls. Warner took his team to the Super Bowl every year that he played as the starting quarterback during all regular and post season games.
2009 season
Warner announced his desire to return to the Cardinals for the 2009 season. The Cardinals offered him a two-year contract worth around $20 million but Warner was looking for a contract that would pay him about $14 million a year and the two sides could not come to an agreement. On February 27, 2009, Warner became a free agent and went on to have talks with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers offered Warner a contract worth more than that offered by the Cardinals. On March 4, Warner re-signed with the Cardinals to a two-year deal worth $23 million total, $4 million for each of the next two years, with a $15 million signing bonus, and $19 million guaranteed. Warner underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on March 17, 2009. On September 20, 2009, Warner broke the NFL's single-game record for completion percentage in the regular season, completing 24 of 26 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Warner's 92.3 percent completion rate broke the previous NFL record set by Vinny Testaverde in 1993.
On November 1, 2009, Warner threw a career-high-equaling five interceptions during a loss to the Carolina Panthers. During the same game Warner became the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 14,000 yards with two teams. On November 8, Warner equaled his career-high of five touchdown passes in a single game during a 41–21 victory over the Chicago Bears. This performance led to Warner being named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week. On November 15, 2009, Warner reached a career milestone with his 200th touchdown pass during a 31–20 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
On November 22, 2009, during a 21–13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Warner left the game after suffering a concussion. Warner continued to suffer from post-concussion symptoms and on November 29, 2009, he was deactivated against the Tennessee Titans, breaking his consecutive starts streak at 41 games. On December 6, 2009, Warner returned to action as the Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30–17. Warner registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him only the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After his three-touchdown performance, Warner was named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.
On December 27, 2009, Warner became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is the other), in the Cardinals' 31–10 win over the St. Louis Rams. On December 29, 2009, Warner was named an alternate quarterback for the NFC team in the 2010 Pro Bowl.
2009 postseason
On January 10, 2010, Warner threw five touchdowns and completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards in a 51–45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The game had the highest combined total score in NFL playoff history. Warner became one of the very few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4) in a playoff game. Warner finished the game with the second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history with a rating of 154.1. He also became the second quarterback to throw for five touchdown passes in a playoff game twice, and the first to do so since the merger of the leagues. He is also the oldest player to have thrown that many touchdown passes in a playoff game (38 years, 202 days). Warner also tied the NFL record for consecutive playoff games with at least three touchdown passes (three games). Since the playoff game was his last at home in the playoffs during his career, he finished a perfect 7-0 in home contests (4-0 with St. Louis; 3-0 with Arizona).
On January 16, Warner was injured in the first half trying to tackle the ball carrier after an interception on the way to a 45–14 loss at New Orleans in the NFC Divisional round. He returned for the second half, but yielded to understudy Matt Leinart midway through the fourth quarter. In 2012, the NFL discovered the Saints had placed a bounty on Warner. Warner never accused the Saints of making an illegal hit or ending his career, saying "It was a violent hit, no question. But I also believe it was a legal hit."
Retirement
Warner officially announced his retirement from the NFL in January 2010. He said he was looking forward to finally being a true father to his seven kids, and that he wanted to spend time with his wife. He spoke on the impact and influence of his family, former teammates, and God. He became eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame following the 2014 season. In December 2014, Warner admitted he briefly considered coming out of retirement and returning to the Cardinals following the team losing Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton due to injuries.
Post-retirement career
Warner became an Iowa Barnstormers broadcaster for the 2011 Arena Football League season. In May 2010, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Iowa Barnstormers Hall of Fame.
Warner was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Warner was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2017. He was inducted on August 5, 2017, alongside Morten Andersen, Terrell Davis, Kenny Easley, Jerry Jones, Jason Taylor, and LaDainian Tomlinson. He is the only person inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
From 2015 to 2018, Warner was a coach at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Notably, Kedon Slovis played under Warner before being recruited by the USC Trojans for the 2019 college football season.
Since 2019, Warner is the quarterbacks coach at Brophy College Preparatory.
Career statistics and records
NFL statistics
Regular season
Postseason
Super Bowl
NFL records
First quarterback to throw 400+ yards in a Super Bowl game – 414 yards against Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV
Was the most passing yards in a Super Bowl game until surpassed by Tom Brady in Super Bowl LI
Most touchdown passes in a single postseason – 11 touchdowns (in 2009, tied with Joe Montana in 1990 and Joe Flacco in 2013)
Most yards passing in a single postseason, 3 games played – 1,063 yards (in 1999)
Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing (min. 100 games played) – 41.9% (52/124)
First quarterback to throw 40 touchdowns and win a Super Bowl in the same season (in 1999; Tom Brady accomplished the same feat in 2020 when he threw 40 touchdowns and won Super Bowl LV.)
Most yards passing in the first four games of a season – 1557 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first five games of a season – 1947 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first six games of a season – 2260 yards (2000)
Highest average passing yards per game on Monday Night Football – 329.4 yards (min 7 games)
Most wins in the NFC Championship Game without a loss (3-0; 1999, 2001, 2008).
Warner shares several records:
One of three quarterbacks to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Fran Tarkenton and Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks tied to throw five touchdown passes in two playoff games – (following Daryle Lamonica)
One of two quarterbacks to complete 80% of his passes in two playoff games (tied with Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks with four consecutive games with a passer rating over 120 (in 2009, tied with Johnny Unitas)
One of four quarterbacks to make Super Bowl starts with two teams (with Craig Morton – Dallas Cowboys (in 1970) and Denver Broncos (in 1977), Peyton Manning – Indianapolis Colts (in 2006 and 2009) and Denver Broncos (in 2013 and 2015), and Tom Brady - New England Patriots (in 2002, 2004-2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2017-2019) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in 2021))
One of five quarterbacks to win a Conference championship with two teams (with Craig Morton and Earl Morrall and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady)
Rams franchise records
Most touchdown passes in a single season (41, 1999) (tied with Matthew Stafford, 2021)
Single season leader in passer rating (109.2, 1999)
Cardinal records
Most pass completions in a single game – 40 (September 28, 2008)
Highest pass completion percentage with at least 11 passes – 92.3% (September 20, 2009)
4th Cardinal to post a perfect passer rating
Most passes completed in a single season – 401 (2008)
Most passes attempted in a single season – 598 (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a single season – 67.1% (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a career – 65.1%
Highest passer rating in a career – 91.9
Personal life
Childhood
Kurt Warner was born to Gene and Sue Warner. Warner's parents divorced when he was six. Kurt and his brother, Matt, lived with their mother, including through another short marriage and divorce.
Kurt's father, Gene Warner, remarried a year after divorcing Kurt's mom. Warner's stepmother, Mimi Warner, also had a son named Matt (Post). The three boys formed a close relationship soon thereafter. Kurt graduated in 1989 from Regis High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was quarterback of the school's Class 3A football team.
College
Warner graduated from University of Northern Iowa with a degree in communications.
Marriage
During college, Warner met his future wife, Brenda Carney Meoni; they married on October 11, 1997. Brenda is a former United States Marine Corps corporal. She was divorced with two children, one of whom was left brain damaged and blind after being accidentally dropped by Brenda's ex-husband, leading to her hardship discharge from the Marines in 1990.
After Warner was cut from the Packers' training camp in 1994, he got a job working the night shift as a night stock clerk at a local Hy-Vee grocery store, in addition to his work as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. While Warner was working as an assistant coach, the couple were living in Brenda's parents' basement in Cedar Falls. Brenda's parents were killed in 1996 when their Mountain View, Arkansas home was destroyed by a tornado. Warner and Brenda married on October 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church, the same place where the service for Brenda's parents was held. Warner was still hoping to get an NFL tryout, but with that possibility appearing dim and the long hours at Hy-Vee for minimum wage taking their toll, Warner began his Arena League career.
After marrying Brenda, Warner officially adopted her two children from her first marriage; they have since added five children of their own.
Christian faith and testimony
Kurt and Brenda Warner are devout evangelical Christians. His faith first emerged on the national stage following the Rams' Super Bowl victory, where he was named the game's MVP:
Nine years later, upon leading the Cardinals to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl, Warner's response was similar:
Warner has usually attended charismatic churches, and believes that God healed him from a concussion he suffered in 2000. However, he eschews the term "charismatic." In 2001, he told Charisma, "I'm just a Christian."
Broadcasting
In 2010, Warner joined NFL Network as an analyst. He can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access, as well as in-studio on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football pregame show, Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Sears. Warner also served as an analyst for the NFL Network's coverage of the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs. Warner tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021, and was unable to serve on the studio panel for NFL GameDay Morning for the wild card playoff round.
In August 2010, Fox Sports announced that Warner would be serving as a color analyst on the network's NFL coverage in the 2010 season. He teamed with play-by-play announcers Chris Rose or Chris Myers to call regional games.
In 2014, Westwood One radio hired Warner as a substitute analyst on Monday Night Football games when regular analyst Boomer Esiason is unavailable. In 2018, Warner became the full-time radio analyst.
Television appearances
On January 27, 2009, Warner made a special appearance on the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser.
Warner made a guest appearance on Disney's The Suite Life on Deck as himself, in the episode "Any Given Fantasy" which aired on January 18, 2010.
On February 9, 2010, Warner was a surprise guest on the final episode of The Jay Leno Show.
On August 30, 2010, it was announced on live television that Warner would be appearing as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. His professional dance partner was Anna Trebunskaya; the couple was eliminated in week 8, the Instant Choreography Week.
Warner appeared as the host of The Moment, a reality series on USA Network, in 2013.
Film and video
In 2003, GoodTimes Entertainment released the direct-to-home video Kurt Warner's Good Sports Gang, a film featuring Warner as the "coach" of a group of animated sports balls. The series was sponsored by Warner, and focused on religious faith and moral values. A portion of the proceeds went to Warner's First Things First Foundation. Although it was originally planned as a series, Episode 1: Elliot the Invincible, was the only release along with Together, We're Better (Episode 2) and a few shorts featuring Warner and his adopted daughter, Jesse Warner.
In February 2020, it was announced that the Erwin Brothers were creating, and releasing a theatrical film about Kurt's life titled American Underdog, with Zachary Levi as Warner. The film was produced by Kingdom Story Company, and distributed by Lionsgate on December 25, 2021 to generally favorable reviews.
Endorsements
On December 3, 2010, Warner's first multi-year post-retirement endorsement agreement was announced. Amway North America announced that it had signed Warner to a multi-year endorsement agreement to represent the Nutrilite brand. Amway reportedly agreed to make a $50,000 donation to Kurt Warner's First Things First Foundation.
In addition to his post-retirement endorsements and charity work, Warner has invested in the Elite Football League of India, a South Asian professional football league. Other prominent American backers include former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, and actor Mark Wahlberg. Warner's total investment amount remains undisclosed, although $50,000 of it will go towards a donation of footballs to schools and underprivileged children throughout India.
Public service
Warner has also appeared in several public service announcements for Civitan International, promoting his and Brenda's volunteer efforts and their work with the developmentally disabled. This issue is personally close to Warner, as Zachary, his adopted son from Brenda's first marriage, suffered major brain damage as an infant when his biological father accidentally dropped him.
Warner has devoted time and money to his First Things First Foundation, the name of which was derived from his interview after winning the Super Bowl in 1999. The foundation is dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put 'first things first.' The foundation has been involved with numerous projects for causes such as children's hospitals, people with developmental disabilities and assisting single parents. Warner's work both on and off the field resulted in him being awarded the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award 2008, which was presented to him at the start of Super Bowl XLIII. In March 2009, Warner was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Leadership Award. Warner was selected by USA Weekend as the winner of its annual Most Caring Athlete Award for 2009. In December 2009, Warner topped a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players to name the best role model on and off the field in the NFL.
In February 2010, Warner received the annual Bart Starr Award, given for outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community. At the award presentation, Bart Starr said of Warner: "We have never given this award to anyone who is more deserving".
See also
List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of Arena Football League and National Football League players
NFL starting quarterback playoff records
References
Further reading
Warner, Kurt & Silver, Michael, (2000). All Things Possible. San Francisco: HarperCollins. (cloth) (paper back).
Warner, Kurt & Brenda, (2009). First Things First. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Inc. (Hardcover)
External links
1971 births
Alliance of American Football announcers
American Christians
American football quarterbacks
Amsterdam Admirals players
Arena football announcers
Arizona Cardinals players
Green Bay Packers players
Iowa Barnstormers players
Living people
National Conference Pro Bowl players
National Football League announcers
National Football League Most Valuable Player Award winners
New York Giants players
Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches
Northern Iowa Panthers football players
People from Burlington, Iowa
Players of American football from Iowa
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
St. Louis Rams players
Super Bowl MVPs | true | [
"Gerry Dattilio (born June 11, 1953) is a former professional Canadian football quarterback in the Canadian Football League.\n\nEarly years \nDattilio played his high school football with the Chomedey Chiefs in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he won a City Championship by beating St. Thomas High School of Pointe-Claire, Quebec. He also played in the Quebec Junior Football League with the Verdun Maple Leafs.\n\nHe attended the University of Northern Colorado playing for the Bears from 1972 to 1974. He led the Bears in rushing as a quarterback in 1972 and 1973 and led the team in passing yards in both 1973 (1,367 yards, 18 TDs) and 1974 (1,367 yards, 14 TDs). He ranks 10th on the Bears' all-time passing yards list with 2,953 passing yards and was an All-Great Plains Conference player in both 1973 and 1974.\n\nProfessional career \nIn 1975, Dattilio was the first territorial exemption of the Montreal Alouettes, but after a time on the injury list he was released in September and then the next month he signed with the Toronto Argonauts. He played a single game for the Argos and did not record any statistics. The next season, he was released by the Argonauts, rejoined the Alouettes, and served as the third-string quarterback behind Sonny Wade and Joe Barnes. Also as a utility player Dattilio returned punts, but seized the chance at playing more at quarterback in 1978. While he led the team in pass attempts with 142, with 78 completions, that season, he was second in passing yards with 1120. Dattilio also had 9 interceptions and 5 touchdowns. However, in 1979 Barnes was the clear cut starter and with a run heavy offence there was not many opportunities for Dattilio to play. In 1980 that all changed when a struggling Barnes was traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders after six games. That season Dattilio became an all star quarterback, throwing for 2892 yards and 19 touchdowns and winning the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award and was the eastern nominee for the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award. He threw 5 TDs against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on September 21, 1980. The next season saw Dattilio demoted to back-up in making way for NFL star quarterback Vince Ferragamo. However Ferragamo struggled for most of the 1981 season and Dattilio played enough to tally 1095 aerial yards. Prior to the 1982 season he was traded to the Calgary Stampeders. That year, he threw for 2788 yards, marking the most recent time in which a Canadian quarterback threw for over 2000 in a season. Dattilio completed 194 out of 387 and had only 11 touchdowns to 22 interceptions. 1983 saw him used mostly as a back-up, this time to first year quarterback Bernard Quarles, but got in enough playing time to throw for 1213 yards. In March, 1984, Dattilio was traded back to Montreal (by then re-named the Concordes) where he served as a back-up or a third-string quarterback for two seasons.\n\nAmong Canadian quarterbacks Dattilio is second all-time in statistics with 9952 passing yards on 697 completions from 1271 attempts with 53 touchdowns to 79 interceptions. He also had 993 rushing yards on 189 carries and added eight more touchdowns. He appeared in three Grey Cup games: 1977, 1978, and 1979, but did not throw any passes. Instead, in 1977, he was used as a receiver and caught two passes for 39 yards in the Alouettes' victory over the Edmonton Eskimos.\n\nHe is a business person in Calgary, and was inducted into Northern Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004 and had the Gerry Dattilio Sportsfield named after him in Laval, Quebec, in honour of his great Chomedy High School playing days.\n\nReferences\n\nToronto Argonauts players\nMontreal Alouettes players\nCalgary Stampeders players\nMontreal Concordes players\nSportspeople from Laval, Quebec\nCanadian Football League Most Outstanding Canadian Award winners\nCanadian football quarterbacks\nPlayers of Canadian football from Quebec\nCanadian players of American football\nNorthern Colorado Bears football players\n1953 births\nLiving people",
"The 1921 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1921 college football season, led by fourth-year head coach Knute Rockne.\n\nBack John Mohardt led the team to a 10–1 record with 781 rushing yards, 995 passing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns, and nine passing touchdowns. Grantland Rice wrote that \"Mohardt could throw the ball to within a foot or two of any given space\" and noted that the 1921 Notre Dame team \"was the first team we know of to build its attack around a forward passing game, rather than use a forward passing game as a mere aid to the running game.\"\n\nSchedule\n\nReferences\n\nNotre Dame\nNotre Dame Fighting Irish football seasons\nNotre Dame Fighting Irish football"
]
|
[
"Kurt Warner",
"2007 season",
"What was Warner's record in the 2007 season?",
"37-31",
"How many passing yards did he throw?",
"finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards"
]
| C_a8a67f52857944cbb03d0ee936cf17c7_0 | Did they win the Superbowl? | 3 | Did Kurt Warner win the Superbowl? | Kurt Warner | Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23-6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23-23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26-23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal. On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season. Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37-31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6-6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend from an undrafted free agent to a two-time Most Valuable Player and Super Bowl MVP, is regarded as one of the greatest stories in NFL history.
After playing college football at Northern Iowa from 1990 to 1993, Warner spent four years without being named to an NFL roster. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, but released before the regular season and instead played three seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League (AFL). Warner landed his first NFL roster spot in 1998 with the Rams, holding a backup position until he was thrust into becoming St. Louis' starter the following season. During his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Warner led The Greatest Show on Turf offense to the Rams' first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXIV, earning him league and Super Bowl MVP honors. He won his second league MVP award in 2001, en route to a Super Bowl XXXVI appearance, and also appeared in Super Bowl XLIII with the Cardinals.
Considered the NFL's greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
High school and college
Born in Burlington, Iowa, Warner played football at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, graduating in 1989. After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Northern Iowa, graduating in 1993. At UNI, Warner was third on the Panthers' depth chart until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and first team all-conference.
Professional career
Green Bay Packers
Following his college career, Warner went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft. He was invited to try out for the Green Bay Packers' training camp in 1994, but was released before the regular season began. Warner was competing for a spot against Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and former Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. While Warner was with the Packers, the head coach was Mike Holmgren, the quarterback coach was Steve Mariucci, and Andy Reid was the offensive assistant.
After his release, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. Warner often cites this starting point when telling of his rise to NFL stardom in 1999. He also mentions that his deepened dedication to Christianity occurred around 1997. Warner returned to Northern Iowa and worked as a graduate assistant coach with the football team, while still hoping to get another tryout with an NFL team.
Iowa Barnstormers
With no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1995, and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. He was named to the AFL's First-team All-Arena in both 1996 and 1997 after he led the Barnstormers to ArenaBowl appearances in both seasons. Warner's performance was so impressive that he was later named twelfth out of the 20 Best Arena Football Players of all time.
Before the 1997 NFL season, Warner requested and got a tryout with the Chicago Bears, but an injury to his throwing elbow caused by a spider bite sustained during his honeymoon prevented him from attending.
In 2000, after Warner's breakout NFL season, the AFL used his new fame for the name of its first widely available video game, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed. Years later, on August 12, 2011, he would be named as an inductee into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
St. Louis Rams
Amsterdam Admirals
In December 1997 after the St. Louis Rams' season ended, Warner signed a futures contract with the team. In February 1998, he was allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Amsterdam Admirals, where he led the league in touchdowns and passing yards. His backup at the time was future Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. Returning to the United States, Warner spent the 1998 season as St. Louis' third-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He ended his season completing only 4 of 11 pass attempts for 39 yards and a 47.2 QB rating.
1999 season
Prior to the 1999 free-agency period, the Rams chose Warner to be one of the team's five unprotected players in the 1999 NFL expansion draft. Warner went unselected by the Cleveland Browns, who chose no Rams and whose only quarterback selection was Scott Milanovich.
The Rams let Bono leave in free agency and signed Trent Green to be the starter. Banks was traded to the Ravens, and Warner now found himself second on the depth chart. After Green suffered a torn ACL via a low hit by Rodney Harrison in a preseason game, Rams coach Dick Vermeil named Warner as the Rams' starter. In an emotional press conference, Vermeil—who hadn't seen Warner work with the first-string offense—said, "We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we'll play good football." With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim, and Ricky Proehl, Warner put together one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf" and registered the first in a string of three consecutive 500-point seasons, an NFL record.
Warner threw three touchdown passes in each of his first three NFL starts, an NFL record until it was surpassed by Patrick Mahomes in 2018. Warner drew more attention in the Rams' fourth game of the season, a home game against the San Francisco 49ers (who had been NFC West division champions for 12 of the previous 13 seasons). The Rams lost their last 17 meetings with the 49ers, but Warner proceeded to throw a touchdown pass on each of the Rams' first three possessions of the game, and four touchdowns in the first half alone, to propel the Rams to a 28–10 halftime lead on the way to a 42–20 victory. Warner finished the game with five touchdown passes, giving him 14 in four games and the Rams a 4–0 record. Warner's breakout season from a career in anonymity was so unexpected that Sports Illustrated featured him on their October 18 cover with the caption "Who Is This Guy?" He was named the 1999 NFL MVP at the season's end for leading the Rams to their first playoff berth since 1989 (when they were still in Los Angeles) and their first division title since 1985.
In the NFL playoffs, Warner ultimately led the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans. In the game, he threw for two touchdowns and a then Super Bowl-record 414 passing yards, including a 73-yard touchdown to Isaac Bruce when the game was tied with just over two minutes to play, which proved to be the game-winning score. Warner also set a Super Bowl record by attempting 45 passes without a single interception. For his performance, Warner was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award. As of 2021, Warner is the most recent player to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year.
2000 season
On July 21, Warner signed a seven-year contract worth $47 million. He started the 2000 season where he had left off in his record-setting 1999 season, racking up 300 or more passing yards in each of his first six games (tying Steve Young's record) and posting 19 touchdown passes in that stretch. Warner broke his hand and missed the middle of the season, but Trent Green filled in ably and the Warner/Green duo led the Rams to the highest team passing yard total in NFL history, with 5,232 net yards. Warner and Green's combined gross passing yards total was 5,492. In contrast to his previous season, however, Warner's turnover rate drastically increased in 2000, as he threw an interception in 5.2% of his attempts (compared to just 2.6% in 1999). Despite one of the most productive offensive years by an NFL team, the Rams won only ten games and lost in the wild card round to the New Orleans Saints. In response to the disappointing season, the Rams cut nine of their eleven defensive starters during the offseason, and Trent Green was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
2001 season
Warner returned to MVP form in 2001. Although his performance lagged behind his 1999 performance, he amassed a league-high 36 touchdown passes and 4,830 passing yards, and another league high mark in passer rating (101.4). Warner's tendency for turnovers carried over from 2000, as he tossed a career-high 22 interceptions (despite completing a career-high 68.7% of his passes), but he still led "The Greatest Show on Turf" to its third consecutive 6–0 start (becoming the first NFL team to do so, later equaled by the 2005–2007 Indianapolis Colts), an NFL-best 14–2 record, and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVI. Warner was also named the NFL MVP for the second time in three seasons, giving the Rams their third winner in as many years (running back Marshall Faulk won in 2000).
In Super Bowl XXXVI, Warner threw for 365 yards (then the second-highest, now the sixth-highest total in Super Bowl history) and a passing touchdown along with a rushing touchdown, but his rhythm was disrupted by New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's defensive game plan and he tossed two costly interceptions which helped stake the heavy-underdog Patriots to a two-touchdown lead. After falling behind to the Patriots 17–3, though, the Rams rallied to tie the game late in the fourth quarter on a one-yard Warner quarterback sneak touchdown run and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl. The game ended in a 20-17 loss for Warner and the Rams when Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired, giving the Patriots the first of three Super Bowl wins in four years.
2002–2003 seasons
Warner began the 2002 season as the Rams' starter, but he played poorly, throwing seven interceptions against only one touchdown as the team went 0–3. In the Rams' fourth game, this one against the Dallas Cowboys, Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand. Warner attempted to come back later in the season, but his injury allowed him to play only two more games (both losses). In contrast to his 103.0 career passer rating entering the season, Warner posted a minuscule 67.4 rating in 2002.
The following season, Warner was replaced as the Rams' starting quarterback for good after fumbling six times in the team's opening-day game against the New York Giants. Warner later revealed that he had previously broken his hand and that it had not fully healed, making it more difficult to grip the football. His successor as the Rams' starting quarterback, Marc Bulger (another relatively unheralded quarterback coming out of college), stepped into the breach and played reasonably well upon replacing Warner.
The Rams signed veteran Chris Chandler as Bulger's backup. The Rams released Warner on June 1, 2004 with three years left on his contract.
New York Giants
Two days after his release from the Rams, he signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the New York Giants, with a second year player option worth $6 million. Warner started the 2004 season as the Giants' starting quarterback, winning five of his first seven games, but following a two-game losing streak, highly touted rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. The Giants had a 5–4 win-loss record at the time of Warner's benching, finishing at 6–10 overall (going only 1–6 under Manning). Following the season, Warner chose to void the second year of his contract, and thus became a free agent.
Arizona Cardinals
2005 season
In early 2005, Warner signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starter by coach Dennis Green. Warner posted three relatively mediocre performances before injuring his groin and being replaced by former starter Josh McCown. McCown performed well enough in the two games Warner missed that McCown remained the starter.
After McCown struggled in two straight games, Green re-inserted Warner into the starting line-up. After playing fairly well in two consecutive losses (passing for a total of nearly 700 yards), Warner defeated his former team, the Rams, by a score of 38–28. He passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns while posting a quarterback rating of 115.9. Warner's season ended in week 15 when he partially tore his MCL.
Warner signed a new three-year extension with the Cardinals on February 14, 2006. The deal had a base salary of $18 million and, with performance incentives, could have been worth as much as $24 million.
2006 season
In Week 1 of the 2006 NFL season, Warner won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, Warner passed the 20,000-yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second-quickest of any player in NFL history (Warner accomplished the feat in one game more than it took record-holder Dan Marino).
After three subpar games in Weeks 2-4, Warner was replaced as quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of week 4. Then-coach Dennis Green stated that Warner would be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season. In week 16, Leinart went down with a shoulder injury against the 49ers, forcing Warner to see his first action since week 4. Warner filled in nicely, as he was able to hang on for the Cardinals win. In week 17 against the San Diego Chargers, Warner started again in place of the injured Leinart, throwing for 365 yards (which led the NFL for that week) and a touchdown, though the Chargers were able to hold on for a 27–20 win.
2007 season
Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23–6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23–23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26–23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal.
On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season.
Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37–31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6–6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000.
2008 season
Leinart was named the Cardinals' starting quarterback going into the 2008 off-season, but Ken Whisenhunt stated that it would be very possible for Warner to be the starter before week one of the regular season. Indeed, Warner was named the starter on August 30, 2008. That season, Warner had 4,583 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 67.1%. He was the top ranked passer in the National Football Conference for the third time, and only trailed Philip Rivers and Chad Pennington of the AFC in NFL passer rating for the season. Warner also received FedEx Air Player of the Week honors for his performance during weeks 9 and 11 of the season. He had his struggles during the season, as in week 3 of the season vs. the New York Jets, his team turned the ball over 7 times. This included an interception for a touchdown, and 2 picks resulting in a touchdown and a field goal in just the second quarter. Warner still managed to get his team to score 35 points in a 56-35 loss.
On December 7, 2008, Warner led the Cardinals to a 34–10 win over his former team, the Rams, securing for the Cardinals the NFC West Division title and their first playoff berth since 1998. It was the Cardinals' first division title since 1975 and third of the post-merger era. As a result, the Cardinals earned a home playoff game, only their second ever, and their first in Arizona. (Despite winning division titles in the 1974 and 1975 seasons in St. Louis, the Cardinals played on the road in the playoffs as a result of the playoff structure in those days.) On December 16, 2008, Warner was named the starting quarterback for the NFC team in the 2009 Pro Bowl.
2008 postseason
On January 3, 2009, Warner led the Cardinals in their victory over the Atlanta Falcons 30–24 at home in the first round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 19 for 32 passing, a completion percentage of 59.4%, for 271 yards. He threw two touchdowns and one interception. This win represented the first time the Cardinals had won a post-season home game since the 1947 NFL Championship Game.
On January 10, Warner helped the Cardinals defeat the Carolina Panthers 33–13 in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 21 for 32 passing, for 220 yards, a completion percentage of 65.6%, with two touchdowns and one interception. This win was the first time the Cardinals had won a game on the East Coast the entire 2008 season, after having lost away games to the Panthers, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, and the New England Patriots.
On January 18, Warner threw for 279 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles to lead the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in history. Warner is one of four quarterbacks who made Super Bowl starts with two teams (alongside Craig Morton, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady).
In Warner's third career Super Bowl appearance on February 1, the Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, leaving him with a career 1–2 record in Super Bowls. Despite losing, Warner still managed to throw for 377 yards (the fourth-highest total in Super Bowl history). He completed 72.1% of his passes, and had a quarterback rating of 112.3. Warner had now recorded the three highest single-game passing yardage totals in the history of the Super Bowl, and joined Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, John Elway, and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to throw a touchdown pass in three Super Bowls. Warner took his team to the Super Bowl every year that he played as the starting quarterback during all regular and post season games.
2009 season
Warner announced his desire to return to the Cardinals for the 2009 season. The Cardinals offered him a two-year contract worth around $20 million but Warner was looking for a contract that would pay him about $14 million a year and the two sides could not come to an agreement. On February 27, 2009, Warner became a free agent and went on to have talks with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers offered Warner a contract worth more than that offered by the Cardinals. On March 4, Warner re-signed with the Cardinals to a two-year deal worth $23 million total, $4 million for each of the next two years, with a $15 million signing bonus, and $19 million guaranteed. Warner underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on March 17, 2009. On September 20, 2009, Warner broke the NFL's single-game record for completion percentage in the regular season, completing 24 of 26 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Warner's 92.3 percent completion rate broke the previous NFL record set by Vinny Testaverde in 1993.
On November 1, 2009, Warner threw a career-high-equaling five interceptions during a loss to the Carolina Panthers. During the same game Warner became the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 14,000 yards with two teams. On November 8, Warner equaled his career-high of five touchdown passes in a single game during a 41–21 victory over the Chicago Bears. This performance led to Warner being named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week. On November 15, 2009, Warner reached a career milestone with his 200th touchdown pass during a 31–20 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
On November 22, 2009, during a 21–13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Warner left the game after suffering a concussion. Warner continued to suffer from post-concussion symptoms and on November 29, 2009, he was deactivated against the Tennessee Titans, breaking his consecutive starts streak at 41 games. On December 6, 2009, Warner returned to action as the Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30–17. Warner registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him only the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After his three-touchdown performance, Warner was named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.
On December 27, 2009, Warner became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is the other), in the Cardinals' 31–10 win over the St. Louis Rams. On December 29, 2009, Warner was named an alternate quarterback for the NFC team in the 2010 Pro Bowl.
2009 postseason
On January 10, 2010, Warner threw five touchdowns and completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards in a 51–45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The game had the highest combined total score in NFL playoff history. Warner became one of the very few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4) in a playoff game. Warner finished the game with the second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history with a rating of 154.1. He also became the second quarterback to throw for five touchdown passes in a playoff game twice, and the first to do so since the merger of the leagues. He is also the oldest player to have thrown that many touchdown passes in a playoff game (38 years, 202 days). Warner also tied the NFL record for consecutive playoff games with at least three touchdown passes (three games). Since the playoff game was his last at home in the playoffs during his career, he finished a perfect 7-0 in home contests (4-0 with St. Louis; 3-0 with Arizona).
On January 16, Warner was injured in the first half trying to tackle the ball carrier after an interception on the way to a 45–14 loss at New Orleans in the NFC Divisional round. He returned for the second half, but yielded to understudy Matt Leinart midway through the fourth quarter. In 2012, the NFL discovered the Saints had placed a bounty on Warner. Warner never accused the Saints of making an illegal hit or ending his career, saying "It was a violent hit, no question. But I also believe it was a legal hit."
Retirement
Warner officially announced his retirement from the NFL in January 2010. He said he was looking forward to finally being a true father to his seven kids, and that he wanted to spend time with his wife. He spoke on the impact and influence of his family, former teammates, and God. He became eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame following the 2014 season. In December 2014, Warner admitted he briefly considered coming out of retirement and returning to the Cardinals following the team losing Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton due to injuries.
Post-retirement career
Warner became an Iowa Barnstormers broadcaster for the 2011 Arena Football League season. In May 2010, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Iowa Barnstormers Hall of Fame.
Warner was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Warner was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2017. He was inducted on August 5, 2017, alongside Morten Andersen, Terrell Davis, Kenny Easley, Jerry Jones, Jason Taylor, and LaDainian Tomlinson. He is the only person inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
From 2015 to 2018, Warner was a coach at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Notably, Kedon Slovis played under Warner before being recruited by the USC Trojans for the 2019 college football season.
Since 2019, Warner is the quarterbacks coach at Brophy College Preparatory.
Career statistics and records
NFL statistics
Regular season
Postseason
Super Bowl
NFL records
First quarterback to throw 400+ yards in a Super Bowl game – 414 yards against Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV
Was the most passing yards in a Super Bowl game until surpassed by Tom Brady in Super Bowl LI
Most touchdown passes in a single postseason – 11 touchdowns (in 2009, tied with Joe Montana in 1990 and Joe Flacco in 2013)
Most yards passing in a single postseason, 3 games played – 1,063 yards (in 1999)
Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing (min. 100 games played) – 41.9% (52/124)
First quarterback to throw 40 touchdowns and win a Super Bowl in the same season (in 1999; Tom Brady accomplished the same feat in 2020 when he threw 40 touchdowns and won Super Bowl LV.)
Most yards passing in the first four games of a season – 1557 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first five games of a season – 1947 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first six games of a season – 2260 yards (2000)
Highest average passing yards per game on Monday Night Football – 329.4 yards (min 7 games)
Most wins in the NFC Championship Game without a loss (3-0; 1999, 2001, 2008).
Warner shares several records:
One of three quarterbacks to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Fran Tarkenton and Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks tied to throw five touchdown passes in two playoff games – (following Daryle Lamonica)
One of two quarterbacks to complete 80% of his passes in two playoff games (tied with Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks with four consecutive games with a passer rating over 120 (in 2009, tied with Johnny Unitas)
One of four quarterbacks to make Super Bowl starts with two teams (with Craig Morton – Dallas Cowboys (in 1970) and Denver Broncos (in 1977), Peyton Manning – Indianapolis Colts (in 2006 and 2009) and Denver Broncos (in 2013 and 2015), and Tom Brady - New England Patriots (in 2002, 2004-2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2017-2019) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in 2021))
One of five quarterbacks to win a Conference championship with two teams (with Craig Morton and Earl Morrall and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady)
Rams franchise records
Most touchdown passes in a single season (41, 1999) (tied with Matthew Stafford, 2021)
Single season leader in passer rating (109.2, 1999)
Cardinal records
Most pass completions in a single game – 40 (September 28, 2008)
Highest pass completion percentage with at least 11 passes – 92.3% (September 20, 2009)
4th Cardinal to post a perfect passer rating
Most passes completed in a single season – 401 (2008)
Most passes attempted in a single season – 598 (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a single season – 67.1% (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a career – 65.1%
Highest passer rating in a career – 91.9
Personal life
Childhood
Kurt Warner was born to Gene and Sue Warner. Warner's parents divorced when he was six. Kurt and his brother, Matt, lived with their mother, including through another short marriage and divorce.
Kurt's father, Gene Warner, remarried a year after divorcing Kurt's mom. Warner's stepmother, Mimi Warner, also had a son named Matt (Post). The three boys formed a close relationship soon thereafter. Kurt graduated in 1989 from Regis High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was quarterback of the school's Class 3A football team.
College
Warner graduated from University of Northern Iowa with a degree in communications.
Marriage
During college, Warner met his future wife, Brenda Carney Meoni; they married on October 11, 1997. Brenda is a former United States Marine Corps corporal. She was divorced with two children, one of whom was left brain damaged and blind after being accidentally dropped by Brenda's ex-husband, leading to her hardship discharge from the Marines in 1990.
After Warner was cut from the Packers' training camp in 1994, he got a job working the night shift as a night stock clerk at a local Hy-Vee grocery store, in addition to his work as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. While Warner was working as an assistant coach, the couple were living in Brenda's parents' basement in Cedar Falls. Brenda's parents were killed in 1996 when their Mountain View, Arkansas home was destroyed by a tornado. Warner and Brenda married on October 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church, the same place where the service for Brenda's parents was held. Warner was still hoping to get an NFL tryout, but with that possibility appearing dim and the long hours at Hy-Vee for minimum wage taking their toll, Warner began his Arena League career.
After marrying Brenda, Warner officially adopted her two children from her first marriage; they have since added five children of their own.
Christian faith and testimony
Kurt and Brenda Warner are devout evangelical Christians. His faith first emerged on the national stage following the Rams' Super Bowl victory, where he was named the game's MVP:
Nine years later, upon leading the Cardinals to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl, Warner's response was similar:
Warner has usually attended charismatic churches, and believes that God healed him from a concussion he suffered in 2000. However, he eschews the term "charismatic." In 2001, he told Charisma, "I'm just a Christian."
Broadcasting
In 2010, Warner joined NFL Network as an analyst. He can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access, as well as in-studio on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football pregame show, Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Sears. Warner also served as an analyst for the NFL Network's coverage of the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs. Warner tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021, and was unable to serve on the studio panel for NFL GameDay Morning for the wild card playoff round.
In August 2010, Fox Sports announced that Warner would be serving as a color analyst on the network's NFL coverage in the 2010 season. He teamed with play-by-play announcers Chris Rose or Chris Myers to call regional games.
In 2014, Westwood One radio hired Warner as a substitute analyst on Monday Night Football games when regular analyst Boomer Esiason is unavailable. In 2018, Warner became the full-time radio analyst.
Television appearances
On January 27, 2009, Warner made a special appearance on the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser.
Warner made a guest appearance on Disney's The Suite Life on Deck as himself, in the episode "Any Given Fantasy" which aired on January 18, 2010.
On February 9, 2010, Warner was a surprise guest on the final episode of The Jay Leno Show.
On August 30, 2010, it was announced on live television that Warner would be appearing as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. His professional dance partner was Anna Trebunskaya; the couple was eliminated in week 8, the Instant Choreography Week.
Warner appeared as the host of The Moment, a reality series on USA Network, in 2013.
Film and video
In 2003, GoodTimes Entertainment released the direct-to-home video Kurt Warner's Good Sports Gang, a film featuring Warner as the "coach" of a group of animated sports balls. The series was sponsored by Warner, and focused on religious faith and moral values. A portion of the proceeds went to Warner's First Things First Foundation. Although it was originally planned as a series, Episode 1: Elliot the Invincible, was the only release along with Together, We're Better (Episode 2) and a few shorts featuring Warner and his adopted daughter, Jesse Warner.
In February 2020, it was announced that the Erwin Brothers were creating, and releasing a theatrical film about Kurt's life titled American Underdog, with Zachary Levi as Warner. The film was produced by Kingdom Story Company, and distributed by Lionsgate on December 25, 2021 to generally favorable reviews.
Endorsements
On December 3, 2010, Warner's first multi-year post-retirement endorsement agreement was announced. Amway North America announced that it had signed Warner to a multi-year endorsement agreement to represent the Nutrilite brand. Amway reportedly agreed to make a $50,000 donation to Kurt Warner's First Things First Foundation.
In addition to his post-retirement endorsements and charity work, Warner has invested in the Elite Football League of India, a South Asian professional football league. Other prominent American backers include former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, and actor Mark Wahlberg. Warner's total investment amount remains undisclosed, although $50,000 of it will go towards a donation of footballs to schools and underprivileged children throughout India.
Public service
Warner has also appeared in several public service announcements for Civitan International, promoting his and Brenda's volunteer efforts and their work with the developmentally disabled. This issue is personally close to Warner, as Zachary, his adopted son from Brenda's first marriage, suffered major brain damage as an infant when his biological father accidentally dropped him.
Warner has devoted time and money to his First Things First Foundation, the name of which was derived from his interview after winning the Super Bowl in 1999. The foundation is dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put 'first things first.' The foundation has been involved with numerous projects for causes such as children's hospitals, people with developmental disabilities and assisting single parents. Warner's work both on and off the field resulted in him being awarded the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award 2008, which was presented to him at the start of Super Bowl XLIII. In March 2009, Warner was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Leadership Award. Warner was selected by USA Weekend as the winner of its annual Most Caring Athlete Award for 2009. In December 2009, Warner topped a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players to name the best role model on and off the field in the NFL.
In February 2010, Warner received the annual Bart Starr Award, given for outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community. At the award presentation, Bart Starr said of Warner: "We have never given this award to anyone who is more deserving".
See also
List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of Arena Football League and National Football League players
NFL starting quarterback playoff records
References
Further reading
Warner, Kurt & Silver, Michael, (2000). All Things Possible. San Francisco: HarperCollins. (cloth) (paper back).
Warner, Kurt & Brenda, (2009). First Things First. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Inc. (Hardcover)
External links
1971 births
Alliance of American Football announcers
American Christians
American football quarterbacks
Amsterdam Admirals players
Arena football announcers
Arizona Cardinals players
Green Bay Packers players
Iowa Barnstormers players
Living people
National Conference Pro Bowl players
National Football League announcers
National Football League Most Valuable Player Award winners
New York Giants players
Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches
Northern Iowa Panthers football players
People from Burlington, Iowa
Players of American football from Iowa
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
St. Louis Rams players
Super Bowl MVPs | false | [
"Superbowl may refer to:\n A misspelling of Super Bowl, American football championship game\n Superbowl of Debate is a program by the University of Louisville Debate Society to increase minority participation in debate\n Superbowl of Wrestling held in the 1970s\n Super Bowl of Poker held in the 1980s\n The championship game of the Italian Football League was known as the Superbowl italiano until 2014\n A performance venue at the Sun City resort located in South Africa\n The Super Dave Superbowl of Knowledge, a 1994 TV special by Super Dave Osborne",
"The Superbowl of Wrestling was an event held in the 1970s. It was one of the first professional wrestling \"Supercards\".\n\nHistory\n\n1972\n\nThe first Superbowl of Wrestling was held in Cleveland, Ohio at Municipal Stadium on August 12, 1972. Three rings were set up, side by side, and often more than one match would be going on at a time. Attendance figures have been estimated as high as 20,000 and as low as 5,000. No reliable sources seem to agree on a number.\n\nHere are partial results of the show:\nTony Marino & Tony Parisi defeated Motoji Okuma & Mashio Koma to win the tag team tournament\nTag team tournament opening round matches: Manuel Soto & Victor Rivera went to a double-DQ with Waldo Von Erich & Karl Von Stroheim, Tony Marino & Toni Parisi won by default. Luis Martinez & Sal Dominguez d. Tex McKenzie & Lil Abner. \nSemifinals: Koma & Okuma d. Luis Martinez & Sal Dominguez. \nFinals: Tony & Toni d. Koma & Okuma).\nSue Green & Lily Thomas defeated Tippy Wells & Peggy Patterson to win the women's tag team tournament\nSky Low Low & Little Brutus defeated Haiti Kid & Frenchy Lamont to win the midget tag team tournament\nNWF World Tag Team Champions the Fargo Brothers (Don & Johnny Fargo) defeated Wahoo McDaniel & Chief White Owl\nNWA Women's World Tag Team Champions Toni Rose & Donna Christanello defeated Sandy Parker & Debbie Johnson\nNWA World Women's Champion The Fabulous Moolah defeated Vicki Williams\nNWA United States Champion Bobo Brazil defeated Killer Tim Brooks\nErnie Ladd vs. Abdullah the Butcher ended in a double disqualification\nNWF North American Champion Johnny Powers defeated Johnny Valentine\n\n1978\n\nAnother Superbowl of Wrestling was held on January 25, 1978. This Superbowl of Wrestling was held at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, drawing over 12,000 fans for a unification match between the WWWF and NWA World Championships. Here are the results:\nRocky Johnson defeated Killer Karl Kox via DQ\nIvan Putski defeated Ox Baker\nJoyce Grable won an eight woman battle royal that also included Suzette Ferriera, Leilani Kai, Pepper LaBianca, Winona Littleheart, Tandy Rich, Terry Shane, and Vicki Williams\nChavo Guerrero defeated Tank Patton\nBobby Duncum defeated Don Serrano\nKeith Franks defeated John Ruffin\nMike Graham & Steve Keirn defeated The Valiant Brothers (Jimmy & Johnny Valiant) to win the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship\nPedro Morales defeated Lars Anderson\nJack & Jerry Brisco defeated Ivan Koloff & Mr. Saito\nDusty Rhodes defeated Ken Patera\nWWWF World Champion Superstar Billy Graham vs. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race ended in a 60-minute time limit draw during a three fall match\nGorilla Monsoon and Don Curtis were the special referees for the match, which saw Graham defeat Race via submission in the first fall, Race won the second fall at the 46 min mark with his trademark suplex.the 3rd fall was a bloody battle with Race having Superstar in a sleeper hold in the last minute, Superstar was on his back, shoulders down with ref Don Curtis counting to 1 when the 60 min time limit ran out the match tied at a fall each, it was declared a draw.\n\nReferences\n1972 Superbowl of Wrestling results\n1978 Superbowl of Wrestling results\n\nWWE shows\nNational Wrestling Alliance shows\n1972 in Ohio\n1978 in Florida\n1972 in professional wrestling\n1978 in professional wrestling\nEvents in Miami\nEvents in Cleveland\nProfessional wrestling in Miami\nProfessional wrestling in Cleveland"
]
|
[
"Kurt Warner",
"2007 season",
"What was Warner's record in the 2007 season?",
"37-31",
"How many passing yards did he throw?",
"finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards",
"Did they win the Superbowl?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_a8a67f52857944cbb03d0ee936cf17c7_0 | How did the season end? | 4 | How Kurt Warner's season end? | Kurt Warner | Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23-6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23-23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26-23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal. On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season. Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37-31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6-6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000. CANNOTANSWER | 6-6 | Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend from an undrafted free agent to a two-time Most Valuable Player and Super Bowl MVP, is regarded as one of the greatest stories in NFL history.
After playing college football at Northern Iowa from 1990 to 1993, Warner spent four years without being named to an NFL roster. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, but released before the regular season and instead played three seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League (AFL). Warner landed his first NFL roster spot in 1998 with the Rams, holding a backup position until he was thrust into becoming St. Louis' starter the following season. During his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Warner led The Greatest Show on Turf offense to the Rams' first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXIV, earning him league and Super Bowl MVP honors. He won his second league MVP award in 2001, en route to a Super Bowl XXXVI appearance, and also appeared in Super Bowl XLIII with the Cardinals.
Considered the NFL's greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
High school and college
Born in Burlington, Iowa, Warner played football at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, graduating in 1989. After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Northern Iowa, graduating in 1993. At UNI, Warner was third on the Panthers' depth chart until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and first team all-conference.
Professional career
Green Bay Packers
Following his college career, Warner went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft. He was invited to try out for the Green Bay Packers' training camp in 1994, but was released before the regular season began. Warner was competing for a spot against Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and former Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. While Warner was with the Packers, the head coach was Mike Holmgren, the quarterback coach was Steve Mariucci, and Andy Reid was the offensive assistant.
After his release, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. Warner often cites this starting point when telling of his rise to NFL stardom in 1999. He also mentions that his deepened dedication to Christianity occurred around 1997. Warner returned to Northern Iowa and worked as a graduate assistant coach with the football team, while still hoping to get another tryout with an NFL team.
Iowa Barnstormers
With no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1995, and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. He was named to the AFL's First-team All-Arena in both 1996 and 1997 after he led the Barnstormers to ArenaBowl appearances in both seasons. Warner's performance was so impressive that he was later named twelfth out of the 20 Best Arena Football Players of all time.
Before the 1997 NFL season, Warner requested and got a tryout with the Chicago Bears, but an injury to his throwing elbow caused by a spider bite sustained during his honeymoon prevented him from attending.
In 2000, after Warner's breakout NFL season, the AFL used his new fame for the name of its first widely available video game, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed. Years later, on August 12, 2011, he would be named as an inductee into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
St. Louis Rams
Amsterdam Admirals
In December 1997 after the St. Louis Rams' season ended, Warner signed a futures contract with the team. In February 1998, he was allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Amsterdam Admirals, where he led the league in touchdowns and passing yards. His backup at the time was future Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. Returning to the United States, Warner spent the 1998 season as St. Louis' third-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He ended his season completing only 4 of 11 pass attempts for 39 yards and a 47.2 QB rating.
1999 season
Prior to the 1999 free-agency period, the Rams chose Warner to be one of the team's five unprotected players in the 1999 NFL expansion draft. Warner went unselected by the Cleveland Browns, who chose no Rams and whose only quarterback selection was Scott Milanovich.
The Rams let Bono leave in free agency and signed Trent Green to be the starter. Banks was traded to the Ravens, and Warner now found himself second on the depth chart. After Green suffered a torn ACL via a low hit by Rodney Harrison in a preseason game, Rams coach Dick Vermeil named Warner as the Rams' starter. In an emotional press conference, Vermeil—who hadn't seen Warner work with the first-string offense—said, "We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we'll play good football." With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim, and Ricky Proehl, Warner put together one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf" and registered the first in a string of three consecutive 500-point seasons, an NFL record.
Warner threw three touchdown passes in each of his first three NFL starts, an NFL record until it was surpassed by Patrick Mahomes in 2018. Warner drew more attention in the Rams' fourth game of the season, a home game against the San Francisco 49ers (who had been NFC West division champions for 12 of the previous 13 seasons). The Rams lost their last 17 meetings with the 49ers, but Warner proceeded to throw a touchdown pass on each of the Rams' first three possessions of the game, and four touchdowns in the first half alone, to propel the Rams to a 28–10 halftime lead on the way to a 42–20 victory. Warner finished the game with five touchdown passes, giving him 14 in four games and the Rams a 4–0 record. Warner's breakout season from a career in anonymity was so unexpected that Sports Illustrated featured him on their October 18 cover with the caption "Who Is This Guy?" He was named the 1999 NFL MVP at the season's end for leading the Rams to their first playoff berth since 1989 (when they were still in Los Angeles) and their first division title since 1985.
In the NFL playoffs, Warner ultimately led the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans. In the game, he threw for two touchdowns and a then Super Bowl-record 414 passing yards, including a 73-yard touchdown to Isaac Bruce when the game was tied with just over two minutes to play, which proved to be the game-winning score. Warner also set a Super Bowl record by attempting 45 passes without a single interception. For his performance, Warner was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award. As of 2021, Warner is the most recent player to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year.
2000 season
On July 21, Warner signed a seven-year contract worth $47 million. He started the 2000 season where he had left off in his record-setting 1999 season, racking up 300 or more passing yards in each of his first six games (tying Steve Young's record) and posting 19 touchdown passes in that stretch. Warner broke his hand and missed the middle of the season, but Trent Green filled in ably and the Warner/Green duo led the Rams to the highest team passing yard total in NFL history, with 5,232 net yards. Warner and Green's combined gross passing yards total was 5,492. In contrast to his previous season, however, Warner's turnover rate drastically increased in 2000, as he threw an interception in 5.2% of his attempts (compared to just 2.6% in 1999). Despite one of the most productive offensive years by an NFL team, the Rams won only ten games and lost in the wild card round to the New Orleans Saints. In response to the disappointing season, the Rams cut nine of their eleven defensive starters during the offseason, and Trent Green was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
2001 season
Warner returned to MVP form in 2001. Although his performance lagged behind his 1999 performance, he amassed a league-high 36 touchdown passes and 4,830 passing yards, and another league high mark in passer rating (101.4). Warner's tendency for turnovers carried over from 2000, as he tossed a career-high 22 interceptions (despite completing a career-high 68.7% of his passes), but he still led "The Greatest Show on Turf" to its third consecutive 6–0 start (becoming the first NFL team to do so, later equaled by the 2005–2007 Indianapolis Colts), an NFL-best 14–2 record, and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVI. Warner was also named the NFL MVP for the second time in three seasons, giving the Rams their third winner in as many years (running back Marshall Faulk won in 2000).
In Super Bowl XXXVI, Warner threw for 365 yards (then the second-highest, now the sixth-highest total in Super Bowl history) and a passing touchdown along with a rushing touchdown, but his rhythm was disrupted by New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's defensive game plan and he tossed two costly interceptions which helped stake the heavy-underdog Patriots to a two-touchdown lead. After falling behind to the Patriots 17–3, though, the Rams rallied to tie the game late in the fourth quarter on a one-yard Warner quarterback sneak touchdown run and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl. The game ended in a 20-17 loss for Warner and the Rams when Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired, giving the Patriots the first of three Super Bowl wins in four years.
2002–2003 seasons
Warner began the 2002 season as the Rams' starter, but he played poorly, throwing seven interceptions against only one touchdown as the team went 0–3. In the Rams' fourth game, this one against the Dallas Cowboys, Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand. Warner attempted to come back later in the season, but his injury allowed him to play only two more games (both losses). In contrast to his 103.0 career passer rating entering the season, Warner posted a minuscule 67.4 rating in 2002.
The following season, Warner was replaced as the Rams' starting quarterback for good after fumbling six times in the team's opening-day game against the New York Giants. Warner later revealed that he had previously broken his hand and that it had not fully healed, making it more difficult to grip the football. His successor as the Rams' starting quarterback, Marc Bulger (another relatively unheralded quarterback coming out of college), stepped into the breach and played reasonably well upon replacing Warner.
The Rams signed veteran Chris Chandler as Bulger's backup. The Rams released Warner on June 1, 2004 with three years left on his contract.
New York Giants
Two days after his release from the Rams, he signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the New York Giants, with a second year player option worth $6 million. Warner started the 2004 season as the Giants' starting quarterback, winning five of his first seven games, but following a two-game losing streak, highly touted rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. The Giants had a 5–4 win-loss record at the time of Warner's benching, finishing at 6–10 overall (going only 1–6 under Manning). Following the season, Warner chose to void the second year of his contract, and thus became a free agent.
Arizona Cardinals
2005 season
In early 2005, Warner signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starter by coach Dennis Green. Warner posted three relatively mediocre performances before injuring his groin and being replaced by former starter Josh McCown. McCown performed well enough in the two games Warner missed that McCown remained the starter.
After McCown struggled in two straight games, Green re-inserted Warner into the starting line-up. After playing fairly well in two consecutive losses (passing for a total of nearly 700 yards), Warner defeated his former team, the Rams, by a score of 38–28. He passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns while posting a quarterback rating of 115.9. Warner's season ended in week 15 when he partially tore his MCL.
Warner signed a new three-year extension with the Cardinals on February 14, 2006. The deal had a base salary of $18 million and, with performance incentives, could have been worth as much as $24 million.
2006 season
In Week 1 of the 2006 NFL season, Warner won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, Warner passed the 20,000-yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second-quickest of any player in NFL history (Warner accomplished the feat in one game more than it took record-holder Dan Marino).
After three subpar games in Weeks 2-4, Warner was replaced as quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of week 4. Then-coach Dennis Green stated that Warner would be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season. In week 16, Leinart went down with a shoulder injury against the 49ers, forcing Warner to see his first action since week 4. Warner filled in nicely, as he was able to hang on for the Cardinals win. In week 17 against the San Diego Chargers, Warner started again in place of the injured Leinart, throwing for 365 yards (which led the NFL for that week) and a touchdown, though the Chargers were able to hold on for a 27–20 win.
2007 season
Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23–6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23–23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26–23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal.
On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season.
Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37–31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6–6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000.
2008 season
Leinart was named the Cardinals' starting quarterback going into the 2008 off-season, but Ken Whisenhunt stated that it would be very possible for Warner to be the starter before week one of the regular season. Indeed, Warner was named the starter on August 30, 2008. That season, Warner had 4,583 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 67.1%. He was the top ranked passer in the National Football Conference for the third time, and only trailed Philip Rivers and Chad Pennington of the AFC in NFL passer rating for the season. Warner also received FedEx Air Player of the Week honors for his performance during weeks 9 and 11 of the season. He had his struggles during the season, as in week 3 of the season vs. the New York Jets, his team turned the ball over 7 times. This included an interception for a touchdown, and 2 picks resulting in a touchdown and a field goal in just the second quarter. Warner still managed to get his team to score 35 points in a 56-35 loss.
On December 7, 2008, Warner led the Cardinals to a 34–10 win over his former team, the Rams, securing for the Cardinals the NFC West Division title and their first playoff berth since 1998. It was the Cardinals' first division title since 1975 and third of the post-merger era. As a result, the Cardinals earned a home playoff game, only their second ever, and their first in Arizona. (Despite winning division titles in the 1974 and 1975 seasons in St. Louis, the Cardinals played on the road in the playoffs as a result of the playoff structure in those days.) On December 16, 2008, Warner was named the starting quarterback for the NFC team in the 2009 Pro Bowl.
2008 postseason
On January 3, 2009, Warner led the Cardinals in their victory over the Atlanta Falcons 30–24 at home in the first round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 19 for 32 passing, a completion percentage of 59.4%, for 271 yards. He threw two touchdowns and one interception. This win represented the first time the Cardinals had won a post-season home game since the 1947 NFL Championship Game.
On January 10, Warner helped the Cardinals defeat the Carolina Panthers 33–13 in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 21 for 32 passing, for 220 yards, a completion percentage of 65.6%, with two touchdowns and one interception. This win was the first time the Cardinals had won a game on the East Coast the entire 2008 season, after having lost away games to the Panthers, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, and the New England Patriots.
On January 18, Warner threw for 279 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles to lead the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in history. Warner is one of four quarterbacks who made Super Bowl starts with two teams (alongside Craig Morton, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady).
In Warner's third career Super Bowl appearance on February 1, the Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, leaving him with a career 1–2 record in Super Bowls. Despite losing, Warner still managed to throw for 377 yards (the fourth-highest total in Super Bowl history). He completed 72.1% of his passes, and had a quarterback rating of 112.3. Warner had now recorded the three highest single-game passing yardage totals in the history of the Super Bowl, and joined Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, John Elway, and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to throw a touchdown pass in three Super Bowls. Warner took his team to the Super Bowl every year that he played as the starting quarterback during all regular and post season games.
2009 season
Warner announced his desire to return to the Cardinals for the 2009 season. The Cardinals offered him a two-year contract worth around $20 million but Warner was looking for a contract that would pay him about $14 million a year and the two sides could not come to an agreement. On February 27, 2009, Warner became a free agent and went on to have talks with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers offered Warner a contract worth more than that offered by the Cardinals. On March 4, Warner re-signed with the Cardinals to a two-year deal worth $23 million total, $4 million for each of the next two years, with a $15 million signing bonus, and $19 million guaranteed. Warner underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on March 17, 2009. On September 20, 2009, Warner broke the NFL's single-game record for completion percentage in the regular season, completing 24 of 26 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Warner's 92.3 percent completion rate broke the previous NFL record set by Vinny Testaverde in 1993.
On November 1, 2009, Warner threw a career-high-equaling five interceptions during a loss to the Carolina Panthers. During the same game Warner became the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 14,000 yards with two teams. On November 8, Warner equaled his career-high of five touchdown passes in a single game during a 41–21 victory over the Chicago Bears. This performance led to Warner being named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week. On November 15, 2009, Warner reached a career milestone with his 200th touchdown pass during a 31–20 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
On November 22, 2009, during a 21–13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Warner left the game after suffering a concussion. Warner continued to suffer from post-concussion symptoms and on November 29, 2009, he was deactivated against the Tennessee Titans, breaking his consecutive starts streak at 41 games. On December 6, 2009, Warner returned to action as the Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30–17. Warner registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him only the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After his three-touchdown performance, Warner was named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.
On December 27, 2009, Warner became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is the other), in the Cardinals' 31–10 win over the St. Louis Rams. On December 29, 2009, Warner was named an alternate quarterback for the NFC team in the 2010 Pro Bowl.
2009 postseason
On January 10, 2010, Warner threw five touchdowns and completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards in a 51–45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The game had the highest combined total score in NFL playoff history. Warner became one of the very few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4) in a playoff game. Warner finished the game with the second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history with a rating of 154.1. He also became the second quarterback to throw for five touchdown passes in a playoff game twice, and the first to do so since the merger of the leagues. He is also the oldest player to have thrown that many touchdown passes in a playoff game (38 years, 202 days). Warner also tied the NFL record for consecutive playoff games with at least three touchdown passes (three games). Since the playoff game was his last at home in the playoffs during his career, he finished a perfect 7-0 in home contests (4-0 with St. Louis; 3-0 with Arizona).
On January 16, Warner was injured in the first half trying to tackle the ball carrier after an interception on the way to a 45–14 loss at New Orleans in the NFC Divisional round. He returned for the second half, but yielded to understudy Matt Leinart midway through the fourth quarter. In 2012, the NFL discovered the Saints had placed a bounty on Warner. Warner never accused the Saints of making an illegal hit or ending his career, saying "It was a violent hit, no question. But I also believe it was a legal hit."
Retirement
Warner officially announced his retirement from the NFL in January 2010. He said he was looking forward to finally being a true father to his seven kids, and that he wanted to spend time with his wife. He spoke on the impact and influence of his family, former teammates, and God. He became eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame following the 2014 season. In December 2014, Warner admitted he briefly considered coming out of retirement and returning to the Cardinals following the team losing Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton due to injuries.
Post-retirement career
Warner became an Iowa Barnstormers broadcaster for the 2011 Arena Football League season. In May 2010, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Iowa Barnstormers Hall of Fame.
Warner was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Warner was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2017. He was inducted on August 5, 2017, alongside Morten Andersen, Terrell Davis, Kenny Easley, Jerry Jones, Jason Taylor, and LaDainian Tomlinson. He is the only person inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
From 2015 to 2018, Warner was a coach at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Notably, Kedon Slovis played under Warner before being recruited by the USC Trojans for the 2019 college football season.
Since 2019, Warner is the quarterbacks coach at Brophy College Preparatory.
Career statistics and records
NFL statistics
Regular season
Postseason
Super Bowl
NFL records
First quarterback to throw 400+ yards in a Super Bowl game – 414 yards against Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV
Was the most passing yards in a Super Bowl game until surpassed by Tom Brady in Super Bowl LI
Most touchdown passes in a single postseason – 11 touchdowns (in 2009, tied with Joe Montana in 1990 and Joe Flacco in 2013)
Most yards passing in a single postseason, 3 games played – 1,063 yards (in 1999)
Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing (min. 100 games played) – 41.9% (52/124)
First quarterback to throw 40 touchdowns and win a Super Bowl in the same season (in 1999; Tom Brady accomplished the same feat in 2020 when he threw 40 touchdowns and won Super Bowl LV.)
Most yards passing in the first four games of a season – 1557 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first five games of a season – 1947 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first six games of a season – 2260 yards (2000)
Highest average passing yards per game on Monday Night Football – 329.4 yards (min 7 games)
Most wins in the NFC Championship Game without a loss (3-0; 1999, 2001, 2008).
Warner shares several records:
One of three quarterbacks to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Fran Tarkenton and Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks tied to throw five touchdown passes in two playoff games – (following Daryle Lamonica)
One of two quarterbacks to complete 80% of his passes in two playoff games (tied with Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks with four consecutive games with a passer rating over 120 (in 2009, tied with Johnny Unitas)
One of four quarterbacks to make Super Bowl starts with two teams (with Craig Morton – Dallas Cowboys (in 1970) and Denver Broncos (in 1977), Peyton Manning – Indianapolis Colts (in 2006 and 2009) and Denver Broncos (in 2013 and 2015), and Tom Brady - New England Patriots (in 2002, 2004-2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2017-2019) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in 2021))
One of five quarterbacks to win a Conference championship with two teams (with Craig Morton and Earl Morrall and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady)
Rams franchise records
Most touchdown passes in a single season (41, 1999) (tied with Matthew Stafford, 2021)
Single season leader in passer rating (109.2, 1999)
Cardinal records
Most pass completions in a single game – 40 (September 28, 2008)
Highest pass completion percentage with at least 11 passes – 92.3% (September 20, 2009)
4th Cardinal to post a perfect passer rating
Most passes completed in a single season – 401 (2008)
Most passes attempted in a single season – 598 (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a single season – 67.1% (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a career – 65.1%
Highest passer rating in a career – 91.9
Personal life
Childhood
Kurt Warner was born to Gene and Sue Warner. Warner's parents divorced when he was six. Kurt and his brother, Matt, lived with their mother, including through another short marriage and divorce.
Kurt's father, Gene Warner, remarried a year after divorcing Kurt's mom. Warner's stepmother, Mimi Warner, also had a son named Matt (Post). The three boys formed a close relationship soon thereafter. Kurt graduated in 1989 from Regis High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was quarterback of the school's Class 3A football team.
College
Warner graduated from University of Northern Iowa with a degree in communications.
Marriage
During college, Warner met his future wife, Brenda Carney Meoni; they married on October 11, 1997. Brenda is a former United States Marine Corps corporal. She was divorced with two children, one of whom was left brain damaged and blind after being accidentally dropped by Brenda's ex-husband, leading to her hardship discharge from the Marines in 1990.
After Warner was cut from the Packers' training camp in 1994, he got a job working the night shift as a night stock clerk at a local Hy-Vee grocery store, in addition to his work as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. While Warner was working as an assistant coach, the couple were living in Brenda's parents' basement in Cedar Falls. Brenda's parents were killed in 1996 when their Mountain View, Arkansas home was destroyed by a tornado. Warner and Brenda married on October 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church, the same place where the service for Brenda's parents was held. Warner was still hoping to get an NFL tryout, but with that possibility appearing dim and the long hours at Hy-Vee for minimum wage taking their toll, Warner began his Arena League career.
After marrying Brenda, Warner officially adopted her two children from her first marriage; they have since added five children of their own.
Christian faith and testimony
Kurt and Brenda Warner are devout evangelical Christians. His faith first emerged on the national stage following the Rams' Super Bowl victory, where he was named the game's MVP:
Nine years later, upon leading the Cardinals to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl, Warner's response was similar:
Warner has usually attended charismatic churches, and believes that God healed him from a concussion he suffered in 2000. However, he eschews the term "charismatic." In 2001, he told Charisma, "I'm just a Christian."
Broadcasting
In 2010, Warner joined NFL Network as an analyst. He can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access, as well as in-studio on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football pregame show, Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Sears. Warner also served as an analyst for the NFL Network's coverage of the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs. Warner tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021, and was unable to serve on the studio panel for NFL GameDay Morning for the wild card playoff round.
In August 2010, Fox Sports announced that Warner would be serving as a color analyst on the network's NFL coverage in the 2010 season. He teamed with play-by-play announcers Chris Rose or Chris Myers to call regional games.
In 2014, Westwood One radio hired Warner as a substitute analyst on Monday Night Football games when regular analyst Boomer Esiason is unavailable. In 2018, Warner became the full-time radio analyst.
Television appearances
On January 27, 2009, Warner made a special appearance on the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser.
Warner made a guest appearance on Disney's The Suite Life on Deck as himself, in the episode "Any Given Fantasy" which aired on January 18, 2010.
On February 9, 2010, Warner was a surprise guest on the final episode of The Jay Leno Show.
On August 30, 2010, it was announced on live television that Warner would be appearing as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. His professional dance partner was Anna Trebunskaya; the couple was eliminated in week 8, the Instant Choreography Week.
Warner appeared as the host of The Moment, a reality series on USA Network, in 2013.
Film and video
In 2003, GoodTimes Entertainment released the direct-to-home video Kurt Warner's Good Sports Gang, a film featuring Warner as the "coach" of a group of animated sports balls. The series was sponsored by Warner, and focused on religious faith and moral values. A portion of the proceeds went to Warner's First Things First Foundation. Although it was originally planned as a series, Episode 1: Elliot the Invincible, was the only release along with Together, We're Better (Episode 2) and a few shorts featuring Warner and his adopted daughter, Jesse Warner.
In February 2020, it was announced that the Erwin Brothers were creating, and releasing a theatrical film about Kurt's life titled American Underdog, with Zachary Levi as Warner. The film was produced by Kingdom Story Company, and distributed by Lionsgate on December 25, 2021 to generally favorable reviews.
Endorsements
On December 3, 2010, Warner's first multi-year post-retirement endorsement agreement was announced. Amway North America announced that it had signed Warner to a multi-year endorsement agreement to represent the Nutrilite brand. Amway reportedly agreed to make a $50,000 donation to Kurt Warner's First Things First Foundation.
In addition to his post-retirement endorsements and charity work, Warner has invested in the Elite Football League of India, a South Asian professional football league. Other prominent American backers include former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, and actor Mark Wahlberg. Warner's total investment amount remains undisclosed, although $50,000 of it will go towards a donation of footballs to schools and underprivileged children throughout India.
Public service
Warner has also appeared in several public service announcements for Civitan International, promoting his and Brenda's volunteer efforts and their work with the developmentally disabled. This issue is personally close to Warner, as Zachary, his adopted son from Brenda's first marriage, suffered major brain damage as an infant when his biological father accidentally dropped him.
Warner has devoted time and money to his First Things First Foundation, the name of which was derived from his interview after winning the Super Bowl in 1999. The foundation is dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put 'first things first.' The foundation has been involved with numerous projects for causes such as children's hospitals, people with developmental disabilities and assisting single parents. Warner's work both on and off the field resulted in him being awarded the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award 2008, which was presented to him at the start of Super Bowl XLIII. In March 2009, Warner was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Leadership Award. Warner was selected by USA Weekend as the winner of its annual Most Caring Athlete Award for 2009. In December 2009, Warner topped a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players to name the best role model on and off the field in the NFL.
In February 2010, Warner received the annual Bart Starr Award, given for outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community. At the award presentation, Bart Starr said of Warner: "We have never given this award to anyone who is more deserving".
See also
List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of Arena Football League and National Football League players
NFL starting quarterback playoff records
References
Further reading
Warner, Kurt & Silver, Michael, (2000). All Things Possible. San Francisco: HarperCollins. (cloth) (paper back).
Warner, Kurt & Brenda, (2009). First Things First. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Inc. (Hardcover)
External links
1971 births
Alliance of American Football announcers
American Christians
American football quarterbacks
Amsterdam Admirals players
Arena football announcers
Arizona Cardinals players
Green Bay Packers players
Iowa Barnstormers players
Living people
National Conference Pro Bowl players
National Football League announcers
National Football League Most Valuable Player Award winners
New York Giants players
Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches
Northern Iowa Panthers football players
People from Burlington, Iowa
Players of American football from Iowa
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
St. Louis Rams players
Super Bowl MVPs | false | [
"How Did You Know is an extended play (EP) by Jamaican electronic dance musician Kurtis Mantronik. The EP was released in 2003 on the Southern Fried Records label, and features British singer Mim on vocals. \"How Did You Know (77 Strings)\" was released as a single from the EP, reaching number 16 on the UK Singles Chart and number three in Romania. The title track peaked atop the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in May 2004.\n\nTrack listing\n \"How Did You Know (Radio Edit)\" (Kurtis Mantronik, Miriam Grey - vocals) – 3:33 \n \"How Did You Know (Original Vocal)\" (Mantronik, Grey - vocals) – 6:35 \n \"How Did You Know (Tony Senghore Vocal)\" (Mantronik, Grey - vocals, Tony Senghore - remix) – 6:31 \n \"77 Strings (Original Instrumental)\" (Mantronik) – 7:57\n\nCharts\nThe following chart entries are for \"How Did You Know (77 Strings)\".\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2003 EPs\n2003 singles\nAlbums produced by Kurtis Mantronik\nSouthern Fried Records albums",
"The Origins Institute (OI) is an interdisciplinary science research institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. It began its operations as an institute on July 1, 2004. The OI's vision is to promote origins research that addresses fundamental, unresolved big questions in science, such as: \"How did the universe begin?\", \"How did stars, galaxies and planets form?\", \"What is the origin of matter and of the elements?\", \"How did life begin on Earth, and can it also develop on other planets?\", \"What was the nature of the Universal Ancestor, and how did life evolve from it?\", and \"How did intelligent beings arise and evolve on Earth\"?.\n\nThe Origins Institute research is categorized into six interconnecting themes: space-time (particle physics), elements and matter (nuclear astrophysics), structure of the universe (astronomy), life (evolutionary biology, astrobiology), species (biodiversity), and consciousness (neuroscience). Reflecting the trans-disciplinary nature of the research done at the OI, professional members within the institute hail from many fields, including anthropology, astrobiology, astrophysics, biochemistry, biology, chemistry, mathematics, neuroscience, and philosophy.\n\nRalph Pudritz, a theoretical astrophysicist at McMaster, spearheaded the OI project and was its first director. Jonathon Stone, a computational biologist from McMaster, was the institute's first associate director. Well-known academics David Deamer, Martin Rees and Stuart Kauffman sit on the OI advisory council. The current director of the institute is Professor Paul Higgs.\n\nOutreach and conferences\nOne of the focuses of the Origins Institute is public outreach. To that end, the OI hosts an annual season of public lectures and weekly colloquia that draw in top scientists from around the world. The OI also runs a 3D theatre to show movies on scientific topics to the public. The OI furthermore hosts scientific conferences that address origins themes. Its meeting have included 'Astrobiology and the Origins of Life' (May 2005), 'The Genomics Revolution and the Origin of Humanity' (August 2006), 'Origins of Dark Energy', organized jointly with the Perimeter Institute (May 2007), 'Darwin's Legacy: Natural Selection as an Organising Principle in Science' (May 2009) in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Darwin's \"Origin of Species\", 'The Origins of Stars and Their Planetary Systems' (June 2012), 'Star Formation Jamboree' (May 2013), and 'The Origins and Evolution of Bacterial Genomes\" (Dec 2014).\n\nList of directors\n2004 - 2015 - Ralph Pudritz\n2015–present - Paul Higgs\n\nList of associate directors\n2004 - 2015 - Jonathon Stone\n\nExternal links\nOrigins Institute\n\nResearch institutes in Canada\nMcMaster University"
]
|
[
"Kurt Warner",
"2007 season",
"What was Warner's record in the 2007 season?",
"37-31",
"How many passing yards did he throw?",
"finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards",
"Did they win the Superbowl?",
"I don't know.",
"How did the season end?",
"6-6"
]
| C_a8a67f52857944cbb03d0ee936cf17c7_0 | What other stats did he have for the 2007 season? | 5 | Besides completing 21 attempts for 132 yards, what other stats did Kurt Warner have for the 2007 season? | Kurt Warner | Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23-6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23-23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26-23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal. On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season. Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37-31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6-6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000. CANNOTANSWER | Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37-31 loss on November 25, | Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend from an undrafted free agent to a two-time Most Valuable Player and Super Bowl MVP, is regarded as one of the greatest stories in NFL history.
After playing college football at Northern Iowa from 1990 to 1993, Warner spent four years without being named to an NFL roster. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, but released before the regular season and instead played three seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League (AFL). Warner landed his first NFL roster spot in 1998 with the Rams, holding a backup position until he was thrust into becoming St. Louis' starter the following season. During his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Warner led The Greatest Show on Turf offense to the Rams' first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXIV, earning him league and Super Bowl MVP honors. He won his second league MVP award in 2001, en route to a Super Bowl XXXVI appearance, and also appeared in Super Bowl XLIII with the Cardinals.
Considered the NFL's greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
High school and college
Born in Burlington, Iowa, Warner played football at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, graduating in 1989. After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Northern Iowa, graduating in 1993. At UNI, Warner was third on the Panthers' depth chart until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and first team all-conference.
Professional career
Green Bay Packers
Following his college career, Warner went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft. He was invited to try out for the Green Bay Packers' training camp in 1994, but was released before the regular season began. Warner was competing for a spot against Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and former Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. While Warner was with the Packers, the head coach was Mike Holmgren, the quarterback coach was Steve Mariucci, and Andy Reid was the offensive assistant.
After his release, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. Warner often cites this starting point when telling of his rise to NFL stardom in 1999. He also mentions that his deepened dedication to Christianity occurred around 1997. Warner returned to Northern Iowa and worked as a graduate assistant coach with the football team, while still hoping to get another tryout with an NFL team.
Iowa Barnstormers
With no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1995, and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. He was named to the AFL's First-team All-Arena in both 1996 and 1997 after he led the Barnstormers to ArenaBowl appearances in both seasons. Warner's performance was so impressive that he was later named twelfth out of the 20 Best Arena Football Players of all time.
Before the 1997 NFL season, Warner requested and got a tryout with the Chicago Bears, but an injury to his throwing elbow caused by a spider bite sustained during his honeymoon prevented him from attending.
In 2000, after Warner's breakout NFL season, the AFL used his new fame for the name of its first widely available video game, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed. Years later, on August 12, 2011, he would be named as an inductee into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
St. Louis Rams
Amsterdam Admirals
In December 1997 after the St. Louis Rams' season ended, Warner signed a futures contract with the team. In February 1998, he was allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Amsterdam Admirals, where he led the league in touchdowns and passing yards. His backup at the time was future Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. Returning to the United States, Warner spent the 1998 season as St. Louis' third-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He ended his season completing only 4 of 11 pass attempts for 39 yards and a 47.2 QB rating.
1999 season
Prior to the 1999 free-agency period, the Rams chose Warner to be one of the team's five unprotected players in the 1999 NFL expansion draft. Warner went unselected by the Cleveland Browns, who chose no Rams and whose only quarterback selection was Scott Milanovich.
The Rams let Bono leave in free agency and signed Trent Green to be the starter. Banks was traded to the Ravens, and Warner now found himself second on the depth chart. After Green suffered a torn ACL via a low hit by Rodney Harrison in a preseason game, Rams coach Dick Vermeil named Warner as the Rams' starter. In an emotional press conference, Vermeil—who hadn't seen Warner work with the first-string offense—said, "We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we'll play good football." With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim, and Ricky Proehl, Warner put together one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf" and registered the first in a string of three consecutive 500-point seasons, an NFL record.
Warner threw three touchdown passes in each of his first three NFL starts, an NFL record until it was surpassed by Patrick Mahomes in 2018. Warner drew more attention in the Rams' fourth game of the season, a home game against the San Francisco 49ers (who had been NFC West division champions for 12 of the previous 13 seasons). The Rams lost their last 17 meetings with the 49ers, but Warner proceeded to throw a touchdown pass on each of the Rams' first three possessions of the game, and four touchdowns in the first half alone, to propel the Rams to a 28–10 halftime lead on the way to a 42–20 victory. Warner finished the game with five touchdown passes, giving him 14 in four games and the Rams a 4–0 record. Warner's breakout season from a career in anonymity was so unexpected that Sports Illustrated featured him on their October 18 cover with the caption "Who Is This Guy?" He was named the 1999 NFL MVP at the season's end for leading the Rams to their first playoff berth since 1989 (when they were still in Los Angeles) and their first division title since 1985.
In the NFL playoffs, Warner ultimately led the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans. In the game, he threw for two touchdowns and a then Super Bowl-record 414 passing yards, including a 73-yard touchdown to Isaac Bruce when the game was tied with just over two minutes to play, which proved to be the game-winning score. Warner also set a Super Bowl record by attempting 45 passes without a single interception. For his performance, Warner was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award. As of 2021, Warner is the most recent player to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year.
2000 season
On July 21, Warner signed a seven-year contract worth $47 million. He started the 2000 season where he had left off in his record-setting 1999 season, racking up 300 or more passing yards in each of his first six games (tying Steve Young's record) and posting 19 touchdown passes in that stretch. Warner broke his hand and missed the middle of the season, but Trent Green filled in ably and the Warner/Green duo led the Rams to the highest team passing yard total in NFL history, with 5,232 net yards. Warner and Green's combined gross passing yards total was 5,492. In contrast to his previous season, however, Warner's turnover rate drastically increased in 2000, as he threw an interception in 5.2% of his attempts (compared to just 2.6% in 1999). Despite one of the most productive offensive years by an NFL team, the Rams won only ten games and lost in the wild card round to the New Orleans Saints. In response to the disappointing season, the Rams cut nine of their eleven defensive starters during the offseason, and Trent Green was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
2001 season
Warner returned to MVP form in 2001. Although his performance lagged behind his 1999 performance, he amassed a league-high 36 touchdown passes and 4,830 passing yards, and another league high mark in passer rating (101.4). Warner's tendency for turnovers carried over from 2000, as he tossed a career-high 22 interceptions (despite completing a career-high 68.7% of his passes), but he still led "The Greatest Show on Turf" to its third consecutive 6–0 start (becoming the first NFL team to do so, later equaled by the 2005–2007 Indianapolis Colts), an NFL-best 14–2 record, and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVI. Warner was also named the NFL MVP for the second time in three seasons, giving the Rams their third winner in as many years (running back Marshall Faulk won in 2000).
In Super Bowl XXXVI, Warner threw for 365 yards (then the second-highest, now the sixth-highest total in Super Bowl history) and a passing touchdown along with a rushing touchdown, but his rhythm was disrupted by New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's defensive game plan and he tossed two costly interceptions which helped stake the heavy-underdog Patriots to a two-touchdown lead. After falling behind to the Patriots 17–3, though, the Rams rallied to tie the game late in the fourth quarter on a one-yard Warner quarterback sneak touchdown run and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl. The game ended in a 20-17 loss for Warner and the Rams when Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired, giving the Patriots the first of three Super Bowl wins in four years.
2002–2003 seasons
Warner began the 2002 season as the Rams' starter, but he played poorly, throwing seven interceptions against only one touchdown as the team went 0–3. In the Rams' fourth game, this one against the Dallas Cowboys, Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand. Warner attempted to come back later in the season, but his injury allowed him to play only two more games (both losses). In contrast to his 103.0 career passer rating entering the season, Warner posted a minuscule 67.4 rating in 2002.
The following season, Warner was replaced as the Rams' starting quarterback for good after fumbling six times in the team's opening-day game against the New York Giants. Warner later revealed that he had previously broken his hand and that it had not fully healed, making it more difficult to grip the football. His successor as the Rams' starting quarterback, Marc Bulger (another relatively unheralded quarterback coming out of college), stepped into the breach and played reasonably well upon replacing Warner.
The Rams signed veteran Chris Chandler as Bulger's backup. The Rams released Warner on June 1, 2004 with three years left on his contract.
New York Giants
Two days after his release from the Rams, he signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the New York Giants, with a second year player option worth $6 million. Warner started the 2004 season as the Giants' starting quarterback, winning five of his first seven games, but following a two-game losing streak, highly touted rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. The Giants had a 5–4 win-loss record at the time of Warner's benching, finishing at 6–10 overall (going only 1–6 under Manning). Following the season, Warner chose to void the second year of his contract, and thus became a free agent.
Arizona Cardinals
2005 season
In early 2005, Warner signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starter by coach Dennis Green. Warner posted three relatively mediocre performances before injuring his groin and being replaced by former starter Josh McCown. McCown performed well enough in the two games Warner missed that McCown remained the starter.
After McCown struggled in two straight games, Green re-inserted Warner into the starting line-up. After playing fairly well in two consecutive losses (passing for a total of nearly 700 yards), Warner defeated his former team, the Rams, by a score of 38–28. He passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns while posting a quarterback rating of 115.9. Warner's season ended in week 15 when he partially tore his MCL.
Warner signed a new three-year extension with the Cardinals on February 14, 2006. The deal had a base salary of $18 million and, with performance incentives, could have been worth as much as $24 million.
2006 season
In Week 1 of the 2006 NFL season, Warner won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, Warner passed the 20,000-yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second-quickest of any player in NFL history (Warner accomplished the feat in one game more than it took record-holder Dan Marino).
After three subpar games in Weeks 2-4, Warner was replaced as quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of week 4. Then-coach Dennis Green stated that Warner would be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season. In week 16, Leinart went down with a shoulder injury against the 49ers, forcing Warner to see his first action since week 4. Warner filled in nicely, as he was able to hang on for the Cardinals win. In week 17 against the San Diego Chargers, Warner started again in place of the injured Leinart, throwing for 365 yards (which led the NFL for that week) and a touchdown, though the Chargers were able to hold on for a 27–20 win.
2007 season
Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23–6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23–23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26–23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal.
On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season.
Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37–31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6–6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000.
2008 season
Leinart was named the Cardinals' starting quarterback going into the 2008 off-season, but Ken Whisenhunt stated that it would be very possible for Warner to be the starter before week one of the regular season. Indeed, Warner was named the starter on August 30, 2008. That season, Warner had 4,583 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 67.1%. He was the top ranked passer in the National Football Conference for the third time, and only trailed Philip Rivers and Chad Pennington of the AFC in NFL passer rating for the season. Warner also received FedEx Air Player of the Week honors for his performance during weeks 9 and 11 of the season. He had his struggles during the season, as in week 3 of the season vs. the New York Jets, his team turned the ball over 7 times. This included an interception for a touchdown, and 2 picks resulting in a touchdown and a field goal in just the second quarter. Warner still managed to get his team to score 35 points in a 56-35 loss.
On December 7, 2008, Warner led the Cardinals to a 34–10 win over his former team, the Rams, securing for the Cardinals the NFC West Division title and their first playoff berth since 1998. It was the Cardinals' first division title since 1975 and third of the post-merger era. As a result, the Cardinals earned a home playoff game, only their second ever, and their first in Arizona. (Despite winning division titles in the 1974 and 1975 seasons in St. Louis, the Cardinals played on the road in the playoffs as a result of the playoff structure in those days.) On December 16, 2008, Warner was named the starting quarterback for the NFC team in the 2009 Pro Bowl.
2008 postseason
On January 3, 2009, Warner led the Cardinals in their victory over the Atlanta Falcons 30–24 at home in the first round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 19 for 32 passing, a completion percentage of 59.4%, for 271 yards. He threw two touchdowns and one interception. This win represented the first time the Cardinals had won a post-season home game since the 1947 NFL Championship Game.
On January 10, Warner helped the Cardinals defeat the Carolina Panthers 33–13 in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 21 for 32 passing, for 220 yards, a completion percentage of 65.6%, with two touchdowns and one interception. This win was the first time the Cardinals had won a game on the East Coast the entire 2008 season, after having lost away games to the Panthers, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, and the New England Patriots.
On January 18, Warner threw for 279 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles to lead the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in history. Warner is one of four quarterbacks who made Super Bowl starts with two teams (alongside Craig Morton, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady).
In Warner's third career Super Bowl appearance on February 1, the Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, leaving him with a career 1–2 record in Super Bowls. Despite losing, Warner still managed to throw for 377 yards (the fourth-highest total in Super Bowl history). He completed 72.1% of his passes, and had a quarterback rating of 112.3. Warner had now recorded the three highest single-game passing yardage totals in the history of the Super Bowl, and joined Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, John Elway, and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to throw a touchdown pass in three Super Bowls. Warner took his team to the Super Bowl every year that he played as the starting quarterback during all regular and post season games.
2009 season
Warner announced his desire to return to the Cardinals for the 2009 season. The Cardinals offered him a two-year contract worth around $20 million but Warner was looking for a contract that would pay him about $14 million a year and the two sides could not come to an agreement. On February 27, 2009, Warner became a free agent and went on to have talks with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers offered Warner a contract worth more than that offered by the Cardinals. On March 4, Warner re-signed with the Cardinals to a two-year deal worth $23 million total, $4 million for each of the next two years, with a $15 million signing bonus, and $19 million guaranteed. Warner underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on March 17, 2009. On September 20, 2009, Warner broke the NFL's single-game record for completion percentage in the regular season, completing 24 of 26 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Warner's 92.3 percent completion rate broke the previous NFL record set by Vinny Testaverde in 1993.
On November 1, 2009, Warner threw a career-high-equaling five interceptions during a loss to the Carolina Panthers. During the same game Warner became the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 14,000 yards with two teams. On November 8, Warner equaled his career-high of five touchdown passes in a single game during a 41–21 victory over the Chicago Bears. This performance led to Warner being named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week. On November 15, 2009, Warner reached a career milestone with his 200th touchdown pass during a 31–20 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
On November 22, 2009, during a 21–13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Warner left the game after suffering a concussion. Warner continued to suffer from post-concussion symptoms and on November 29, 2009, he was deactivated against the Tennessee Titans, breaking his consecutive starts streak at 41 games. On December 6, 2009, Warner returned to action as the Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30–17. Warner registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him only the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After his three-touchdown performance, Warner was named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.
On December 27, 2009, Warner became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is the other), in the Cardinals' 31–10 win over the St. Louis Rams. On December 29, 2009, Warner was named an alternate quarterback for the NFC team in the 2010 Pro Bowl.
2009 postseason
On January 10, 2010, Warner threw five touchdowns and completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards in a 51–45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The game had the highest combined total score in NFL playoff history. Warner became one of the very few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4) in a playoff game. Warner finished the game with the second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history with a rating of 154.1. He also became the second quarterback to throw for five touchdown passes in a playoff game twice, and the first to do so since the merger of the leagues. He is also the oldest player to have thrown that many touchdown passes in a playoff game (38 years, 202 days). Warner also tied the NFL record for consecutive playoff games with at least three touchdown passes (three games). Since the playoff game was his last at home in the playoffs during his career, he finished a perfect 7-0 in home contests (4-0 with St. Louis; 3-0 with Arizona).
On January 16, Warner was injured in the first half trying to tackle the ball carrier after an interception on the way to a 45–14 loss at New Orleans in the NFC Divisional round. He returned for the second half, but yielded to understudy Matt Leinart midway through the fourth quarter. In 2012, the NFL discovered the Saints had placed a bounty on Warner. Warner never accused the Saints of making an illegal hit or ending his career, saying "It was a violent hit, no question. But I also believe it was a legal hit."
Retirement
Warner officially announced his retirement from the NFL in January 2010. He said he was looking forward to finally being a true father to his seven kids, and that he wanted to spend time with his wife. He spoke on the impact and influence of his family, former teammates, and God. He became eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame following the 2014 season. In December 2014, Warner admitted he briefly considered coming out of retirement and returning to the Cardinals following the team losing Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton due to injuries.
Post-retirement career
Warner became an Iowa Barnstormers broadcaster for the 2011 Arena Football League season. In May 2010, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Iowa Barnstormers Hall of Fame.
Warner was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Warner was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2017. He was inducted on August 5, 2017, alongside Morten Andersen, Terrell Davis, Kenny Easley, Jerry Jones, Jason Taylor, and LaDainian Tomlinson. He is the only person inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
From 2015 to 2018, Warner was a coach at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Notably, Kedon Slovis played under Warner before being recruited by the USC Trojans for the 2019 college football season.
Since 2019, Warner is the quarterbacks coach at Brophy College Preparatory.
Career statistics and records
NFL statistics
Regular season
Postseason
Super Bowl
NFL records
First quarterback to throw 400+ yards in a Super Bowl game – 414 yards against Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV
Was the most passing yards in a Super Bowl game until surpassed by Tom Brady in Super Bowl LI
Most touchdown passes in a single postseason – 11 touchdowns (in 2009, tied with Joe Montana in 1990 and Joe Flacco in 2013)
Most yards passing in a single postseason, 3 games played – 1,063 yards (in 1999)
Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing (min. 100 games played) – 41.9% (52/124)
First quarterback to throw 40 touchdowns and win a Super Bowl in the same season (in 1999; Tom Brady accomplished the same feat in 2020 when he threw 40 touchdowns and won Super Bowl LV.)
Most yards passing in the first four games of a season – 1557 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first five games of a season – 1947 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first six games of a season – 2260 yards (2000)
Highest average passing yards per game on Monday Night Football – 329.4 yards (min 7 games)
Most wins in the NFC Championship Game without a loss (3-0; 1999, 2001, 2008).
Warner shares several records:
One of three quarterbacks to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Fran Tarkenton and Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks tied to throw five touchdown passes in two playoff games – (following Daryle Lamonica)
One of two quarterbacks to complete 80% of his passes in two playoff games (tied with Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks with four consecutive games with a passer rating over 120 (in 2009, tied with Johnny Unitas)
One of four quarterbacks to make Super Bowl starts with two teams (with Craig Morton – Dallas Cowboys (in 1970) and Denver Broncos (in 1977), Peyton Manning – Indianapolis Colts (in 2006 and 2009) and Denver Broncos (in 2013 and 2015), and Tom Brady - New England Patriots (in 2002, 2004-2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2017-2019) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in 2021))
One of five quarterbacks to win a Conference championship with two teams (with Craig Morton and Earl Morrall and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady)
Rams franchise records
Most touchdown passes in a single season (41, 1999) (tied with Matthew Stafford, 2021)
Single season leader in passer rating (109.2, 1999)
Cardinal records
Most pass completions in a single game – 40 (September 28, 2008)
Highest pass completion percentage with at least 11 passes – 92.3% (September 20, 2009)
4th Cardinal to post a perfect passer rating
Most passes completed in a single season – 401 (2008)
Most passes attempted in a single season – 598 (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a single season – 67.1% (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a career – 65.1%
Highest passer rating in a career – 91.9
Personal life
Childhood
Kurt Warner was born to Gene and Sue Warner. Warner's parents divorced when he was six. Kurt and his brother, Matt, lived with their mother, including through another short marriage and divorce.
Kurt's father, Gene Warner, remarried a year after divorcing Kurt's mom. Warner's stepmother, Mimi Warner, also had a son named Matt (Post). The three boys formed a close relationship soon thereafter. Kurt graduated in 1989 from Regis High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was quarterback of the school's Class 3A football team.
College
Warner graduated from University of Northern Iowa with a degree in communications.
Marriage
During college, Warner met his future wife, Brenda Carney Meoni; they married on October 11, 1997. Brenda is a former United States Marine Corps corporal. She was divorced with two children, one of whom was left brain damaged and blind after being accidentally dropped by Brenda's ex-husband, leading to her hardship discharge from the Marines in 1990.
After Warner was cut from the Packers' training camp in 1994, he got a job working the night shift as a night stock clerk at a local Hy-Vee grocery store, in addition to his work as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. While Warner was working as an assistant coach, the couple were living in Brenda's parents' basement in Cedar Falls. Brenda's parents were killed in 1996 when their Mountain View, Arkansas home was destroyed by a tornado. Warner and Brenda married on October 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church, the same place where the service for Brenda's parents was held. Warner was still hoping to get an NFL tryout, but with that possibility appearing dim and the long hours at Hy-Vee for minimum wage taking their toll, Warner began his Arena League career.
After marrying Brenda, Warner officially adopted her two children from her first marriage; they have since added five children of their own.
Christian faith and testimony
Kurt and Brenda Warner are devout evangelical Christians. His faith first emerged on the national stage following the Rams' Super Bowl victory, where he was named the game's MVP:
Nine years later, upon leading the Cardinals to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl, Warner's response was similar:
Warner has usually attended charismatic churches, and believes that God healed him from a concussion he suffered in 2000. However, he eschews the term "charismatic." In 2001, he told Charisma, "I'm just a Christian."
Broadcasting
In 2010, Warner joined NFL Network as an analyst. He can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access, as well as in-studio on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football pregame show, Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Sears. Warner also served as an analyst for the NFL Network's coverage of the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs. Warner tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021, and was unable to serve on the studio panel for NFL GameDay Morning for the wild card playoff round.
In August 2010, Fox Sports announced that Warner would be serving as a color analyst on the network's NFL coverage in the 2010 season. He teamed with play-by-play announcers Chris Rose or Chris Myers to call regional games.
In 2014, Westwood One radio hired Warner as a substitute analyst on Monday Night Football games when regular analyst Boomer Esiason is unavailable. In 2018, Warner became the full-time radio analyst.
Television appearances
On January 27, 2009, Warner made a special appearance on the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser.
Warner made a guest appearance on Disney's The Suite Life on Deck as himself, in the episode "Any Given Fantasy" which aired on January 18, 2010.
On February 9, 2010, Warner was a surprise guest on the final episode of The Jay Leno Show.
On August 30, 2010, it was announced on live television that Warner would be appearing as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. His professional dance partner was Anna Trebunskaya; the couple was eliminated in week 8, the Instant Choreography Week.
Warner appeared as the host of The Moment, a reality series on USA Network, in 2013.
Film and video
In 2003, GoodTimes Entertainment released the direct-to-home video Kurt Warner's Good Sports Gang, a film featuring Warner as the "coach" of a group of animated sports balls. The series was sponsored by Warner, and focused on religious faith and moral values. A portion of the proceeds went to Warner's First Things First Foundation. Although it was originally planned as a series, Episode 1: Elliot the Invincible, was the only release along with Together, We're Better (Episode 2) and a few shorts featuring Warner and his adopted daughter, Jesse Warner.
In February 2020, it was announced that the Erwin Brothers were creating, and releasing a theatrical film about Kurt's life titled American Underdog, with Zachary Levi as Warner. The film was produced by Kingdom Story Company, and distributed by Lionsgate on December 25, 2021 to generally favorable reviews.
Endorsements
On December 3, 2010, Warner's first multi-year post-retirement endorsement agreement was announced. Amway North America announced that it had signed Warner to a multi-year endorsement agreement to represent the Nutrilite brand. Amway reportedly agreed to make a $50,000 donation to Kurt Warner's First Things First Foundation.
In addition to his post-retirement endorsements and charity work, Warner has invested in the Elite Football League of India, a South Asian professional football league. Other prominent American backers include former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, and actor Mark Wahlberg. Warner's total investment amount remains undisclosed, although $50,000 of it will go towards a donation of footballs to schools and underprivileged children throughout India.
Public service
Warner has also appeared in several public service announcements for Civitan International, promoting his and Brenda's volunteer efforts and their work with the developmentally disabled. This issue is personally close to Warner, as Zachary, his adopted son from Brenda's first marriage, suffered major brain damage as an infant when his biological father accidentally dropped him.
Warner has devoted time and money to his First Things First Foundation, the name of which was derived from his interview after winning the Super Bowl in 1999. The foundation is dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put 'first things first.' The foundation has been involved with numerous projects for causes such as children's hospitals, people with developmental disabilities and assisting single parents. Warner's work both on and off the field resulted in him being awarded the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award 2008, which was presented to him at the start of Super Bowl XLIII. In March 2009, Warner was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Leadership Award. Warner was selected by USA Weekend as the winner of its annual Most Caring Athlete Award for 2009. In December 2009, Warner topped a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players to name the best role model on and off the field in the NFL.
In February 2010, Warner received the annual Bart Starr Award, given for outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community. At the award presentation, Bart Starr said of Warner: "We have never given this award to anyone who is more deserving".
See also
List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of Arena Football League and National Football League players
NFL starting quarterback playoff records
References
Further reading
Warner, Kurt & Silver, Michael, (2000). All Things Possible. San Francisco: HarperCollins. (cloth) (paper back).
Warner, Kurt & Brenda, (2009). First Things First. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Inc. (Hardcover)
External links
1971 births
Alliance of American Football announcers
American Christians
American football quarterbacks
Amsterdam Admirals players
Arena football announcers
Arizona Cardinals players
Green Bay Packers players
Iowa Barnstormers players
Living people
National Conference Pro Bowl players
National Football League announcers
National Football League Most Valuable Player Award winners
New York Giants players
Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches
Northern Iowa Panthers football players
People from Burlington, Iowa
Players of American football from Iowa
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
St. Louis Rams players
Super Bowl MVPs | false | [
"This is a complete list of known Lechia Gdańsk players and their known competition statistics for the club since the clubs formation in 1945.\n\nInformation\n\nThis list also includes the players who played for Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk and Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk due to these teams being created by mergers of Lechia Gdańsk and another team, and these teams replacing Lechia Gdańsk in the league. For the Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk team, the club was a result of a merger between Lechia Gdańsk and Olimpia Poznań, the original Lechia Gdańsk team became known as Lechia Gdańsk II for the 1995–96 season, becoming the first team again the season after. Statistics for both the Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk and Lechia Gdańsk II (for the 1995–96 season) are listed. The situation is slightly different with Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk who played from 1998 until 2002. This merger between Lechia Gdańsk and Polonia Gdańsk resulted in there being no Lechia Gdańsk team between 1998 and 2001, when the team reformed in the lowest divisions. For the 2001–02 season both Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk and the newly formed Lechia Gdańsk played in the leagues. Statistics for Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk from 1998 until 2002 are shown, as well as the original and current Lechia Gdańsk teams statistics since 2001. There are therefore two seasons in which two clubs count towards statistics for Lechia Gdańsk, 1995–1996 and 2001–2002. During the 1995–1996 season the original Lechia Gdańsk team was known as Lechia Gdańsk II, the league stats for the II team are being treated as normal II team stats and are included in the Other section.\n\nThere are 13 players where only the last name is known. Throughout the early years of Lechia's history the team did not always document players information as much as they do now, and news papers often only reported the players last names. Despite not knowing the full identity of these players they have still been included as they have still made appearances for Lechia Gdańsk.\n\nKey\n\nThe table below identifies the sorting of the players stats.\n\nPlayer statistics\n\nThe player statistics will be updated during the winter break and at the end of the season. The stats were last updated on 1 August 2021 and are correct as of the end of the 2020–21 season. This table will be updated at the end of the 2021–22 season, or before the end of the season if a player moves to another club.\n\n(Updated to 1 January 2022)\n\nReferences\n\nLists of association football players by club\nLechia Gdańsk\nAssociation football player non-biographical articles",
"Troy Warden Andrew (born December 12, 1979) is a former American football center who played one season for the Miami Dolphins in 2001.\n\nEarly life\nTroy Andrew was born in Tamuning, Guam on December 12, 1979. He went to high school at Klein (TX).\n\nCollege\nHe went to college at Duke.\n\nProfessional career\n\nMiami Dolphins\n\nAndrew was signed as a undrafted free agent by the Miami Dolphins on April 26, 2001. He played 8 games that season. He wore number 65 for the Dolphins. He was released on September 9, 2002. \n\nHouston Texans\n\nThe next day after being cut he was claimed off waivers by the Houston Texans. But he did not make the roster and was cut 4 days later. He did not play in any games for the Texans.\n\nMiami Dolphins (Second Stint)\n\nTroy was then signed to the Miami Dolphins practice squad three days after being cut by the Texans. He was on the practice squad all year and did not play in any games. In the offseason he played for the Barcelona Dragons. In 2002 he was cut before the season started.\n\nBarcelona Dragons\n\nDuring the offseason of 2002, he was the starting center the full season for the Barcelona Dragons. He played all ten games and started them.\n\nCleveland Browns\n\nOn November 26, 2003, he was signed to the Cleveland Browns practice squad. He did not play in any games for the Browns. On January 5, 2004, he was released.\n\nBerlin Thunder\n\nDuring the 2004 offseason, he was the starting center for the Berlin Thunder. He played in all the games as the Berlin Thunder won World Bowl XII against the Frankfurt Galaxy.\n\nSan Diego Chargers\n\nOn June 18, 2004, he was signed by the San Diego Chargers. However, he did not make the roster and was cut on August 31. In his career he played in 8 games, all in 2001. He was not signed and did not play for any other teams after he was released by the Chargers.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nReview A Chat With Football Player Troy Andrew\nTroy Andrew Stats\nTroy Andrew Stats, News and Video - C\n\nMiami Dolphins players\nAmerican football centers\n1977 births\nDuke Blue Devils football players\nLiving people"
]
|
[
"Kurt Warner",
"2007 season",
"What was Warner's record in the 2007 season?",
"37-31",
"How many passing yards did he throw?",
"finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards",
"Did they win the Superbowl?",
"I don't know.",
"How did the season end?",
"6-6",
"What other stats did he have for the 2007 season?",
"Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37-31 loss on November 25,"
]
| C_a8a67f52857944cbb03d0ee936cf17c7_0 | Who else was on the team at the time? | 6 | Besides Kurt Warner, who else was on Warner's team at the time? | Kurt Warner | Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23-6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23-23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26-23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal. On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season. Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37-31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6-6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000. CANNOTANSWER | to relieve an ineffective Leinart | Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend from an undrafted free agent to a two-time Most Valuable Player and Super Bowl MVP, is regarded as one of the greatest stories in NFL history.
After playing college football at Northern Iowa from 1990 to 1993, Warner spent four years without being named to an NFL roster. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, but released before the regular season and instead played three seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League (AFL). Warner landed his first NFL roster spot in 1998 with the Rams, holding a backup position until he was thrust into becoming St. Louis' starter the following season. During his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Warner led The Greatest Show on Turf offense to the Rams' first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXIV, earning him league and Super Bowl MVP honors. He won his second league MVP award in 2001, en route to a Super Bowl XXXVI appearance, and also appeared in Super Bowl XLIII with the Cardinals.
Considered the NFL's greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
High school and college
Born in Burlington, Iowa, Warner played football at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, graduating in 1989. After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Northern Iowa, graduating in 1993. At UNI, Warner was third on the Panthers' depth chart until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and first team all-conference.
Professional career
Green Bay Packers
Following his college career, Warner went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft. He was invited to try out for the Green Bay Packers' training camp in 1994, but was released before the regular season began. Warner was competing for a spot against Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and former Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. While Warner was with the Packers, the head coach was Mike Holmgren, the quarterback coach was Steve Mariucci, and Andy Reid was the offensive assistant.
After his release, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. Warner often cites this starting point when telling of his rise to NFL stardom in 1999. He also mentions that his deepened dedication to Christianity occurred around 1997. Warner returned to Northern Iowa and worked as a graduate assistant coach with the football team, while still hoping to get another tryout with an NFL team.
Iowa Barnstormers
With no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1995, and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. He was named to the AFL's First-team All-Arena in both 1996 and 1997 after he led the Barnstormers to ArenaBowl appearances in both seasons. Warner's performance was so impressive that he was later named twelfth out of the 20 Best Arena Football Players of all time.
Before the 1997 NFL season, Warner requested and got a tryout with the Chicago Bears, but an injury to his throwing elbow caused by a spider bite sustained during his honeymoon prevented him from attending.
In 2000, after Warner's breakout NFL season, the AFL used his new fame for the name of its first widely available video game, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed. Years later, on August 12, 2011, he would be named as an inductee into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
St. Louis Rams
Amsterdam Admirals
In December 1997 after the St. Louis Rams' season ended, Warner signed a futures contract with the team. In February 1998, he was allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Amsterdam Admirals, where he led the league in touchdowns and passing yards. His backup at the time was future Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. Returning to the United States, Warner spent the 1998 season as St. Louis' third-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He ended his season completing only 4 of 11 pass attempts for 39 yards and a 47.2 QB rating.
1999 season
Prior to the 1999 free-agency period, the Rams chose Warner to be one of the team's five unprotected players in the 1999 NFL expansion draft. Warner went unselected by the Cleveland Browns, who chose no Rams and whose only quarterback selection was Scott Milanovich.
The Rams let Bono leave in free agency and signed Trent Green to be the starter. Banks was traded to the Ravens, and Warner now found himself second on the depth chart. After Green suffered a torn ACL via a low hit by Rodney Harrison in a preseason game, Rams coach Dick Vermeil named Warner as the Rams' starter. In an emotional press conference, Vermeil—who hadn't seen Warner work with the first-string offense—said, "We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we'll play good football." With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim, and Ricky Proehl, Warner put together one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf" and registered the first in a string of three consecutive 500-point seasons, an NFL record.
Warner threw three touchdown passes in each of his first three NFL starts, an NFL record until it was surpassed by Patrick Mahomes in 2018. Warner drew more attention in the Rams' fourth game of the season, a home game against the San Francisco 49ers (who had been NFC West division champions for 12 of the previous 13 seasons). The Rams lost their last 17 meetings with the 49ers, but Warner proceeded to throw a touchdown pass on each of the Rams' first three possessions of the game, and four touchdowns in the first half alone, to propel the Rams to a 28–10 halftime lead on the way to a 42–20 victory. Warner finished the game with five touchdown passes, giving him 14 in four games and the Rams a 4–0 record. Warner's breakout season from a career in anonymity was so unexpected that Sports Illustrated featured him on their October 18 cover with the caption "Who Is This Guy?" He was named the 1999 NFL MVP at the season's end for leading the Rams to their first playoff berth since 1989 (when they were still in Los Angeles) and their first division title since 1985.
In the NFL playoffs, Warner ultimately led the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans. In the game, he threw for two touchdowns and a then Super Bowl-record 414 passing yards, including a 73-yard touchdown to Isaac Bruce when the game was tied with just over two minutes to play, which proved to be the game-winning score. Warner also set a Super Bowl record by attempting 45 passes without a single interception. For his performance, Warner was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award. As of 2021, Warner is the most recent player to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year.
2000 season
On July 21, Warner signed a seven-year contract worth $47 million. He started the 2000 season where he had left off in his record-setting 1999 season, racking up 300 or more passing yards in each of his first six games (tying Steve Young's record) and posting 19 touchdown passes in that stretch. Warner broke his hand and missed the middle of the season, but Trent Green filled in ably and the Warner/Green duo led the Rams to the highest team passing yard total in NFL history, with 5,232 net yards. Warner and Green's combined gross passing yards total was 5,492. In contrast to his previous season, however, Warner's turnover rate drastically increased in 2000, as he threw an interception in 5.2% of his attempts (compared to just 2.6% in 1999). Despite one of the most productive offensive years by an NFL team, the Rams won only ten games and lost in the wild card round to the New Orleans Saints. In response to the disappointing season, the Rams cut nine of their eleven defensive starters during the offseason, and Trent Green was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
2001 season
Warner returned to MVP form in 2001. Although his performance lagged behind his 1999 performance, he amassed a league-high 36 touchdown passes and 4,830 passing yards, and another league high mark in passer rating (101.4). Warner's tendency for turnovers carried over from 2000, as he tossed a career-high 22 interceptions (despite completing a career-high 68.7% of his passes), but he still led "The Greatest Show on Turf" to its third consecutive 6–0 start (becoming the first NFL team to do so, later equaled by the 2005–2007 Indianapolis Colts), an NFL-best 14–2 record, and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVI. Warner was also named the NFL MVP for the second time in three seasons, giving the Rams their third winner in as many years (running back Marshall Faulk won in 2000).
In Super Bowl XXXVI, Warner threw for 365 yards (then the second-highest, now the sixth-highest total in Super Bowl history) and a passing touchdown along with a rushing touchdown, but his rhythm was disrupted by New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's defensive game plan and he tossed two costly interceptions which helped stake the heavy-underdog Patriots to a two-touchdown lead. After falling behind to the Patriots 17–3, though, the Rams rallied to tie the game late in the fourth quarter on a one-yard Warner quarterback sneak touchdown run and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl. The game ended in a 20-17 loss for Warner and the Rams when Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired, giving the Patriots the first of three Super Bowl wins in four years.
2002–2003 seasons
Warner began the 2002 season as the Rams' starter, but he played poorly, throwing seven interceptions against only one touchdown as the team went 0–3. In the Rams' fourth game, this one against the Dallas Cowboys, Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand. Warner attempted to come back later in the season, but his injury allowed him to play only two more games (both losses). In contrast to his 103.0 career passer rating entering the season, Warner posted a minuscule 67.4 rating in 2002.
The following season, Warner was replaced as the Rams' starting quarterback for good after fumbling six times in the team's opening-day game against the New York Giants. Warner later revealed that he had previously broken his hand and that it had not fully healed, making it more difficult to grip the football. His successor as the Rams' starting quarterback, Marc Bulger (another relatively unheralded quarterback coming out of college), stepped into the breach and played reasonably well upon replacing Warner.
The Rams signed veteran Chris Chandler as Bulger's backup. The Rams released Warner on June 1, 2004 with three years left on his contract.
New York Giants
Two days after his release from the Rams, he signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the New York Giants, with a second year player option worth $6 million. Warner started the 2004 season as the Giants' starting quarterback, winning five of his first seven games, but following a two-game losing streak, highly touted rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. The Giants had a 5–4 win-loss record at the time of Warner's benching, finishing at 6–10 overall (going only 1–6 under Manning). Following the season, Warner chose to void the second year of his contract, and thus became a free agent.
Arizona Cardinals
2005 season
In early 2005, Warner signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starter by coach Dennis Green. Warner posted three relatively mediocre performances before injuring his groin and being replaced by former starter Josh McCown. McCown performed well enough in the two games Warner missed that McCown remained the starter.
After McCown struggled in two straight games, Green re-inserted Warner into the starting line-up. After playing fairly well in two consecutive losses (passing for a total of nearly 700 yards), Warner defeated his former team, the Rams, by a score of 38–28. He passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns while posting a quarterback rating of 115.9. Warner's season ended in week 15 when he partially tore his MCL.
Warner signed a new three-year extension with the Cardinals on February 14, 2006. The deal had a base salary of $18 million and, with performance incentives, could have been worth as much as $24 million.
2006 season
In Week 1 of the 2006 NFL season, Warner won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, Warner passed the 20,000-yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second-quickest of any player in NFL history (Warner accomplished the feat in one game more than it took record-holder Dan Marino).
After three subpar games in Weeks 2-4, Warner was replaced as quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of week 4. Then-coach Dennis Green stated that Warner would be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season. In week 16, Leinart went down with a shoulder injury against the 49ers, forcing Warner to see his first action since week 4. Warner filled in nicely, as he was able to hang on for the Cardinals win. In week 17 against the San Diego Chargers, Warner started again in place of the injured Leinart, throwing for 365 yards (which led the NFL for that week) and a touchdown, though the Chargers were able to hold on for a 27–20 win.
2007 season
Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23–6 at the beginning of the period. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23–23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26–23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal.
On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season.
Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37–31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6–6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record. Warner's performance earned him a $1 million bonus for the year, and he fell just short of attaining a 90.0+ passer rating, which would have given him an extra $500,000.
2008 season
Leinart was named the Cardinals' starting quarterback going into the 2008 off-season, but Ken Whisenhunt stated that it would be very possible for Warner to be the starter before week one of the regular season. Indeed, Warner was named the starter on August 30, 2008. That season, Warner had 4,583 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 67.1%. He was the top ranked passer in the National Football Conference for the third time, and only trailed Philip Rivers and Chad Pennington of the AFC in NFL passer rating for the season. Warner also received FedEx Air Player of the Week honors for his performance during weeks 9 and 11 of the season. He had his struggles during the season, as in week 3 of the season vs. the New York Jets, his team turned the ball over 7 times. This included an interception for a touchdown, and 2 picks resulting in a touchdown and a field goal in just the second quarter. Warner still managed to get his team to score 35 points in a 56-35 loss.
On December 7, 2008, Warner led the Cardinals to a 34–10 win over his former team, the Rams, securing for the Cardinals the NFC West Division title and their first playoff berth since 1998. It was the Cardinals' first division title since 1975 and third of the post-merger era. As a result, the Cardinals earned a home playoff game, only their second ever, and their first in Arizona. (Despite winning division titles in the 1974 and 1975 seasons in St. Louis, the Cardinals played on the road in the playoffs as a result of the playoff structure in those days.) On December 16, 2008, Warner was named the starting quarterback for the NFC team in the 2009 Pro Bowl.
2008 postseason
On January 3, 2009, Warner led the Cardinals in their victory over the Atlanta Falcons 30–24 at home in the first round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 19 for 32 passing, a completion percentage of 59.4%, for 271 yards. He threw two touchdowns and one interception. This win represented the first time the Cardinals had won a post-season home game since the 1947 NFL Championship Game.
On January 10, Warner helped the Cardinals defeat the Carolina Panthers 33–13 in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 21 for 32 passing, for 220 yards, a completion percentage of 65.6%, with two touchdowns and one interception. This win was the first time the Cardinals had won a game on the East Coast the entire 2008 season, after having lost away games to the Panthers, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, and the New England Patriots.
On January 18, Warner threw for 279 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles to lead the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in history. Warner is one of four quarterbacks who made Super Bowl starts with two teams (alongside Craig Morton, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady).
In Warner's third career Super Bowl appearance on February 1, the Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, leaving him with a career 1–2 record in Super Bowls. Despite losing, Warner still managed to throw for 377 yards (the fourth-highest total in Super Bowl history). He completed 72.1% of his passes, and had a quarterback rating of 112.3. Warner had now recorded the three highest single-game passing yardage totals in the history of the Super Bowl, and joined Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, John Elway, and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to throw a touchdown pass in three Super Bowls. Warner took his team to the Super Bowl every year that he played as the starting quarterback during all regular and post season games.
2009 season
Warner announced his desire to return to the Cardinals for the 2009 season. The Cardinals offered him a two-year contract worth around $20 million but Warner was looking for a contract that would pay him about $14 million a year and the two sides could not come to an agreement. On February 27, 2009, Warner became a free agent and went on to have talks with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers offered Warner a contract worth more than that offered by the Cardinals. On March 4, Warner re-signed with the Cardinals to a two-year deal worth $23 million total, $4 million for each of the next two years, with a $15 million signing bonus, and $19 million guaranteed. Warner underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on March 17, 2009. On September 20, 2009, Warner broke the NFL's single-game record for completion percentage in the regular season, completing 24 of 26 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Warner's 92.3 percent completion rate broke the previous NFL record set by Vinny Testaverde in 1993.
On November 1, 2009, Warner threw a career-high-equaling five interceptions during a loss to the Carolina Panthers. During the same game Warner became the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 14,000 yards with two teams. On November 8, Warner equaled his career-high of five touchdown passes in a single game during a 41–21 victory over the Chicago Bears. This performance led to Warner being named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week. On November 15, 2009, Warner reached a career milestone with his 200th touchdown pass during a 31–20 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
On November 22, 2009, during a 21–13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Warner left the game after suffering a concussion. Warner continued to suffer from post-concussion symptoms and on November 29, 2009, he was deactivated against the Tennessee Titans, breaking his consecutive starts streak at 41 games. On December 6, 2009, Warner returned to action as the Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30–17. Warner registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him only the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After his three-touchdown performance, Warner was named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.
On December 27, 2009, Warner became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is the other), in the Cardinals' 31–10 win over the St. Louis Rams. On December 29, 2009, Warner was named an alternate quarterback for the NFC team in the 2010 Pro Bowl.
2009 postseason
On January 10, 2010, Warner threw five touchdowns and completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards in a 51–45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The game had the highest combined total score in NFL playoff history. Warner became one of the very few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4) in a playoff game. Warner finished the game with the second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history with a rating of 154.1. He also became the second quarterback to throw for five touchdown passes in a playoff game twice, and the first to do so since the merger of the leagues. He is also the oldest player to have thrown that many touchdown passes in a playoff game (38 years, 202 days). Warner also tied the NFL record for consecutive playoff games with at least three touchdown passes (three games). Since the playoff game was his last at home in the playoffs during his career, he finished a perfect 7-0 in home contests (4-0 with St. Louis; 3-0 with Arizona).
On January 16, Warner was injured in the first half trying to tackle the ball carrier after an interception on the way to a 45–14 loss at New Orleans in the NFC Divisional round. He returned for the second half, but yielded to understudy Matt Leinart midway through the fourth quarter. In 2012, the NFL discovered the Saints had placed a bounty on Warner. Warner never accused the Saints of making an illegal hit or ending his career, saying "It was a violent hit, no question. But I also believe it was a legal hit."
Retirement
Warner officially announced his retirement from the NFL in January 2010. He said he was looking forward to finally being a true father to his seven kids, and that he wanted to spend time with his wife. He spoke on the impact and influence of his family, former teammates, and God. He became eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame following the 2014 season. In December 2014, Warner admitted he briefly considered coming out of retirement and returning to the Cardinals following the team losing Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton due to injuries.
Post-retirement career
Warner became an Iowa Barnstormers broadcaster for the 2011 Arena Football League season. In May 2010, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Iowa Barnstormers Hall of Fame.
Warner was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Warner was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2017. He was inducted on August 5, 2017, alongside Morten Andersen, Terrell Davis, Kenny Easley, Jerry Jones, Jason Taylor, and LaDainian Tomlinson. He is the only person inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
From 2015 to 2018, Warner was a coach at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Notably, Kedon Slovis played under Warner before being recruited by the USC Trojans for the 2019 college football season.
Since 2019, Warner is the quarterbacks coach at Brophy College Preparatory.
Career statistics and records
NFL statistics
Regular season
Postseason
Super Bowl
NFL records
First quarterback to throw 400+ yards in a Super Bowl game – 414 yards against Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV
Was the most passing yards in a Super Bowl game until surpassed by Tom Brady in Super Bowl LI
Most touchdown passes in a single postseason – 11 touchdowns (in 2009, tied with Joe Montana in 1990 and Joe Flacco in 2013)
Most yards passing in a single postseason, 3 games played – 1,063 yards (in 1999)
Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing (min. 100 games played) – 41.9% (52/124)
First quarterback to throw 40 touchdowns and win a Super Bowl in the same season (in 1999; Tom Brady accomplished the same feat in 2020 when he threw 40 touchdowns and won Super Bowl LV.)
Most yards passing in the first four games of a season – 1557 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first five games of a season – 1947 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first six games of a season – 2260 yards (2000)
Highest average passing yards per game on Monday Night Football – 329.4 yards (min 7 games)
Most wins in the NFC Championship Game without a loss (3-0; 1999, 2001, 2008).
Warner shares several records:
One of three quarterbacks to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Fran Tarkenton and Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks tied to throw five touchdown passes in two playoff games – (following Daryle Lamonica)
One of two quarterbacks to complete 80% of his passes in two playoff games (tied with Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks with four consecutive games with a passer rating over 120 (in 2009, tied with Johnny Unitas)
One of four quarterbacks to make Super Bowl starts with two teams (with Craig Morton – Dallas Cowboys (in 1970) and Denver Broncos (in 1977), Peyton Manning – Indianapolis Colts (in 2006 and 2009) and Denver Broncos (in 2013 and 2015), and Tom Brady - New England Patriots (in 2002, 2004-2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2017-2019) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in 2021))
One of five quarterbacks to win a Conference championship with two teams (with Craig Morton and Earl Morrall and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady)
Rams franchise records
Most touchdown passes in a single season (41, 1999) (tied with Matthew Stafford, 2021)
Single season leader in passer rating (109.2, 1999)
Cardinal records
Most pass completions in a single game – 40 (September 28, 2008)
Highest pass completion percentage with at least 11 passes – 92.3% (September 20, 2009)
4th Cardinal to post a perfect passer rating
Most passes completed in a single season – 401 (2008)
Most passes attempted in a single season – 598 (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a single season – 67.1% (2008)
Highest passing completion percentage in a career – 65.1%
Highest passer rating in a career – 91.9
Personal life
Childhood
Kurt Warner was born to Gene and Sue Warner. Warner's parents divorced when he was six. Kurt and his brother, Matt, lived with their mother, including through another short marriage and divorce.
Kurt's father, Gene Warner, remarried a year after divorcing Kurt's mom. Warner's stepmother, Mimi Warner, also had a son named Matt (Post). The three boys formed a close relationship soon thereafter. Kurt graduated in 1989 from Regis High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was quarterback of the school's Class 3A football team.
College
Warner graduated from University of Northern Iowa with a degree in communications.
Marriage
During college, Warner met his future wife, Brenda Carney Meoni; they married on October 11, 1997. Brenda is a former United States Marine Corps corporal. She was divorced with two children, one of whom was left brain damaged and blind after being accidentally dropped by Brenda's ex-husband, leading to her hardship discharge from the Marines in 1990.
After Warner was cut from the Packers' training camp in 1994, he got a job working the night shift as a night stock clerk at a local Hy-Vee grocery store, in addition to his work as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. While Warner was working as an assistant coach, the couple were living in Brenda's parents' basement in Cedar Falls. Brenda's parents were killed in 1996 when their Mountain View, Arkansas home was destroyed by a tornado. Warner and Brenda married on October 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church, the same place where the service for Brenda's parents was held. Warner was still hoping to get an NFL tryout, but with that possibility appearing dim and the long hours at Hy-Vee for minimum wage taking their toll, Warner began his Arena League career.
After marrying Brenda, Warner officially adopted her two children from her first marriage; they have since added five children of their own.
Christian faith and testimony
Kurt and Brenda Warner are devout evangelical Christians. His faith first emerged on the national stage following the Rams' Super Bowl victory, where he was named the game's MVP:
Nine years later, upon leading the Cardinals to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl, Warner's response was similar:
Warner has usually attended charismatic churches, and believes that God healed him from a concussion he suffered in 2000. However, he eschews the term "charismatic." In 2001, he told Charisma, "I'm just a Christian."
Broadcasting
In 2010, Warner joined NFL Network as an analyst. He can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access, as well as in-studio on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football pregame show, Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Sears. Warner also served as an analyst for the NFL Network's coverage of the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs. Warner tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021, and was unable to serve on the studio panel for NFL GameDay Morning for the wild card playoff round.
In August 2010, Fox Sports announced that Warner would be serving as a color analyst on the network's NFL coverage in the 2010 season. He teamed with play-by-play announcers Chris Rose or Chris Myers to call regional games.
In 2014, Westwood One radio hired Warner as a substitute analyst on Monday Night Football games when regular analyst Boomer Esiason is unavailable. In 2018, Warner became the full-time radio analyst.
Television appearances
On January 27, 2009, Warner made a special appearance on the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser.
Warner made a guest appearance on Disney's The Suite Life on Deck as himself, in the episode "Any Given Fantasy" which aired on January 18, 2010.
On February 9, 2010, Warner was a surprise guest on the final episode of The Jay Leno Show.
On August 30, 2010, it was announced on live television that Warner would be appearing as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. His professional dance partner was Anna Trebunskaya; the couple was eliminated in week 8, the Instant Choreography Week.
Warner appeared as the host of The Moment, a reality series on USA Network, in 2013.
Film and video
In 2003, GoodTimes Entertainment released the direct-to-home video Kurt Warner's Good Sports Gang, a film featuring Warner as the "coach" of a group of animated sports balls. The series was sponsored by Warner, and focused on religious faith and moral values. A portion of the proceeds went to Warner's First Things First Foundation. Although it was originally planned as a series, Episode 1: Elliot the Invincible, was the only release along with Together, We're Better (Episode 2) and a few shorts featuring Warner and his adopted daughter, Jesse Warner.
In February 2020, it was announced that the Erwin Brothers were creating, and releasing a theatrical film about Kurt's life titled American Underdog, with Zachary Levi as Warner. The film was produced by Kingdom Story Company, and distributed by Lionsgate on December 25, 2021 to generally favorable reviews.
Endorsements
On December 3, 2010, Warner's first multi-year post-retirement endorsement agreement was announced. Amway North America announced that it had signed Warner to a multi-year endorsement agreement to represent the Nutrilite brand. Amway reportedly agreed to make a $50,000 donation to Kurt Warner's First Things First Foundation.
In addition to his post-retirement endorsements and charity work, Warner has invested in the Elite Football League of India, a South Asian professional football league. Other prominent American backers include former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, and actor Mark Wahlberg. Warner's total investment amount remains undisclosed, although $50,000 of it will go towards a donation of footballs to schools and underprivileged children throughout India.
Public service
Warner has also appeared in several public service announcements for Civitan International, promoting his and Brenda's volunteer efforts and their work with the developmentally disabled. This issue is personally close to Warner, as Zachary, his adopted son from Brenda's first marriage, suffered major brain damage as an infant when his biological father accidentally dropped him.
Warner has devoted time and money to his First Things First Foundation, the name of which was derived from his interview after winning the Super Bowl in 1999. The foundation is dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put 'first things first.' The foundation has been involved with numerous projects for causes such as children's hospitals, people with developmental disabilities and assisting single parents. Warner's work both on and off the field resulted in him being awarded the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award 2008, which was presented to him at the start of Super Bowl XLIII. In March 2009, Warner was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Leadership Award. Warner was selected by USA Weekend as the winner of its annual Most Caring Athlete Award for 2009. In December 2009, Warner topped a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players to name the best role model on and off the field in the NFL.
In February 2010, Warner received the annual Bart Starr Award, given for outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community. At the award presentation, Bart Starr said of Warner: "We have never given this award to anyone who is more deserving".
See also
List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of Arena Football League and National Football League players
NFL starting quarterback playoff records
References
Further reading
Warner, Kurt & Silver, Michael, (2000). All Things Possible. San Francisco: HarperCollins. (cloth) (paper back).
Warner, Kurt & Brenda, (2009). First Things First. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Inc. (Hardcover)
External links
1971 births
Alliance of American Football announcers
American Christians
American football quarterbacks
Amsterdam Admirals players
Arena football announcers
Arizona Cardinals players
Green Bay Packers players
Iowa Barnstormers players
Living people
National Conference Pro Bowl players
National Football League announcers
National Football League Most Valuable Player Award winners
New York Giants players
Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches
Northern Iowa Panthers football players
People from Burlington, Iowa
Players of American football from Iowa
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
St. Louis Rams players
Super Bowl MVPs | true | [
"\"Nothing Else\" is a song by American Christian musician Cody Carnes. The song was released on January 4, 2019, as the lead single from his second studio album, Run to the Father (2020). Carnes co-wrote the song with Hank Bentley and Jessie Early. Carnes collaborated with Austin Davis and McKendree Tucker in producing the single.\n\n\"Nothing Else\" peaked at No. 31 on the US Hot Christian Songs chart.\n\nBackground\n\"Nothing Else\" was Cody Carnes' first single of 2019, following the release of \"Cover the Earth\" alongside Kari Jobe in 2018. Carnes shared the story behind the song with FreeCCM.\n\nComposition\n\"Nothing Else\" is composed in the key of C with a tempo of 68 beats per minute and a musical time signature of .\n\nCommercial performance\n\"Nothing Else\" debuted at No. 35 on the US Hot Christian Songs chart dated January 19, 2019, concurrently charting at No. 17 on the Christian Digital Song Sales chart.\n\nMusic videos\nThe lyric video of \"Nothing Else\" was published on January 2, 2019, on Cody Carnes' YouTube channel. The live music video of the song, performed by Cody Carnes, recorded at Passion 2019, was published on February 6, 2019, on Cody Carnes' YouTube channel.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n on PraiseCharts\n\n2019 singles\n2019 songs\nCody Carnes songs\nSongs written by Cody Carnes",
"Fredrick Else (31 March 193320 July 2015) was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. Else gained over 600 professional appearances in his career playing for three clubs, Preston North End, Blackburn Rovers and Barrow.\n\nClub career\nElse was born in Golborne near Wigan on 31 March 1933. Whilst on national service in the north-east he played for amateur club Axwell Park Colliery Welfare in the Derwent Valley League. He attracted the attention of Football League teams and signed as a junior for Preston North End in 1951, and as a professional in 1953. He made his debut for Preston against Manchester City in 1954, but was restricted to 14 appearances over his first three seasons. He eventually became first choice, displacing George Thompson, and played 238 times for North End. During this time Preston's most successful season came in 1957–58, when the club finished as runners up in Division One.\n\nThe 1960–61 season ended in relegation for Preston and Else was sold to neighbours Blackburn Rovers for £20,000. Else became a first choice for Blackburn straight away and played 221 times for the club. A collarbone injury in 1964–65 resulted in a period out of the game, though Else returned to regain the goalkeeper's jersey at Blackburn. Nonetheless the team were relegated the following season and Else was released. During the summer of 1966 Else signed with Barrow of the Fourth Division. Else became part of Barrow's most successful team, with the side winning promotion to the Third Division in his first season there. Else was Barrow's first choice keeper for the entire period that they were in the third division, and played 148 league matches for the club. He retired from football after Barrow's relegation in 1970 following a leg infection. His final season included a brief stint as caretaker manager at Barrow.\n\nHonours\n Football League Division One Runner-up 1957–1958\n Football League Division Four Promotion 1966–1967\n\nInternational career\nElse has been described by fans of the clubs that he played for as one of the best English goalkeepers never to win a full international cap. He did, however, make one appearance for the England B team in 1957 against Scotland B, as well as participating in a Football Association touring side of 1961.\n\nPersonal life and death\nElse met his wife Marjorie in 1949 in Douglas on the Isle of Man. They married when Else was 22 and Marjorie 20, on 29 October 1955, a Saturday morning. The wedding was held in Marjorie's home town of Blackpool and the date was chosen so that the couple could marry in the morning and Else could then travel either to Deepdale, to play for Preston North End's reserve team, or to Bloomfield Road where Preston's first team was due to be playing Blackpool F.C. In the event Else was selected for the reserves and the couple had to travel by bus to Preston.\n\nAfter retiring from football, Else remained in Barrow-in-Furness, becoming a geography and maths teacher at a local secondary school. He retired from teaching in 1999 and moved to Cyprus, though still attended some Barrow matches. Else died in Barrow-in-Furness on 20 July 2015, aged 82.\n\nReferences\n\n2015 deaths\n1933 births\nBarrow A.F.C. managers\nBarrow A.F.C. players\nBlackburn Rovers F.C. players\nPreston North End F.C. players\nPeople from Golborne\nEnglish footballers\nAssociation football goalkeepers\nSchoolteachers from Cumbria\nEnglish Football League players\nEngland B international footballers\nEnglish football managers"
]
|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography"
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | Does Legion have a secret identity? | 1 | Does the Marvel character Legion have a secret identity? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | false | [
"Robert or Bob Cobb may refer to:\n\n Robert W. Cobb, US government official\n Robert Cobb (American football), former American football defensive end\n Robert H. Cobb, American restaurateur, founder of the Brown Derby and purported creator of the Cobb salad\n\nFictional characters\n Bob Cobb, the secret identity of Mon-El of the Legion of Superheroes when he lives in Smallville.\n Bob Cobb (Seinfeld) or \"the Maestro\", a minor character from the American TV sitcom Seinfeld",
"Secret identity may mean:\n\n Secret identity, an alternate persona in fiction used to conceal a character's true identity\n Undercover, disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization\n\nIn entertainment\n Secret Identity, a 2006 novel based on the television series Lost\n My Secret Identity, a 1980s television series about a teenage superhero\n Superman: Secret Identity, a 2004 DC Comics miniseries\n \"Secret Identity\", a song by The Jealous Girlfriends from The Jealous Girlfriends (album)\n Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology, a comics anthology"
]
|
[
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"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | What superpowers does Legion have? | 2 | What superpowers does Marvel character Legion have? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | psionic power. | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | false | [
"Computo is the code name for Danielle Foccart, a female fictional character in the DC Universe who became a member of the \"Batch SW6\" group of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century. She is the younger sister of Jacques Foccart, who joined the Legion as the second Invisible Kid.\n\nFictional character biography\nDanielle is a native of Earth, from what was once the francophone African nation of Côte d'Ivoire. As a preteen, Danielle was afflicted with a life-threatening neurological disorder which had baffled the best medical experts of the 30th century. As a last resort, her older brother Jacques brought her to Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes for treatment. Brainiac 5 rashly decided to utilize a piece of circuitry from the dismantled machine Computo, a highly advanced supercomputer he had created years earlier which rebelled against its creator and murdered one of Triplicate Girl's bodies. Still surviving as an artificial intelligence, Computo promptly possessed Danielle's body, and took control of Legion headquarters and the city of Metropolis, nearly killing several Legionnaires. In order to save Danielle and the others, Jacques drank Lyle Norg's invisibility serum and gained the original Invisible Kid's powers. Although the A.I.'s control of Legion HQ was broken, it maintained possession of Danielle's body. Brainiac 5 devoted most of his free time for at least a year to curing Danielle's disorder and exorcizing Computo. Eventually, he succeeded at both tasks. A healthy and apparently normal Danielle returned to the Foccart home in Côte d'Ivoire.\n\n\"Five Years Later\"\nDuring the \"Five Year Gap\" following the Magic Wars, the Legion disbanded and Earth's government fell under the covert control of the Dominators, who had attempted to conquer the planet in the 20th century. Earth withdrew from the United Planets, and the government gradually became more repressive. At some point, Danielle was kidnapped by the Dominators, along with other humanoids possessing superpowers. Eventually she was freed and reunited with Jacques, who had become the leader of a resistance cell which included himself, Tyroc, and the former members of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Soon thereafter, Danielle (now a teenager) became associated with the members of the Dominators' highly classified \"Batch SW6\". This was a group of teenage Legionnaire clones, created from samples apparently taken just prior to Ferro Lad's death at the hands of the Sun-Eater. By that time, Danielle had acquired the ability to communicate with and control computers by psionically interfacing with them. It is unclear if this ability developed as a result of her possession by the Computo A.I., experimentation by the Dominators, or the metagene possessed by many natives of Earth. In a demonstration of deliberate irony, Danielle appropriated the code name Computo for herself.\n\nAlthough the Dominators were eventually defeated, Earth was destroyed just days later in a disaster reminiscent of the destruction of Krypton over a millennium earlier. A few dozen cities and their inhabitants survived, and the planet was reconstituted as New Earth. The SW6 Legionnaires remained on New Earth, and Danielle joined their ranks. She soon became deputy leader, under Cosmic Boy.\n\nPost-Zero Hour\nAfter Legion continuity was completely rebooted by the events of Zero Hour, Jacques was recast as a close childhood friend of Lyle Norg, who spent much of his time with the Foccart family. A young girl who is presumably Danielle appears in one panel in Legionnaires #66 (December 1998). She does not exhibit any superpowers. Danielle made no further appearances in the Post-Zero Hour or \"Threeboot\" eras of Legion continuity.\n\nPost-Infinite Crisis\nThe events of the Infinite Crisis miniseries have restored a close analogue of the Pre-Crisis Legion to continuity, as seen in \"The Lightning Saga\" story arc in Justice League of America and Justice Society of America, and in the \"Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes\" story arc in Action Comics. While an adult Jacques has been depicted, Danielle has yet to be seen. However, the original Danielle (in her guise as Computo) was seen briefly when multiple versions of the Legion battled Superboy-Prime, the Time Trapper and the Legion of Super-Villains.\n\nReferences\n\nDC Comics superheroes\nFictional technopaths\nCharacters created by Keith Giffen\nComics characters introduced in 1982\nAfrican superheroes",
"Superpet may refer to:\n\n SuperPET, the Commodore PET model number SP9000 personal computer\n Legion of Super-Pets, fictional superhero team composed of pets from the DC Comics universe\n pets of Superman-family of comics with superpowers, see List of Superman supporting characters\n \"Superpets\", a 2008 skit from comedy stop-motion TV series Robot Chicken season 3\n \"Superpets\", a 1977 episode of BBC TV magazine That's Life!\n\nSee also\n Wonder Pets!, cartoon TV series that airs on Nick Jr.!"
]
|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know.",
"What superpowers does Legion have?",
"psionic power."
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | What kind of psionic powers? | 3 | What kind of psionic powers does Marvel character Legion have? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | false | [
"In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, psionics are a form of supernatural power similar to, but distinct from, arcane and divine magic.\n\nOverview\nPsionics are manifested purely by mental discipline. Psionics were originally introduced in the original Dungeons & Dragons Supplement III – Eldritch Wizardry. Psionics have appeared in all editions; however, they are only part of the core rules in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition. In 2nd, 3rd and 3.5 editions, psionics are divided into five or six disciplines, or groupings of powers. In 2nd edition, Psionicists gradually gain access to additional disciplines as they advance in level. In 3.5 edition, several psionic character classes are forced to choose one of them, thereby losing access to the most potent powers of the others. In 2nd edition, each power is tied to an ability score (generally Constitution, Intelligence or Wisdom); in 3rd edition, each discipline is tied to an ability score; and in 3.5 edition, all powers use the same ability score: either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma depending on the manifester's class.\n\nEarlier editions also included psionic combat; however, it was eliminated in 3.5 edition, with the attack and defense modes converted into standard psionic powers.\n\nClairsentience Clairsentience powers enable a character to learn secrets long forgotten, to glimpse the immediate future and predict the far future, to find hidden objects, and to know what is normally unknowable. They include precognition and remote viewing. A psion who specializes in clairsentience is known as a seer, and is most akin to an arcane diviner. In 3rd edition, Clairsentience is linked to Wisdom.\n\nMetacreativity Metacreativity powers create objects, creatures, or some form of matter. Creatures a character creates usually, but not always, obey their creator's commands. Powers of the metacreativity discipline include astral construct and greater psionic fabricate. A psion who specializes in metacreativity is known as a shaper, and is most akin to an arcane conjurer. Metacreativity was not introduced until 3rd edition. In 3rd edition, Metacreativity is linked to Intelligence.\n\nMetapsionics Metapsionic powers generally augment other psionic powers, although the discipline also contains some utility powers. The Metapsionics discipline was introduced in 2nd edition, and was not carried over into 3rd edition. In the 3rd and 3.5 editions, abilities which were part of the Metapsionics discipline in 2nd edition are often handled through metapsionic feats and item creation feats, although some metapsionic powers were converted into Clairsentience or Telepathy powers.\n\nPsychokinesis Psychokinesis powers manipulate energy or tap the power of the mind to produce a desired end. Many of these powers produce spectacular effects such as moving, melting, transforming, or blasting a target. Psychokinesis powers can deal large amounts of damage. They include energy missile and tornado blast. A psion who specializes in psychokinesis is known as a kineticist, and is most akin to an arcane evoker. In 3rd edition, Psychokinesis is linked to Constitution.\n\nPsychometabolism Psychometabolism powers change the physical properties of some creature, thing, or condition. They include animal affinity and psionic revivify. A psion who specializes in psychometabolism is known as an egoist, and is most akin to an arcane transmuter. In 3rd edition, Psychometabolism is linked to Strength.\n\nPsychoportation Psychoportation powers move the manifester, an object, or another creature through space and time. They include astral caravan and psionic teleport. A psion who specializes in psychoportation is known as a nomad, and has no arcane counterpart. In 3rd edition, Psychoportation is linked to Dexterity.\n\nTelepathy Telepathy powers can spy on and affect the minds of others, influencing or controlling their behavior. They include psionic suggestion and mind switch. A psion who specializes in telepathy is known as a telepath, and is most akin to an arcane enchanter. In 3rd edition, Telepathy is linked to Charisma.\n\nPrior to 3rd edition, magic and psionics are treated as distinct from each other. For example, the Detect Invisibility spell will penetrate both magical and psionic invisibility, as it detects invisibility in general, while the Detect Magic spell will not detect psionic effects, as it is restricted to magical effects and psionic effects are non-magical.\n\nIn 3rd and 3.5 editions, the standard psionics system incorporates psionics–magic transparency, which treats psionic energy and magic as mutually and equally vulnerable to a dispel magic spell or a dispel psionics power; spell resistance protects against powers just as it protects against spells, while power resistance protects against spells as it does against powers. This is primarily done for game balance, as if psionics were not resistible or able to be dispelled in such a fashion psionic characters would be inordinately powerful in a world designed mostly to handle traditional magic (although they in turn would also be especially susceptible to magic). A variant rule, known as \"psionics are different,\" enforces a separation between the two systems; this rule also provides an intermediate step where each system has a diminished effect upon the other (for example, making a dispel check against an opposing energy would take a −4 penalty, and creatures with spell resistance gain power resistance equal to their spell resistance minus 10).\n\nIn 4th edition, the psionic power source is one of several supernatural power sources. A character's powers generally do not interact with other characters' powers based on power source: for example, the 4th edition version of Dispel Magic can dispel any effect with the Conjuration or Zone keyword, regardless of power source.\n\nHistory\n\nOriginal Dungeons & Dragons\nPsionics were first introduced in the supplement Eldritch Wizardry (1976).\n\nAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition\nOptional rules for psionics were included in the original Player's Handbook. Psionic abilities were included in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition Player's Handbook, which presented them as an optional ability available to many monsters and to players who could qualify with lucky rolls. There was no official specific character class that specialized in psionic powers, although an unofficial class, the psionicist, was introduced in Dragon Magazine issue #78. Much of the rules mechanics for psionic combat were found separately in the Dungeon Masters Guide.\n\nSecond Edition\nPsionics rules were initially absent in AD&D Second Edition, but were reintroduced with the 128-page expansion The Complete Psionics Handbook. Game designer Rick Swan referred to this book as \"a straightforward presentation of an easily managed and highly playable system that clears up the ambiguities in the 1st Edition game and adds a number of elegant new touches\".\n\nIn The Complete Psionics Handbook, the skills of the psionicist are based on wisdom and constitution just as a fighter's abilities derive from strength and a wizard's talents stem from intelligence. Characters of chaotic alignment were not allowed to become psionicists, with the rationale being that volitale chaotics lack the discipline required to focus their mental energies. The book assigned psionic powers to six disciplines, which include clairsentience (divination), psychokinesis (animating and controlling existing objects and forces), psychometabolism (body-changing powers), psychoportation (teleportation variants), telepathy (mental communication and psychic attacks), and metapsionics (enhancement of other psychic abilities). Powers are designated as either sciences (major powers) or devotions (minor powers). As a psionicist gains experience and advances in level, he acquires more powers; for instance, a 1st-level psionicist has only one science and three devotions, but gets 10 sciences and 25 devotions if he makes it to 20th level. As a psionicist rises through the ranks, he also gains access to defense modes, which are special telepathic powers, such as Mind Blank and Tower of Iron Will, which are received free of charge and don't count against a psionicist's normal power limits. Each power has a score rated in terms of a particular attribute. When attempting to use a power, the player makes a Power Check by rolling 1d20 and comparing the result to the Power Score. A roll less than or equal to the Power Score means success. Additionally, each power description includes a specific penalty suffered by the psionicist if a 20 is rolled. A psionicist has a fixed number of Psionic Strength Points, derived from his wisdom score, to expend on psionic powers. A psionicist simply expends the number of PSPs required by a particular power, then attempts a Power Check. If the check fails and the power doesn't work, he forfeits half the PSP cost but is free to try again later. If he passes the check and the power is successful, the psionicist has the option of expending additional PSPs to maintain the power in subsequent rounds. Psionicists recover lost PSPs every hour in which no additional PSPs are expended. The less physical exertion, the more PSPs recovered; a walking PC recovers 3 PSPs per hour, and a resting PC recovers twice as many. The book presents over 150 powers, such as Enhanced Strength, Inflict Pain, Switch Personality, Hear Light, Psychic Surgery, Flesh Armor, Cause Decay, Levitation, ESP, Teleport, and Clairaudience. Psychic combat has its own chapter, and the book includes updates on psionic monsters (including the thought eater and cerebral parasite), a discussion of society's reaction to psionicists, and a section describing the role of psionics in Ravenloft and other TSR campaign settings.\n\nDragon Magazine issue #174 included \"Are You Having Bad Thoughts?\" an article by Ravenloft designer Bruce Nesmith that details how psionics work in the Demiplane of Dread. The power selection for the psionicist class was later expanded by the card-based Deck of Psionic Might supplement. The Dark Sun campaign setting used psionics as a core part of its setting's rules; in the world of Athas (home to the Dark Sun setting), every character and most monsters possessed some psionic wild talent, and all Dark Sun campaign PCs have at least one psionic talent, as described in The Complete Psionics Handbook. Several Dark Sun products introduced new psionic powers.\n\nRevision\nThe psionics system was greatly revised in Player's Option: Skills & Powers and the revised Dark Sun Campaign Setting. Psionic abilities are determined by a character's Wisdom, Constitution, and Intelligence scores. Any character with sufficiently high scores and some luck will have some psionic talent known as a \"wild talent\"; any player character in the Dark Sun world will have psionic talent. Characters have Psionic Strength Points (PSPs) and a Mental Armor Class (MAC); attacking involves expending PSPs, and making an attack roll against the target's MAC. The system was redevised around a Mental Armor Class (MAC) and a Mental THAC0 (MTHAC0), mimicking the Armor Class (AC) and THAC0 used in normal combat. The harder the power was to use, the lower the MAC was to activate it. Likewise, the harder a mind was to break into, the lower that person's MAC was. Psionicists would have MTHAC0 scores that represent their ability to wield the psionic arts. This was exactly 21 minus the level of the psionicist. Many of the powers were also altered in this revision.\n\nA reviewer for the British magazine Arcane felt that this system was \"a much more logical set-up than was previously in use. It's a matter of taste, though, as to whether you think there's any need for spell-like psionic powers when the game already supports such a wide variety of magical styles.\"\n\n3rd and 3.5 editions\nPsionics were overhauled once again in the release of the Psionics Handbook (2001) for Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition. The psionicist was renamed to the \"psion\" and more closely resembled the magic-using sorcerer in terms of combat ability, and a new character class, the psychic warrior, was introduced. Psions were given several new abilities and psionic powers that were intended to complement the new and revised abilities of the magic-using character classes, and psionic items were introduced to give psionic characters an alternative to using magical items.\n\nThe psionics system was again revised for the 3.5 edition of the game, in the Expanded Psionics Handbook (2004). This change streamlined the system by eliminating most power \"chains\", replacing them with the ability to augment powers by spending additional power points, as well as eliminating the psionic combat system that had previously been employed. A key change was changing powers that had previously been keyed to a different ability score for each disciple to a single ability score depending on character class. The book also introduced other races, such as the \"Elan\", psionic characters who had achieved immortality. The May 2004 issue of Dragon introduced the \"Athasian elan\" as a playable character race for the Dark Sun campaign setting.\n\nThe book Complete Psionic (2006) introduced three new standard classes as well as several prestige classes for the psionic character. It also includes a variant psion class called the \"erudite\" which does not specialize in a specific discipline in the way that psions do (putting it on par with wizard and archivist). It also has the ability to learn an unlimited number of powers but can manifest only a limited few each day. Complete Psionic also introduced a number of minor rules changes and clarifications.\n\n4th Edition\nThe Player's Handbook 3, published March 16, 2010, includes four psionic classes, the ardent, battlemind, monk and psion. Psionic powers are called disciplines. Monks use the same general system of at-will, encounter and daily attack and utility powers, while the other three classes lack encounter attack powers, instead possessing a pool of power points which they can use to augment their at-will attack powers.\n\n5th Edition\nOn July 6, 2015, Wizards of the Coast published an Unearthed Arcana article on their website introducing a playtest version of new psionics rules for 5th Edition D&D. The article also describes a new psionic class, the Mystic, which could resemble one of several different psionic classes from past editions, depending on the player's choice of Psionic Order. An online survey was conducted to gather feedback from the community, and on September 11, Wizards reported that the core rules were \"a good start,\" but the Mystic class could use greater flexibility. However, an Unearthed Arcana article published on April 14, 2020, explained that, in spite of some positive response from the fans, the Mystic class was being retired in favor of options for existing classes to use psionic powers. \n\nThe three psionic subclasses were outlined in the 2019 article in Unearthed Arcana offered a look at psionic subclasses for the Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard. Two Third Edition classes, the Psychic Warrior for Fighters, the Soulknife for Rogues were brought back as subclasses, and a new psionic Arcane Tradition was created for Wizards. This playtest also included several new psionic flavored spells and feats. Designers continued to revise the psionic rules releasing another playtest in an Unearthed Arcana article published in March, 2020. The revisions kept the Soulknife as a Rogue subclass, changed the name of the Psychic Warrior to the Psi Knight, and dropped the Psionics Wizard subclass in favor of a new, Sorcerer subclass called the Psychic Soul. It also included new spells, feats, and features for each. A new Psionic Talent Die was included which would gradually grow in size as a player levels up, and offer either increases in damage, or other mechanical augmentations to a psion's powers.\n At their online gaming event D&D Celebration Wizards' of the Coast revealed that the upcoming supplement Tasha's Cauldron of Everything would include a new take on Psionics.\n\nPsionic classes\nIn 1st edition, there was no specific character class for psionics. In 2nd edition, only one psionic character class was introduced, the Psionicist. In 3rd edition this class was renamed \"Psion\", and various new alternate classes were introduced based on psionics usage. Psionics Handbook was later updated for version 3.5 with the Expanded Psionics Handbook, and new material was added in the Complete Psionic book.\n\nIn the fourth edition, psionic power is considered to be a power source on a par with martial, divine, arcane, or primal power. The Psion was reintroduced as a psionic controller, along with the Ardent, Battlemind, and Monk.\n\nMonk\n\nIn 4th edition, the Monk uses the psionic power source.\n\nPsion / Psionicist\n\nPsionicists and Psions are dedicated to the usage of psionic power.\n\nA Psionicist is much like a Wizard, except that his powers derive from his mind rather than external agencies. As Psionicists gain experience, they gain access to more attack and defense strategies and to more psionic powers.\n\n2nd edition\nThe Psionicist class was introduced in 2nd edition, in which it is the sole official psionic class, in The Complete Psionics Handbook. Psionicists use psionics according to 2nd edition's standard psionics system, in which they expend Psionic Strength Points to activate and sustain powers, and activating most powers requires a roll based on an ability score.\n\n3rd and 3.5 editions\nIn 3rd and 3.5 editions, Psions are mechanically similar to Sorcerers; however, like Wizards, they can (and, unlike Wizards, must) specialize in one of the psionic disciplines. In 3rd edition the various disciplines were each linked to a statistic; for instance, clairsentience is linked to Wisdom, and Psions who specialize in it are known as Seers. This was changed in 3.5 so that all disciplines are linked to the Intelligence statistic. Psion is the favored class of the elan race (found in the Expanded Psionics Handbook). In both 3rd and 3.5 editions, Psions expend power points to activate their psionic powers. In 3.5 edition, psionic powers can be augmented by spending additional power points on them.\n\n4th edition\nIn 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, Psions are a Psionic Controller class. Unlike most 4th edition classes, Psions do not have any encounter attack powers, instead, they have a pool of power points, which can be used to augment at-will attack powers. Like encounter powers, power points are recharged by a short rest. A preview was presented in Dragon Magazine #375 in May 2009, and the class is among the classes included in the Player's Handbook 3, which was released on March 16, 2010.\n\nPsionicists and Psions in other media\nPsionicists are among the classes in Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands PC games. Psions are among the classes in the 2007 PSP game Dungeons & Dragons Tactics.\n\nPsychic Warrior\n\nIntroduced in 3rd edition, psychic warriors are a blend between Fighters and Psions. Like fighters, they gain bonus feats, and like Psions, they wield psionic powers, though at a slower rate than either specialized class. Their attack bonus and hit point growth is similarly in the middle. Psychic warrior is the favored class of half-giants (found in the Expanded Psionics Handbook).\n\nSoulknife\n\nSoulknives are warriors who have learned to channel psionic power into \"mind blades\", or swords composed of psionic energy. Their broad training allows them to take many occupations and be a \"jack of all trades.\" Soulknives are the only psionic characters who cannot manifest powers from their class; the soulknife class grants power points, but not the ability to use them. As a soulknife gains levels, the powers of her mind blade increase, such as the ability to form her mind blade into shapes other than a short sword (a concept further expanded with new feats in Complete Psionic). Soulknife is the favored class of the xeph race (found in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Soulknife was a prestige class in the original Psionics Handbook, but it was made into a base class when psionics were revised for v3.5.\n\nWilder\n\nIntroduced in 3.5 edition, wilders can use \"wild surges\", which allow them to augment their psionic powers to a greater extent than normal. Doing so is dangerous: every time a wild surge is used there is a chance that the wilder will suffer from \"psychic enervation\" causing them to become dazed and lose power points. They are slightly tougher than Psions, but gain fewer abilities and slower. Wilder is the favored class of the dromite and maenad races (both found in the Expanded Psionics Handbook).\n\nOther psionic classes\nThe following classes were introduced in 3.5 editions' Complete Psionic.\n\nPsionic items\nIn 2nd edition, all psionic items are intelligent items with PSP pools and the ability to use psionic powers.\n\nIn 3rd edition, psionic items are much closer to magic items. They are generally not intelligent items, and are divided into nine categories: armor, shields, melee weapons, ranged weapons, psionic tattoos, cognizance crystals, power stones, dorjes and universal items. Armor, shields and weapons have enhancement bonuses and abilities like their magical counterparts, cognizance crystals store power points with no other power, dorjes are the psionic equivalent of wands, power stones are the psionic equivalent of scrolls, psionic tattoos are the psionic counterpart of potions and universal items are the psionic counterpart of wondrous items.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe Hypertext d20 SRD – Psionic Races, Classes, Skills, & Spells Index\n\nDungeons & Dragons character classes",
"Complete Psionic is a supplemental rulebook for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game published by Wizards of the Coast and released in April 2006. It is the first 3.5 edition supplemental rulebook published by Wizards of the Coast which focuses on psionics since the Expanded Psionics Handbook.\n\nContents\nIt presents additional material relating to psionics, including three new classes and a variant of the psion, eight new prestige classes, a new psionic race and many feats and psionic powers. Complete Psionic also explores the concept of illithid heritage through new character options: nine illithid heritage feats and a prestige class, the Flayerspawn Psychic.\n\nThe 160-page book was notable for using a recent formatting style adopted by Wizards of the Coast which generally involves an increase in page count for a given amount of information, by including more background information. For example, classes and prestige classes include additional information on their role within the game, their organisation and lore. This formatting style resulted in eight prestige classes in Complete Psionic versus thirty-six in Complete Warrior.\n\nClasses\nComplete Psionic introduces three entirely new classes, and a fourth class, the erudite, which is described as a variant of the psion class. The ardent and divine mind classes were originally one and the same, but were separated before publication: the background and philosophical identity of the ardent was an original element, whilst this was originally to be combined with the psychic auras of the divine mind. The two were separated, and the more divinely influenced divine mind was created as a consequence.\n\nNew base classes\n\nArdent \nArdents derive their powers from a focus on primal truths or concepts (\"mantles\"); different mantles offer different abilities to an Ardent. They possess a smaller selection of powers than the more versatile Psion, but enjoy greater martial abilities.\n\nDivine Mind \nThe Divine Mind is a character who chooses to serve a deity using psionic powers; they are thus somewhat similar to Clerics. Like clerics, they may choose mantles a deity represents, similar to domains. They may also exude Attack, Defense, or Perception auras that grant bonuses to nearby allies.\n\nLurk \nLurks are similar to rogues who call upon psionic powers to aid them. They may perceive the weaknesses of enemies and make sneak attacks, as well as use psionic augments to their abilities.\n\nErudite \nThe Erudite is a variant of the psion contained near the end of Complete Psionic. Whilst considered a variant, it is not an optional class, but rather a specific type of psion. Erudites do not specialise in 'disciplines' as do psions, but they are capable of memorising a virtually unlimited number of psionic powers, at the limitation that they can only manifest a limited number of unique powers each day. Erudites also automatically gain a psicrystal, which are crystals infused with the power of the psionicist's mind. An earlier version of the erudite appeared in Dragon issue #319.\n\nNew prestige classes \nIn addition to the new standard classes, Complete Psionic also introduces eight new prestige classes, adding to the nine in the Expanded Psionics Handbook and the smaller number printed in other Wizards of the Coast supplemental books.\n\n The Anarchic Initiate is a psionicist who focuses on the powers contained within the concept of chaos and uncertainty. Designed primarily for wilders, but also available to psions, anarchic initiates gain or improve their ability to invoke wild surges, whilst gaining new abilities derived from their chaotic powers, including the power to tear a breach in reality.\n The Ebon Saint is a prestige class designed mainly for the lurk class, but also available to certain rogues. Ebon saints are infiltrators who uncover other's secrets. They can perform dire strikes, which are sneak attacks which grant them additional insight into their foe's abilities, and then they may utilise their unique dire augments which the ebon saint can use to steal the thoughts of their foes, or even steal the very form of their foe.\n The Ectopic Adept, a prestige class for shapers which improves on the psionic power 'astral construct', the creation of deadly constructs from ectoplasm. Ectopic adepts gain the ability to control more than one astral construct at once at higher levels. (Complete Psionic introduced a rules change that limited the summoning of constructs to one at a time)\n The Flayerspawn Psychic is a psionic individual who seeks to learn more of her illithid heritage and thereby transform herself, eventually, into an illithid, including gaining the ability to use the deadly mind blast power.\n The Illumine Soul is a prestige class for soulknives. Illumine souls are conduits for positive energy, eventually forming a link with the Positive Energy Plane. Whilst maintaining the martial study of their mindblades, illumine souls gain the ability to use positive energy as a weapon, and defence against the undead, as well as to heal themselves.\n The Soulbow, a Soulknife based class. Soulbows gain versatility with their mindblades, gaining the ability to \"shoot\" them with the force of a bow.\n The Storm Disciple, a psion focused on the thunder and lightning of a storm.\n The Zerth Cenobite, a prestige class based on a group of monks who study the passage of time and developed time travel.\n\nSynad\n\nSynads are aberrations that appear human, but have three different minds working together inside their head.\n The Overmind is the controlling part of the mind.\n The Oracle can see into the future.\n The Collective has access to a large collection of knowledge, which expands the information available to the character.\n\nPublication history\nComplete Psionic was written by Bruce R. Cordell, author of the Expanded Psionics Handbook, and Christopher Lindsay, and was published in April 2006. Cover art was by Raven Mimura, with interior art by Wayne England, David Griffith, Jon Hodgson, Ralph Horsley, Warren Mahy, William O'Connor, Ted Pendergraft, Richard Sardinha, and Ron Spencer.\n\nBruce R. Cordell explained what inspired his interest in psionics: \"I checked every character I rolled for the small chance he might have psionics, according to the rules at the back of the 1st edition Player's Handbook. Every so often, I got lucky; my first psionic character could use mind blast and go ethereal; that is, until my DM, concerned with the havoc I was wreaking with his game, engineered an encounter between myself and Kulgar the Mind-Ripper. Good-bye going ethereal at will. [...] Much later, I had the good fortune to write the Ilithiad for 2nd edition, as well as three supporting adventures. Because I had to delve so deeply into psionics, including suggesting the use of alternate rules (again, for game balance!), I came away with an even stronger appreciation for the possibilities psionics could offer a D&D game.\"\n\nReception\n\nReviews\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Complete Psionics Excerpts\n The Erudite\nReview at RPG net\n\n2006 books\nDungeons & Dragons sourcebooks"
]
|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know.",
"What superpowers does Legion have?",
"psionic power.",
"What kind of psionic powers?",
"Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power,"
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | Why does Jack Wayne control his power? | 4 | Why does Jack Wayne control Marvel character Legion's power? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | false | [
"\"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)\" is a song by The Flaming Lips, released as the second single from their 2006 album At War with the Mystics. It is their highest-charting single so far in the UK, peaking at #16.\n\nAbout the song\nThe theme of the lyrics is more political than their earlier material, as it asks listeners what they would do if they had all the power in the world. The questions asked are answered by a chorus of repetitive \"yeah\"s in the first verse and \"no\"s for the second verse. Wayne Coyne has repeatedly stated that the song does not directly refer to George W. Bush, as members of the media have speculated, but serves as a general statement about abuse of power. Coyne summarized his intended interpretation to the band's audience at the Austin City Limits Music Festival that \"Power is like money. It should be earned, not given to you.\"\n\nThis song was used in Intel's \"Raise Your Hand\" ad campaign, which features text question over shots of people in various settings raising their hand while the chorus \"Yeah Yeah Yeah\" was repeated. It was also used over the opening scenes and credits of The Brothers Solomon. A 2008 television commercial for a Kraft salad dressing features this song in the background, as does a wind power commercial for the group's hometown utility company, OG&E (Oklahoma Gas & Electric), in which Coyne appears along with other Oklahoma luminaries and representatives of the general public. The song was also used in the trailer for the film Moving McAllister, as well as the movie I Love You, Man, and the pilot for the Fox show Sons of Tucson. It was also featured on a commercial in late 2006 for Cartoon Network's Squirrel Boy, and in the soundtrack of the game FIFA Street 2.\n\nWayne Coyne's view on the song\n\nMusic video\nThe music video has three segments. In the first, Asian women forcibly tape hamburgers to a businessman and then he is let loose, chased by several shirtless obese men and watched by amused but non-interfering police officers played by Flaming Lips members Michael Ivins, Steven Drozd and Kliph Scurlock. In the second segment, a woman is similarly covered by doughnuts and is chased by the police officers. In the third segment, frontman Wayne Coyne - who portrays a ruthless leader - has raw steaks and some lengths of intestine stapled to him and gets chased by a werewolf.\n\nUK track listings\n7\"\n\"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song\"\n\"Why Does It End?\"\nCD\n\"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song\"\n\"The Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness\"\nMaxi-CD\n\"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song\"\n\"Time Travel...YES!!!\"\n This is not the same version of the song on the \"It Overtakes Me\" EP.\n\"Why Does It End?\"\n\"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song\" (Music video)\n\nAustralian track listing\nMaxi-CD\n\"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song\"\n\"The W.A.N.D.\"\n\"The Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness\"\n\"Why Does It End?\"\n\nChart positions\n\nReferences\n\nThe Flaming Lips songs\n2006 singles\nProtest songs\nSongs about werewolves\nWarner Records singles\nSongs written by Michael Ivins\nSongs written by Steven Drozd\nSongs written by Wayne Coyne\n2006 songs",
"George Jones and Gene Pitney (Recorded in Nashville!) is an album by American country music artist George Jones and rock and roll artist Gene Pitney. The album is also known as ''It's Country Time Again!\n\nTrack listing\n \"Mockin' Bird Hill\" (Vaughn Horton)\n \"As Long as I Live\" (Roy Acuff)\n \"My Favorite Lies\"(George Jones, Jack Ripley)\n \"Y'all Come\" (Arlie Duff)\n \"Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)\" (Jimmy Hodges)\n \"Love Bug\" (Wayne Kemp, Curtis Wayne)\n \"Big Job\" (Jones, Hank Mills)\n \"Your Old Standby\" (Jim Eanes, Wayne Perry)\n \"Why Baby Why\" (Jones, Darrell Edwards)\n \"That's All It Took\" (Jones, Darrell Edwards, C. Grier)\n \"Louisiana Man\" (Doug Kershaw)\n \"I Can't Stop Loving You\" (Don Gibson)\n\nExternal links\n George Jones' Official Website\n\n1965 albums\nGeorge Jones albums\nVocal duet albums\nGene Pitney albums\nMusicor Records albums"
]
|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know.",
"What superpowers does Legion have?",
"psionic power.",
"What kind of psionic powers?",
"Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power,",
"Why does Jack Wayne control his power?",
"The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power."
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | What was the trauma that caused this? | 5 | What was the trauma that caused Marvel character Legion's personality to splinter? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | false | [
"Karim Hassan Brohi (born 28 August 1968) is a British surgeon who is currently the clinical director of the London Major Trauma Network, Professor of Trauma Sciences at Queen Mary University of London and a Consultant vascular and trauma surgeon for Barts Health NHS Trust at the Royal London Hospital.\n\nEarly life \nBrohi was born on 28 August 1968 in London to Ali Hassan Brohi and Philomena Brohi. He attended the Forest School in London and received a dual degree from University College London, obtaining both a BSc in Computer Science and an MB BS Medicine.\n\nCareer \nHe founded the website trauma.org, due to what he perceived as inadequate care for major trauma patients. He coined the term 'acute traumatic coagulopathy' to describe how coagulopathy caused by traumatic injury results in more severe bleeding and organ failure.\n\nReferences \n\nBritish surgeons\nLiving people\n\n1968 births",
"The Traumatology Institute (Canada) is an international mental health consulting and training organization focused on after trauma care located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.\n\nThe mandate of the Traumatology Institute is to raise awareness about Post-Traumatic Stress and trauma informed care options. It was established following intensive course development at Florida State University in 1997 with experienced traumatologist’s Dr. Anna B. Baranowsky, Dr. J. Eric Gentry, Dr. Charles Figley, and Kathleen Dunning.\n\nBaranowsky established the Traumatology Institute (Canada) in 1998. It was at this point that the independent curriculum currently being offered was further developed and enhanced by Dr. Baranowsky and Dr. Gentry. This comprehensive curriculum leads to competency in Field Trauma Response, Clinical Traumatology, Community & Workplace Traumatology, Compassion Fatigue Care, School Crisis Response Certificate Program, Justice/Corrections Traumatologist and the Trauma Recovery Program Online.\n\nThe Traumatology Institute Training Curriculum (TITC) provided foundational training for those Certified Traumatologists involved in recovery interventions for over 4,700 people following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and thousands of traumatologists nationally and internationally. Traumatology Institute-trained clinicians have continued to offer services wherever called to action.\n\nBaranowsky is the author of the best seller Trauma Practice: Tools for Stabilization & Recovery (2015, 3rd Ed., Baranowsky & Gentry) and What is PTSD? 3 Steps to Healing Trauma (2012, Baranowsky & Lauer), a 2013 International Book Award finalist (Health category).\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Traumatology Institute\n What is PTSD?\n\nTraumatology\nMental health organizations in Canada"
]
|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know.",
"What superpowers does Legion have?",
"psionic power.",
"What kind of psionic powers?",
"Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power,",
"Why does Jack Wayne control his power?",
"The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power.",
"What was the trauma that caused this?",
"David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor."
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | Where did the attack happen? | 6 | Where did the attack that Marvel character Legion was the only survivor of happen? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | false | [
"Mannfolk is a novel from 1886 by Norwegian writer Arne Garborg.\n\nThe novel is set in Norway's capital Christiania, and is a fierce attack on the sexual education of the time. It describes the life of a number of down-and-out men who belong to the artistic circles of the city.\n\nAfter the confiscation of Hans Jæger's 1885 novel Fra Kristiania-Bohêmen and Christian Krohg's 1886 novel Albertine, Garborg begged the Government that his novel Mannfolk please also be confiscated. That did not happen, but instead Garborg lost his position as state auditor, as he was not reelected in 1887.\n\nReferences\n\n19th-century Norwegian novels\n1886 novels\nNovels set in Oslo",
"The February 2010 Lower Dir bombing was a suicide bombing in the Lower Dir District area of Pakistan on 3 February 2010. At least 8 people, including three American soldiers, died. Three schoolgirls were among the dead. Another 70 people, including 63 schoolgirls, were among the injured.\n\nAttack\nThe soldiers were travelling in a convoy and headed for the inauguration of a girls' school. They were part of a contingent of approximately 70 soldiers training Pakistani soldiers in counter insurgency. The bomb went off near another girls school in the village of Koto along the way. The Koto Girls High School was flattened, leaving the girls crying under the rubble. The American soldiers were helping train Pakistan Frontier Corps.\n\nAftermath\nTehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the bombing. They claimed that the attack was in retaliation of October 2008 attack by Blackwater Worldwide in Peshawar. Pakistan arrested 35 people in connection with this bombing. However a backlash against U.S. troop presence in Pakistan did not happen against some analysts predictions.\n\nSee also\nList of terrorist incidents, 2010\nTerrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2010\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nIn pictures: Pakistan convoy attack\n\n2010 murders in Pakistan\nIslamic terrorist incidents in 2010\nMass murder in 2010\nSchool bombings\nSuicide bombings in Pakistan\nTerrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2010\nCrime in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa\nFebruary 2010 events in Pakistan"
]
|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know.",
"What superpowers does Legion have?",
"psionic power.",
"What kind of psionic powers?",
"Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power,",
"Why does Jack Wayne control his power?",
"The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power.",
"What was the trauma that caused this?",
"David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor.",
"Where did the attack happen?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | Who else controls his powers? | 7 | Besides Jack Wayne, who else controls Marvel character Legion's powers? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | true | [
"The Five Strengths (Sanskrit, Pali: ) in Buddhism are faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. They are one of the seven sets of \"qualities conducive to enlightenment.\" They are parallel facets of the five \"spiritual faculties.\"\n\nTranslation\nPañca (Sanskrit, Pali) means \"five.\" Bala (Sanskrit, Pali) means \"power,\" \"strength,\" \"force.\"\n\nExegesis\nFaith and Wisdom balance each other, as do Energy and Concentration.\nThe Five Faculties are ‘controlling' faculties because they control or master their opposites.\nThe faculties and powers are two aspects of the same thing.\n\nFaith/Conviction (saddhā bala) - controls doubt\nEnergy/Effort/Persistence (viriya bala) – controls laziness\nMindfulness (sati bala) - controls heedlessness\nConcentration (samādhi bala) - controls distraction\nWisdom/Discernment (paññā bala) – controls ignorance\n\nSee also\n Bodhipakkhiyadhamma - lists the 37 qualities conducive to Enlightenment, which includes the Five Powers.\n Five Wisdoms\n Index of Buddhism-related articles\n Indriya - \"faculty,\" includes extended discussion of the Five Spiritual Faculties.\n Secular Buddhism\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\n Monier-Williams, Monier (1899, 1964). A Sanskrit–English Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press. An on-line search engine for the MWD is available from the \"U. of Cologne\" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/monier/.\n Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. An on-line search engine for the PED is available from \"Chicago U.\" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.\n\nExternal links\nThe Way of Wisdom - The Five Spiritual Faculties, by Edward Conze\nThe Five Spiritual Powers, Dharma talk by Sarah Doering\nIndriyas from Encyclopedia of Spiritual Knowledge\nThe Secret of 5 Powers, Comic Book - Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh \n\nBuddhist philosophical concepts\nMindfulness (Buddhism)\n\nlt:Indrijos",
"Exchange controls, also known as capital controls and currency controls, limiting the convertibility of Pounds sterling into foreign currencies, operated within the United Kingdom from the outbreak of war in 1939 until they were abolished by the Conservative Government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in October 1979.\n\nHistory \n\nExchange controls were originally enacted at the outbreak of war in 1939, to prevent a run on sterling, and to prevent any potential panic outflow of capital from the UK. The Defence (Finance) Regulations, issued under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939, provided for restrictions on the convertibility of sterling into foreign currencies, such as US dollars.\n\nThese powers were formalised after the war in 1947, in the Exchange Control Act. As long as exchange controls remained in place, the amount of money British citizens could take out of the UK was severely limited. British passports contained a final page titled \"Exchange Control Act 1947” in which foreign currency exchanges had to be listed, the amounts permitted being capped at low levels. In addition, British citizens were no longer free to invest in overseas assets such as foreign shares or property.\n\nIn 1966 the Labour Government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson restricted the amount of currency that British holidaymakers could take out of the country to £50 plus £15 in sterling cash. However, the controls were widely flouted.\n\nAbolition \n\nExchange controls in the UK were abolished by the Conservative Government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in October 1979. Announcing their removal, Chancellor of the Exchequer Geoffrey Howe said: \"They have now outlived their usefulness. The essential condition for maintaining confidence in our currency is a Government determined to maintain the right monetary and fiscal policies. That we shall do. It is right to give an additional degree of freedom to allow the pound to operate in the world unrestricted by restraints of this kind.” \n\nAbolition was welcomed by business, and criticised by the opposition Labour Party. Nicholas Goodison, chairman of the London Stock Exchange, said that exchange controls had “impeded the development of British commerce throughout the world and so distorted our economy. They have done a lot of harm to London as one of the leading financial centres.” Conversely, the abolition of exchange controls was criticised by Labour's Shadow Chancellor Denis Healey, who warned of the danger of increased foreign investment at the expense of British industry.\n\nExchange controls today\n\nToday there are no exchange controls restricting the transfer of funds into or out of the United Kingdom. However, any person carrying the equivalent of €10,000 or more in cash when they enter or leave the UK must declare it to customs officers at the border.\n\nAt the 2017 Labour Party annual conference, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell hinted at the possibility of a return of exchange controls should there be a run on the pound following a Labour election victory.\n\nThe Green Party of England and Wales say in paragraph EC665 of their Economy Policy, last amended in 2019, that '... A Green government would work in Europe and globally to re-establish controls on international capital movements, in order to restore financial stability and regain control over the macro- economy'.\n\nSee also\n\n Economic history of the United Kingdom\n Economy of the United Kingdom\n Exchange controls\n Sterling area\n\nReferences\n\n Bank of England History of Exchange Controls Retrieved 26 September 2018\n Re-examining the removal of exchange control by the Thatcher government in 1979, by Daisuke Ikemoto Retrieved 28 September 2018\n\nNotes\n\nGovernment of the United Kingdom\nPublic finance of the United Kingdom"
]
|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know.",
"What superpowers does Legion have?",
"psionic power.",
"What kind of psionic powers?",
"Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power,",
"Why does Jack Wayne control his power?",
"The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power.",
"What was the trauma that caused this?",
"David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor.",
"Where did the attack happen?",
"I don't know.",
"Who else controls his powers?",
"Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi"
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | Who is Karami? | 8 | Who is Karami who controls Marvel character Legion's powers? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | true | [
"Karami (Arabic كرامي) is an Arabic-based Lebanese surname, particularly that of a famous Lebanese Sunni Muslim political family. It is often francicised in the media as Karamé. It is to be differentiated from the Classical Arabic term Karamah (Arabic كرامة) and its colloquial form, Karameh.\n\nKarami is also a common Persian language surname (Persian کرمی) \n\nKarami may refer to:\n\nLebanese political family\nAlso commonly written as francicized Karamé\n Abdul Hamid Karami (1890–1950), Lebanese political and religious leader\n Ahmad Karami (1944–2020), Lebanese statesman\n Faisal Karami (born 1971), Omar Karami's son, Lebanese minister of Sports and Youth\n Omar Karami (1934–2015), Prime Minister of Lebanon\n Rashid Karami (1921–1987), Lebanese statesman\n\nIranian-based surname\nBased on the Persian surname کرمی\nAbdollah Karami (born 1983), Iranian footballer\nMohammad Sadegh Karami (born 1984), Iranian footballer\nMohsen Karami (born 1995), Iranian footballer \nShahab Karami (born 1991), Iranian footballer \nYaser Karami (born 1992), Iranian football \nYousef Karami (born 1983), Iranian Taekwondo athlete\n\nOther people\nKhalid Karami (born 1989), Dutch footballer of Moroccan origin \nMiyoko Karami (born 1974), Japanese road cyclist\n\nLanguage\n Karami language, an extinct and unclassified Papuan language, perhaps a language isolate, of Papua New Guinea.\n\nPlaces\nRashid Karami Stadium, a Lebanese stadium named after prime minister Rashid Karami\nAli Karami-ye Olya, also known as ‘Alī Karamī, a village in Chenar Rural District, Kabgian District, Dana County, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran\nKarreh Karami, a village in Tut-e Nadeh Rural District, in the Central District of Dana County, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran\n\nSee also\nKarameh (disambiguation) \nKaramah (disambiguation)\nKarama (disambiguation)\nKaramat (disambiguation)\nKaram (disambiguation)",
"Faisal Omar Karami (; born 26 September 1971) is a Lebanese politician. He served as the minister of youth and sports in the cabinet of Najib Mikati between 2011 and 2014, and a member of Parliament since 2018.\n\nEarly life and education\nKarami was born into Sunni family in Tripoli on 26 September 1971. His father is Omar Karami who was one of the former Prime Ministers of Lebanon. He is also the nephew of Rashid Karami, who served as prime minister for eight terms. Faisal Karami studied business administration in the United States.\n\nCareer\nKarami is the head of the Arab Liberation Party. He was appointed minister of youth and sports in June 2011 to the cabinet of Najib Mikati. He was a non-affiliated member and part of the March 8 coalition in the cabinet. Karami's term ended on 15 February 2014 and Abdul Muttaleb Al Hinawi succeeded him in the post.\n\nControversy\nKarami's appointment led to conflict during the cabinet formation process in 2011. The reason for the conflict was that Hezbollah had explicitly asked Mikati to assign Faisal Karami as one of the ministers. However, Mikati initially refused this proposal. Mikati argued that if Karami became minister, three of the five seats would be taken by natives of Tripoli (himself, finance minister Mohammad Safadi, and Karami), leading to imbalance in political representation. Nevertheless, Karami was appointed as a non-affiliated minister chosen by Hezbollah, and became the seventh Sunni member of the cabinet after Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s AMAL party agreed to give up one of its governmental shares for him. Karami's appointment was celebrated in his hometown, Tripoli.\n\nAttack\nKarami's convoy was attacked in Tripoli on 18 January 2013, injuring four people. Karami escaped the attack unhurt. Perpetrators were armed radical Sunni Islamists. One of the gunmen was wounded and later arrested.\n\nReferences\n\n1971 births\nArab Liberation Party politicians\nGovernment ministers of Lebanon\nLebanese Sunni Muslims\nLiving people\nPeople from Tripoli, Lebanon\nSports ministers\nChildren of national leaders"
]
|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know.",
"What superpowers does Legion have?",
"psionic power.",
"What kind of psionic powers?",
"Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power,",
"Why does Jack Wayne control his power?",
"The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power.",
"What was the trauma that caused this?",
"David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor.",
"Where did the attack happen?",
"I don't know.",
"Who else controls his powers?",
"Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi",
"Who is Karami?",
"the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami,"
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | Who is Cyndi? | 9 | Who is Cyndi who also controls Marvel character Legion's powers? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | false | [
"Hey Now! (Remixes & Rarities) is an album of club remixes by American singer Cyndi Lauper, which also includes \"The World is Stone\" and \"You Have to Learn to Live Alone\" which have only been officially launched as singles in Europe, Japan and South America.\n\nTrack listing\n\n2005 remix albums\n2005 compilation albums\nSony Music remix albums\nSony Music compilation albums\nCyndi Lauper remix albums\nCyndi Lauper compilation albums",
"This is an alphabetical listing of songs recorded in studio or live by American singer Cyndi Lauper between 1977 and 2018. Lauper's discography, which includes studio and compilation albums, singles, and video releases, is also available.\n\nSongs officially released as albums, singles or other media\n\nA\n\nB\n\nC\n\nD\n\nE\n\nF\n\nG \n Girls Just Want To Have Fun\n\nH\n\nI\n\nJ\n\nL\n\nM\n\nN\n\nO\n\nP\n\nR\n\nS\n\nT\n\nU\n\nW\n\nY\n\nZ \n\n* denotes songs from soundtracks and other multi-artist recordings\n\n \nLauper, Cyndi"
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|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know.",
"What superpowers does Legion have?",
"psionic power.",
"What kind of psionic powers?",
"Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power,",
"Why does Jack Wayne control his power?",
"The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power.",
"What was the trauma that caused this?",
"David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor.",
"Where did the attack happen?",
"I don't know.",
"Who else controls his powers?",
"Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi",
"Who is Karami?",
"the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami,",
"Who is Cyndi?",
"a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power."
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | What power did Karami control? | 10 | What power of Marvel character Legion did Karami control? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | David's telepathic abilities, | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
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Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
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Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | false | [
"Omar Abdul Hamid Karami (last name also spelled Karamé and Karameh) (; 7 September 1934 – 1 January 2015) was the 29th Prime Minister of Lebanon, who served two separate terms. He was Prime Minister for the first time from 24 December 1990, when Selim al-Hoss gave up power, until May 1992, when he resigned due to economic instability. He was again Prime Minister from October 2004 to April 2005.\n\nEarly life\nKarami was born Omar Abdul Hamid Karami in the northern Lebanese town of An Nouri, near Tripoli in 1934 to a Sunni Muslim family. He was the son of former Prime Minister and independence hero Abdul Hamid Karami. He was the brother of Arab nationalist the eight-time Prime Minister and major Lebanese statesman, Rashid Karami, who was assassinated in 1987. Omar Karami held a degree in law, which he received from Cairo University in 1956.\n\nCareer\nKarami worked as both lawyer and businessman. In 1989, he was appointed education minister and on 24 December 1990, prime minister. He was in office until May 1992 when he resigned due to the collapse of the Lebanese pound against the US dollar which provoked street riots. Karami was elected as Parliamentary representative of Tripoli in 1991, following his brother's assassination. In late October 2004, he formed a cabinet after the resignation of Rafik Hariri.\n\nDue to the assassination of ex-prime minister Hariri on 14 February 2005, members of the opposition blamed Syria for the assassination, and demanded Syria withdraw its troops and intelligence personnel from Lebanon. Protests grew in Beirut despite an official ban on public protests, and the opposition planned to call for a no confidence vote. Amid the growing pressure, Karami announced on 28 February 2005 that his government would resign, although it remained temporarily in a caretaker role.\n\nTen days after the resignation, following protests in Beirut that were supportive of president Karami, President Émile Lahoud re-appointed Karami as prime minister on 10 March and asked him to form a new government. With the backing of a majority of deputies, Karami called on all parties to join a government of national unity.\n\nOn 13 April, after failing to create a new government, Karami resigned again. He was replaced by Najib Mikati in the post. This resignation added to the turmoil already prevalent in Lebanon since Hariri's assassination as now there was no government to call the elections which were due that upcoming May. Karami did not run for office in the 2005 general elections.\n\nPersonal life\n\nKarami was the father of Faisal Karami.\n\nDeath\nOn the morning of 1 January 2015, Karmai died \nfollowing a long period of illness at the age of 80.\n\nReferences \n\n1934 births\n2015 deaths\nCairo University alumni\nPeople from Tripoli, Lebanon\nLebanese Sunni Muslims\nPrime Ministers of Lebanon\nMembers of the Parliament of Lebanon\nChildren of national leaders",
"Karami (Arabic كرامي) is an Arabic-based Lebanese surname, particularly that of a famous Lebanese Sunni Muslim political family. It is often francicised in the media as Karamé. It is to be differentiated from the Classical Arabic term Karamah (Arabic كرامة) and its colloquial form, Karameh.\n\nKarami is also a common Persian language surname (Persian کرمی) \n\nKarami may refer to:\n\nLebanese political family\nAlso commonly written as francicized Karamé\n Abdul Hamid Karami (1890–1950), Lebanese political and religious leader\n Ahmad Karami (1944–2020), Lebanese statesman\n Faisal Karami (born 1971), Omar Karami's son, Lebanese minister of Sports and Youth\n Omar Karami (1934–2015), Prime Minister of Lebanon\n Rashid Karami (1921–1987), Lebanese statesman\n\nIranian-based surname\nBased on the Persian surname کرمی\nAbdollah Karami (born 1983), Iranian footballer\nMohammad Sadegh Karami (born 1984), Iranian footballer\nMohsen Karami (born 1995), Iranian footballer \nShahab Karami (born 1991), Iranian footballer \nYaser Karami (born 1992), Iranian football \nYousef Karami (born 1983), Iranian Taekwondo athlete\n\nOther people\nKhalid Karami (born 1989), Dutch footballer of Moroccan origin \nMiyoko Karami (born 1974), Japanese road cyclist\n\nLanguage\n Karami language, an extinct and unclassified Papuan language, perhaps a language isolate, of Papua New Guinea.\n\nPlaces\nRashid Karami Stadium, a Lebanese stadium named after prime minister Rashid Karami\nAli Karami-ye Olya, also known as ‘Alī Karamī, a village in Chenar Rural District, Kabgian District, Dana County, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran\nKarreh Karami, a village in Tut-e Nadeh Rural District, in the Central District of Dana County, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran\n\nSee also\nKarameh (disambiguation) \nKaramah (disambiguation)\nKarama (disambiguation)\nKaramat (disambiguation)\nKaram (disambiguation)"
]
|
[
"Legion (Marvel Comics)",
"Fictional character biography",
"Does Legion have a secret identity?",
"I don't know.",
"What superpowers does Legion have?",
"psionic power.",
"What kind of psionic powers?",
"Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power,",
"Why does Jack Wayne control his power?",
"The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power.",
"What was the trauma that caused this?",
"David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor.",
"Where did the attack happen?",
"I don't know.",
"Who else controls his powers?",
"Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi",
"Who is Karami?",
"the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami,",
"Who is Cyndi?",
"a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power.",
"What power did Karami control?",
"David's telepathic abilities,"
]
| C_f59e9632834f4c2b93e3e40cf44cd02c_1 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 11 | Other than who controls Marvel character Legion's powers and his trauma, are there any other interesting aspects about Legion? | Legion (Marvel Comics) | Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant. When he was very young, David was among the victims of a terrorist attack, in which he was the only survivor. The trauma of the situation caused David to manifest his mutant powers, incinerating the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, he was rendered catatonic, and remained in the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma caused David's personality to splinter, with each of the personalities controlling a different aspect of his psionic power. Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. Using David's telepathic abilities, he reintegrated the multiple personalities into David's core personality. Some of the personalities resisted Karami, and two proved to be formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer, who commands David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controls David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne intended to destroy Karami's consciousness to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Neither personality succeeds, and Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continue as David's dominant personalities. During his time at Muir Island, David emerged from his catatonia. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King, who used his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed on the malignant energy. During this time, the Shadow King, as David, killed the mutant Destiny. The X-Men and X-Factor fought the Shadow King, and as a result, David was left in a coma. CANNOTANSWER | Karami struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. | Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero who has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder.
The character was portrayed by Dan Stevens in the FX television series Legion (2017–19), which was developed, written, directed, and produced by Noah Hawley.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).
In 1991, Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the eponymous superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."
Fictional character biography
While working in an Israeli psychiatric facility, Charles Xavier met a patient named Gabrielle Haller. The two had an affair that, after an amicable end and unbeknownst to Xavier, ultimately resulted in the birth of their son David (Gabrielle had not told Xavier she was pregnant).
David, at a young age, was living with his mother and stepfather in Paris when his home was attacked by terrorists and his stepfather killed. The trauma of the situation caused an initial manifestation of David's mutant powers, as David incinerated the minds of the terrorists. In the process, he unintentionally absorbed the mind of the terrorist leader, Jemail Karami, into his own. Being linked to so many others at their time of death, David was rendered catatonic for years. As he slowly recovered, he was moved to the care of Moira MacTaggert at the Muir Island mutant research facility. The trauma (possibly in conjunction with the nature of his reality-altering powers) had caused David's psyche to splinter into multiple personalities, each personality manifesting different mutant abilities.
The Karami personality, which manifested telepathic abilities, struggled for years to separate his consciousness from David's. In the process, Karami reintegrated many of the splintered personalities back into David's core personality (thus ending David's catatonia). Some of the personalities resisted Karami, most notably Jack Wayne, a swaggering adventurer who was telekinetic, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who was pyrokinetic. Ultimately Karami, Wayne, and Cyndi continued to exist as David's most prominent alternate personalities.
During his time at Muir Island, David saved Moira and Wolfsbane from a fatal accident by accessing the telekinetic abilities of his Jack Wayne personality. However, this allowed Jack Wayne to take control of David's body, and he left the island. The New Mutants tracked him down and, after a struggle, convinced Wayne to allow David to again assume control. Soon after, David was possessed by the Shadow King. While under the Shadow King's influence, David killed the mutant Destiny and destroyed 2/3 of the island. When the X-Men and X-Factor defeated the Shadow King, David was again left in a coma.
Legion Quest/Age of Apocalypse
Years later, David awoke from his coma believing his psyche fully healed. When he had killed the mutant precog Destiny, David had absorbed her psyche. Destiny gave David vague prophetic guidance about the great world that could exist "if only, years ago, Professor X had been given a real chance to fulfill his dream." David, who despite his belief that he was not sane, understood these words as a directive to travel back in time and kill Magneto, Xavier's greatest adversary, to allow his father Professor X to achieve the dream of human-mutant coexistence.
As several X-Men attempted to stop him, Legion traveled twenty years into the past, accidentally dragging the X-Men with him. David appeared in the past in front of Xavier and Magneto, who at the time were orderlies in a mental hospital. As Legion attacked Magneto, the X-Men intervened. After overpowering the X-Men, Legion readied his fatal blow for Magneto, but Xavier leaped in front of the lethal psychic attack and was himself killed. By accidentally killing his father, the horrified David prevented his own birth and ceased to exist. The death of Xavier created a catastrophic alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse.
Ultimately, Bishop managed to fix the timeline by enlisting the aid of the new reality's X-Men to travel back in time to the moment of Xavier's murder. There Bishop confronted Legion, using David's own power to create a psionic loop that showed the young mutant the damage that his actions would cause. David allowed the energy released in this process to incinerate him, in his last moments apologizing for what he had done."
While David was considered deceased, some of his alternate personalities manifested as spirits and started terrorizing Israel (where David had been born). Excalibur was called to stop them. Ultimately Meggan used her empathy to calm their rage, convincing them to go "towards the light."
Return
David had in fact not died; rather, his mind manifested in Otherplace, a timeless interdimensional limbo. When Bishop had turned Legion's psychic power back on him, it devastated David's mental landscape, undoing all the healing efforts of Karami and Professor Xavier. David now had thousands of personalities vying for control in his mind. David wandered through Otherplace for an untold period of time, trying to make his way back home. Magik, a mutant able to travel across dimensions, reached out and contacted one of David's personalities, "The Legion," who could alter reality at a cosmic scale (this incredibly powerful personality claimed to be the "real" David, although it was distinct from David's core personality). Magik offered to guide Legion back to this dimension, provided that The Legion would aid her by destroying her nemeses, the Elder Gods, when she asked.
David re-manifested in the physical world, although his core David personality had been imprisoned in his mindscape by his other personalities, allowing the more malicious personalities to take turns controlling his body. One of these personalities killed and absorbed the mind of a young girl, Marci Sobol, who became another personality within Legion. David was discovered by the New Mutants as they investigated a possible mutant case in Westcliffe, Colorado. David absorbed Karma and Magik into his mind. As the rest of the team fought a losing battle against various personalities that seized control of Legion's body, in his mindscape Karma and Magik destroyed other hostile personalities. Eventually they found the Marci personality, who led them to David's imprisoned core self. By freeing David and helping him reassert control, Karma and Magik saved the rest of the team and were restored to their bodies. David was detained by the X-Men and put in the care of Professor X, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, and Rogue.
Weeks later, Magik managed to bring the Elder Gods back to Earth, planning to have her revenge on them. The Elder Gods manifested, causing catastrophic destruction, and appeared ready to lay waste to the world. As the various mutant teams tried to stop this apocalypse, Magik sent her ally Karma to free Legion and awaken "The Legion" personality to fulfill its bargain. The Legion, who Magik called "The God Mutant," appeared and altered reality to wipe the Elder Gods from existence and reset the world to a time before they had manifested. After this, David's core personality returned and he was taken back into the care and treatment of the X-Men.
Age of X
Believing that David's psyche would be healed if his alternate personalities were quarantined, Doctor Nemesis began to catalog and contain these personalities within David's mind. Unbeknownst to Doctor Nemesis and Professor Xavier, however, David's mind subconsciously perceived this intervention as a threat and created a "psychic antibody," a powerful new personality, to defend itself. The new personality had access to a degree of David's underlying ability to alter reality and time. Assuming the appearance of the deceased Moira McTaggert (considered a mother figure by David due to his time under her care at Muir Island), the personality attempted to 'protect' Legion from the 'assault' on his mind by creating a pocket reality where Legion was the hero that he always wanted to be.
The alternate pocket reality, the Age of X, was a dystopia in which mutants had been hunted almost to extinction; the remaining mutants were kept alive by Legion's mutant team, who daily generated a force wall to repel attacking human forces. Legion himself remained unaware that one of his personalities had created this world, and most of the mutants who had been brought into the reality by 'Moira' believed that they had always been there. Within this pocket reality the 'Moira' personality was practically omnipotent, creating and controlling random soldiers for Legion and the other mutants to kill. Eventually, Legacy, the alternate Rogue, discovered that 'Moira' had in fact created this reality. Confronted with this truth, Legion spoke to 'Moira,' who tearfully offered to create as many universes for him as he wanted. Instead, David absorbed 'Moira' back into himself and erased the Age of X reality, restoring its participants to Earth-616 reality; ultimately, this entire timeline had lasted seven days in their normal continuity.
Lost Legions
With the Age of X incident underscoring the potentially apocalyptic scope of David's power, Professor X proposed a new approach to help Legion retain control of himself. Instead of isolating David from the other personalities in his mind, Professor X suggested that he learn to co-exist with them. To this end, Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries and Reed Richards designed a Neural Switchboard Wristband for David. This switchboard assigned unique numbers to different Legion personalities. When David entered a number, the device stimulated cells in his thalamus and neocortex, creating a one-way link between David's core personality and the alternate personality he had selected. This allowed Legion to access the power of that personality for several seconds without being overwhelmed by it. While testing the device, Legion discovered that six of his personalities were no longer in his mind, but had "escaped," manifesting separately from him in the real world. With a team of X-Men, Legion tracked down and reabsorbed all of these rogue personas. While absorbing the last one, he accidentally absorbed Rogue along with it, and, after releasing her, David suffered a massive shock to his nervous system. Rogue stated that, while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more being born all the time.
The Fiend
To aid his recovery, Professor X left Legion with Merzah the Mystic, a powerful empath and telepath who ran a Himalayan monastery. While at the monastery, David gained much greater control of himself, and he stopped using the Neural Switchboard Wristband. Under Merzah's tutelage, David learned to visualize a facility in his mind where his alternate personalities could be kept and controlled. However, while David was at the monastery, elsewhere in the world Professor X was killed. When Legion sensed this, the mental shock caused a catastrophic release of energy that killed Merzah and everyone else at the monastery. In addition, without knowing it, David subconsciously created a new personality, The Fiend. This personality was able to kill other personalities in his mind, absorbing their powers in the process.
In the final issue of X-Men: Legacy, Legion, reaching the full extent of his powers, decided to erase himself from existence.
Trauma
For unknown reasons (perhaps elements of his own psyche working against him), Legion's attempt to erase himself from existence failed. When he reappeared, David's mind was again fragmented into many personalities, including a malicious new personality, "Lord Trauma." Lord Trauma aimed to take over David's mind and body by absorbing all of David's other personalities. In a desperate attempt to save himself, David sought out the help of renowned young psychotherapist Hannah Jones to delve into his fractured mind and fight back this dark personality. While Jones was ultimately able to help Legion defeat Trauma, she remained trapped in David's psyche (her body in a vegetative coma). To thank Jones, Legion placed her psyche into a dream state/alternate reality where she achieved her biggest goals.
X-Men Dissassembled
As the X-Men race around the globe to fight the temporal anomalies that have been springing up and to corral the hundreds of Madrox duplicates wreaking havoc, Legion arrives at the X-Mansion, seemingly in control of his powers and psyche. While the young X-Men try to ascertain what he wants, elsewhere Jean Grey and Psylocke team up to psychically purge whatever force is controlling the army of Madrox duplicates. Finding the prime Madrox imprisoned below the area where the army of duplicates are congregating, he explains that Legion imprisoned him and implanted his numerous personalities and powers across the hundreds of duplicates. However, with his control broken, Legion goes berserk in the mansion, attacking the young X-Men and ranting about a vision of the future. The rest of the X-Men arrive to help but Legion singlehandedly takes on the whole team until he and Jean Grey go head-to-head. Legion then explains that he's trying to prevent a vision of the future - the arrival of the Horsemen of Salvation - but just as Legion mentions them, the Horsemen arrive.
Reign of X
Following the creation of Krakoa as a mutant nation, Legion was captured by Project Orchis and had his brain harvested into a mysterious device which kept his mind trapped in a hellscape, simulating Legion's various personas to predict every probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Nightcrawler is the first to notice this dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, especially in light of effective immortality, which radically altered and is influencing and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses on a day-to-day basis. He also learns in the process about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. After recruiting Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from the device that trapped him, Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man and the signature he encountered in his mind are one and the same and that belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self, somehow restored by Project Orchis.
Powers and abilities
Legion is an Omega-level mutant who has multiple personalities. Fundamentally, he has the ability to alter reality and time on a cosmic scale at will, but due to his multiple personalities, in practice his abilities vary depending on the dominant personality: each alter has different powers enabled by David's subconscious manipulation of reality. The core personality, David Haller himself, generally does not manifest mutant abilities, but must access various personalities to use their power, sometimes losing control of himself to that personality. Some of Legion's personalities physically transform his body (e.g., manifesting a prehensile tongue, becoming a woman, transforming into a werewolf, etc.). The first alter to manifest, Jemail Karami, was telepathic. Other prominent alters include Jack Wayne (telekinetic) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). Legion has over a thousand different personalities (the exact number is unknown), and his mind can create additional alters in response to external or internal events.
The cumulative abilities of all his personalities make him one of the most powerful mutants in existence, if not the most powerful. Since the abilities of his personalities stem from his subconscious alteration of reality, Legion is theoretically capable of manifesting any power he can imagine. In two instances David has manifested the full extent of his ability to alter time and reality: in the first, he wiped the Elder Gods from existence and reset the universe to a state before the Elder Gods first appeared on Earth, and in the other he observed the entirety of spacetime and mended damage his personalities had done to it.
Legion can absorb other people's psyches into his mind, either intentionally or, if he is next to them when they die, unintentionally. Conversely, in several instances Legion has had personalities manifest and act separately from him (or even against him) in the physical world; in most instances Legion has ultimately reabsorbed these personalities back into himself. Presumably, both his absorption of other psyches and the physical manifestations of his own personalities are enabled by Legion's underlying ability to alter reality/time at will.
Generally, David's ability to access and control his personalities/powers is closely tied to his self confidence and self esteem: the better he feels about himself, the more control he exercises. Unfortunately, David often suffers from self-doubt and self-recrimination, meaning that he must struggle to remain in control. Following the Age of X, David briefly used a Neural Switchboard Wristband engineered by Doctor Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, and Reed Richards. This device allowed Legion to utilize a personality's power set for several seconds without being overwhelmed by that personality. However, he soon abandoned this and attempted instead to develop a more organic control over his personalities.
Personalities
The following characters are different personalities of Legion that have appeared thus far, each one manifesting different powers:
Through the personality of terrorist Jemail Karami (the name given to Personality #2), he has manifested telepathy.
Through the personality of roustabout adventurer Jack Wayne (the name given to Personality #3), he has manifested telekinesis. This personality was often quite dangerous and would not hesitate to hurt or kill others if it would allow him to remain independent/free from David's control. Eventually, Jack Wayne was subsumed by a different, malevolent Legion personality, Lord Trauma.
Through the personality of the rebellious girl Cyndi (the name given to Personality #4), he has manifested pyrokinesis. This personality of Legion has a crush on Cypher.
Through the personality of The Legion (the name given to Personality #5, which claims to be Legion's "real me"), he can warp time and reality. Magik nicknamed this personality the "God-Mutant."
Through the personality of Sally (the name given to Personality #67), he has the appearance of an obese woman with Hulk-like super-strength.
Through the personality of a punk rocker named Lucas (the name given to Personality #115), he can channel sound into energy blasts.
Through Personality #181, he can enlarge himself to an undetermined size. This was the first power Legion utilized with the Neural Switchboard Wristband.
Through the personality of Johnny Gomorrah (the name given to Personality #186), he can transmute his enemies and objects into salt.
Through the personality of Time-Sink (the name given to Personality #227), he has the ability of time-manipulation. This rebellious personality was able to become independent from David but was eventually found and reabsorbed by David. David was ultimately forced to stop using Time-Sink's powers because when David tried to access the personality, it would always fight to get back its freedom.
Through Personality #302, he can move at supersonic speeds.
Through the personality of Styx (the name given to Personality #666), he has the ability to absorb the consciousness of anyone he touches, turning that person's body into a shell that he can then control. The possessed individual can still access any special abilities they have, and there does not appear to be a limit to the number of individuals simultaneously controlled. David considers this manipulative personality his most dangerous, because it is clever, cruel, and extremely ambitious. Styx was able to become independent from Legion, manifesting as a desiccated corpse, and tried to take control of Legion himself, so that he could use Legion's reality-altering powers to remake the world according to his will. Legion, using the power of his Chain personality, managed to trick and reabsorb Styx.
Through Personality #762, he becomes a pirate with the ability to belch an acidic gas.
Through Personality #898, he becomes a centaur.
Through the personality of Delphic (the name given to Personality #1012), he becomes a blue-skinned, seemingly-omniscient female seer who will answer any three questions from supplicants.
Legion personalities that have not been assigned numbers include:
Absence, an alien/demon creature with its eyes sewn shut who claims to have traveled through different realities and who can siphon off heat and love.
Bleeding Image, a living voodoo doll who can redirect and amplify the pain from any injury he inflicts on himself onto his victims. As he notes, "How much must David hate himself, to have imagined me?" This malicious personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and stated to have been destroyed by Magneto.
Chain, effectively a human virus who turns anyone he touches into a copy of himself with a new weapon. The power dissipates when the original is dealt with. This personality was able to become independent from David but he was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
Chronodon, a dinosaur with a clock on its face. Based on its name and appearance, it can be assumed that it can manipulate time in some way.
Clown, a surly-looking clown that can blast energy from his mouth.
Compass Rose, who can locate any person and teleport to them.
The Delusionaut, a train engineer with a billow stack for a head who uses the smoke that he exudes to create illusions so convincing that they fool even powerful telepaths such as Emma Frost. He manifested outside of Legion to help him at one point, and eventually was one of the personalities that volunteered to meld together to form Gestalt.
Drexel, a foul-mouthed simpleton with super-strength.
Endgame, huge and aggressive armor that instantly manifests the perfect counter to any attack executed against it (for example, becoming intangible, manifesting super strength, transmuting its material from metal to wood to defeat Magneto, etc.). This personality became independent from David, but it was eventually found and reabsorbed by David.
The Fiend/"Charles Xavier", a dangerous personality David created following the mental shock of the death of his father, Professor X. The Fiend manifests as either a yellow goblin-like creature or in the guise of Professor X; it has significant psychic abilities, including precognition and possession, and can kill other Legion personalities in Legion's mind, absorbing their power. Eventually, the Fiend became independent from David and tried to help him retain more control of himself.
Findel the Finder, who can find anyone across the galaxy.
Gestalt, a powerful fusion of several Legion personalities with the core personality of David himself, allowing the abilities of these personalities to manifest simultaneously under David's control. Legion created Gestalt to successfully repel an attack on his mind.
Hugh Davidson, a stereotypical prepster with a long prehensile tongue.
Hunter, a macho-man personality David's mind created to replace Jack Wayne, when that personality was subsumed by the Lord Trauma personality.
Hypnobloke, a gentleman with flashing swirls for eyes who wears a top hat and carries a pocket watch. He has the power of hypnotic suggestion.
Joe Fury, an angry young man who can generate flame and other types of energy, and whom David struggles to repress.
Kirbax the Kraklar, a demonic creature that can fly and generate electricity.
Ksenia Nadejda Panov, a Moscovite heiress, discus-throwing champion, caviar exporter, and torturer of puppies. She has the ability to generate ionic scalpels from her fingers.
K-Zek the Conduit, an android with the ability of far-field, concentrated wireless energy transfer (or WET).
Lord Trauma, a malevolent personality who can bring out the worst traumas a person has experienced and draw power from the psychic energies that result. This personality became independent from David and tried to absorb all his other personas in order to gain control over David's body, although Trauma was eventually destroyed.
Marci Sabol, a normal human girl who befriended David but was killed and absorbed into him by one of his other personalities; she has significant influence within David's mindscape.
Max Kelvin, a crotchety old man whose eyes protrude when he uses his powers of plasmatic flame generation.
Moira Kinross/X, a mother figure created by David's mind to protect his mindscape from tampering. This persona, which could warp reality, became independent from David and created the dystopian pocket reality dubbed Age of X where David was seen as a hero. Within this pocket reality X was practically omnipotent, altering the mindsets and personalities of the fabricated entities in her reality.
Mycolojester, a plant-like entity with the attire of a jester, who can emit toxic spores from his skin. These spores act as a powerful nerve gas, but their effects can be dissipated by water. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to become Gestalt.
Non-Newtonian Annie, a skinny purple woman dressed in pink clothes and cloaked in a "zero-tau nullskin" that does not conform to the law of conservation of energy (e.g., kinetic energy that hits it is immediately amplified and reflected directly back on its source).
Origamist, one of the most powerful personalities in David's mind, is a reality warping sumo wrestler who can fold spacetime, allowing, among other things, instant teleportation of any object to any location.
Protozoan Porter, a large green leech-like being who can teleport by disassembling himself into minuscule ameboid-like parts that reassemble after reaching his destination. This personality volunteered to help David by merging with several other personalities to create Gestalt.
Pukatus Jr., a small cherub-like demon who flies and can vomit an acidic substance.
Skinsmith, who can produce artificial skin on any surface or bend/alter the skin of others.
Specs, a nervous young man with large glasses who can see through solid objects. This personality develops a romantic interest in Magma.
Susan in Sunshine, an innocent-looking blonde child with the ability to sense, augment and manipulate the emotions of those around her and, if she wishes, convert those emotions into destructive energy. This personality became independent from Legion, but she was eventually found and reabsorbed by him.
Tami Haar, a nightclub singer who is a friend and companion to David; she appears to have a master knowledge of David's mindscape, which among other things allows her to manifest in the real world.
Tyrannix the Abominoid, a small and hapless Cthulhu-like creature with telepathic powers. When David traveled within his mindscape, he often used Tyrannix as a backpack. Tyrannix was the first personality to volunteer to help David by melding to create Gestalt.
The Weaver, probably Legion's most powerful splinter personality, a large arachnid creature whose massive limbs are connected to a main body wreathed in bright light. The Weaver can change and refabricate reality itself, and it is ultimately revealed to be either David's core self or a mirror of David. When David and the Weaver united, he could observe and alter all time and space at will; David, aware of the extent and implications of this godlike power, attempted to unmake himself by erasing his own birth. For unknown reasons his attempt failed (it may have been undermined by other aspects of David's psyche), in the process creating the Lord Trauma personality.
The White Witch Doctor, a murderous white man dressed as a witch doctor who killed Marci Sabol and absorbed her psyche into Legion, creating the Marci Sabol personality.
Wormhole Wodo, who can open a wormhole between two points anywhere in the galaxy, allowing near instantaneous travel between them.
Zari Zap, a young punk woman with short, spiked hair who can manipulate electricity.
Zero G. Priestly, a robed priest who floats upside down and can control gravity.
Zubar, a personality that likes to call himself "the Airshrike" and has the power to levitate himself.
Mentality
Legion has been described as having dissociative identity disorder.In his first appearance he was also described as autistic, however this diagnosis has not been used since.
Origin of name
Legion's name is derived from a passage in the Christian Bible (found in Mark 5 and Luke 8). In it, Jesus asks a man possessed by many evil spirits what his name is, to which the man replies "I am Legion, for we are many."
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate incarnation of Proteus is a combination of Legion and Proteus from the mainstream comics. His mother is Moira MacTaggert and his father is Charles Xavier. He possesses Proteus' reality warping power and is named David Xavier. He escapes his mother's facility, looking for his father, and murders hundreds to discredit him. David is later crushed by Colossus, while possessing S.T.R.I.K.E. agent Betsy Braddock inside a car.
Age of X
In the Age of X reality, Legion leads the Force Warriors, a select group of telekinetics who rebuild the "Force Walls" (telekinetic shields that protect Fortress X) on a daily basis to protect mutants from human attacks. Unlike his 616 counterpart, there is no trace of the other personalities shown. It is ultimately revealed that the Age of X reality was unconsciously created by Legion himself. A flashback reveals that in the 616 universe Professor X was arguing with Dr. Nemesis regarding the latter's containment and deletion of Legion's other personalities in an effort to stabilize him. While Dr. Nemesis claimed that everything was going according to his plan, Professor X was unconvinced and entered Legion's mind. There he found the other personalities dead and their rotting corpses left in their containment units. This surprised Dr. Nemesis, who had thought that when a personality was deleted it should simply disappear. Professor X was then attacked by what he called a "psychic antibody," a personality Legion had subconsciously created to defend against Nemesis's deleting of the personalities. To overcome Professor X on the psychic plane, this personality took on the face of Moira MacTaggart and claimed that it would make a world where Legion could be happy. The 'Moira' personality then reshaped Utopia into Fortress X and inserted itself as Moira and the supercomputer X. When finally confronted about its actions, the personality made the Force walls fall, allowing the human armies to attack. 'Moira' announced her intention to destroy the 616 universe as well as the Age of X and to create a new safe place for David to live happily forever. Instead, David absorbed her and reverted the Fortress X to the normal reality, with a few modifications.
In other media
Television
Live action
Legion, a live-action television series, premiered on FX in 2017. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, the series takes place in a warped reality (depicted as perceived by the titular character) and runs "parallel" to the X-Men film universe, with further connections to take place in season two. In February 2016, Dan Stevens was cast as the eponymous lead character. The series was picked up by FX in early 2017 with 8 episodes. Unlike the comics version, this version doesn't have it's notable personalities. In the series premiere, David is captured from the Clockworks mental facility, where he has been since a suicide attempt, by an anti-mutant government unit known as Division 3 which wants to harness David's abilities for themselves. David is rescued by a team of rogue mutants and taken to the "Summerland" training facility, where he develops a romantic relationship with body-swapping mutant Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller). In "Chapter 7", David learns that his biological father is a powerful psychic mutant whose nemesis the Shadow King has lived in David's mind like a mental parasite since he was a little boy. In the episode "Chapter 8", Shadow King is able to leap from David's body and ends up possessing the body of fellow psychic mutant Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), and promptly drives away from Summerland. In the episode's coda, a sphere-like drone traps David inside it and absconds with him. In the second season, David is found by his friends and it is revealed that the drone was sent by Syd from the future, much to David’s confusion. He also begins to pursue the Shadow King during Summerland's alliance with Division 3, but learns that he must work with him due to a plague in the future. In the last couple episodes of season 2, the more psychopathic nature of David is explored, and he is revealed as a villain. Showrunner Noah Hawley later revealed that he has always looked at David as a villain. The episode "Chapter 18", features a prologue of sorts depicting the David Haller of Earth-616 (also portrayed by Dan Stevens) viewing the events of the show from a crystal ball. Luke Roessler portrays a young David Haller, later reprising his role (credited as "Cereal Kid") in Deadpool 2. In the third season, David starts a hippie-like commune while also trying to evade Division 3, now composed of his former allies. He recruits a mutant named Jia-yi, nicknamed Switch, who has the ability to travel through time. He tries to use her ability to travel back and warn his parents, Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, but only succeeds in driving his mother back into a catatonic state. David does finally manage to go back in time and confronts his father face to face with the intent to go after and kill Amahl Farouk for ruining his life. Instead, David is stopped by the present day Farouk and Charles who make a truce with him and the past Farouk, thus preventing the end of the world, as previously predicted. A new timeline is created with David realizing that a new version of himself and his friends will be made as the old versions are erased.
Animation
Legion appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Sins of the Son" voiced by Kyle Labine. Legion's backstory remains mostly unchanged, although David Haller is a fairly normal blonde teenager with no visible mutant powers. In the episode, David appears to be kidnapped by a Scottish punk named Lucas, but in reality Lucas and David are one and the same. David's body can somehow change to match whichever of his multiple personalities is dominant, with personality and body shifts sometimes happening at random. The mechanism behind this ability is never fully explained, although it is possible that David is using strong psionic abilities to alter people's perception of his appearance rather than actually changing as Mastermind had done when first trying to avoid being discovered. His personalities sometimes appeared in two places at once, supporting the control-of-perception theory. Only three personalities were shown. As David has no obvious powers of his own, Lucas possesses telepathic and telekinetic powers, as well as pyrokinetics while Ian, the third personality, is a young mute boy who is also a pyrokinetic. As Lucas is shown capable of both telepathic and pyrokinetic powers, it is possible the Lucas persona may have access to the powers of other personalities (if any beyond these three exist). Lucas lured Professor X to Scotland and tricked him into locking David's other personalities away, leaving Lucas free to be himself. It was never explained what Lucas's goals were after this, as the show has stopped production before his storyline could be further explored.
Legion is mentioned in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is the root cause of something called "Damon-Hall Syndrome". This condition affects mutants that develop a secondary mutation causing multiple personalities, uncontrolled physical mutation, and psychological instability. There is a vaccine which Beast created to stop its progress. It should also be mentioned that one of the main antagonists of the series named Takeo Sasaki (voiced by Atsushi Abe in the Japanese version and by Steve Staley in the English dub) is the son of Professor X and Yui Sasaki (a scientist in mutant research). This character is similar to Legion in many ways except for design and name, and is also similar to Proteus in terms of his reality-warping powers. He attended his mother's school for mutants where he was a classmate of Hisako Ichiki and an incident with Takeo being picked on by the other children resulted in a fire that burned the nearby neighborhood and had included a small burn on Hisako's hand. Mastermind planned to use a near-comatose Takeo to warp reality so that the mutants can rule the world. Takeo's powers go out of control enough for him to kill Mastermind and for the entire facility he was in to collapse as he emerges as a colossal energy being. Learning that Takeo hates him for being born into a world where his powers cause him so much suffering, Professor X blames himself for causing Takeo pain. The X-Men try to attack Takeo, but are easily defeated. Professor X then prepares to destroy Takeo's mind and kill him, fully intending to die along with his son. Jean's presence manages to revive the X-Men and give them courage to fight on against. Hisako recalls her friendly past with Takeo and insists that Takeo is a good person who can be saved. Her feelings cause her armor to generate a brilliant light, reaching Takeo and bringing him back to his senses. He and Charles are able to reconcile and Takeo's body is destroyed. Before his death, Takeo is able to reassure Yui and Charles that he is all right.
Collected editions
X-Men Legacy
Other series
See also
Crazy Jane – A DC Comics character who is often linked and compared to Legion
Stephanie Maas – A comic character with superpowers and dissociative identity disorder
References
External links
Legion at Marvel Wiki
Legion Personality Index at Marvel Wiki
Legion at Comic Vine
UncannyXmen.Net Spotlight on Legion
Characters created by Bill Sienkiewicz
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1985
Fictional characters with multiple personalities
Fictional characters with schizophrenia
Fictional Jews in comics
Fictional Israeli Jews
Jewish superheroes
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Male characters in television
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional telekinetics
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics television characters
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional cannabis users
Time travelers
X-Men supporting characters | 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"
]
|
[
"John Mayer",
"Philanthropy"
]
| C_7f228cfbf308449f96ad0534c535d539_0 | what is a charity he works for? | 1 | What is a charity John Mayer works for? | John Mayer | In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value. Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007. Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released under the title Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headline Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres. CANNOTANSWER | Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, | John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a following. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest Festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and eventually to Columbia Records, which released his first extended play Inside Wants Out. His following two studio albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—performed well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his single "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and begun performing the blues and rock music that had originally influenced him as a musician. He collaborated with blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton. Forming the John Mayer Trio, he released a live album, Try!, in 2005 and his third studio album Continuum in 2006. Both albums received positive reviews, and Continuum earned Mayer a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". That album was followed by Battle Studies in 2009, a return to pop, with a Battle Studies World Tour.
After having several controversial incidents with the media, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010 and began work on his fifth studio album, Born and Raised, which drew inspiration from the 1970s pop music of Laurel Canyon. However, the discovery of a granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the release of the album until May 2012, and forced him to cancel the planned tour. The album received a generally favorable reception, though was less commercially successful than his previous work. Mayer began performing as a singer again in January 2013, and that year released his sixth studio album, Paradise Valley, which incorporates country music influences. By 2014, he had sold a total of over 20 million albums worldwide. His seventh album, The Search for Everything, a loose concept album based around the theme of a romantic break-up, was released in 2017. Mayer released his latest album Sob Rock, inspired by 1980s soft rock music, in July 2021.
In 2015, three former members of the Grateful Dead joined with Mayer and two other musicians to form the band Dead & Company. It is the latest of several reunions of the band's surviving members since Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. The band remains active and its tours have been well received.
Mayer's secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing; he has authored columns for magazines such as Esquire. He supports various causes and has performed at charity benefits. He is a watch aficionado (with a collection he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars), contributing to the watch site Hodinkee, and has been on the jury at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
Early life
Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father, Richard Mayer (b. 1927), was a high-school principal, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman; b. 1947), was a middle-school English teacher. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism. As an elementary school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they played Nintendo together weekday afternoons after school for three years. He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).
After watching Michael J. Fox's guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 13 years old, his father rented one for him. A neighbor gave Mayer a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which cultivated Mayer's love of blues music. According to Mayer, his fascination with Vaughan started a "genealogical hunt" that led him to other blues guitarists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush, and Lightnin' Hopkins. Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar shop owner, Al Ferrante, and soon became consumed. His singular focus concerned his parents, and they twice took him to see a psychiatrist, who determined him to be healthy. Mayer says that his parents' contentious marriage led him to "disappear and create my own world I could believe in". After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school. In addition to performing solo, he was a member of a band called Villanova Junction (named for a Jimi Hendrix song) with Tim Procaccini, Joe Beleznay, and Rich Wolf.
When Mayer was 17, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, "That was the moment the songwriter in me was born", and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and says he feared having to enter a mental institution. He continues to manage such episodes with anti-anxiety medication.
Career
Early career (1996–1999)
Mayer considered skipping college to pursue music, but his parents dissuaded him. He enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in 1997 at age 19. At the urging of his college friend Clay Cook, they left Berklee after two semesters and moved to Atlanta; there, they formed a two-man band called LoFi Masters, and began performing in local coffee houses and club venues such as Eddie's Attic. According to Cook, they experienced musical differences due to Mayer's desire to move more towards pop music. The two parted ways and Mayer embarked on a solo career.
With the help of local producer and engineer Glenn Matullo, Mayer recorded the independent EP Inside Wants Out. The EP includes eight songs with Mayer on lead vocals and guitars. For the opening track, "Back To You", a full band was enlisted, including the EP's co-producer David "DeLa" LaBruyere on bass guitars. Cook had co-written many of the album's songs, including its first commercial single release, "No Such Thing"; however, his only performance contribution was backing vocals on the song "Comfortable".
Major label and commercial success (2000–2004)
Mayer and LaBruyere performed throughout Georgia and nearby states. Also, as his career coincided with the then-nascent internet music market, Mayer benefited from an online following. Mayer came to the attention of Gregg Latterman at Aware Records through an acquaintance of Mayer's, a lawyer, who sent Aware his EP. In early 2001, after including him in Aware Festival concerts and his songs on Aware compilations, Aware released Mayer's internet-only album, Room for Squares. During this time, Aware concluded a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists. In September, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added. The re-release included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from Inside Wants Out.
By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and "Why Georgia". It also received general praise critically, and Mayer drew comparisons to Dave Matthews. In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland". In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up." He also figuratively referred to himself as being 16, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was 16 years old at the time.
In February 2003, Mayer released a live CD and DVD of a concert in Birmingham, Alabama titled Any Given Thursday, which included songs previously not recorded, such as "Man on the Side", "Something's Missing", and "Covered in Rain". Commercially, the album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart. Its accompanying DVD release received conservative—although consistent—praise, with critics torn between his pop-idol image, and (at the time) emerging guitar prowess. Erik Crawford of AllMusic asked, "Is [Mayer] the consummate guitar hero exemplified when he plays a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Lenny', or is he the teen idol that the pubescent girls shriek for after he plays 'Your Body Is a Wonderland'?" That summer, Mayer went on the road with Counting Crows in a tour that spanned 42 dates between July 7 and September 2.
Heavier Things, Mayer's second album, was released in 2003 to generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Blender all gave positive, although reserved, feedback. The album was commercially successful, and while it did not sell as well as Room for Squares, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. The song "Daughters" won the 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year, and reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who had died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. On February 9, 2009, Mayer told Ellen DeGeneres that he thought he should not have won the Grammy for Song of the year because he thought that Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" was the better song. Because of this, he removed the top half of the Grammy and gave it to Keys, and kept the bottom part for himself. At the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2006, Mayer received the Hal David Starlight Award.
Mayer again recorded live concerts across seven nights of his U.S. tour in 2004. These recordings were released to the iTunes Store under the title As/Is, indicating that the errors were included along with the good moments. A few months later, a "best of" CD was compiled from the As/Is nights. The album included a previously unreleased cover of Marvin Gaye's song "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", featuring a solo from Mayer's supporting act—jazz and blues turntablist DJ Logic. The album covers of the As/Is releases feature drawings of anthropomorphic bunnies.
Change in musical direction (2005–2008)
As early as 2002, Chris Willman with Entertainment Weekly said that Mayer was "more historically savvy, and more ambitious than you'd guess from the unforced earnestness of [Room for] Squares. However, Mayer was largely associated with the Adult Contemporary and singer-songwriter genres. Fame allowed him access to his early influences, and he began collaborating with blues and jazz artists. He accompanied Buddy Guy in a concert at the Irving Plaza in December 2003. He toured with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, including a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. He also performed on commercial releases, namely, with Eric Clapton (Back Home, Crossroads Guitar Festival), Buddy Guy (Bring 'Em In), John Scofield (That's What I Say), and B.B. King (80). Although Mayer maintained his reputation as a singer-songwriter, he gained distinction as a guitarist.
Following the conclusion of his Heavier Things tour, Mayer began working with artists, including those from other genres of music. His voice was sampled on the song "Go" by rapper Common, and he appeared on a hidden track called "Bittersweet Poetry" from the Kanye West album Graduation. The collaborations drew praise from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Nelly. When asked about his presence in the hip hop community, Mayer said, "It's not music out there right now. That's why, to me, hip-hop is where rock used to be."
Around this time Mayer announced that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity". In the spring of 2005, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through studio sessions. The trio combined blues and rock music. In October 2005, they opened for the Rolling Stones and that November released a live album called Try! The band took a break in mid-2006.
Mayer's third studio album, titled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006, produced by Mayer and Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine blues and pop. In that vein, two of the tracks from his Trio release Try!—"Vultures" and "Gravity"—were included on Continuum. Despite his excitement, in a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head Don Ienner panned Continuum he briefly considered quitting music and studying design full-time.
The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change", which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show. The song was the third-most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, offering commentary on each track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 21, 2006, Mayer appeared on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". The song "Gravity" was featured on the television series House, in the episode "Cane & Able" and Numb3rs. He recorded a session for the British program Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on October 22, 2006.
On December 7, 2006, Mayer was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The Trio received a nomination for Try!. He won two: Best Pop Song with Vocal for "Waiting on the World to Change" and Best Pop Album for Continuum. Mayer remixed an acoustic version of his single "Waiting on the World to Change" with vocal additions from fellow musician Ben Harper. In preparation for Continuum, Mayer had booked the Village Recorder in Los Angeles to record five acoustic versions of his songs with veteran musician Robbie McIntosh. These recordings became The Village Sessions, an EP released on December 12, 2006. As usual, Mayer oversaw the artwork. The initial North American Continuum tour ended on February 28, 2007, with a show at Madison Square Garden that the New York Post described as "career-defining".
On November 20, 2007, the re-issue of Continuum became available online and in stores. The release contained a bonus disc of six live songs from his 2007 tour: five from Continuum and a cover of the Ray Charles song "I Don't Need No Doctor". His single "Say", from the film The Bucket List, became available through iTunes. On December 6, 2007, "Belief" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. He accompanied Alicia Keys on guitar on her song "No One" at the ceremony. Additionally, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007, listed among artists and entertainers.
In February 2008, Mayer hosted a three-day Caribbean cruise event that included performances with various musicians including David Ryan Harris, Brett Dennen, Colbie Caillat, and Dave Barnes, among others. The event was called "The Mayercraft Carrier" and was held aboard the cruise ship known as the Carnival Victory. A follow-up cruise titled "Mayercraft Carrier 2" sailed from Los Angeles March 27–31, 2009, on the Carnival Splendor.
On July 1, 2008, Mayer released Where the Light Is, a live concert film of Mayer's performance at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 8, 2007. The film was directed by Danny Clinch. It features Mayer opening with an acoustic set, followed by a blues set with the Trio and concluded by a full set with the band from the Continuum album.
Battle Studies (2009)
Australian artist Guy Sebastian invited Mayer to collaborate on three songs from his 2009 album Like It Like That. Mayer also played guitar on the title track of Crosby Loggins' debut LP, Time to Move.
On July 7, 2009, Mayer performed an instrumental guitar version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at Jackson's televised memorial service. He co-wrote "World of Chances" with Demi Lovato for Lovato's second album Here We Go Again, released later that month.
After the overwhelming success of Continuum, Mayer confessed to be intimidated with beginning on a follow-up. However, he stated, "I think it got a lot easier when I realized that no matter what I do, it's not going to be Continuum, good or bad." On November 17, 2009, Mayer's fourth studio album, Battle Studies, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The first single, "Who Says", was released on September 24, 2009, in advance of the album, followed on October 19 by "Heartbreak Warfare" and "Half of My Heart" on June 21, 2010. The accompanying arena tour grossed 45 million. Despite the album's commercial success, critics reactions were mixed. Some reviews glowed, calling it his "most adventurous", others called the album "safe" and noted that "Mayer the singer-songwriter and Mayer the man about town sometimes seem disconnected, like they don't even belong in the same body". Mayer admitted to Rolling Stone that he thought Battle Studies was not his best album.
Personal troubles and hiatus (2010–2013)
Following two revealing and highly controversial magazine interviews in February 2010 with Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines, Mayer withdrew from public life and ceased giving interviews. While still on tour for Battle Studies, he began work in earnest on his fifth studio album—which drew on the popular music of Laurel Canyon in the early 1970s. Around this time, he began to experience vocal problems, and sought medical assistance. On September 16, 2011, he posted on his blog that his next record, Born and Raised, would be delayed due to treatment he was receiving for a granuloma discovered on his vocal cords. Mayer described the event as a "temporary setback" and added that the album was entirely finished except for a few vocal tracks. A month later, on October 20, 2011, Mayer posted, "I had surgery this afternoon to remove it and am now on complete vocal rest for a month or more," during which he planned to "travel the country, look, and listen". However, the surgery did not work as expected, and he had to undergo another one that August. During his travels, he visited and fell in love with Bozeman, Montana, where he bought a house and re-settled in the spring of 2012.
With his treatments complete, Mayer finished the vocals on Born and Raised, and the album's first single, "Shadow Days", was released on February 27, 2012. The following day, he released the track listing for the album, announcing that it would be released on May 22 of that year. He described it as his "most honest" album, and begin booking dates at more "intimate" venues than for Battle Studies. He also accepted an invitation to appear at the South by Southwest festival. However, the granuloma returned, and on March 9, 2012, Mayer announced that he had been forced to cancel his tour and refrain from all singing indefinitely. Even so, Born and Raised was released as scheduled, and entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one, selling 219,000 copies in its first week. It also received generally positive critical feedback; Rolling Stone rated it number 17 on its list of the 50 Best Albums of 2012, and People magazine called it "a shimmering album". Meanwhile, Mayer brought a new focus to his guitar playing and, fearing that his vocal cords had been permanently damaged, tried to come to terms with a possible future as a session musician. Determined to be cured, he sought help from the UCLA Voice Center. That September, otolaryngologist Dr. Gerald Berke paralyzed Mayer's vocal cords with a series of high-dose Botox injections, hoping that they would allow the granuloma to heal. Mayer's vocal rest extended to several months and, unable to even talk, his performances were limited to accompanying other artists on guitar. He appeared in September 2012 on Saturday Night Live, where he joined musical guest Frank Ocean. He played with the Rolling Stones in New Jersey in December 2012.
By January 2013, Mayer had recovered sufficiently enough to perform at a benefit concert in Bozeman, after almost two years without singing publicly. In April 2013, he made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where he inducted the late Albert King. A show at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Alabama on April 25, 2013, followed by a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival the next day, marked his first full-length concerts since his health troubles.
Paradise Valley, Dead & Company, The Search for Everything (2013–2018)
In June 2013, Mayer announced that he was finishing work on his sixth album, Paradise Valley. Produced by Don Was, the album features "low-key folk-rock tunes". He collaborated with Frank Ocean on the song "Wildfire Pt. 2", and with Katy Perry on "Who You Love". The latter song would go on to become the album's third single, and an accompanying music video was released on December 17. On June 18, 2013, he released a lyric video for the album's first single, "Paper Doll", on his official YouTube page. The album was released August 20, 2013, and—meeting with positive reviews—debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 145,560 copies in the United States. Mayer embarked on a tour, his first in three years, in support of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. The American leg of the tour ran from July to December 2013 with Interscope recording artist Phillip Phillips serving as the supporting act. The tour visited Australia in April 2014.
During a concert in Adelaide, Mayer covered the Beyoncé song "XO" . One month later, on May 22, he released a studio version of the song on his SoundCloud account. It was made available for digital download by Columbia Records on May 27, 2014, through the iTunes Store. For the week ending June 1, 2014, Mayer's version debuted at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart. On the Canadian Hot 100, "XO" peaked at a position of 76. The single also peaked at number 81 on the Australian Singles Chart (its debut week), and at number 95 on the Dutch Singles Chart. In the UK, it peaked at 115 on the UK Singles Chart. Mayer recorded the song "Come Rain or Come Shine" as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her album Partners, released in September 2014.
In February 2015, Mayer performed alongside Ed Sheeran at the Grammy Awards. As of March, Mayer said he was taking break from working on a "deeply personal new album". Also, Mayer recounted that in 2011 he happened upon a song by the Grateful Dead while listening to Pandora, and that soon the band's music was all he would listen to. In February 2015, while guest hosting The Late Late Show, Mayer invited Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir to join him in a studio performance. While Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (surviving members of the Grateful Dead) were preparing for their Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead tour with Trey Anastasio, Mayer began practicing the band's catalog of songs. That August, Mayer, Weir, Kreutzmann, and Hart formed the group Dead & Company, along with Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge, and began a fall tour in the United States. The tour was well received (Billboard called it "magical"), and they continued to tour the US into 2016. Although Lesh has declined to join Dead & Company, Mayer also performed with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads in 2015.
As a result of his touring with Dead & Company, Mayer postponed working on his next studio album until January 2016, with plans to finish it by the end of the year. On November 17, 2016, Mayer released "Love on the Weekend" as the lead single from his EP The Search for Everything: Wave One, which was then released on January 20, 2017. A second EP, The Search for Everything: Wave Two, was released on February 24, 2017, along with the single "Still Feel Like Your Man". The album The Search for Everything was released on April 14, 2017 and was promoted by a third single titled "In the Blood", released on May 1, 2017, and by The Search for Everything World Tour from March to October of the same year.
Mayer also continued touring with Dead & Company during the summer and fall of 2017. On December 5, during the Fall Tour, his appendix burst, resulting in an emergency appendectomy and the postponement of the remaining tour dates to February 2018. In January 2018, Dead & Company announced their Dead & Company Summer Tour 2018.
Sob Rock (2018–present)
On May 10, 2018, Mayer released the single "New Light", co-produced by No I.D. and Mayer himself. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on the release day, he announced "more new music" for 2018. During his performance at the iHeartRadio Theater on October 24, 2018, he premiered a song titled "I Guess I Just Feel Like". On December 12, 2018, he announced a world tour for 2019. Mayer released two singles in 2019; the previously played "I Guess I Just Feel Like" on February 22, and "Carry Me Away" on September 6.
During an episode of John Mayer's show "Current Mood" on March 15, 2020, he revealed that he was in the process of writing and recording songs for a new album. In early 2021, he stated that the album was completely finished as he begun posting snippets of new songs on TikTok ahead of release. In an interview with Kerwin Frost, Mayer hinted at an April release for the album. Later, the date was pushed back. On June 1, 2021, Mayer officially announced his eighth album Sob Rock and on June 4, released the lead single, "Last Train Home" along with an accompanying music video. The album was released on July 16, 2021 as well as a music video for the song, "Shot In The Dark". The track list included previously released singles "New Light", "I Guess I Just Feel Like" and "Carry Me Away". "Carry Me Away" was slightly reworked production-wise to fit the album’s 1980s aesthetic.
Touring
Mayer began touring as a solo artist in 2001. While his early records were largely acoustic, early reviewers noted his unexpected electric "guitar heroics" during live performances.
Mayer has toured North America, Europe and Australia with many musical groups, including Maroon 5,Counting Crows, Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat and Train. In 2010, Mayer and Keith Urban performed at a CMT Crossroads concert a medley of their songs and a rendition of George Michael's single "Faith". This performance led to Urban and Mayer teaming up again for future performances, including at the 2010 CMT Music Awards.
Mayer allows audio taping and non-commercial trading of those recordings at most of his live performances. Mayer often shows up at small venues unannounced (or with little advance notice) for surprise concerts—occasionally for free or without accepting the performance fee. He has made appearances throughout the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York areas, including shows at the Laugh Factory, Eddie's Attic, and the Village Underground. After a public campaign by their senior class president, Mayer performed a surprise three-song set at the 2004 Pennsbury High School senior prom. In June 2015, Mayer appeared as a guest for two nights with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads, recreating the Grateful Dead's notable May 8 and June 9, 1977 concerts.
Headlining
Room for Squares Tour (2002)
Heavier Things Tour (2003–2004)
Continuum Tour (2006–2007)
John Mayer 2008 Summer Tour (2008)
Battle Studies World Tour (2009–2010)
Born and Raised World Tour (2013–2014)
The Search for Everything World Tour (2017)
John Mayer 2019 World Tour (2019)
Sob Rock Tour (2022)
Co-headlining
John Mayer/Guster Summer Tour (2002)
John Mayer/Counting Crows Summer Tour (2003)
John Mayer/Sheryl Crow Tour (2006)
Opening act
Sting European Tour (2004)
Touring with Dead & Company
Mayer joined each annual Tour in the years 2015 to the present.
Other ventures
Dead & Company
Since 2015, Mayer has been touring with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Founding bassist Phil Lesh has notably declined to participate in the project, although he has performed with Mayer on a few occasions since Dead & Company began. The role of bassist in Dead & Company has instead been played by Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band. Jeff Chimenti, who has toured with the various spin-offs of the Dead since the 1990s, is the group's keyboardist.
Although Mayer had been familiar with the music of the Grateful Dead since at least high school, he began to develop a strong interest in their music in 2011 after hearing their song Althea by chance on Pandora radio. In 2015, while the Dead's Fare Thee Well shows with Trey Anastasio were also being planned, Mayer performed "Althea" with Weir on The Late Late Show, along with "Truckin'." Weir was impressed with Mayer's take on the material and began planning to work with him after the Fare Thee Well shows, despite them being billed as something of finale for the band and its legacy. Weir discussed the genesis of the band and his thoughts about working with Mayer in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2016:
The thought of pop singer Mayer stepping in for Jerry Garcia was met with some initial skepticism by both fans and music critics, but the shows have since been well received. The band continues to tour in 2018, 2019 and into 2020 and has considered recording a studio album consisting of songs from the Grateful Dead catalog and potentially some originals. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Lesh praised the band's performances and explained his decision not to take part:
Author
With the June 2004 issue of Esquire, Mayer began a column called "Music Lessons with John Mayer". Each article featured a lesson and his views on various topics, both of personal and popular interest. In the August 2005 issue, he invited readers to create music for orphaned lyrics he had written. The winner was Tim Fagan of Los Angeles as announced in the following January's issue.
As social media gained momentum in the 2000s, Mayer became increasingly active online, and maintained four blogs: a Myspace page, a blog at his official site, another at Honeyee.com, one at tumblr, and a photoblog at StunningNikon.com. He was particularly prolific on Twitter, where he was noted for authoring his own posts, and he amassed 3.7 million followers. Although his posts often dealt with career-related matters, they also included jokes, videos, photos, and eventually what he called the "maintenance of vapor"—or misguided, personal responses to the media. On January 23, 2008, he posted the quote "There is danger in theoretical speculation of battle, in prejudice, in false reasoning, in pride, in braggadocio. There is one safe resource, the return to nature."; all the previous blog entries were deleted. On September 14, 2010, he deleted his personal Twitter account.
In the mid-2000s, he did comedy sporadically, making random appearances at the famed Comedy Cellar in New York and at other venues. He stated that it helped him write better, but that increased media attention made him too careful in his technique. He has since said he has no plans to return to it.
Watch collector
Mayer is an avid collector of watches, a pastime that he says keeps him "sane". His collection—which he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars—includes a Patek Philippe with a Sky Moon Tourbillion, a Rolex GMT Master 116710 BLNR, and an IWC Big Pilot Ref 5002, his signature watch. He has also served as a juror at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, a competition rewarding timepieces that champion the values of Swiss-made watches and writes a column for the horology website Hodinkee. In his column for January 16, 2015, he wrote an open letter to the watch brand IWC, encouraging it to "embrace [its] heritage, scale the product line down in terms of model variants, and simplify the design language". IWC replied, defending the changes they've made over the years, saying, "We have a wonderful past, it is true—but in admiring what we achieved thus far, we hope you will feel encouraged to look forward to what we achieve in the future".
Current Mood
During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show in September 2018, Mayer showed a trailer for his new Instagram Live show. The show, entitled Current Mood, debuted on his IGTV account on Sunday evening on September 30, 2018. Episodes have continued to air on that schedule on a weekly basis. Guests have included Charlie Puth, Cazzie David, and musician Thundercat. Mayer's latest season of Current Mood began on Sunday November 18, 2019 with guest Shawn Mendes and surprise feature with Camila Cabello on his first episode. For Current Mood Mayer coined notable jingles including "Camila Camendes," "CVS Bag," and "Drone Shot of My Yacht."
Appearances in the media
In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 titled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts.
Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during Apple's annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2004 as Jobs introduced the music production software GarageBand. Mayer became a fixture of the event, including at the 2007 iPhone announcement. Volkswagen concluded a deal with instrument manufacturer First Act to include a GarageMaster electric guitar that was playable through the stereo system of six of their 2007 models; Mayer (along with Slash and Christopher Guest) were selected to endorse the campaign and were featured playing the guitar in ads. Mayer used and endorsed the BlackBerry Curve.
Mayer made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, the Late Show with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mayer appeared with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Mayer wrote the theme song to the OWN network show Rollin' with Zach, which features Zach Anner. CBS invited him to guest host The Late Late Show in early 2015 on three dates, February 4–6, after the retirement of Craig Ferguson.
Mayer makes a cameo as a truck driver in the 2014 comedy horror film Zombeavers. In the 2015 film Get Hard, he played a version of himself who is disgusted with the "monetization of the creative process".
Instruments and equipment
John Mayer is a guitar collector and has collaborated with elite guitar companies to design his own instruments. He owns over 200 guitars.
In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer. The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code. This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag. In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters.
In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public, along with a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included in the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag, on which Mayer collaborated on the in-case designs. In 2006, Mayer was estimated to have more than 200 guitars in his personal collection.
John Mayer's most iconic guitar is the "Black1". Conceived after the Heavier Things tour, Mayer went to Fender Custom Shop with the desire to build a guitar. He was inspired by guitars of famous players the likes of Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He sought out masterbuilder John Cruz to help devise the design. In essence, Mayer wanted an all-black version of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "First Wife" Stratocaster. The guitar is heavily "relic'd" to specs very similar to the guitar used by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Black1 includes a mint pickguard, custom wound pickups, gold hardware, and gold tuners from the SRV Tribute Stratocaster. It was the principal guitar on the Continuum album. It was notably used on tracks such as "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You", and "Bold as Love". The Black1 has become a trademark to Mayer's music.
The Fender Custom Shop made a limited run of 83 replica Black1 Stratocasters, all of which were sold within 24 hours. Each one was carefully relic'd by John Cruz. In 2010, Fender announced a production model of Mayer's Black1 guitar. Un-relic'd production versions of the guitar were produced for a limited run of 500 worldwide. In addition, full production signature Stratocasters were produced in three-tone sunburst and Olympic White finishes.
In 2014, John Mayer announced that he was no longer a Fender Artist. As a result, his signature line of guitars was pulled from production. In 2015, Mayer announced that he was collaborating with PRS Guitars. In March 2016, Mayer and PRS revealed their collaborative project, the Super Eagle. This was a limited release from PRS's Private Stock line of instruments and each guitar features ultra-grade woods, abalone inlay, JCF Audio preamps, and a hand-signed sticker by glass-artist David Smith. Only 100 were produced, each retailing for over $10,000. In January 2017 at NAMM, PRS and Mayer announced the J-MOD 100 signature amp. In June 2017, the Super Eagle II was revealed, limited to 120 instruments.
In January 2018, Martin Guitar announced the limited-release (45 instruments) John Mayer Signature D-45, with list price $14,999. In March 2018, Mayer's signature Silver Sky model was released by PRS, available in four colors. While Music Trade called the Silver Sky "derivative", it said that all the elements were "designed from the ground up" and built with "attention to detail". While acknowledging its similarity to a Stratocaster, Matt Blackett of Guitar Player magazine ultimately said, "The Silver Sky absolutely delivers on the promise of being a damn-near-perfect version of this type of guitar." The magazine named its "Editor's Pick".
Reception
Mayer has stood out as among his peers as a guitarist. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks in an issue lauding the "New Guitar Gods", and the cover nicknamed him Slowhand Jr., a reference to Eric Clapton. Critics, however, point to how safe his music is. Chris Richards, in review of a 2017 concert, declared "John Mayer is an amazing guitar player", though he says he did so "through clenched teeth," adding that the fact should not absolve the guitarist of "his pillow-soft songcraft, the dull sentimentality of his lyrics, or that cuckoo-racist interview he gave to Playboy back in 2010". Music writer Steve Baltin commented on this dichotomy, saying that Mayer is "one of the sharpest and savviest musical minds you will ever encounter", and added, "While many have found reasons to dislike Mayer since the beginning of his career, he is a consummate musician's musician, an artist who has been embraced by Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Buddy Guy among others."
Mayer's inclusion in the Grateful Dead was not without its critics. Chris Robinson of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood said that "everything that Jerry Garcia ever talked about or stood for, John Mayer is the antithesis", and that while "Jerry was one of the most unique musicians in the world [...] here's John Mayer playing everyone else's licks". The comment itself drew controversy, and Mayer, for his part, said, "I care about this band too much to give that life", and that "I realized not long ago that I'm done debating my own merits."
Personal life
On his third episode of Current Mood, Mayer revealed he had been sober since 2016. He stopped drinking after having what he says was a six-day hangover after Drake's 30th birthday party.
Relationships
Mayer has been romantically involved with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than 17 times their face value.
Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey, location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007.
Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech shooting, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released as Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headlined Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres.
On March 1, 2019, John Mayer established the Heart and Armor Foundation in support of veterans of war. John has been actively involved in initiatives to help returning veterans for about 12 years.
Controversies
Mayer's relationship with Jessica Simpson coincided with behavior changes that significantly increased his tabloid exposure. Early in his career, he had expressed his resolve to completely avoid drugs, alcohol, clubbing, "red-carpet" events, dating celebrities, and anything that he felt would detract the focus from his music. In interviews, however, Mayer alluded to experiencing an extreme "anxiety bender" episode in his twenties that motivated him to be less reclusive. In 2006, he first mentioned that he had begun using marijuana. He began making appearances at clubs in Los Angeles and New York City, and Simpson became the first in a string of famous girlfriends, including Jennifer Aniston and Minka Kelly. By 2007, his personal life had become regular fodder for the gossip media and, as a result, Mayer made efforts to control his public image. His online presence increased, he began to stage pranks for the paparazzi, and he hosted a segment for the gossip show TMZ.
In early 2010, Mayer gave a controversial interview to Playboy magazine in which he revealed sexually explicit details about his former girlfriends Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston—calling his relationship with the former "sexual napalm." In response to a question about whether black women were interested in him, he said, "My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I've got a Benetton heart and a fuckin' David Duke cock. I'm going to start dating separately from my dick." He also used the word "nigger" in the interview. This set off accusations in the media of him being a misogynist, kiss-and-tell ex-boyfriend, and racist. He apologized via Twitter for his use of the word "nigger", saying, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize...a word that is so emotionally charged". He also tearfully apologized to his band and fans at his concert in Nashville later that night. In the following two years, he left New York and retreated from the media. Reflecting on that time in a May 2012 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he said, "I lost my head for a little while and I did a couple of dumb interviews and it kind of woke me up...It was a violent crash into being an adult. For a couple of years, it was just figuring it all out, and I'm glad I actually stayed out of the spotlight."
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performed vocals for the song "Half of My Heart" on Mayer's November 2009 album Battle Studies. Rumors began to circulate in the media that the two were a couple, an assertion that neither addressed. However, Swift released a song called "Dear John" in 2010, which was widely believed to be about her relationship with him. In June 2012, Mayer criticized the song, saying she never contacted him and that "it's abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait till he gets a load of this!'" The song "Paper Doll" was reported to be a response. In the March 21, 2019 episode of Current Mood, however, Mayer said, "When 'Paper Doll' came out, 100% of the people believed it was about somebody...But the song was not about that person and I could never tell anybody, 'That's not true,' because then I would be breaking my rule that songwriters don't say who the songs are about or not about."
In March 2014, Mayer sued watch dealer Robert Maron for $656,000 when he discovered that seven of the $5 million in watches he purchased from the dealer contained counterfeit parts. He dropped the action in May 2015, releasing a statement that asserted that research restored his "belief that Bob Maron is an expert on Rolex watches and confirmed that Bob Maron never sold him a counterfeit watch".
In 2020, Perez Hilton stated in his memoir TMI: My Life in Scandal that in 2007 at a club in Chelsea, Manhattan, Mayer came up to Hilton and said, 'I like to watch gay porn, you know,' adding, 'My favorite porn star is Brent Corrigan. He really turns me on', and then french-kissed Hilton.
Discography
Room for Squares (2001)
Heavier Things (2003)
Continuum (2006)
Battle Studies (2009)
Born and Raised (2012)
Paradise Valley (2013)
The Search for Everything (2017)
Sob Rock (2021)
Awards
Grammy Awards
Mayer has won seven awards from nineteen nominations.
Others awards and nominations
See also
Annual John Mayer Holiday Charity Revue
Notes
References
Works cited
Edwards, G. (2006). Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John? New York: Crown Publishing Group. .
External links
1977 births
Living people
21st-century American composers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American singers
American bloggers
American blues singers
American male bloggers
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male singer-songwriters
American philanthropists
American pop rock singers
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
Blues rock musicians
Columbia Records artists
Dead & Company members
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from Connecticut
John Mayer Trio members
Musicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut
People from Fairfield, Connecticut
People from Hidden Hills, California
Record producers from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from California | true | [
"The Duha prayer (, ) is the voluntary Islamic prayer between the obligatory Islamic prayers of Fajr and Dhuhr. The time for the prayer begins when the sun has risen to the height of a spear, which is fifteen or twenty minutes after sunrise, until just before the sun passes its zenith (after the zenith is when the time for dhuhr prayer begins). When prayed at the beginning of its time it is called Ishraaq prayer. Salat al Duha is done to forgive sins and as a form of charity. Abu Dharr reports that Muhammad said: \"Charity is required from every part of your body daily. Every saying of 'Glory to be to Allah' is a charity. Every saying of 'Praise be to Allah' is charity. Every saying of 'There is no God but Allah' is charity. Every saying 'Allah is the Greatest' is charity. Ordering the good is charity. Eradicating evil is charity. And what suffices for that (as a charity) are the two rak'as of Duha.\" This is related by Ahmad, Muslim, and Abu Daw'ud. It is also known in Bengali as Chashter Namaz (চাশতের নামাজ) and in Urdu as Namāz-e-Chāsht (نماز چاشت).\n\nSee also\nDua\nNafl prayer\nSalat\n\nReferences\n\nSalah\nSalah terminology",
"Charity Dingle (also Tate, Sharma and Macey) is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale, played by Emma Atkins. Suranne Jones originally auditioned for the role of Charity prior to Atkins being cast in the role. The actress began filming her first scenes in February 2000, and she made her first screen appearance as Charity during the episode broadcast on 30 March 2000. Actress Mica Proctor played a young Charity in a flashback episode about the character's past, which aired on 29 May 2018.\n\nThe character has been involved in numerous high-profile storylines during her time on the show, such as her marriage to Chris Tate (Peter Amory), an affair with Chris's sister, Zoe Tate (Leah Bracknell), the arrival of her long-lost daughter Debbie Dingle (Charley Webb), her affair with Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley), being framed by Chris for his death, giving birth to Noah Tate (Jack Downham) and her uncaring relationship and subsequent break up with Tom King (Ken Farrington), which led to her exit on 1 March 2005. Atkins returned to the role on 1 October 2009. During her second stint in Emmerdale, Charity's storylines focused on her relationship with Cain, their get-rich-quick schemes, and her job working with Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson), whom she later married and divorced.\n\nCharity later married Declan Macey (Jason Merrells) and had a secret abortion, which led Declan to try to kill her. Atkins took maternity leave in February 2015, as Charity was sentenced to prison after confessing to her crimes. Atkins returned briefly from June to July and again in December that year, before making a permanent return in March 2016.\n\nCharity's storylines since then have seen her give birth to Moses Dingle, begin a relationship with Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick), to whom she later got engaged, and reveal that she was sexually abused by detective Mark Bails (Rocky Marshall) when she was a teenager, which led to the birth of their son Ryan Stocks (James Moore). More recent storylines have seen Charity split from Vanessa, become estranged from her family, and start a relationship with Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb).\n\nFor her portrayal of Charity, Atkins has received nominations for Best Actress at the British Soap Awards.\n\nStorylines\n\n2000–2005\nCharity comes to Emmerdale for her cousin, Butch's (Paul Loughran) funeral. It emerges that she is working as a prostitute and there is a warrant out for her arrest. Charity stays with Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell) and his wife Lisa (Jane Cox).\n\nCharity begins dating Chris Tate (Peter Amory), which his sister, Zoe (Leah Bracknell), is unhappy about and offers her money to end it but Charity refuses. Zoe and Charity then have an affair but Charity ends it when Zoe gets too possessive. Chris proposes marriage and Charity accepts so Zoe records Charity taking about their affair and blackmails her to sign a prenuptial agreement. However, Charity tells Chris about her affair and Chris forgives her, tearing up the pre-nup and Zoe moves out. Chris and Charity marry and Charity helps Chris run his business empire.\n\nChris and Charity eventually realise that Zoe is ill and she has to be sectioned. While in hospital, she is diagnosed with schizophrenia. Charity supports Zoe when she realizes she is pregnant and considers giving the baby up for adoption, revealing she had a baby girl that she put up for adoption. Charity is shocked when Paddy (Dominic Brunt) and Emily Kirk's (Kate McGregor) foster daughter, Debbie Jones (Charley Webb), realises that Charity is her birth mother. Charity initially refuses contact with Debbie but comforts her when her mother dies. Despite her reserve, she and Debbie bond so Charity files for custody and wins, much to Paddy and Emily's dismay. Charity is delighted when Chris and Debbie bond and he suggests adopting her. Cain later realizes that he is Debbie's father and bonds with his daughter, leading him and Charity to begin an affair. Chris sees them and throws her out. A month later, Charity goes to Home Farm to discuss her marriage, hoping they will reconcile. However, Chris knows that he has an inoperable brain tumour and frames Charity for his murder, before committing suicide. The police arrest Charity after finding her fingerprints on Chris's glass and her signature on an order for poison. She and Cain blame each other so Charity is released on bail when she learns that she is pregnant and moves in with Marlon. After getting drunk, they sleep together. Charity realises Zoe knows that Chris killed himself and kisses her but Zoe testifies that Charity killed Chris so Charity is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. While in prison, she gives birth to a son who she names Noah (Alfie Mortimer). Unsure of Noah's paternity, she arranges for Zoe, Cain and Marlon to do a DNA test and the results show that Chris is Noah's father. Charity strikes a deal with Zoe - she can have custody of Noah in return for £20,000 and evidence that Chris committed suicide. Zoe agrees and Charity is released. Zoe refuses to allow Charity any contact with Noah, who she calls Christopher, and plans to adopt him but permission is refused, due to already having 2 children (Chris's eldest son, Joseph (Oliver Young), and her daughter, Jean (Megan Pearson), running Home Farm and her mental health issues. Social Services ask Charity to decide if she wants to raise him or put him up for adoption elsewhere. She chooses to raise him and Zoe returns him to Charity.\n\nCharity sets her sights on Tom King (Ken Farrington) and gets a job as his secretary. Tom's daughter-in-law, Sadie King (Patsy Kensit), takes an instant dislike to Charity and tries to sabotage the plan. Unfortunately this doesn't work and Sadie is forced to accept that Charity is Tom's new partner. Eventually Tom proposes and Charity accepts but Sadie refuses to accept this and hires Cain to kiss Charity in front of a photographer and shows the pictures to Tom. He calls the wedding off, leaving Charity furious. Knowing Sadie is responsible, they fight before she returns to the Dingles. In revenge, Charity has an affair with Jimmy King (Nick Miles), Sadie's husband, looking for something she can use against Sadie. She is thrilled when Jimmy tells her that although he thought they were trying for a baby, she is still having contraceptive injections. Charity records Jimmy talking about this and her plan to set Charity up. Initially, she simply blackmails Jimmy but then plays the video at a party and Tom throws them out before begging her to give him another chance but she refuses, saying that she no longer loves him and leaves with Noah.\n\n2009–\nCharity is shocked to see Cain and Debbie at her wedding to Michael Conway (Jamie Belman) and Debbie's news that she and Michael were having an affair. Cain tells Michael that Charity used to be a prostitute and Michael leaves Charity at the altar. Charity reveals that she knew Michael was having doubts and told him that she was pregnant to stop him leaving. Michael is told, very clearly, to choose either Charity or Debbie. He chooses Debbie but she ignores him, choosing to spend time with Charity and Noah. Debbie invites Charity and Noah to move in with her, which they do.\n\nFrom family gossip, Charity learns that Cain stole money from the Kings and teams up with Carl King (Tom Lister) to get it back. She reconciles with Cain and learns that the money is kept in a storage unit. She takes the money but changes her mind but Cain and Debbie catch her. Cain gives Charity the money and leaves the village. Charity moves in with Marlon and tries to give Debbie the money but she refuses so Charity donates it to the church but Debbie retrieves it. Cain returns and he and Charity agree to be civil. During an argument, Debbie sets fire to the money and realizing they have nothing left to argue about, Charity proposes to Cain and he accepts. Cain organizes a surprise wedding and Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) brings Charity to the registry office. Charity is surprised but won't marry Cain, telling him that she loves him but is not ready to settle down yet.\n\nCharity and Cain start stealing cars to make money after Charity steals a businessman's keys after flirting with him at a local hotel. However, the second time they try this, they learn that their target, Declan Macey (Jason Merrells), knows people in the village and spots Charity. Declan tells her that he will not go to the police if she returns the car and has a drink with him.\n\nCharity helps Chas get revenge on Carl for cheating on her and begins working for Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson). Charity advises Jai on the restoration of the barn next to the Dingle farm. Jai pays Charity to persuade Lisa to sell the farm and move to Hotten, but Lisa refuses. Cain is jealous of Charity and Jai's relationship and warns Jai to stay away. Jai buys Charity a new car and takes her to a hotel but she insists they have separate rooms. Charity ends things with Cain after learning that he slept with Faye Lamb (Kim Thomson), thinking that she had slept with Jai. Charity and Noah move in with Jai and Nikhil (Rik Makarem), at Holdgate Farm. Charity and Jai begin dating and Cain tries to win Charity back but Charity tells him that she is not interested. Charity tries to make Nikhil look incompetent, wanting his job, so Jai throws her out. Charity apologizes and proposes to Jai. He initially refuses but later accepts. Charity, Cain and Cameron Murray (Dominic Power) steal the Kings' haulage trucks and sell them. Refusing to accept Charity is with Jai, Cain starts attacking the Sharmas forcing them to call off their wedding when the threats become more severe. Cain is attacked and Charity is questioned by the police but she insists she did not do it. Charity and Jai reconcile and she supports him when he is charged with assaulting Cain. Charity reveals she found Cain the night he was attacked and walked away. Cain changes his statement and the charges against Jai are dropped. Charity is late for her wedding as she visits Debbie but does marry Jai. Charity tells Jai that she does not want any more children, leaving him disappointed but he suggests that he adopt Noah. Charity disapproves, worried the about the effect it will have on Noah if the marriage failed, so they compromise and change his surname to Sharma. Later, Jai has a drunken one-night stand with Rachel Breckle (Gemma Oaten) and Charity has a one-night stand with Declan and admits it immediately. Jai forgives her as he feels guilty about his own indiscretion, knowing that Rachel is pregnant and later has a son, Archie. Charity becomes suspicious so Jai's father, Rishi, claims to be Archie's father to save Jai's marriage and ensure that Jai can spend time with Archie. However, Charity realizes the truth when Jai overreacts to an injury Archie sustains in an accident with a sparkler and ends the marriage, moving in with Debbie and her children.\n\nCharity sees Declan attempting to commit suicide by burning down Home Farm, unaware that his sister Megan (Gaynor Faye) is inside. Charity persuades Declan to frame her cousin, Sam, so that they can split the insurance money and deprive Jai of his son, thinking Sam, Rachel and the children would go on the run but Rachel refused, insisting that they clear their names. Before Sam's court date, Charity tells Rachel that she and Declan framed Sam and Rachel can clear his name by giving a statement to the police, admitting that she started the fire or Sam will go to prison. Unwilling to see Sam go down, Rachel does as Charity and Declan ask and tells the police that she was the arsonist. When she gets bail, Charity and Declan give her everything she will need to start a new life with Archie. Rachel's sister, Ali, knows that Rachel is innocent but keeps quiet after Charity and Declan threaten her daughter.\n\nCharity and Declan then start dating but no one thinks it will last. Charity realizes she is pregnant in April and plans to have a termination, feeling that she and Declan couldn't cope with a child. However, Declan finds out when Megan finds the positive test in the bin at Debbie's house. He is happy and proposes to her, making her walk out. Later, Charity accepts Declan's proposal and Declan announces their engagement in The Woolpack and Charity's pregnancy, just as Jai walks in. Charity later decides to go ahead with a termination and offloads to her consultant, bursting into tears and telling her how she gave Debbie up for adoption. However, after booking an abortion, she finds that Declan has told Noah about the baby. Charity marries Declan with only Noah, Megan and Declan's nephew, Robbie Lawson (Jamie Shelton), present. Megan tries to sabotage the wedding and sets off the fire alarm. Charity realizes what Megan is up to and a catfight broke out. She panics when Declan reveals he has booked a month's holiday to Barbados for them and Noah as she worries over how to have her abortion. However, a confrontation with Megan a few days later gives Charity an opportunity to feign miscarriage when she is accidentally knocked to the floor. A scan at the hospital confirms she has lost the baby, leaving Declan devastated. Wracked with guilt, Megan tells Declan that she is resigning and won't move into Home Farm but Jai advises her to test Charity's intentions. Charity is shaken when Megan says she may stay after all and is horrified to find Megan telling Declan that she caused the miscarriage. Enraged, Declan throws Megan out. Charity, relieved, agrees to rearrange a late honeymoon for them and Noah, but insists it is too soon for another baby, much to Declan's chagrin. A vengeful Megan then decides to spy on Charity with Nicola at Home Farm. After returning from Barbados, Charity agrees to try for another baby.\n\nWhen Declan finds out about Charity's abortion, he keeps quiet and takes her away for a romantic break but tries to kill her, hitting her with a mallet and tries to shoot her with a flare gun. However, Declan accidentally shoots Robbie, when he tries to save Charity and later dies from the blast. Declan tries to drown Charity by pulling her into the lake but she hits him over the head with an anchor and he sinks into the water. Charity then passes out on the boat, stating \"You were never a match for me\", while Megan watches. Charity is extremely paranoid when she returns to the village and manages to patch things up with Megan before Robbie's funeral. Declan later returns and drugs Charity, while holding Megan, Jai, Cain, Debbie, Sam, Zak, Chas and Ashley hostage at the Sharma house. He tells them how Charity framed Rachel for the fire at Home Farm, before leaving the village. The Dingles and Jai then confront a bitter Charity, who eventually confesses. When they turn on her, Charity retaliates that they are all hypocrites and that she no longer wants to be part of the family. Zak promptly disowns her before leaving with Chas and Sam, who expresses his hatred towards Charity. Jai leaves too, but not before vowing to make Charity suffer for what she did to him. Debbie and Cain reveal their disgust and, despite Charity's pleas, walk away. When trying to leave, Charity is attacked and kidnapped by an unknown culprit and held in a shipping container in the woods. It was later revealed that the kidnapper is Jai. He tells Charity that unless she reveals Rachel and Archie's location, she will be left to die. While arguing with Sam about Rachel's whereabouts, Jai falls down the stairs and falls into a coma, but reveals where Charity is. Sam goes to the shipping container and hears Charity stating that she only cares about herself and should care more about Debbie and Noah. Sam leaves Charity there but eventually tells Cain where Charity is and he and Sam save her. To redeem herself to her family, Charity drives off with Maxine (Rebecca Manley), a woman who is blackmailing Cain's wife, Moira. She drives extremely fast down narrow country lanes and threatens to kill her if she gives Moira any more grief. Moira worries that Charity has made things worse, while Cain is proud of Charity's actions.\n\nCharity, meanwhile, is found guilty for perverting the course of justice and is sentenced to two years in prison. When Cain takes Noah to visit Charity in prison, she tells him that she has a plan in the works that might help her get early release. Charity goes into labour while Debbie is there, unaware that Charity is pregnant. She gives birth to a baby boy and hands him to a social worker, telling them Debbie is the legal guardian until she is released from prison. Knowing that Charity confessed her love for Cain after her imprisonment, Debbie and Chas suspect that Cain is the father, which he denies. He visits Charity in prison and demands to know who the father is, otherwise he will sever all contact but she refuses to divulge the father's identity so Cain walks out. The Dingles name the baby Moses. Charity calls the father, Ross Barton (Michael Parr), when Moses is rushed to hospital and needs an operation. Soon after, Cain tells Debbie that Ross is Moses's father, to stop her leaving the village with him. After Charity is released from prison, she steals a Ferrari. When she gets it stuck in a field, she needs Cain and Moira's help to avoid the police. She later becomes the new owner of The Woolpack.\n\nCain and Moira's marriage breaks down and he kisses Charity. Cain saves Charity from a drug dealer, after she tries to find Belle, who has gone missing. Cain and Charity have sex in the garage, and he stands up for her in front of Zak and Lisa. They continue dating, and plan to leave the village to stay with Debbie in France. However, Cain changes his mind, as he still loves Moira, so Charity fakes her suicide by crashing his car in a quarry.\n\nCharity develops a relationship with Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick). She later tells her that when she was 14 years old, she was repeatedly raped by policeman Mark Bails (Rocky Marshall). He also physically attacked her on several occasions and even used to pimp her out to other men. When she fell pregnant, she started drinking heavily to induce a miscarriage. Eventually, Charity went into labour while escaping Bails' clutches and gave birth to a baby boy in hospital, however, he had to be rushed away as he was not breathing. As the doctors tried to bring him back, Charity watched on and, convinced he was dead, she ran out of the hospital. After reporting Bails to the police, Charity learns that her baby survived and he is called Ryan Stocks (James Moore). She soon works out that he was adopted by the midwife that helped deliver him.\n\nCasting\nActress Suranne Jones auditioned for the role of Charity, however it was Atkins who was eventually cast. The actress received the part while she was in her final year of a performing arts degree at Salford University. Her agent asked her if she wanted to audition for a role as a Dingle in Emmerdale and Atkins wondered whether she would be able to portray a member of that family, as she is so removed from those types of characters. The actress told Merle Brown of the Daily Record that the more her agent told her about the role, the more she thought she would enjoy playing it. Atkins attended the audition and was later recalled to do a screen test alongside Mark Charnock (who plays Marlon Dingle). Two weeks later, Atkins was told she had won the role of Charity. She began filming her scenes in February 2000 and made her first appearance in March.\n\nOn 26 July 2004, Kris Green of Digital Spy reported Atkins had quit Emmerdale, claiming that it was time to move on. Of her decision to leave, Atkins said \"I will be desperately sad to say goodbye to everyone but there are so many other roles that I would like to try and it's important to me that Charity leaves on a high.\" Atkins made her on screen departure on 1 March 2005.\n\nOn 18 March 2009, it was announced Atkins would be returning to Emmerdale as part of the ongoing overhaul of the show by series producer, Gavin Blyth. Of her decision to reprise her role, Atkins said: \"Charity is a wonderfully complex character and an absolute joy to play. I couldn't resist the opportunity to explore a new era of Charity, Cain and Debbie and will relish seeing what she's been up to since we saw her last.\" Charity and her five-year-old son returned on 1 October 2009. Two months later, Digital Spy's Kris Green reported Atkins had signed a six-month extension to her contract, keeping her with the show well into 2010.\n\nOn 20 January 2015, Atkins confirmed that she would be taking maternity leave from the show. Charity was written out of Emmerdale after receiving a prison sentence for perverting the course of justice. After a few brief returns throughout the rest of 2015, Charity returned permanently on 10 March 2016 when she was eventually released from prison.\n\nDevelopment\n\nCharacterisation\n\nDuring a 2001 interview with the Daily Mirror's Nina Myskow, Atkins said she loved playing Charity as she is a ballsy wild child who is not scared of anything. Atkins commented that her character is everything she is not. Myskow agreed with Atkins and said the actress is nothing like Charity, who she called a \"loud-mouthed bad girl.\" Writing for the Daily Record, Merle Brown deemed Charity a \"brassy tart with a heart.\" Atkins told him Charity is very argumentative, flirty and a bitch, which makes her \"a brilliant character to play.\" Atkins said there are many different sides to Charity that she hoped viewers would get to see as she developed. Tessa Cunningham of the Daily Mirror branded Charity a \"manipulative gold-digger.\" Of Charity's style, Atkins said \"She's a lady of the night - looks like a slapper, a complete slapper. I wouldn't have it any other way. I get to wear short mini-skirts and things I'd never dream of wearing. Going shopping with the costume people is brilliant fun, because it's like: \"Oh God, that's so bad. Yeah, we'll have it.\" Atkins added Charity does not have to open her mouth as her outfits say everything for her.\n\nThree years after her introduction, Atkins revealed Charity had developed into a \"bigger, fiestier and more business-oriented\" woman. The actress said she had grown into the character and hoped she would remain cheeky, mischievous and a tart with a heart. Atkins added Charity is playful, but not evil or corrupt. A writer for the Western Mail called Charity \"mad, bad and dangerous to know.\" In February 2011, Atkins said Charity cannot resist an element of risk to anything because it is exciting to her and it makes village life more exciting too. Atkins explained that Charity is the sort of person who does not know why she is in a village like Emmerdale, as she has \"much bigger fish to fry\" elsewhere.\n\nRelationship with Chris Tate and affair with Zoe Tate\nCharity begins an \"unlikely relationship\" with wheelchair-bound, local millionaire, Chris Tate (Peter Amory). Charity realises she likes Chris when she becomes involved with his businesses. Charity thinks he is sweet and they get on well. When Chris suspects Charity is cheating on him, her flirtatious habits do little to reassure him. Charity denies Chris's accusations that she is seeing somebody else. Atkins told Claire Brand of Inside Soap \"Charity has been trying to convince Chris that nothing is going on. She's been having blazing rows with him and saying 'How could you possibly accuse me?' She's making him feel really guilty about suspecting her and he ends up wallowing in self pity, thinking he's blown it with her.\" Atkins went on to say Charity is very clever and makes Chris do what she says, as opposed to the other way round, which Chris is used to. Charity flirts with many of the men in the village to make Chris jealous. Chris decides to trap Charity and invites all the major suspects – Marlon Dingle, Scott Windsor (Ben Freeman) and Rodney Blackstock (Patrick Mower) – to an important party Charity is helping to organise. Atkins said viewers would be surprised to find out who Charity is seeing behind Chris's back.\n\nCharity's secret lover was revealed to be Chris's sister, Zoe (Leah Bracknell), during a special hour-long episode. Atkins explained the storyline was a shock to her as she had always thought Charity was \"a man's woman.\" However, the more she thought about it, the more she realised the story made sense. Atkins explained \"Charity lives on the edge. She's certainly not gay, but she loves sex and it doesn't matter whether it's with a man or a woman.\" Atkins said Charity likes to play games and she finds the idea of an affair with Chris's sister exciting. The actress did not think the storyline was \"sensationalist\" and reckoned Charity is probably bisexual and was only just realising that through her relationship with Zoe. Charity eventually ends the relationship with Zoe and goes on to marry Chris, despite admitting she does not love him and his money is the big attraction. Atkins said Charity is honest, but she does have feelings for Chris, which would grow. She added the lesbian affair had run its course, but she thought there might be repercussions from it in the future.\n\nReception\nFor her portrayal of Charity, Atkins was nominated in the categories of Best Actress, Best Exit and Best Single Episode (for her wedding with Tom) at the 2005 British Soap Awards. In 2010, Atkins was nominated for the Best Actress award. The following year she and Hordley received a nomination for Best On-Screen Partnership. The character was selected as one of the \"top 100 British soap characters\" by industry experts for a poll to be run by What's on TV, with readers able to vote for their favourite character to discover \"Who is Soap's greatest Legend?\" Kris Green of Digital Spy called Charity \"one of the soap's most controversial characters.\" Steve Hendry of the Sunday Mail branded the Charity, Chris and Zoe storyline as \"one of soapland's more bizarre love triangles.\" A writer for Virgin Media named Cain and Charity one of \"Soaps' sexiest couples.\" Laura Morgan of All About Soap said that viewers should not count on Charity settling into married life with Jai, especially with Cain hanging around \"like a bad smell\". A Sunday Mail reporter dubbed Charity \"one of the great British soap villains\". Charity's sentencing in January 2015 was named one of \"the best bits of January\" in the Inside Soap Yearbook 2016. In August 2017, Atkins was longlisted for Best Bad Girl at the Inside Soap Awards. Despite making the viewer-voted shortlist, Atkins did not win the award. For her portrayal of Charity, Atkins was nominated for Best Soap Actor (Female) at the 2018 Digital Spy Reader Awards; she came in second place with 17.2% of the toal vote. The storyline \"Charity fights for justice against DI Bails\" was also nominated at the awards under the \"Best Soap Storyline\" category; it came in third place with 14% of the total vote. Charity's pairing with Vanessa was also nominated for \"Best Soap Couple\"; they came in fourth place with 9.4% of the total vote. In 2019, Atkins received a National Television Awards nomination in the Serial Drama Performance category for her portrayal of Charity.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Charity Dingle at itv.com\n\nEmmerdale characters\nTelevision characters introduced in 2000\nFemale characters in television\nFictional female businesspeople\nFictional career criminals\nFictional con artists\nFictional factory workers\nFictional prostitutes\nFictional bisexual females\nFictional criminals in soap operas\nFictional characters involved in incest\nFictional teenage parents\nFemale villains\nFictional bartenders\nFictional prisoners and detainees\nFictional LGBT characters in television\nLGBT villains"
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[
"John Mayer",
"Philanthropy",
"what is a charity he works for?",
"Mayer created the \"Back to You\" Fund,"
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| C_7f228cfbf308449f96ad0534c535d539_0 | what does this charity do? | 2 | What does "Back to You" Fund charity do? | John Mayer | In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value. Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007. Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released under the title Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headline Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres. CANNOTANSWER | focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. | John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a following. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest Festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and eventually to Columbia Records, which released his first extended play Inside Wants Out. His following two studio albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—performed well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his single "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and begun performing the blues and rock music that had originally influenced him as a musician. He collaborated with blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton. Forming the John Mayer Trio, he released a live album, Try!, in 2005 and his third studio album Continuum in 2006. Both albums received positive reviews, and Continuum earned Mayer a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". That album was followed by Battle Studies in 2009, a return to pop, with a Battle Studies World Tour.
After having several controversial incidents with the media, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010 and began work on his fifth studio album, Born and Raised, which drew inspiration from the 1970s pop music of Laurel Canyon. However, the discovery of a granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the release of the album until May 2012, and forced him to cancel the planned tour. The album received a generally favorable reception, though was less commercially successful than his previous work. Mayer began performing as a singer again in January 2013, and that year released his sixth studio album, Paradise Valley, which incorporates country music influences. By 2014, he had sold a total of over 20 million albums worldwide. His seventh album, The Search for Everything, a loose concept album based around the theme of a romantic break-up, was released in 2017. Mayer released his latest album Sob Rock, inspired by 1980s soft rock music, in July 2021.
In 2015, three former members of the Grateful Dead joined with Mayer and two other musicians to form the band Dead & Company. It is the latest of several reunions of the band's surviving members since Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. The band remains active and its tours have been well received.
Mayer's secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing; he has authored columns for magazines such as Esquire. He supports various causes and has performed at charity benefits. He is a watch aficionado (with a collection he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars), contributing to the watch site Hodinkee, and has been on the jury at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
Early life
Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father, Richard Mayer (b. 1927), was a high-school principal, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman; b. 1947), was a middle-school English teacher. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism. As an elementary school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they played Nintendo together weekday afternoons after school for three years. He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).
After watching Michael J. Fox's guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 13 years old, his father rented one for him. A neighbor gave Mayer a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which cultivated Mayer's love of blues music. According to Mayer, his fascination with Vaughan started a "genealogical hunt" that led him to other blues guitarists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush, and Lightnin' Hopkins. Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar shop owner, Al Ferrante, and soon became consumed. His singular focus concerned his parents, and they twice took him to see a psychiatrist, who determined him to be healthy. Mayer says that his parents' contentious marriage led him to "disappear and create my own world I could believe in". After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school. In addition to performing solo, he was a member of a band called Villanova Junction (named for a Jimi Hendrix song) with Tim Procaccini, Joe Beleznay, and Rich Wolf.
When Mayer was 17, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, "That was the moment the songwriter in me was born", and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and says he feared having to enter a mental institution. He continues to manage such episodes with anti-anxiety medication.
Career
Early career (1996–1999)
Mayer considered skipping college to pursue music, but his parents dissuaded him. He enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in 1997 at age 19. At the urging of his college friend Clay Cook, they left Berklee after two semesters and moved to Atlanta; there, they formed a two-man band called LoFi Masters, and began performing in local coffee houses and club venues such as Eddie's Attic. According to Cook, they experienced musical differences due to Mayer's desire to move more towards pop music. The two parted ways and Mayer embarked on a solo career.
With the help of local producer and engineer Glenn Matullo, Mayer recorded the independent EP Inside Wants Out. The EP includes eight songs with Mayer on lead vocals and guitars. For the opening track, "Back To You", a full band was enlisted, including the EP's co-producer David "DeLa" LaBruyere on bass guitars. Cook had co-written many of the album's songs, including its first commercial single release, "No Such Thing"; however, his only performance contribution was backing vocals on the song "Comfortable".
Major label and commercial success (2000–2004)
Mayer and LaBruyere performed throughout Georgia and nearby states. Also, as his career coincided with the then-nascent internet music market, Mayer benefited from an online following. Mayer came to the attention of Gregg Latterman at Aware Records through an acquaintance of Mayer's, a lawyer, who sent Aware his EP. In early 2001, after including him in Aware Festival concerts and his songs on Aware compilations, Aware released Mayer's internet-only album, Room for Squares. During this time, Aware concluded a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists. In September, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added. The re-release included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from Inside Wants Out.
By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and "Why Georgia". It also received general praise critically, and Mayer drew comparisons to Dave Matthews. In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland". In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up." He also figuratively referred to himself as being 16, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was 16 years old at the time.
In February 2003, Mayer released a live CD and DVD of a concert in Birmingham, Alabama titled Any Given Thursday, which included songs previously not recorded, such as "Man on the Side", "Something's Missing", and "Covered in Rain". Commercially, the album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart. Its accompanying DVD release received conservative—although consistent—praise, with critics torn between his pop-idol image, and (at the time) emerging guitar prowess. Erik Crawford of AllMusic asked, "Is [Mayer] the consummate guitar hero exemplified when he plays a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Lenny', or is he the teen idol that the pubescent girls shriek for after he plays 'Your Body Is a Wonderland'?" That summer, Mayer went on the road with Counting Crows in a tour that spanned 42 dates between July 7 and September 2.
Heavier Things, Mayer's second album, was released in 2003 to generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Blender all gave positive, although reserved, feedback. The album was commercially successful, and while it did not sell as well as Room for Squares, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. The song "Daughters" won the 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year, and reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who had died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. On February 9, 2009, Mayer told Ellen DeGeneres that he thought he should not have won the Grammy for Song of the year because he thought that Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" was the better song. Because of this, he removed the top half of the Grammy and gave it to Keys, and kept the bottom part for himself. At the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2006, Mayer received the Hal David Starlight Award.
Mayer again recorded live concerts across seven nights of his U.S. tour in 2004. These recordings were released to the iTunes Store under the title As/Is, indicating that the errors were included along with the good moments. A few months later, a "best of" CD was compiled from the As/Is nights. The album included a previously unreleased cover of Marvin Gaye's song "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", featuring a solo from Mayer's supporting act—jazz and blues turntablist DJ Logic. The album covers of the As/Is releases feature drawings of anthropomorphic bunnies.
Change in musical direction (2005–2008)
As early as 2002, Chris Willman with Entertainment Weekly said that Mayer was "more historically savvy, and more ambitious than you'd guess from the unforced earnestness of [Room for] Squares. However, Mayer was largely associated with the Adult Contemporary and singer-songwriter genres. Fame allowed him access to his early influences, and he began collaborating with blues and jazz artists. He accompanied Buddy Guy in a concert at the Irving Plaza in December 2003. He toured with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, including a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. He also performed on commercial releases, namely, with Eric Clapton (Back Home, Crossroads Guitar Festival), Buddy Guy (Bring 'Em In), John Scofield (That's What I Say), and B.B. King (80). Although Mayer maintained his reputation as a singer-songwriter, he gained distinction as a guitarist.
Following the conclusion of his Heavier Things tour, Mayer began working with artists, including those from other genres of music. His voice was sampled on the song "Go" by rapper Common, and he appeared on a hidden track called "Bittersweet Poetry" from the Kanye West album Graduation. The collaborations drew praise from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Nelly. When asked about his presence in the hip hop community, Mayer said, "It's not music out there right now. That's why, to me, hip-hop is where rock used to be."
Around this time Mayer announced that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity". In the spring of 2005, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through studio sessions. The trio combined blues and rock music. In October 2005, they opened for the Rolling Stones and that November released a live album called Try! The band took a break in mid-2006.
Mayer's third studio album, titled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006, produced by Mayer and Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine blues and pop. In that vein, two of the tracks from his Trio release Try!—"Vultures" and "Gravity"—were included on Continuum. Despite his excitement, in a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head Don Ienner panned Continuum he briefly considered quitting music and studying design full-time.
The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change", which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show. The song was the third-most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, offering commentary on each track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 21, 2006, Mayer appeared on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". The song "Gravity" was featured on the television series House, in the episode "Cane & Able" and Numb3rs. He recorded a session for the British program Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on October 22, 2006.
On December 7, 2006, Mayer was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The Trio received a nomination for Try!. He won two: Best Pop Song with Vocal for "Waiting on the World to Change" and Best Pop Album for Continuum. Mayer remixed an acoustic version of his single "Waiting on the World to Change" with vocal additions from fellow musician Ben Harper. In preparation for Continuum, Mayer had booked the Village Recorder in Los Angeles to record five acoustic versions of his songs with veteran musician Robbie McIntosh. These recordings became The Village Sessions, an EP released on December 12, 2006. As usual, Mayer oversaw the artwork. The initial North American Continuum tour ended on February 28, 2007, with a show at Madison Square Garden that the New York Post described as "career-defining".
On November 20, 2007, the re-issue of Continuum became available online and in stores. The release contained a bonus disc of six live songs from his 2007 tour: five from Continuum and a cover of the Ray Charles song "I Don't Need No Doctor". His single "Say", from the film The Bucket List, became available through iTunes. On December 6, 2007, "Belief" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. He accompanied Alicia Keys on guitar on her song "No One" at the ceremony. Additionally, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007, listed among artists and entertainers.
In February 2008, Mayer hosted a three-day Caribbean cruise event that included performances with various musicians including David Ryan Harris, Brett Dennen, Colbie Caillat, and Dave Barnes, among others. The event was called "The Mayercraft Carrier" and was held aboard the cruise ship known as the Carnival Victory. A follow-up cruise titled "Mayercraft Carrier 2" sailed from Los Angeles March 27–31, 2009, on the Carnival Splendor.
On July 1, 2008, Mayer released Where the Light Is, a live concert film of Mayer's performance at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 8, 2007. The film was directed by Danny Clinch. It features Mayer opening with an acoustic set, followed by a blues set with the Trio and concluded by a full set with the band from the Continuum album.
Battle Studies (2009)
Australian artist Guy Sebastian invited Mayer to collaborate on three songs from his 2009 album Like It Like That. Mayer also played guitar on the title track of Crosby Loggins' debut LP, Time to Move.
On July 7, 2009, Mayer performed an instrumental guitar version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at Jackson's televised memorial service. He co-wrote "World of Chances" with Demi Lovato for Lovato's second album Here We Go Again, released later that month.
After the overwhelming success of Continuum, Mayer confessed to be intimidated with beginning on a follow-up. However, he stated, "I think it got a lot easier when I realized that no matter what I do, it's not going to be Continuum, good or bad." On November 17, 2009, Mayer's fourth studio album, Battle Studies, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The first single, "Who Says", was released on September 24, 2009, in advance of the album, followed on October 19 by "Heartbreak Warfare" and "Half of My Heart" on June 21, 2010. The accompanying arena tour grossed 45 million. Despite the album's commercial success, critics reactions were mixed. Some reviews glowed, calling it his "most adventurous", others called the album "safe" and noted that "Mayer the singer-songwriter and Mayer the man about town sometimes seem disconnected, like they don't even belong in the same body". Mayer admitted to Rolling Stone that he thought Battle Studies was not his best album.
Personal troubles and hiatus (2010–2013)
Following two revealing and highly controversial magazine interviews in February 2010 with Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines, Mayer withdrew from public life and ceased giving interviews. While still on tour for Battle Studies, he began work in earnest on his fifth studio album—which drew on the popular music of Laurel Canyon in the early 1970s. Around this time, he began to experience vocal problems, and sought medical assistance. On September 16, 2011, he posted on his blog that his next record, Born and Raised, would be delayed due to treatment he was receiving for a granuloma discovered on his vocal cords. Mayer described the event as a "temporary setback" and added that the album was entirely finished except for a few vocal tracks. A month later, on October 20, 2011, Mayer posted, "I had surgery this afternoon to remove it and am now on complete vocal rest for a month or more," during which he planned to "travel the country, look, and listen". However, the surgery did not work as expected, and he had to undergo another one that August. During his travels, he visited and fell in love with Bozeman, Montana, where he bought a house and re-settled in the spring of 2012.
With his treatments complete, Mayer finished the vocals on Born and Raised, and the album's first single, "Shadow Days", was released on February 27, 2012. The following day, he released the track listing for the album, announcing that it would be released on May 22 of that year. He described it as his "most honest" album, and begin booking dates at more "intimate" venues than for Battle Studies. He also accepted an invitation to appear at the South by Southwest festival. However, the granuloma returned, and on March 9, 2012, Mayer announced that he had been forced to cancel his tour and refrain from all singing indefinitely. Even so, Born and Raised was released as scheduled, and entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one, selling 219,000 copies in its first week. It also received generally positive critical feedback; Rolling Stone rated it number 17 on its list of the 50 Best Albums of 2012, and People magazine called it "a shimmering album". Meanwhile, Mayer brought a new focus to his guitar playing and, fearing that his vocal cords had been permanently damaged, tried to come to terms with a possible future as a session musician. Determined to be cured, he sought help from the UCLA Voice Center. That September, otolaryngologist Dr. Gerald Berke paralyzed Mayer's vocal cords with a series of high-dose Botox injections, hoping that they would allow the granuloma to heal. Mayer's vocal rest extended to several months and, unable to even talk, his performances were limited to accompanying other artists on guitar. He appeared in September 2012 on Saturday Night Live, where he joined musical guest Frank Ocean. He played with the Rolling Stones in New Jersey in December 2012.
By January 2013, Mayer had recovered sufficiently enough to perform at a benefit concert in Bozeman, after almost two years without singing publicly. In April 2013, he made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where he inducted the late Albert King. A show at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Alabama on April 25, 2013, followed by a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival the next day, marked his first full-length concerts since his health troubles.
Paradise Valley, Dead & Company, The Search for Everything (2013–2018)
In June 2013, Mayer announced that he was finishing work on his sixth album, Paradise Valley. Produced by Don Was, the album features "low-key folk-rock tunes". He collaborated with Frank Ocean on the song "Wildfire Pt. 2", and with Katy Perry on "Who You Love". The latter song would go on to become the album's third single, and an accompanying music video was released on December 17. On June 18, 2013, he released a lyric video for the album's first single, "Paper Doll", on his official YouTube page. The album was released August 20, 2013, and—meeting with positive reviews—debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 145,560 copies in the United States. Mayer embarked on a tour, his first in three years, in support of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. The American leg of the tour ran from July to December 2013 with Interscope recording artist Phillip Phillips serving as the supporting act. The tour visited Australia in April 2014.
During a concert in Adelaide, Mayer covered the Beyoncé song "XO" . One month later, on May 22, he released a studio version of the song on his SoundCloud account. It was made available for digital download by Columbia Records on May 27, 2014, through the iTunes Store. For the week ending June 1, 2014, Mayer's version debuted at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart. On the Canadian Hot 100, "XO" peaked at a position of 76. The single also peaked at number 81 on the Australian Singles Chart (its debut week), and at number 95 on the Dutch Singles Chart. In the UK, it peaked at 115 on the UK Singles Chart. Mayer recorded the song "Come Rain or Come Shine" as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her album Partners, released in September 2014.
In February 2015, Mayer performed alongside Ed Sheeran at the Grammy Awards. As of March, Mayer said he was taking break from working on a "deeply personal new album". Also, Mayer recounted that in 2011 he happened upon a song by the Grateful Dead while listening to Pandora, and that soon the band's music was all he would listen to. In February 2015, while guest hosting The Late Late Show, Mayer invited Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir to join him in a studio performance. While Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (surviving members of the Grateful Dead) were preparing for their Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead tour with Trey Anastasio, Mayer began practicing the band's catalog of songs. That August, Mayer, Weir, Kreutzmann, and Hart formed the group Dead & Company, along with Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge, and began a fall tour in the United States. The tour was well received (Billboard called it "magical"), and they continued to tour the US into 2016. Although Lesh has declined to join Dead & Company, Mayer also performed with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads in 2015.
As a result of his touring with Dead & Company, Mayer postponed working on his next studio album until January 2016, with plans to finish it by the end of the year. On November 17, 2016, Mayer released "Love on the Weekend" as the lead single from his EP The Search for Everything: Wave One, which was then released on January 20, 2017. A second EP, The Search for Everything: Wave Two, was released on February 24, 2017, along with the single "Still Feel Like Your Man". The album The Search for Everything was released on April 14, 2017 and was promoted by a third single titled "In the Blood", released on May 1, 2017, and by The Search for Everything World Tour from March to October of the same year.
Mayer also continued touring with Dead & Company during the summer and fall of 2017. On December 5, during the Fall Tour, his appendix burst, resulting in an emergency appendectomy and the postponement of the remaining tour dates to February 2018. In January 2018, Dead & Company announced their Dead & Company Summer Tour 2018.
Sob Rock (2018–present)
On May 10, 2018, Mayer released the single "New Light", co-produced by No I.D. and Mayer himself. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on the release day, he announced "more new music" for 2018. During his performance at the iHeartRadio Theater on October 24, 2018, he premiered a song titled "I Guess I Just Feel Like". On December 12, 2018, he announced a world tour for 2019. Mayer released two singles in 2019; the previously played "I Guess I Just Feel Like" on February 22, and "Carry Me Away" on September 6.
During an episode of John Mayer's show "Current Mood" on March 15, 2020, he revealed that he was in the process of writing and recording songs for a new album. In early 2021, he stated that the album was completely finished as he begun posting snippets of new songs on TikTok ahead of release. In an interview with Kerwin Frost, Mayer hinted at an April release for the album. Later, the date was pushed back. On June 1, 2021, Mayer officially announced his eighth album Sob Rock and on June 4, released the lead single, "Last Train Home" along with an accompanying music video. The album was released on July 16, 2021 as well as a music video for the song, "Shot In The Dark". The track list included previously released singles "New Light", "I Guess I Just Feel Like" and "Carry Me Away". "Carry Me Away" was slightly reworked production-wise to fit the album’s 1980s aesthetic.
Touring
Mayer began touring as a solo artist in 2001. While his early records were largely acoustic, early reviewers noted his unexpected electric "guitar heroics" during live performances.
Mayer has toured North America, Europe and Australia with many musical groups, including Maroon 5,Counting Crows, Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat and Train. In 2010, Mayer and Keith Urban performed at a CMT Crossroads concert a medley of their songs and a rendition of George Michael's single "Faith". This performance led to Urban and Mayer teaming up again for future performances, including at the 2010 CMT Music Awards.
Mayer allows audio taping and non-commercial trading of those recordings at most of his live performances. Mayer often shows up at small venues unannounced (or with little advance notice) for surprise concerts—occasionally for free or without accepting the performance fee. He has made appearances throughout the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York areas, including shows at the Laugh Factory, Eddie's Attic, and the Village Underground. After a public campaign by their senior class president, Mayer performed a surprise three-song set at the 2004 Pennsbury High School senior prom. In June 2015, Mayer appeared as a guest for two nights with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads, recreating the Grateful Dead's notable May 8 and June 9, 1977 concerts.
Headlining
Room for Squares Tour (2002)
Heavier Things Tour (2003–2004)
Continuum Tour (2006–2007)
John Mayer 2008 Summer Tour (2008)
Battle Studies World Tour (2009–2010)
Born and Raised World Tour (2013–2014)
The Search for Everything World Tour (2017)
John Mayer 2019 World Tour (2019)
Sob Rock Tour (2022)
Co-headlining
John Mayer/Guster Summer Tour (2002)
John Mayer/Counting Crows Summer Tour (2003)
John Mayer/Sheryl Crow Tour (2006)
Opening act
Sting European Tour (2004)
Touring with Dead & Company
Mayer joined each annual Tour in the years 2015 to the present.
Other ventures
Dead & Company
Since 2015, Mayer has been touring with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Founding bassist Phil Lesh has notably declined to participate in the project, although he has performed with Mayer on a few occasions since Dead & Company began. The role of bassist in Dead & Company has instead been played by Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band. Jeff Chimenti, who has toured with the various spin-offs of the Dead since the 1990s, is the group's keyboardist.
Although Mayer had been familiar with the music of the Grateful Dead since at least high school, he began to develop a strong interest in their music in 2011 after hearing their song Althea by chance on Pandora radio. In 2015, while the Dead's Fare Thee Well shows with Trey Anastasio were also being planned, Mayer performed "Althea" with Weir on The Late Late Show, along with "Truckin'." Weir was impressed with Mayer's take on the material and began planning to work with him after the Fare Thee Well shows, despite them being billed as something of finale for the band and its legacy. Weir discussed the genesis of the band and his thoughts about working with Mayer in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2016:
The thought of pop singer Mayer stepping in for Jerry Garcia was met with some initial skepticism by both fans and music critics, but the shows have since been well received. The band continues to tour in 2018, 2019 and into 2020 and has considered recording a studio album consisting of songs from the Grateful Dead catalog and potentially some originals. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Lesh praised the band's performances and explained his decision not to take part:
Author
With the June 2004 issue of Esquire, Mayer began a column called "Music Lessons with John Mayer". Each article featured a lesson and his views on various topics, both of personal and popular interest. In the August 2005 issue, he invited readers to create music for orphaned lyrics he had written. The winner was Tim Fagan of Los Angeles as announced in the following January's issue.
As social media gained momentum in the 2000s, Mayer became increasingly active online, and maintained four blogs: a Myspace page, a blog at his official site, another at Honeyee.com, one at tumblr, and a photoblog at StunningNikon.com. He was particularly prolific on Twitter, where he was noted for authoring his own posts, and he amassed 3.7 million followers. Although his posts often dealt with career-related matters, they also included jokes, videos, photos, and eventually what he called the "maintenance of vapor"—or misguided, personal responses to the media. On January 23, 2008, he posted the quote "There is danger in theoretical speculation of battle, in prejudice, in false reasoning, in pride, in braggadocio. There is one safe resource, the return to nature."; all the previous blog entries were deleted. On September 14, 2010, he deleted his personal Twitter account.
In the mid-2000s, he did comedy sporadically, making random appearances at the famed Comedy Cellar in New York and at other venues. He stated that it helped him write better, but that increased media attention made him too careful in his technique. He has since said he has no plans to return to it.
Watch collector
Mayer is an avid collector of watches, a pastime that he says keeps him "sane". His collection—which he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars—includes a Patek Philippe with a Sky Moon Tourbillion, a Rolex GMT Master 116710 BLNR, and an IWC Big Pilot Ref 5002, his signature watch. He has also served as a juror at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, a competition rewarding timepieces that champion the values of Swiss-made watches and writes a column for the horology website Hodinkee. In his column for January 16, 2015, he wrote an open letter to the watch brand IWC, encouraging it to "embrace [its] heritage, scale the product line down in terms of model variants, and simplify the design language". IWC replied, defending the changes they've made over the years, saying, "We have a wonderful past, it is true—but in admiring what we achieved thus far, we hope you will feel encouraged to look forward to what we achieve in the future".
Current Mood
During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show in September 2018, Mayer showed a trailer for his new Instagram Live show. The show, entitled Current Mood, debuted on his IGTV account on Sunday evening on September 30, 2018. Episodes have continued to air on that schedule on a weekly basis. Guests have included Charlie Puth, Cazzie David, and musician Thundercat. Mayer's latest season of Current Mood began on Sunday November 18, 2019 with guest Shawn Mendes and surprise feature with Camila Cabello on his first episode. For Current Mood Mayer coined notable jingles including "Camila Camendes," "CVS Bag," and "Drone Shot of My Yacht."
Appearances in the media
In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 titled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts.
Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during Apple's annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2004 as Jobs introduced the music production software GarageBand. Mayer became a fixture of the event, including at the 2007 iPhone announcement. Volkswagen concluded a deal with instrument manufacturer First Act to include a GarageMaster electric guitar that was playable through the stereo system of six of their 2007 models; Mayer (along with Slash and Christopher Guest) were selected to endorse the campaign and were featured playing the guitar in ads. Mayer used and endorsed the BlackBerry Curve.
Mayer made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, the Late Show with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mayer appeared with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Mayer wrote the theme song to the OWN network show Rollin' with Zach, which features Zach Anner. CBS invited him to guest host The Late Late Show in early 2015 on three dates, February 4–6, after the retirement of Craig Ferguson.
Mayer makes a cameo as a truck driver in the 2014 comedy horror film Zombeavers. In the 2015 film Get Hard, he played a version of himself who is disgusted with the "monetization of the creative process".
Instruments and equipment
John Mayer is a guitar collector and has collaborated with elite guitar companies to design his own instruments. He owns over 200 guitars.
In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer. The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code. This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag. In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters.
In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public, along with a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included in the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag, on which Mayer collaborated on the in-case designs. In 2006, Mayer was estimated to have more than 200 guitars in his personal collection.
John Mayer's most iconic guitar is the "Black1". Conceived after the Heavier Things tour, Mayer went to Fender Custom Shop with the desire to build a guitar. He was inspired by guitars of famous players the likes of Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He sought out masterbuilder John Cruz to help devise the design. In essence, Mayer wanted an all-black version of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "First Wife" Stratocaster. The guitar is heavily "relic'd" to specs very similar to the guitar used by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Black1 includes a mint pickguard, custom wound pickups, gold hardware, and gold tuners from the SRV Tribute Stratocaster. It was the principal guitar on the Continuum album. It was notably used on tracks such as "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You", and "Bold as Love". The Black1 has become a trademark to Mayer's music.
The Fender Custom Shop made a limited run of 83 replica Black1 Stratocasters, all of which were sold within 24 hours. Each one was carefully relic'd by John Cruz. In 2010, Fender announced a production model of Mayer's Black1 guitar. Un-relic'd production versions of the guitar were produced for a limited run of 500 worldwide. In addition, full production signature Stratocasters were produced in three-tone sunburst and Olympic White finishes.
In 2014, John Mayer announced that he was no longer a Fender Artist. As a result, his signature line of guitars was pulled from production. In 2015, Mayer announced that he was collaborating with PRS Guitars. In March 2016, Mayer and PRS revealed their collaborative project, the Super Eagle. This was a limited release from PRS's Private Stock line of instruments and each guitar features ultra-grade woods, abalone inlay, JCF Audio preamps, and a hand-signed sticker by glass-artist David Smith. Only 100 were produced, each retailing for over $10,000. In January 2017 at NAMM, PRS and Mayer announced the J-MOD 100 signature amp. In June 2017, the Super Eagle II was revealed, limited to 120 instruments.
In January 2018, Martin Guitar announced the limited-release (45 instruments) John Mayer Signature D-45, with list price $14,999. In March 2018, Mayer's signature Silver Sky model was released by PRS, available in four colors. While Music Trade called the Silver Sky "derivative", it said that all the elements were "designed from the ground up" and built with "attention to detail". While acknowledging its similarity to a Stratocaster, Matt Blackett of Guitar Player magazine ultimately said, "The Silver Sky absolutely delivers on the promise of being a damn-near-perfect version of this type of guitar." The magazine named its "Editor's Pick".
Reception
Mayer has stood out as among his peers as a guitarist. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks in an issue lauding the "New Guitar Gods", and the cover nicknamed him Slowhand Jr., a reference to Eric Clapton. Critics, however, point to how safe his music is. Chris Richards, in review of a 2017 concert, declared "John Mayer is an amazing guitar player", though he says he did so "through clenched teeth," adding that the fact should not absolve the guitarist of "his pillow-soft songcraft, the dull sentimentality of his lyrics, or that cuckoo-racist interview he gave to Playboy back in 2010". Music writer Steve Baltin commented on this dichotomy, saying that Mayer is "one of the sharpest and savviest musical minds you will ever encounter", and added, "While many have found reasons to dislike Mayer since the beginning of his career, he is a consummate musician's musician, an artist who has been embraced by Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Buddy Guy among others."
Mayer's inclusion in the Grateful Dead was not without its critics. Chris Robinson of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood said that "everything that Jerry Garcia ever talked about or stood for, John Mayer is the antithesis", and that while "Jerry was one of the most unique musicians in the world [...] here's John Mayer playing everyone else's licks". The comment itself drew controversy, and Mayer, for his part, said, "I care about this band too much to give that life", and that "I realized not long ago that I'm done debating my own merits."
Personal life
On his third episode of Current Mood, Mayer revealed he had been sober since 2016. He stopped drinking after having what he says was a six-day hangover after Drake's 30th birthday party.
Relationships
Mayer has been romantically involved with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than 17 times their face value.
Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey, location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007.
Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech shooting, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released as Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headlined Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres.
On March 1, 2019, John Mayer established the Heart and Armor Foundation in support of veterans of war. John has been actively involved in initiatives to help returning veterans for about 12 years.
Controversies
Mayer's relationship with Jessica Simpson coincided with behavior changes that significantly increased his tabloid exposure. Early in his career, he had expressed his resolve to completely avoid drugs, alcohol, clubbing, "red-carpet" events, dating celebrities, and anything that he felt would detract the focus from his music. In interviews, however, Mayer alluded to experiencing an extreme "anxiety bender" episode in his twenties that motivated him to be less reclusive. In 2006, he first mentioned that he had begun using marijuana. He began making appearances at clubs in Los Angeles and New York City, and Simpson became the first in a string of famous girlfriends, including Jennifer Aniston and Minka Kelly. By 2007, his personal life had become regular fodder for the gossip media and, as a result, Mayer made efforts to control his public image. His online presence increased, he began to stage pranks for the paparazzi, and he hosted a segment for the gossip show TMZ.
In early 2010, Mayer gave a controversial interview to Playboy magazine in which he revealed sexually explicit details about his former girlfriends Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston—calling his relationship with the former "sexual napalm." In response to a question about whether black women were interested in him, he said, "My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I've got a Benetton heart and a fuckin' David Duke cock. I'm going to start dating separately from my dick." He also used the word "nigger" in the interview. This set off accusations in the media of him being a misogynist, kiss-and-tell ex-boyfriend, and racist. He apologized via Twitter for his use of the word "nigger", saying, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize...a word that is so emotionally charged". He also tearfully apologized to his band and fans at his concert in Nashville later that night. In the following two years, he left New York and retreated from the media. Reflecting on that time in a May 2012 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he said, "I lost my head for a little while and I did a couple of dumb interviews and it kind of woke me up...It was a violent crash into being an adult. For a couple of years, it was just figuring it all out, and I'm glad I actually stayed out of the spotlight."
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performed vocals for the song "Half of My Heart" on Mayer's November 2009 album Battle Studies. Rumors began to circulate in the media that the two were a couple, an assertion that neither addressed. However, Swift released a song called "Dear John" in 2010, which was widely believed to be about her relationship with him. In June 2012, Mayer criticized the song, saying she never contacted him and that "it's abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait till he gets a load of this!'" The song "Paper Doll" was reported to be a response. In the March 21, 2019 episode of Current Mood, however, Mayer said, "When 'Paper Doll' came out, 100% of the people believed it was about somebody...But the song was not about that person and I could never tell anybody, 'That's not true,' because then I would be breaking my rule that songwriters don't say who the songs are about or not about."
In March 2014, Mayer sued watch dealer Robert Maron for $656,000 when he discovered that seven of the $5 million in watches he purchased from the dealer contained counterfeit parts. He dropped the action in May 2015, releasing a statement that asserted that research restored his "belief that Bob Maron is an expert on Rolex watches and confirmed that Bob Maron never sold him a counterfeit watch".
In 2020, Perez Hilton stated in his memoir TMI: My Life in Scandal that in 2007 at a club in Chelsea, Manhattan, Mayer came up to Hilton and said, 'I like to watch gay porn, you know,' adding, 'My favorite porn star is Brent Corrigan. He really turns me on', and then french-kissed Hilton.
Discography
Room for Squares (2001)
Heavier Things (2003)
Continuum (2006)
Battle Studies (2009)
Born and Raised (2012)
Paradise Valley (2013)
The Search for Everything (2017)
Sob Rock (2021)
Awards
Grammy Awards
Mayer has won seven awards from nineteen nominations.
Others awards and nominations
See also
Annual John Mayer Holiday Charity Revue
Notes
References
Works cited
Edwards, G. (2006). Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John? New York: Crown Publishing Group. .
External links
1977 births
Living people
21st-century American composers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American singers
American bloggers
American blues singers
American male bloggers
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male singer-songwriters
American philanthropists
American pop rock singers
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
Blues rock musicians
Columbia Records artists
Dead & Company members
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from Connecticut
John Mayer Trio members
Musicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut
People from Fairfield, Connecticut
People from Hidden Hills, California
Record producers from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from California | true | [
"St John Ambulance Northern Ireland (SJANI) is a voluntary organisation based in Northern Ireland. It teaches both adults and children first aid, provides services at public events and prepares first responders what to do in emergencies. It also provides courses for young adults (known as cadets), teaching them what to do in an emergency, as well as teaching communication, recording and observation skills.\n\nThe organisation is based in Northern Ireland and is a commandery in the international St John Ambulance movement and is a registered charity under the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland's register.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nSt John Ambulance\nFirst aid organizations",
"Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates hundreds of thousands of charitable organizations based in the United States, operating as a free 501(c)(3) organization. It provides insights into a nonprofit’s financial stability, adherence to best practices for both accountability and transparency, and results reporting. It is the largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities in the United States. It does not accept any advertising or donations from the organizations it evaluates.\n\nHistory\nCharity Navigator was launched in spring 2001 by John P. (Pat) Dugan, a wealthy pharmaceutical executive and philanthropist. The group's mission was to help \"donors make informed giving decisions and enabling well-run charities to demonstrate their commitment to proper stewardship\" of donor dollars. Initially, Charity Navigator provided financial ratings for 1,100 charities; it had data on 8,500 as of mid-2017.\n\nAs of 2009, only four percent of the charities it evaluated had earned at least five consecutive 4-star ratings.\n\nIn 2011, Kiplinger's Personal Finance selected Charity Navigator as a Money Management Innovation for \"helping millions of people become philanthropists\", and it was on Time magazine's top 50 websites of 2006 list. \n\nIn a 2014 Chronicle of Philanthropy interview on the nonprofit sector, Nicholas Kristof identified it with a trend he deplored: \"There is too much emphasis on inputs and not enough on impact\", Kristof opined. \"This has been worsened by an effort to create more accountability through sites like Charity Navigator. There is so much emphasis now on expense ratios that there is an underinvestment in administration and efficiency.\"\n\nA 2014 survey of attitudes toward charity evaluation lauded Charity Navigator in six of seven categories.\n\nIn October 2020, Charity Navigator acquired impact-based charity evaluator ImpactMatters.\n\nEvaluation method\nUsing publicly available tax returns (IRS Form 990) filed with the Internal Revenue Service and information posted by charities on their web sites, the Charity Navigator rating system bases its evaluations in two broad areas—financial health and accountability/transparency.\n\nLimitations of initial methodology\nIn the early years, it was the subject of some criticism for its approach at the time. This method was in 2005 criticized in an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review for at the time taking into account only a single year's IRS Form 990. This can lead to significant fluctuation in the ranking of a charity from year to year. Also, the focus on the IRS Form 990 has itself been criticized, as the accuracy and reliability of IRS Form 990 data may be questionable. Form 990 categorizes a charity's expenditures into three broad categories that are open to accounting manipulation. The nonprofit sector does not have the strict financial regulation and transparency required from public corporations (under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, among others), creating limitations on how accurately a charity's efficiency can be graded based on a tax return. Particularly relevant to Charity Navigator's methodology in 1999 was that 59% of the 58,000 charities receiving public donations in 1999 failed to report any fundraising expenditures, illustrating a potential problem with relying on Form 990 figures alone when analyzing an organization.\n\nIt only rates the 6% of charity organizations in the United States that have over $1 million in annual revenue (these 6% get 94% of the revenues that come into the nonprofit sector each year).\n\nRevisions\nIn December 2008, President and CEO Ken Berger announced on his blog that the organization intended to expand its rating system to include measures of the outcomes of the work of charities it evaluated. This was described in further detail in a podcast for The Chronicle of Philanthropy in September 2009. The article explained that plans for a revised rating system would also include measures of accountability (including transparency, governance, and management practices) as well as outcomes (the results of the work of the charity).\n\nIn July 2010, Charity Navigator announced its first major revamp. This revamping began what the organization stated is the process to move toward CN 3.0, which is a three-dimensional rating system that would include what they consider the critical elements to consider in making a wise charitable investment\n financial health (Charity Navigator evaluated this from its inception), \n accountability and transparency (begun in July 2010) and \n results reporting (slated to begin rating this dimension in July 2012).\n\nAfter collecting data for more than a year, in September 2011 Charity Navigator launched CN 2.0, which is a two-dimensional rating system that rates a charity's: (1) financial health, and (2) accountability and transparency.\n\nExpansions \nIn January 2013, Charity Navigator announced another expansion to its rating methodology, \"Results Reporting: The Third Dimension of Intelligent Giving\". Because mission-related results are the very reason that charities exist, Charity Navigator developed this new rating dimension to specifically examine how well charities report on their results. The new rankings now include \"various criteria, including ... privacy policies\".\n\nIn July 2020, Charity Navigator announced an additional nonprofit rating system, Encompass. The new Encompass Rating System analyzes nonprofit performance based on four key indicators: \n\n Finance & Accountability \n Impact & Results \n Leadership & Adaptability \n Culture & Community \n\nThis alternative methodology allows the organization to increase the total number of rated nonprofits from 9,000 to 160,000 at launch. The rating system launched with the first key indicator, Finance & Accountability, with a plan to release additional indicators over the next 18-24 months.\n\nImprovements in response; reception\nSome charities, in response, began to supply more information. The New York Times reported in 2010 that one non-profit began \"reporting on its finances using the same format as the 10-K.\"\n\nIn response to an op-ed authored by Charity Navigator's CEO entitled \"The Elitist Philanthropy of so-called Effective Altruism\", the cofounder of the Centre for Effective Altruism wrote \"What Charity Navigator Gets Wrong About Effective Altruism\".\n\nSee also\n American Institute of Philanthropy\n Charity fraud\n Charity Intelligence Canada\n CharityWatch\n GiveWell\n GuideStar\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Charity Navigator's official website\n Organizational Profile – National Center for Charitable Statistics (Urban Institute)\n \n\nCharities based in New Jersey\nOrganizations established in 2001\nCharity review websites\n2001 establishments in the United States\nAuditors\nAmerican review websites"
]
|
[
"John Mayer",
"Philanthropy",
"what is a charity he works for?",
"Mayer created the \"Back to You\" Fund,",
"what does this charity do?",
"focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development."
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| C_7f228cfbf308449f96ad0534c535d539_0 | how does the charity raise money? | 3 | How does the "Back to You" Fund charity raise money? | John Mayer | In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value. Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007. Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released under the title Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headline Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres. CANNOTANSWER | The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, | John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a following. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest Festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and eventually to Columbia Records, which released his first extended play Inside Wants Out. His following two studio albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—performed well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his single "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and begun performing the blues and rock music that had originally influenced him as a musician. He collaborated with blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton. Forming the John Mayer Trio, he released a live album, Try!, in 2005 and his third studio album Continuum in 2006. Both albums received positive reviews, and Continuum earned Mayer a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". That album was followed by Battle Studies in 2009, a return to pop, with a Battle Studies World Tour.
After having several controversial incidents with the media, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010 and began work on his fifth studio album, Born and Raised, which drew inspiration from the 1970s pop music of Laurel Canyon. However, the discovery of a granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the release of the album until May 2012, and forced him to cancel the planned tour. The album received a generally favorable reception, though was less commercially successful than his previous work. Mayer began performing as a singer again in January 2013, and that year released his sixth studio album, Paradise Valley, which incorporates country music influences. By 2014, he had sold a total of over 20 million albums worldwide. His seventh album, The Search for Everything, a loose concept album based around the theme of a romantic break-up, was released in 2017. Mayer released his latest album Sob Rock, inspired by 1980s soft rock music, in July 2021.
In 2015, three former members of the Grateful Dead joined with Mayer and two other musicians to form the band Dead & Company. It is the latest of several reunions of the band's surviving members since Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. The band remains active and its tours have been well received.
Mayer's secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing; he has authored columns for magazines such as Esquire. He supports various causes and has performed at charity benefits. He is a watch aficionado (with a collection he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars), contributing to the watch site Hodinkee, and has been on the jury at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
Early life
Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father, Richard Mayer (b. 1927), was a high-school principal, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman; b. 1947), was a middle-school English teacher. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism. As an elementary school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they played Nintendo together weekday afternoons after school for three years. He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).
After watching Michael J. Fox's guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 13 years old, his father rented one for him. A neighbor gave Mayer a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which cultivated Mayer's love of blues music. According to Mayer, his fascination with Vaughan started a "genealogical hunt" that led him to other blues guitarists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush, and Lightnin' Hopkins. Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar shop owner, Al Ferrante, and soon became consumed. His singular focus concerned his parents, and they twice took him to see a psychiatrist, who determined him to be healthy. Mayer says that his parents' contentious marriage led him to "disappear and create my own world I could believe in". After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school. In addition to performing solo, he was a member of a band called Villanova Junction (named for a Jimi Hendrix song) with Tim Procaccini, Joe Beleznay, and Rich Wolf.
When Mayer was 17, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, "That was the moment the songwriter in me was born", and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and says he feared having to enter a mental institution. He continues to manage such episodes with anti-anxiety medication.
Career
Early career (1996–1999)
Mayer considered skipping college to pursue music, but his parents dissuaded him. He enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in 1997 at age 19. At the urging of his college friend Clay Cook, they left Berklee after two semesters and moved to Atlanta; there, they formed a two-man band called LoFi Masters, and began performing in local coffee houses and club venues such as Eddie's Attic. According to Cook, they experienced musical differences due to Mayer's desire to move more towards pop music. The two parted ways and Mayer embarked on a solo career.
With the help of local producer and engineer Glenn Matullo, Mayer recorded the independent EP Inside Wants Out. The EP includes eight songs with Mayer on lead vocals and guitars. For the opening track, "Back To You", a full band was enlisted, including the EP's co-producer David "DeLa" LaBruyere on bass guitars. Cook had co-written many of the album's songs, including its first commercial single release, "No Such Thing"; however, his only performance contribution was backing vocals on the song "Comfortable".
Major label and commercial success (2000–2004)
Mayer and LaBruyere performed throughout Georgia and nearby states. Also, as his career coincided with the then-nascent internet music market, Mayer benefited from an online following. Mayer came to the attention of Gregg Latterman at Aware Records through an acquaintance of Mayer's, a lawyer, who sent Aware his EP. In early 2001, after including him in Aware Festival concerts and his songs on Aware compilations, Aware released Mayer's internet-only album, Room for Squares. During this time, Aware concluded a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists. In September, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added. The re-release included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from Inside Wants Out.
By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and "Why Georgia". It also received general praise critically, and Mayer drew comparisons to Dave Matthews. In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland". In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up." He also figuratively referred to himself as being 16, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was 16 years old at the time.
In February 2003, Mayer released a live CD and DVD of a concert in Birmingham, Alabama titled Any Given Thursday, which included songs previously not recorded, such as "Man on the Side", "Something's Missing", and "Covered in Rain". Commercially, the album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart. Its accompanying DVD release received conservative—although consistent—praise, with critics torn between his pop-idol image, and (at the time) emerging guitar prowess. Erik Crawford of AllMusic asked, "Is [Mayer] the consummate guitar hero exemplified when he plays a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Lenny', or is he the teen idol that the pubescent girls shriek for after he plays 'Your Body Is a Wonderland'?" That summer, Mayer went on the road with Counting Crows in a tour that spanned 42 dates between July 7 and September 2.
Heavier Things, Mayer's second album, was released in 2003 to generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Blender all gave positive, although reserved, feedback. The album was commercially successful, and while it did not sell as well as Room for Squares, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. The song "Daughters" won the 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year, and reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who had died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. On February 9, 2009, Mayer told Ellen DeGeneres that he thought he should not have won the Grammy for Song of the year because he thought that Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" was the better song. Because of this, he removed the top half of the Grammy and gave it to Keys, and kept the bottom part for himself. At the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2006, Mayer received the Hal David Starlight Award.
Mayer again recorded live concerts across seven nights of his U.S. tour in 2004. These recordings were released to the iTunes Store under the title As/Is, indicating that the errors were included along with the good moments. A few months later, a "best of" CD was compiled from the As/Is nights. The album included a previously unreleased cover of Marvin Gaye's song "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", featuring a solo from Mayer's supporting act—jazz and blues turntablist DJ Logic. The album covers of the As/Is releases feature drawings of anthropomorphic bunnies.
Change in musical direction (2005–2008)
As early as 2002, Chris Willman with Entertainment Weekly said that Mayer was "more historically savvy, and more ambitious than you'd guess from the unforced earnestness of [Room for] Squares. However, Mayer was largely associated with the Adult Contemporary and singer-songwriter genres. Fame allowed him access to his early influences, and he began collaborating with blues and jazz artists. He accompanied Buddy Guy in a concert at the Irving Plaza in December 2003. He toured with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, including a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. He also performed on commercial releases, namely, with Eric Clapton (Back Home, Crossroads Guitar Festival), Buddy Guy (Bring 'Em In), John Scofield (That's What I Say), and B.B. King (80). Although Mayer maintained his reputation as a singer-songwriter, he gained distinction as a guitarist.
Following the conclusion of his Heavier Things tour, Mayer began working with artists, including those from other genres of music. His voice was sampled on the song "Go" by rapper Common, and he appeared on a hidden track called "Bittersweet Poetry" from the Kanye West album Graduation. The collaborations drew praise from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Nelly. When asked about his presence in the hip hop community, Mayer said, "It's not music out there right now. That's why, to me, hip-hop is where rock used to be."
Around this time Mayer announced that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity". In the spring of 2005, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through studio sessions. The trio combined blues and rock music. In October 2005, they opened for the Rolling Stones and that November released a live album called Try! The band took a break in mid-2006.
Mayer's third studio album, titled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006, produced by Mayer and Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine blues and pop. In that vein, two of the tracks from his Trio release Try!—"Vultures" and "Gravity"—were included on Continuum. Despite his excitement, in a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head Don Ienner panned Continuum he briefly considered quitting music and studying design full-time.
The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change", which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show. The song was the third-most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, offering commentary on each track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 21, 2006, Mayer appeared on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". The song "Gravity" was featured on the television series House, in the episode "Cane & Able" and Numb3rs. He recorded a session for the British program Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on October 22, 2006.
On December 7, 2006, Mayer was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The Trio received a nomination for Try!. He won two: Best Pop Song with Vocal for "Waiting on the World to Change" and Best Pop Album for Continuum. Mayer remixed an acoustic version of his single "Waiting on the World to Change" with vocal additions from fellow musician Ben Harper. In preparation for Continuum, Mayer had booked the Village Recorder in Los Angeles to record five acoustic versions of his songs with veteran musician Robbie McIntosh. These recordings became The Village Sessions, an EP released on December 12, 2006. As usual, Mayer oversaw the artwork. The initial North American Continuum tour ended on February 28, 2007, with a show at Madison Square Garden that the New York Post described as "career-defining".
On November 20, 2007, the re-issue of Continuum became available online and in stores. The release contained a bonus disc of six live songs from his 2007 tour: five from Continuum and a cover of the Ray Charles song "I Don't Need No Doctor". His single "Say", from the film The Bucket List, became available through iTunes. On December 6, 2007, "Belief" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. He accompanied Alicia Keys on guitar on her song "No One" at the ceremony. Additionally, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007, listed among artists and entertainers.
In February 2008, Mayer hosted a three-day Caribbean cruise event that included performances with various musicians including David Ryan Harris, Brett Dennen, Colbie Caillat, and Dave Barnes, among others. The event was called "The Mayercraft Carrier" and was held aboard the cruise ship known as the Carnival Victory. A follow-up cruise titled "Mayercraft Carrier 2" sailed from Los Angeles March 27–31, 2009, on the Carnival Splendor.
On July 1, 2008, Mayer released Where the Light Is, a live concert film of Mayer's performance at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 8, 2007. The film was directed by Danny Clinch. It features Mayer opening with an acoustic set, followed by a blues set with the Trio and concluded by a full set with the band from the Continuum album.
Battle Studies (2009)
Australian artist Guy Sebastian invited Mayer to collaborate on three songs from his 2009 album Like It Like That. Mayer also played guitar on the title track of Crosby Loggins' debut LP, Time to Move.
On July 7, 2009, Mayer performed an instrumental guitar version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at Jackson's televised memorial service. He co-wrote "World of Chances" with Demi Lovato for Lovato's second album Here We Go Again, released later that month.
After the overwhelming success of Continuum, Mayer confessed to be intimidated with beginning on a follow-up. However, he stated, "I think it got a lot easier when I realized that no matter what I do, it's not going to be Continuum, good or bad." On November 17, 2009, Mayer's fourth studio album, Battle Studies, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The first single, "Who Says", was released on September 24, 2009, in advance of the album, followed on October 19 by "Heartbreak Warfare" and "Half of My Heart" on June 21, 2010. The accompanying arena tour grossed 45 million. Despite the album's commercial success, critics reactions were mixed. Some reviews glowed, calling it his "most adventurous", others called the album "safe" and noted that "Mayer the singer-songwriter and Mayer the man about town sometimes seem disconnected, like they don't even belong in the same body". Mayer admitted to Rolling Stone that he thought Battle Studies was not his best album.
Personal troubles and hiatus (2010–2013)
Following two revealing and highly controversial magazine interviews in February 2010 with Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines, Mayer withdrew from public life and ceased giving interviews. While still on tour for Battle Studies, he began work in earnest on his fifth studio album—which drew on the popular music of Laurel Canyon in the early 1970s. Around this time, he began to experience vocal problems, and sought medical assistance. On September 16, 2011, he posted on his blog that his next record, Born and Raised, would be delayed due to treatment he was receiving for a granuloma discovered on his vocal cords. Mayer described the event as a "temporary setback" and added that the album was entirely finished except for a few vocal tracks. A month later, on October 20, 2011, Mayer posted, "I had surgery this afternoon to remove it and am now on complete vocal rest for a month or more," during which he planned to "travel the country, look, and listen". However, the surgery did not work as expected, and he had to undergo another one that August. During his travels, he visited and fell in love with Bozeman, Montana, where he bought a house and re-settled in the spring of 2012.
With his treatments complete, Mayer finished the vocals on Born and Raised, and the album's first single, "Shadow Days", was released on February 27, 2012. The following day, he released the track listing for the album, announcing that it would be released on May 22 of that year. He described it as his "most honest" album, and begin booking dates at more "intimate" venues than for Battle Studies. He also accepted an invitation to appear at the South by Southwest festival. However, the granuloma returned, and on March 9, 2012, Mayer announced that he had been forced to cancel his tour and refrain from all singing indefinitely. Even so, Born and Raised was released as scheduled, and entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one, selling 219,000 copies in its first week. It also received generally positive critical feedback; Rolling Stone rated it number 17 on its list of the 50 Best Albums of 2012, and People magazine called it "a shimmering album". Meanwhile, Mayer brought a new focus to his guitar playing and, fearing that his vocal cords had been permanently damaged, tried to come to terms with a possible future as a session musician. Determined to be cured, he sought help from the UCLA Voice Center. That September, otolaryngologist Dr. Gerald Berke paralyzed Mayer's vocal cords with a series of high-dose Botox injections, hoping that they would allow the granuloma to heal. Mayer's vocal rest extended to several months and, unable to even talk, his performances were limited to accompanying other artists on guitar. He appeared in September 2012 on Saturday Night Live, where he joined musical guest Frank Ocean. He played with the Rolling Stones in New Jersey in December 2012.
By January 2013, Mayer had recovered sufficiently enough to perform at a benefit concert in Bozeman, after almost two years without singing publicly. In April 2013, he made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where he inducted the late Albert King. A show at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Alabama on April 25, 2013, followed by a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival the next day, marked his first full-length concerts since his health troubles.
Paradise Valley, Dead & Company, The Search for Everything (2013–2018)
In June 2013, Mayer announced that he was finishing work on his sixth album, Paradise Valley. Produced by Don Was, the album features "low-key folk-rock tunes". He collaborated with Frank Ocean on the song "Wildfire Pt. 2", and with Katy Perry on "Who You Love". The latter song would go on to become the album's third single, and an accompanying music video was released on December 17. On June 18, 2013, he released a lyric video for the album's first single, "Paper Doll", on his official YouTube page. The album was released August 20, 2013, and—meeting with positive reviews—debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 145,560 copies in the United States. Mayer embarked on a tour, his first in three years, in support of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. The American leg of the tour ran from July to December 2013 with Interscope recording artist Phillip Phillips serving as the supporting act. The tour visited Australia in April 2014.
During a concert in Adelaide, Mayer covered the Beyoncé song "XO" . One month later, on May 22, he released a studio version of the song on his SoundCloud account. It was made available for digital download by Columbia Records on May 27, 2014, through the iTunes Store. For the week ending June 1, 2014, Mayer's version debuted at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart. On the Canadian Hot 100, "XO" peaked at a position of 76. The single also peaked at number 81 on the Australian Singles Chart (its debut week), and at number 95 on the Dutch Singles Chart. In the UK, it peaked at 115 on the UK Singles Chart. Mayer recorded the song "Come Rain or Come Shine" as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her album Partners, released in September 2014.
In February 2015, Mayer performed alongside Ed Sheeran at the Grammy Awards. As of March, Mayer said he was taking break from working on a "deeply personal new album". Also, Mayer recounted that in 2011 he happened upon a song by the Grateful Dead while listening to Pandora, and that soon the band's music was all he would listen to. In February 2015, while guest hosting The Late Late Show, Mayer invited Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir to join him in a studio performance. While Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (surviving members of the Grateful Dead) were preparing for their Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead tour with Trey Anastasio, Mayer began practicing the band's catalog of songs. That August, Mayer, Weir, Kreutzmann, and Hart formed the group Dead & Company, along with Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge, and began a fall tour in the United States. The tour was well received (Billboard called it "magical"), and they continued to tour the US into 2016. Although Lesh has declined to join Dead & Company, Mayer also performed with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads in 2015.
As a result of his touring with Dead & Company, Mayer postponed working on his next studio album until January 2016, with plans to finish it by the end of the year. On November 17, 2016, Mayer released "Love on the Weekend" as the lead single from his EP The Search for Everything: Wave One, which was then released on January 20, 2017. A second EP, The Search for Everything: Wave Two, was released on February 24, 2017, along with the single "Still Feel Like Your Man". The album The Search for Everything was released on April 14, 2017 and was promoted by a third single titled "In the Blood", released on May 1, 2017, and by The Search for Everything World Tour from March to October of the same year.
Mayer also continued touring with Dead & Company during the summer and fall of 2017. On December 5, during the Fall Tour, his appendix burst, resulting in an emergency appendectomy and the postponement of the remaining tour dates to February 2018. In January 2018, Dead & Company announced their Dead & Company Summer Tour 2018.
Sob Rock (2018–present)
On May 10, 2018, Mayer released the single "New Light", co-produced by No I.D. and Mayer himself. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on the release day, he announced "more new music" for 2018. During his performance at the iHeartRadio Theater on October 24, 2018, he premiered a song titled "I Guess I Just Feel Like". On December 12, 2018, he announced a world tour for 2019. Mayer released two singles in 2019; the previously played "I Guess I Just Feel Like" on February 22, and "Carry Me Away" on September 6.
During an episode of John Mayer's show "Current Mood" on March 15, 2020, he revealed that he was in the process of writing and recording songs for a new album. In early 2021, he stated that the album was completely finished as he begun posting snippets of new songs on TikTok ahead of release. In an interview with Kerwin Frost, Mayer hinted at an April release for the album. Later, the date was pushed back. On June 1, 2021, Mayer officially announced his eighth album Sob Rock and on June 4, released the lead single, "Last Train Home" along with an accompanying music video. The album was released on July 16, 2021 as well as a music video for the song, "Shot In The Dark". The track list included previously released singles "New Light", "I Guess I Just Feel Like" and "Carry Me Away". "Carry Me Away" was slightly reworked production-wise to fit the album’s 1980s aesthetic.
Touring
Mayer began touring as a solo artist in 2001. While his early records were largely acoustic, early reviewers noted his unexpected electric "guitar heroics" during live performances.
Mayer has toured North America, Europe and Australia with many musical groups, including Maroon 5,Counting Crows, Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat and Train. In 2010, Mayer and Keith Urban performed at a CMT Crossroads concert a medley of their songs and a rendition of George Michael's single "Faith". This performance led to Urban and Mayer teaming up again for future performances, including at the 2010 CMT Music Awards.
Mayer allows audio taping and non-commercial trading of those recordings at most of his live performances. Mayer often shows up at small venues unannounced (or with little advance notice) for surprise concerts—occasionally for free or without accepting the performance fee. He has made appearances throughout the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York areas, including shows at the Laugh Factory, Eddie's Attic, and the Village Underground. After a public campaign by their senior class president, Mayer performed a surprise three-song set at the 2004 Pennsbury High School senior prom. In June 2015, Mayer appeared as a guest for two nights with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads, recreating the Grateful Dead's notable May 8 and June 9, 1977 concerts.
Headlining
Room for Squares Tour (2002)
Heavier Things Tour (2003–2004)
Continuum Tour (2006–2007)
John Mayer 2008 Summer Tour (2008)
Battle Studies World Tour (2009–2010)
Born and Raised World Tour (2013–2014)
The Search for Everything World Tour (2017)
John Mayer 2019 World Tour (2019)
Sob Rock Tour (2022)
Co-headlining
John Mayer/Guster Summer Tour (2002)
John Mayer/Counting Crows Summer Tour (2003)
John Mayer/Sheryl Crow Tour (2006)
Opening act
Sting European Tour (2004)
Touring with Dead & Company
Mayer joined each annual Tour in the years 2015 to the present.
Other ventures
Dead & Company
Since 2015, Mayer has been touring with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Founding bassist Phil Lesh has notably declined to participate in the project, although he has performed with Mayer on a few occasions since Dead & Company began. The role of bassist in Dead & Company has instead been played by Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band. Jeff Chimenti, who has toured with the various spin-offs of the Dead since the 1990s, is the group's keyboardist.
Although Mayer had been familiar with the music of the Grateful Dead since at least high school, he began to develop a strong interest in their music in 2011 after hearing their song Althea by chance on Pandora radio. In 2015, while the Dead's Fare Thee Well shows with Trey Anastasio were also being planned, Mayer performed "Althea" with Weir on The Late Late Show, along with "Truckin'." Weir was impressed with Mayer's take on the material and began planning to work with him after the Fare Thee Well shows, despite them being billed as something of finale for the band and its legacy. Weir discussed the genesis of the band and his thoughts about working with Mayer in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2016:
The thought of pop singer Mayer stepping in for Jerry Garcia was met with some initial skepticism by both fans and music critics, but the shows have since been well received. The band continues to tour in 2018, 2019 and into 2020 and has considered recording a studio album consisting of songs from the Grateful Dead catalog and potentially some originals. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Lesh praised the band's performances and explained his decision not to take part:
Author
With the June 2004 issue of Esquire, Mayer began a column called "Music Lessons with John Mayer". Each article featured a lesson and his views on various topics, both of personal and popular interest. In the August 2005 issue, he invited readers to create music for orphaned lyrics he had written. The winner was Tim Fagan of Los Angeles as announced in the following January's issue.
As social media gained momentum in the 2000s, Mayer became increasingly active online, and maintained four blogs: a Myspace page, a blog at his official site, another at Honeyee.com, one at tumblr, and a photoblog at StunningNikon.com. He was particularly prolific on Twitter, where he was noted for authoring his own posts, and he amassed 3.7 million followers. Although his posts often dealt with career-related matters, they also included jokes, videos, photos, and eventually what he called the "maintenance of vapor"—or misguided, personal responses to the media. On January 23, 2008, he posted the quote "There is danger in theoretical speculation of battle, in prejudice, in false reasoning, in pride, in braggadocio. There is one safe resource, the return to nature."; all the previous blog entries were deleted. On September 14, 2010, he deleted his personal Twitter account.
In the mid-2000s, he did comedy sporadically, making random appearances at the famed Comedy Cellar in New York and at other venues. He stated that it helped him write better, but that increased media attention made him too careful in his technique. He has since said he has no plans to return to it.
Watch collector
Mayer is an avid collector of watches, a pastime that he says keeps him "sane". His collection—which he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars—includes a Patek Philippe with a Sky Moon Tourbillion, a Rolex GMT Master 116710 BLNR, and an IWC Big Pilot Ref 5002, his signature watch. He has also served as a juror at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, a competition rewarding timepieces that champion the values of Swiss-made watches and writes a column for the horology website Hodinkee. In his column for January 16, 2015, he wrote an open letter to the watch brand IWC, encouraging it to "embrace [its] heritage, scale the product line down in terms of model variants, and simplify the design language". IWC replied, defending the changes they've made over the years, saying, "We have a wonderful past, it is true—but in admiring what we achieved thus far, we hope you will feel encouraged to look forward to what we achieve in the future".
Current Mood
During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show in September 2018, Mayer showed a trailer for his new Instagram Live show. The show, entitled Current Mood, debuted on his IGTV account on Sunday evening on September 30, 2018. Episodes have continued to air on that schedule on a weekly basis. Guests have included Charlie Puth, Cazzie David, and musician Thundercat. Mayer's latest season of Current Mood began on Sunday November 18, 2019 with guest Shawn Mendes and surprise feature with Camila Cabello on his first episode. For Current Mood Mayer coined notable jingles including "Camila Camendes," "CVS Bag," and "Drone Shot of My Yacht."
Appearances in the media
In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 titled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts.
Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during Apple's annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2004 as Jobs introduced the music production software GarageBand. Mayer became a fixture of the event, including at the 2007 iPhone announcement. Volkswagen concluded a deal with instrument manufacturer First Act to include a GarageMaster electric guitar that was playable through the stereo system of six of their 2007 models; Mayer (along with Slash and Christopher Guest) were selected to endorse the campaign and were featured playing the guitar in ads. Mayer used and endorsed the BlackBerry Curve.
Mayer made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, the Late Show with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mayer appeared with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Mayer wrote the theme song to the OWN network show Rollin' with Zach, which features Zach Anner. CBS invited him to guest host The Late Late Show in early 2015 on three dates, February 4–6, after the retirement of Craig Ferguson.
Mayer makes a cameo as a truck driver in the 2014 comedy horror film Zombeavers. In the 2015 film Get Hard, he played a version of himself who is disgusted with the "monetization of the creative process".
Instruments and equipment
John Mayer is a guitar collector and has collaborated with elite guitar companies to design his own instruments. He owns over 200 guitars.
In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer. The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code. This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag. In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters.
In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public, along with a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included in the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag, on which Mayer collaborated on the in-case designs. In 2006, Mayer was estimated to have more than 200 guitars in his personal collection.
John Mayer's most iconic guitar is the "Black1". Conceived after the Heavier Things tour, Mayer went to Fender Custom Shop with the desire to build a guitar. He was inspired by guitars of famous players the likes of Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He sought out masterbuilder John Cruz to help devise the design. In essence, Mayer wanted an all-black version of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "First Wife" Stratocaster. The guitar is heavily "relic'd" to specs very similar to the guitar used by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Black1 includes a mint pickguard, custom wound pickups, gold hardware, and gold tuners from the SRV Tribute Stratocaster. It was the principal guitar on the Continuum album. It was notably used on tracks such as "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You", and "Bold as Love". The Black1 has become a trademark to Mayer's music.
The Fender Custom Shop made a limited run of 83 replica Black1 Stratocasters, all of which were sold within 24 hours. Each one was carefully relic'd by John Cruz. In 2010, Fender announced a production model of Mayer's Black1 guitar. Un-relic'd production versions of the guitar were produced for a limited run of 500 worldwide. In addition, full production signature Stratocasters were produced in three-tone sunburst and Olympic White finishes.
In 2014, John Mayer announced that he was no longer a Fender Artist. As a result, his signature line of guitars was pulled from production. In 2015, Mayer announced that he was collaborating with PRS Guitars. In March 2016, Mayer and PRS revealed their collaborative project, the Super Eagle. This was a limited release from PRS's Private Stock line of instruments and each guitar features ultra-grade woods, abalone inlay, JCF Audio preamps, and a hand-signed sticker by glass-artist David Smith. Only 100 were produced, each retailing for over $10,000. In January 2017 at NAMM, PRS and Mayer announced the J-MOD 100 signature amp. In June 2017, the Super Eagle II was revealed, limited to 120 instruments.
In January 2018, Martin Guitar announced the limited-release (45 instruments) John Mayer Signature D-45, with list price $14,999. In March 2018, Mayer's signature Silver Sky model was released by PRS, available in four colors. While Music Trade called the Silver Sky "derivative", it said that all the elements were "designed from the ground up" and built with "attention to detail". While acknowledging its similarity to a Stratocaster, Matt Blackett of Guitar Player magazine ultimately said, "The Silver Sky absolutely delivers on the promise of being a damn-near-perfect version of this type of guitar." The magazine named its "Editor's Pick".
Reception
Mayer has stood out as among his peers as a guitarist. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks in an issue lauding the "New Guitar Gods", and the cover nicknamed him Slowhand Jr., a reference to Eric Clapton. Critics, however, point to how safe his music is. Chris Richards, in review of a 2017 concert, declared "John Mayer is an amazing guitar player", though he says he did so "through clenched teeth," adding that the fact should not absolve the guitarist of "his pillow-soft songcraft, the dull sentimentality of his lyrics, or that cuckoo-racist interview he gave to Playboy back in 2010". Music writer Steve Baltin commented on this dichotomy, saying that Mayer is "one of the sharpest and savviest musical minds you will ever encounter", and added, "While many have found reasons to dislike Mayer since the beginning of his career, he is a consummate musician's musician, an artist who has been embraced by Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Buddy Guy among others."
Mayer's inclusion in the Grateful Dead was not without its critics. Chris Robinson of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood said that "everything that Jerry Garcia ever talked about or stood for, John Mayer is the antithesis", and that while "Jerry was one of the most unique musicians in the world [...] here's John Mayer playing everyone else's licks". The comment itself drew controversy, and Mayer, for his part, said, "I care about this band too much to give that life", and that "I realized not long ago that I'm done debating my own merits."
Personal life
On his third episode of Current Mood, Mayer revealed he had been sober since 2016. He stopped drinking after having what he says was a six-day hangover after Drake's 30th birthday party.
Relationships
Mayer has been romantically involved with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than 17 times their face value.
Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey, location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007.
Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech shooting, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released as Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headlined Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres.
On March 1, 2019, John Mayer established the Heart and Armor Foundation in support of veterans of war. John has been actively involved in initiatives to help returning veterans for about 12 years.
Controversies
Mayer's relationship with Jessica Simpson coincided with behavior changes that significantly increased his tabloid exposure. Early in his career, he had expressed his resolve to completely avoid drugs, alcohol, clubbing, "red-carpet" events, dating celebrities, and anything that he felt would detract the focus from his music. In interviews, however, Mayer alluded to experiencing an extreme "anxiety bender" episode in his twenties that motivated him to be less reclusive. In 2006, he first mentioned that he had begun using marijuana. He began making appearances at clubs in Los Angeles and New York City, and Simpson became the first in a string of famous girlfriends, including Jennifer Aniston and Minka Kelly. By 2007, his personal life had become regular fodder for the gossip media and, as a result, Mayer made efforts to control his public image. His online presence increased, he began to stage pranks for the paparazzi, and he hosted a segment for the gossip show TMZ.
In early 2010, Mayer gave a controversial interview to Playboy magazine in which he revealed sexually explicit details about his former girlfriends Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston—calling his relationship with the former "sexual napalm." In response to a question about whether black women were interested in him, he said, "My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I've got a Benetton heart and a fuckin' David Duke cock. I'm going to start dating separately from my dick." He also used the word "nigger" in the interview. This set off accusations in the media of him being a misogynist, kiss-and-tell ex-boyfriend, and racist. He apologized via Twitter for his use of the word "nigger", saying, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize...a word that is so emotionally charged". He also tearfully apologized to his band and fans at his concert in Nashville later that night. In the following two years, he left New York and retreated from the media. Reflecting on that time in a May 2012 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he said, "I lost my head for a little while and I did a couple of dumb interviews and it kind of woke me up...It was a violent crash into being an adult. For a couple of years, it was just figuring it all out, and I'm glad I actually stayed out of the spotlight."
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performed vocals for the song "Half of My Heart" on Mayer's November 2009 album Battle Studies. Rumors began to circulate in the media that the two were a couple, an assertion that neither addressed. However, Swift released a song called "Dear John" in 2010, which was widely believed to be about her relationship with him. In June 2012, Mayer criticized the song, saying she never contacted him and that "it's abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait till he gets a load of this!'" The song "Paper Doll" was reported to be a response. In the March 21, 2019 episode of Current Mood, however, Mayer said, "When 'Paper Doll' came out, 100% of the people believed it was about somebody...But the song was not about that person and I could never tell anybody, 'That's not true,' because then I would be breaking my rule that songwriters don't say who the songs are about or not about."
In March 2014, Mayer sued watch dealer Robert Maron for $656,000 when he discovered that seven of the $5 million in watches he purchased from the dealer contained counterfeit parts. He dropped the action in May 2015, releasing a statement that asserted that research restored his "belief that Bob Maron is an expert on Rolex watches and confirmed that Bob Maron never sold him a counterfeit watch".
In 2020, Perez Hilton stated in his memoir TMI: My Life in Scandal that in 2007 at a club in Chelsea, Manhattan, Mayer came up to Hilton and said, 'I like to watch gay porn, you know,' adding, 'My favorite porn star is Brent Corrigan. He really turns me on', and then french-kissed Hilton.
Discography
Room for Squares (2001)
Heavier Things (2003)
Continuum (2006)
Battle Studies (2009)
Born and Raised (2012)
Paradise Valley (2013)
The Search for Everything (2017)
Sob Rock (2021)
Awards
Grammy Awards
Mayer has won seven awards from nineteen nominations.
Others awards and nominations
See also
Annual John Mayer Holiday Charity Revue
Notes
References
Works cited
Edwards, G. (2006). Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John? New York: Crown Publishing Group. .
External links
1977 births
Living people
21st-century American composers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American singers
American bloggers
American blues singers
American male bloggers
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male singer-songwriters
American philanthropists
American pop rock singers
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
Blues rock musicians
Columbia Records artists
Dead & Company members
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from Connecticut
John Mayer Trio members
Musicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut
People from Fairfield, Connecticut
People from Hidden Hills, California
Record producers from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from California | true | [
"A charity runner is a participant in a road race, usually of half marathon or marathon distance, who raises money or awareness for an established 501(c) organization. For more elite marathons, such as the World Marathon Majors, runners who are unable to obtain a qualifying time for their gender and age group can gain entry by running for an official charity affiliated with the race. Other races provide charity runners with free race entry, training, team shirts, and encouragement as incentive to raise money for local charities.\n\nThe Boston Marathon allows approximately 6000 runners, out of 30,000 into the annual race who have not qualified. Most of these runners have agreed to raise a minimum of $5000 and greater to gain entry into this race. In 2017, the charity runners raised $34.2 million for over 200 different non-profit organizations.\n\nRelations between qualified runner and charity runners\nAccording to Runner's World magazine, there is often animosity between qualified runners, who have met strict timing guidelines, and charity runners who do not meet the qualifying time, but are given a number for raising money for local charitable organizations and nonprofits. Some runners who meet the published qualifying time do not get into some major marathons due to the sheer volume of entries.\n\nReferences\n\nRunning\nCharity fundraising",
"iStreet Giving was an online shopping platform set-up to help UK charities raise additional funds through online shopping. The firm's headquarters are located in Ipswich, Suffolk.\n\n\n\nHistory \nIn 2014, Hugo Catchpole and Hamish Stone founded iStreet, an online platform which helps shoppers to help a good cause with online shopping. The Social Enterprise allows users to donate to charities and good causes alike registered with the site, by their day to day online shopping.\n\nHow it Works \nIt is free for UK charities and good causes to register themselves on iStreet, in doing so a profile is automatically created - this profile connects the charity with over 1200 retailers. Charities can then share their iStreet page with their supporters allowing them to raise donations whilst online shopping. Users raise a small donation on every shop, this is normally a percentage of the total spend - at no extra cost, providing an alternative mode of fundraising.\n\nAccolades \nIn 2014, iStreet was recognised in the Charity Times annual Awards in their Fundraising Technology category - finishing runner up. The prestigious Charity Times awards are said to be a pre-eminent celebration of best practise in the UK charity and not-for-profit sector, recognising outstanding achievement and operational excellence. The Big Give Christmas Challenge scooped the award for their ongoing success.\n\nComparable organisations utilising technology in aid of fundraising \nJustgiving \nVirgin Money Giving \nThe Big Give \nBmycharity\nLocalgiving.com\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n Age UK Suffolk\n The Future Project\n Retired Greyhound Trust\n Woodbridge Tide Mill\n\nBritish fundraising websites\nBritish companies established in 2014\nCompanies based in Suffolk\nCharity fundraisers\n2014 establishments in the United Kingdom"
]
|
[
"John Mayer",
"Philanthropy",
"what is a charity he works for?",
"Mayer created the \"Back to You\" Fund,",
"what does this charity do?",
"focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development.",
"how does the charity raise money?",
"The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items,"
]
| C_7f228cfbf308449f96ad0534c535d539_0 | did the charity earn a lot of money? | 4 | Did the "Back to You" Fund charity earn a lot of money? | John Mayer | In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value. Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007. Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released under the title Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headline Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres. CANNOTANSWER | The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value. | John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a following. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest Festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and eventually to Columbia Records, which released his first extended play Inside Wants Out. His following two studio albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—performed well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his single "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and begun performing the blues and rock music that had originally influenced him as a musician. He collaborated with blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton. Forming the John Mayer Trio, he released a live album, Try!, in 2005 and his third studio album Continuum in 2006. Both albums received positive reviews, and Continuum earned Mayer a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". That album was followed by Battle Studies in 2009, a return to pop, with a Battle Studies World Tour.
After having several controversial incidents with the media, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010 and began work on his fifth studio album, Born and Raised, which drew inspiration from the 1970s pop music of Laurel Canyon. However, the discovery of a granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the release of the album until May 2012, and forced him to cancel the planned tour. The album received a generally favorable reception, though was less commercially successful than his previous work. Mayer began performing as a singer again in January 2013, and that year released his sixth studio album, Paradise Valley, which incorporates country music influences. By 2014, he had sold a total of over 20 million albums worldwide. His seventh album, The Search for Everything, a loose concept album based around the theme of a romantic break-up, was released in 2017. Mayer released his latest album Sob Rock, inspired by 1980s soft rock music, in July 2021.
In 2015, three former members of the Grateful Dead joined with Mayer and two other musicians to form the band Dead & Company. It is the latest of several reunions of the band's surviving members since Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. The band remains active and its tours have been well received.
Mayer's secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing; he has authored columns for magazines such as Esquire. He supports various causes and has performed at charity benefits. He is a watch aficionado (with a collection he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars), contributing to the watch site Hodinkee, and has been on the jury at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
Early life
Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father, Richard Mayer (b. 1927), was a high-school principal, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman; b. 1947), was a middle-school English teacher. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism. As an elementary school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they played Nintendo together weekday afternoons after school for three years. He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).
After watching Michael J. Fox's guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 13 years old, his father rented one for him. A neighbor gave Mayer a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which cultivated Mayer's love of blues music. According to Mayer, his fascination with Vaughan started a "genealogical hunt" that led him to other blues guitarists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush, and Lightnin' Hopkins. Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar shop owner, Al Ferrante, and soon became consumed. His singular focus concerned his parents, and they twice took him to see a psychiatrist, who determined him to be healthy. Mayer says that his parents' contentious marriage led him to "disappear and create my own world I could believe in". After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school. In addition to performing solo, he was a member of a band called Villanova Junction (named for a Jimi Hendrix song) with Tim Procaccini, Joe Beleznay, and Rich Wolf.
When Mayer was 17, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, "That was the moment the songwriter in me was born", and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and says he feared having to enter a mental institution. He continues to manage such episodes with anti-anxiety medication.
Career
Early career (1996–1999)
Mayer considered skipping college to pursue music, but his parents dissuaded him. He enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in 1997 at age 19. At the urging of his college friend Clay Cook, they left Berklee after two semesters and moved to Atlanta; there, they formed a two-man band called LoFi Masters, and began performing in local coffee houses and club venues such as Eddie's Attic. According to Cook, they experienced musical differences due to Mayer's desire to move more towards pop music. The two parted ways and Mayer embarked on a solo career.
With the help of local producer and engineer Glenn Matullo, Mayer recorded the independent EP Inside Wants Out. The EP includes eight songs with Mayer on lead vocals and guitars. For the opening track, "Back To You", a full band was enlisted, including the EP's co-producer David "DeLa" LaBruyere on bass guitars. Cook had co-written many of the album's songs, including its first commercial single release, "No Such Thing"; however, his only performance contribution was backing vocals on the song "Comfortable".
Major label and commercial success (2000–2004)
Mayer and LaBruyere performed throughout Georgia and nearby states. Also, as his career coincided with the then-nascent internet music market, Mayer benefited from an online following. Mayer came to the attention of Gregg Latterman at Aware Records through an acquaintance of Mayer's, a lawyer, who sent Aware his EP. In early 2001, after including him in Aware Festival concerts and his songs on Aware compilations, Aware released Mayer's internet-only album, Room for Squares. During this time, Aware concluded a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists. In September, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added. The re-release included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from Inside Wants Out.
By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and "Why Georgia". It also received general praise critically, and Mayer drew comparisons to Dave Matthews. In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland". In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up." He also figuratively referred to himself as being 16, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was 16 years old at the time.
In February 2003, Mayer released a live CD and DVD of a concert in Birmingham, Alabama titled Any Given Thursday, which included songs previously not recorded, such as "Man on the Side", "Something's Missing", and "Covered in Rain". Commercially, the album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart. Its accompanying DVD release received conservative—although consistent—praise, with critics torn between his pop-idol image, and (at the time) emerging guitar prowess. Erik Crawford of AllMusic asked, "Is [Mayer] the consummate guitar hero exemplified when he plays a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Lenny', or is he the teen idol that the pubescent girls shriek for after he plays 'Your Body Is a Wonderland'?" That summer, Mayer went on the road with Counting Crows in a tour that spanned 42 dates between July 7 and September 2.
Heavier Things, Mayer's second album, was released in 2003 to generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Blender all gave positive, although reserved, feedback. The album was commercially successful, and while it did not sell as well as Room for Squares, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. The song "Daughters" won the 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year, and reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who had died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. On February 9, 2009, Mayer told Ellen DeGeneres that he thought he should not have won the Grammy for Song of the year because he thought that Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" was the better song. Because of this, he removed the top half of the Grammy and gave it to Keys, and kept the bottom part for himself. At the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2006, Mayer received the Hal David Starlight Award.
Mayer again recorded live concerts across seven nights of his U.S. tour in 2004. These recordings were released to the iTunes Store under the title As/Is, indicating that the errors were included along with the good moments. A few months later, a "best of" CD was compiled from the As/Is nights. The album included a previously unreleased cover of Marvin Gaye's song "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", featuring a solo from Mayer's supporting act—jazz and blues turntablist DJ Logic. The album covers of the As/Is releases feature drawings of anthropomorphic bunnies.
Change in musical direction (2005–2008)
As early as 2002, Chris Willman with Entertainment Weekly said that Mayer was "more historically savvy, and more ambitious than you'd guess from the unforced earnestness of [Room for] Squares. However, Mayer was largely associated with the Adult Contemporary and singer-songwriter genres. Fame allowed him access to his early influences, and he began collaborating with blues and jazz artists. He accompanied Buddy Guy in a concert at the Irving Plaza in December 2003. He toured with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, including a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. He also performed on commercial releases, namely, with Eric Clapton (Back Home, Crossroads Guitar Festival), Buddy Guy (Bring 'Em In), John Scofield (That's What I Say), and B.B. King (80). Although Mayer maintained his reputation as a singer-songwriter, he gained distinction as a guitarist.
Following the conclusion of his Heavier Things tour, Mayer began working with artists, including those from other genres of music. His voice was sampled on the song "Go" by rapper Common, and he appeared on a hidden track called "Bittersweet Poetry" from the Kanye West album Graduation. The collaborations drew praise from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Nelly. When asked about his presence in the hip hop community, Mayer said, "It's not music out there right now. That's why, to me, hip-hop is where rock used to be."
Around this time Mayer announced that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity". In the spring of 2005, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through studio sessions. The trio combined blues and rock music. In October 2005, they opened for the Rolling Stones and that November released a live album called Try! The band took a break in mid-2006.
Mayer's third studio album, titled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006, produced by Mayer and Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine blues and pop. In that vein, two of the tracks from his Trio release Try!—"Vultures" and "Gravity"—were included on Continuum. Despite his excitement, in a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head Don Ienner panned Continuum he briefly considered quitting music and studying design full-time.
The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change", which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show. The song was the third-most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, offering commentary on each track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 21, 2006, Mayer appeared on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". The song "Gravity" was featured on the television series House, in the episode "Cane & Able" and Numb3rs. He recorded a session for the British program Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on October 22, 2006.
On December 7, 2006, Mayer was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The Trio received a nomination for Try!. He won two: Best Pop Song with Vocal for "Waiting on the World to Change" and Best Pop Album for Continuum. Mayer remixed an acoustic version of his single "Waiting on the World to Change" with vocal additions from fellow musician Ben Harper. In preparation for Continuum, Mayer had booked the Village Recorder in Los Angeles to record five acoustic versions of his songs with veteran musician Robbie McIntosh. These recordings became The Village Sessions, an EP released on December 12, 2006. As usual, Mayer oversaw the artwork. The initial North American Continuum tour ended on February 28, 2007, with a show at Madison Square Garden that the New York Post described as "career-defining".
On November 20, 2007, the re-issue of Continuum became available online and in stores. The release contained a bonus disc of six live songs from his 2007 tour: five from Continuum and a cover of the Ray Charles song "I Don't Need No Doctor". His single "Say", from the film The Bucket List, became available through iTunes. On December 6, 2007, "Belief" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. He accompanied Alicia Keys on guitar on her song "No One" at the ceremony. Additionally, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007, listed among artists and entertainers.
In February 2008, Mayer hosted a three-day Caribbean cruise event that included performances with various musicians including David Ryan Harris, Brett Dennen, Colbie Caillat, and Dave Barnes, among others. The event was called "The Mayercraft Carrier" and was held aboard the cruise ship known as the Carnival Victory. A follow-up cruise titled "Mayercraft Carrier 2" sailed from Los Angeles March 27–31, 2009, on the Carnival Splendor.
On July 1, 2008, Mayer released Where the Light Is, a live concert film of Mayer's performance at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 8, 2007. The film was directed by Danny Clinch. It features Mayer opening with an acoustic set, followed by a blues set with the Trio and concluded by a full set with the band from the Continuum album.
Battle Studies (2009)
Australian artist Guy Sebastian invited Mayer to collaborate on three songs from his 2009 album Like It Like That. Mayer also played guitar on the title track of Crosby Loggins' debut LP, Time to Move.
On July 7, 2009, Mayer performed an instrumental guitar version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at Jackson's televised memorial service. He co-wrote "World of Chances" with Demi Lovato for Lovato's second album Here We Go Again, released later that month.
After the overwhelming success of Continuum, Mayer confessed to be intimidated with beginning on a follow-up. However, he stated, "I think it got a lot easier when I realized that no matter what I do, it's not going to be Continuum, good or bad." On November 17, 2009, Mayer's fourth studio album, Battle Studies, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The first single, "Who Says", was released on September 24, 2009, in advance of the album, followed on October 19 by "Heartbreak Warfare" and "Half of My Heart" on June 21, 2010. The accompanying arena tour grossed 45 million. Despite the album's commercial success, critics reactions were mixed. Some reviews glowed, calling it his "most adventurous", others called the album "safe" and noted that "Mayer the singer-songwriter and Mayer the man about town sometimes seem disconnected, like they don't even belong in the same body". Mayer admitted to Rolling Stone that he thought Battle Studies was not his best album.
Personal troubles and hiatus (2010–2013)
Following two revealing and highly controversial magazine interviews in February 2010 with Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines, Mayer withdrew from public life and ceased giving interviews. While still on tour for Battle Studies, he began work in earnest on his fifth studio album—which drew on the popular music of Laurel Canyon in the early 1970s. Around this time, he began to experience vocal problems, and sought medical assistance. On September 16, 2011, he posted on his blog that his next record, Born and Raised, would be delayed due to treatment he was receiving for a granuloma discovered on his vocal cords. Mayer described the event as a "temporary setback" and added that the album was entirely finished except for a few vocal tracks. A month later, on October 20, 2011, Mayer posted, "I had surgery this afternoon to remove it and am now on complete vocal rest for a month or more," during which he planned to "travel the country, look, and listen". However, the surgery did not work as expected, and he had to undergo another one that August. During his travels, he visited and fell in love with Bozeman, Montana, where he bought a house and re-settled in the spring of 2012.
With his treatments complete, Mayer finished the vocals on Born and Raised, and the album's first single, "Shadow Days", was released on February 27, 2012. The following day, he released the track listing for the album, announcing that it would be released on May 22 of that year. He described it as his "most honest" album, and begin booking dates at more "intimate" venues than for Battle Studies. He also accepted an invitation to appear at the South by Southwest festival. However, the granuloma returned, and on March 9, 2012, Mayer announced that he had been forced to cancel his tour and refrain from all singing indefinitely. Even so, Born and Raised was released as scheduled, and entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one, selling 219,000 copies in its first week. It also received generally positive critical feedback; Rolling Stone rated it number 17 on its list of the 50 Best Albums of 2012, and People magazine called it "a shimmering album". Meanwhile, Mayer brought a new focus to his guitar playing and, fearing that his vocal cords had been permanently damaged, tried to come to terms with a possible future as a session musician. Determined to be cured, he sought help from the UCLA Voice Center. That September, otolaryngologist Dr. Gerald Berke paralyzed Mayer's vocal cords with a series of high-dose Botox injections, hoping that they would allow the granuloma to heal. Mayer's vocal rest extended to several months and, unable to even talk, his performances were limited to accompanying other artists on guitar. He appeared in September 2012 on Saturday Night Live, where he joined musical guest Frank Ocean. He played with the Rolling Stones in New Jersey in December 2012.
By January 2013, Mayer had recovered sufficiently enough to perform at a benefit concert in Bozeman, after almost two years without singing publicly. In April 2013, he made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where he inducted the late Albert King. A show at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Alabama on April 25, 2013, followed by a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival the next day, marked his first full-length concerts since his health troubles.
Paradise Valley, Dead & Company, The Search for Everything (2013–2018)
In June 2013, Mayer announced that he was finishing work on his sixth album, Paradise Valley. Produced by Don Was, the album features "low-key folk-rock tunes". He collaborated with Frank Ocean on the song "Wildfire Pt. 2", and with Katy Perry on "Who You Love". The latter song would go on to become the album's third single, and an accompanying music video was released on December 17. On June 18, 2013, he released a lyric video for the album's first single, "Paper Doll", on his official YouTube page. The album was released August 20, 2013, and—meeting with positive reviews—debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 145,560 copies in the United States. Mayer embarked on a tour, his first in three years, in support of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. The American leg of the tour ran from July to December 2013 with Interscope recording artist Phillip Phillips serving as the supporting act. The tour visited Australia in April 2014.
During a concert in Adelaide, Mayer covered the Beyoncé song "XO" . One month later, on May 22, he released a studio version of the song on his SoundCloud account. It was made available for digital download by Columbia Records on May 27, 2014, through the iTunes Store. For the week ending June 1, 2014, Mayer's version debuted at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart. On the Canadian Hot 100, "XO" peaked at a position of 76. The single also peaked at number 81 on the Australian Singles Chart (its debut week), and at number 95 on the Dutch Singles Chart. In the UK, it peaked at 115 on the UK Singles Chart. Mayer recorded the song "Come Rain or Come Shine" as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her album Partners, released in September 2014.
In February 2015, Mayer performed alongside Ed Sheeran at the Grammy Awards. As of March, Mayer said he was taking break from working on a "deeply personal new album". Also, Mayer recounted that in 2011 he happened upon a song by the Grateful Dead while listening to Pandora, and that soon the band's music was all he would listen to. In February 2015, while guest hosting The Late Late Show, Mayer invited Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir to join him in a studio performance. While Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (surviving members of the Grateful Dead) were preparing for their Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead tour with Trey Anastasio, Mayer began practicing the band's catalog of songs. That August, Mayer, Weir, Kreutzmann, and Hart formed the group Dead & Company, along with Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge, and began a fall tour in the United States. The tour was well received (Billboard called it "magical"), and they continued to tour the US into 2016. Although Lesh has declined to join Dead & Company, Mayer also performed with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads in 2015.
As a result of his touring with Dead & Company, Mayer postponed working on his next studio album until January 2016, with plans to finish it by the end of the year. On November 17, 2016, Mayer released "Love on the Weekend" as the lead single from his EP The Search for Everything: Wave One, which was then released on January 20, 2017. A second EP, The Search for Everything: Wave Two, was released on February 24, 2017, along with the single "Still Feel Like Your Man". The album The Search for Everything was released on April 14, 2017 and was promoted by a third single titled "In the Blood", released on May 1, 2017, and by The Search for Everything World Tour from March to October of the same year.
Mayer also continued touring with Dead & Company during the summer and fall of 2017. On December 5, during the Fall Tour, his appendix burst, resulting in an emergency appendectomy and the postponement of the remaining tour dates to February 2018. In January 2018, Dead & Company announced their Dead & Company Summer Tour 2018.
Sob Rock (2018–present)
On May 10, 2018, Mayer released the single "New Light", co-produced by No I.D. and Mayer himself. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on the release day, he announced "more new music" for 2018. During his performance at the iHeartRadio Theater on October 24, 2018, he premiered a song titled "I Guess I Just Feel Like". On December 12, 2018, he announced a world tour for 2019. Mayer released two singles in 2019; the previously played "I Guess I Just Feel Like" on February 22, and "Carry Me Away" on September 6.
During an episode of John Mayer's show "Current Mood" on March 15, 2020, he revealed that he was in the process of writing and recording songs for a new album. In early 2021, he stated that the album was completely finished as he begun posting snippets of new songs on TikTok ahead of release. In an interview with Kerwin Frost, Mayer hinted at an April release for the album. Later, the date was pushed back. On June 1, 2021, Mayer officially announced his eighth album Sob Rock and on June 4, released the lead single, "Last Train Home" along with an accompanying music video. The album was released on July 16, 2021 as well as a music video for the song, "Shot In The Dark". The track list included previously released singles "New Light", "I Guess I Just Feel Like" and "Carry Me Away". "Carry Me Away" was slightly reworked production-wise to fit the album’s 1980s aesthetic.
Touring
Mayer began touring as a solo artist in 2001. While his early records were largely acoustic, early reviewers noted his unexpected electric "guitar heroics" during live performances.
Mayer has toured North America, Europe and Australia with many musical groups, including Maroon 5,Counting Crows, Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat and Train. In 2010, Mayer and Keith Urban performed at a CMT Crossroads concert a medley of their songs and a rendition of George Michael's single "Faith". This performance led to Urban and Mayer teaming up again for future performances, including at the 2010 CMT Music Awards.
Mayer allows audio taping and non-commercial trading of those recordings at most of his live performances. Mayer often shows up at small venues unannounced (or with little advance notice) for surprise concerts—occasionally for free or without accepting the performance fee. He has made appearances throughout the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York areas, including shows at the Laugh Factory, Eddie's Attic, and the Village Underground. After a public campaign by their senior class president, Mayer performed a surprise three-song set at the 2004 Pennsbury High School senior prom. In June 2015, Mayer appeared as a guest for two nights with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads, recreating the Grateful Dead's notable May 8 and June 9, 1977 concerts.
Headlining
Room for Squares Tour (2002)
Heavier Things Tour (2003–2004)
Continuum Tour (2006–2007)
John Mayer 2008 Summer Tour (2008)
Battle Studies World Tour (2009–2010)
Born and Raised World Tour (2013–2014)
The Search for Everything World Tour (2017)
John Mayer 2019 World Tour (2019)
Sob Rock Tour (2022)
Co-headlining
John Mayer/Guster Summer Tour (2002)
John Mayer/Counting Crows Summer Tour (2003)
John Mayer/Sheryl Crow Tour (2006)
Opening act
Sting European Tour (2004)
Touring with Dead & Company
Mayer joined each annual Tour in the years 2015 to the present.
Other ventures
Dead & Company
Since 2015, Mayer has been touring with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Founding bassist Phil Lesh has notably declined to participate in the project, although he has performed with Mayer on a few occasions since Dead & Company began. The role of bassist in Dead & Company has instead been played by Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band. Jeff Chimenti, who has toured with the various spin-offs of the Dead since the 1990s, is the group's keyboardist.
Although Mayer had been familiar with the music of the Grateful Dead since at least high school, he began to develop a strong interest in their music in 2011 after hearing their song Althea by chance on Pandora radio. In 2015, while the Dead's Fare Thee Well shows with Trey Anastasio were also being planned, Mayer performed "Althea" with Weir on The Late Late Show, along with "Truckin'." Weir was impressed with Mayer's take on the material and began planning to work with him after the Fare Thee Well shows, despite them being billed as something of finale for the band and its legacy. Weir discussed the genesis of the band and his thoughts about working with Mayer in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2016:
The thought of pop singer Mayer stepping in for Jerry Garcia was met with some initial skepticism by both fans and music critics, but the shows have since been well received. The band continues to tour in 2018, 2019 and into 2020 and has considered recording a studio album consisting of songs from the Grateful Dead catalog and potentially some originals. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Lesh praised the band's performances and explained his decision not to take part:
Author
With the June 2004 issue of Esquire, Mayer began a column called "Music Lessons with John Mayer". Each article featured a lesson and his views on various topics, both of personal and popular interest. In the August 2005 issue, he invited readers to create music for orphaned lyrics he had written. The winner was Tim Fagan of Los Angeles as announced in the following January's issue.
As social media gained momentum in the 2000s, Mayer became increasingly active online, and maintained four blogs: a Myspace page, a blog at his official site, another at Honeyee.com, one at tumblr, and a photoblog at StunningNikon.com. He was particularly prolific on Twitter, where he was noted for authoring his own posts, and he amassed 3.7 million followers. Although his posts often dealt with career-related matters, they also included jokes, videos, photos, and eventually what he called the "maintenance of vapor"—or misguided, personal responses to the media. On January 23, 2008, he posted the quote "There is danger in theoretical speculation of battle, in prejudice, in false reasoning, in pride, in braggadocio. There is one safe resource, the return to nature."; all the previous blog entries were deleted. On September 14, 2010, he deleted his personal Twitter account.
In the mid-2000s, he did comedy sporadically, making random appearances at the famed Comedy Cellar in New York and at other venues. He stated that it helped him write better, but that increased media attention made him too careful in his technique. He has since said he has no plans to return to it.
Watch collector
Mayer is an avid collector of watches, a pastime that he says keeps him "sane". His collection—which he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars—includes a Patek Philippe with a Sky Moon Tourbillion, a Rolex GMT Master 116710 BLNR, and an IWC Big Pilot Ref 5002, his signature watch. He has also served as a juror at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, a competition rewarding timepieces that champion the values of Swiss-made watches and writes a column for the horology website Hodinkee. In his column for January 16, 2015, he wrote an open letter to the watch brand IWC, encouraging it to "embrace [its] heritage, scale the product line down in terms of model variants, and simplify the design language". IWC replied, defending the changes they've made over the years, saying, "We have a wonderful past, it is true—but in admiring what we achieved thus far, we hope you will feel encouraged to look forward to what we achieve in the future".
Current Mood
During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show in September 2018, Mayer showed a trailer for his new Instagram Live show. The show, entitled Current Mood, debuted on his IGTV account on Sunday evening on September 30, 2018. Episodes have continued to air on that schedule on a weekly basis. Guests have included Charlie Puth, Cazzie David, and musician Thundercat. Mayer's latest season of Current Mood began on Sunday November 18, 2019 with guest Shawn Mendes and surprise feature with Camila Cabello on his first episode. For Current Mood Mayer coined notable jingles including "Camila Camendes," "CVS Bag," and "Drone Shot of My Yacht."
Appearances in the media
In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 titled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts.
Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during Apple's annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2004 as Jobs introduced the music production software GarageBand. Mayer became a fixture of the event, including at the 2007 iPhone announcement. Volkswagen concluded a deal with instrument manufacturer First Act to include a GarageMaster electric guitar that was playable through the stereo system of six of their 2007 models; Mayer (along with Slash and Christopher Guest) were selected to endorse the campaign and were featured playing the guitar in ads. Mayer used and endorsed the BlackBerry Curve.
Mayer made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, the Late Show with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mayer appeared with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Mayer wrote the theme song to the OWN network show Rollin' with Zach, which features Zach Anner. CBS invited him to guest host The Late Late Show in early 2015 on three dates, February 4–6, after the retirement of Craig Ferguson.
Mayer makes a cameo as a truck driver in the 2014 comedy horror film Zombeavers. In the 2015 film Get Hard, he played a version of himself who is disgusted with the "monetization of the creative process".
Instruments and equipment
John Mayer is a guitar collector and has collaborated with elite guitar companies to design his own instruments. He owns over 200 guitars.
In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer. The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code. This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag. In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters.
In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public, along with a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included in the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag, on which Mayer collaborated on the in-case designs. In 2006, Mayer was estimated to have more than 200 guitars in his personal collection.
John Mayer's most iconic guitar is the "Black1". Conceived after the Heavier Things tour, Mayer went to Fender Custom Shop with the desire to build a guitar. He was inspired by guitars of famous players the likes of Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He sought out masterbuilder John Cruz to help devise the design. In essence, Mayer wanted an all-black version of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "First Wife" Stratocaster. The guitar is heavily "relic'd" to specs very similar to the guitar used by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Black1 includes a mint pickguard, custom wound pickups, gold hardware, and gold tuners from the SRV Tribute Stratocaster. It was the principal guitar on the Continuum album. It was notably used on tracks such as "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You", and "Bold as Love". The Black1 has become a trademark to Mayer's music.
The Fender Custom Shop made a limited run of 83 replica Black1 Stratocasters, all of which were sold within 24 hours. Each one was carefully relic'd by John Cruz. In 2010, Fender announced a production model of Mayer's Black1 guitar. Un-relic'd production versions of the guitar were produced for a limited run of 500 worldwide. In addition, full production signature Stratocasters were produced in three-tone sunburst and Olympic White finishes.
In 2014, John Mayer announced that he was no longer a Fender Artist. As a result, his signature line of guitars was pulled from production. In 2015, Mayer announced that he was collaborating with PRS Guitars. In March 2016, Mayer and PRS revealed their collaborative project, the Super Eagle. This was a limited release from PRS's Private Stock line of instruments and each guitar features ultra-grade woods, abalone inlay, JCF Audio preamps, and a hand-signed sticker by glass-artist David Smith. Only 100 were produced, each retailing for over $10,000. In January 2017 at NAMM, PRS and Mayer announced the J-MOD 100 signature amp. In June 2017, the Super Eagle II was revealed, limited to 120 instruments.
In January 2018, Martin Guitar announced the limited-release (45 instruments) John Mayer Signature D-45, with list price $14,999. In March 2018, Mayer's signature Silver Sky model was released by PRS, available in four colors. While Music Trade called the Silver Sky "derivative", it said that all the elements were "designed from the ground up" and built with "attention to detail". While acknowledging its similarity to a Stratocaster, Matt Blackett of Guitar Player magazine ultimately said, "The Silver Sky absolutely delivers on the promise of being a damn-near-perfect version of this type of guitar." The magazine named its "Editor's Pick".
Reception
Mayer has stood out as among his peers as a guitarist. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks in an issue lauding the "New Guitar Gods", and the cover nicknamed him Slowhand Jr., a reference to Eric Clapton. Critics, however, point to how safe his music is. Chris Richards, in review of a 2017 concert, declared "John Mayer is an amazing guitar player", though he says he did so "through clenched teeth," adding that the fact should not absolve the guitarist of "his pillow-soft songcraft, the dull sentimentality of his lyrics, or that cuckoo-racist interview he gave to Playboy back in 2010". Music writer Steve Baltin commented on this dichotomy, saying that Mayer is "one of the sharpest and savviest musical minds you will ever encounter", and added, "While many have found reasons to dislike Mayer since the beginning of his career, he is a consummate musician's musician, an artist who has been embraced by Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Buddy Guy among others."
Mayer's inclusion in the Grateful Dead was not without its critics. Chris Robinson of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood said that "everything that Jerry Garcia ever talked about or stood for, John Mayer is the antithesis", and that while "Jerry was one of the most unique musicians in the world [...] here's John Mayer playing everyone else's licks". The comment itself drew controversy, and Mayer, for his part, said, "I care about this band too much to give that life", and that "I realized not long ago that I'm done debating my own merits."
Personal life
On his third episode of Current Mood, Mayer revealed he had been sober since 2016. He stopped drinking after having what he says was a six-day hangover after Drake's 30th birthday party.
Relationships
Mayer has been romantically involved with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than 17 times their face value.
Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey, location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007.
Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech shooting, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released as Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headlined Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres.
On March 1, 2019, John Mayer established the Heart and Armor Foundation in support of veterans of war. John has been actively involved in initiatives to help returning veterans for about 12 years.
Controversies
Mayer's relationship with Jessica Simpson coincided with behavior changes that significantly increased his tabloid exposure. Early in his career, he had expressed his resolve to completely avoid drugs, alcohol, clubbing, "red-carpet" events, dating celebrities, and anything that he felt would detract the focus from his music. In interviews, however, Mayer alluded to experiencing an extreme "anxiety bender" episode in his twenties that motivated him to be less reclusive. In 2006, he first mentioned that he had begun using marijuana. He began making appearances at clubs in Los Angeles and New York City, and Simpson became the first in a string of famous girlfriends, including Jennifer Aniston and Minka Kelly. By 2007, his personal life had become regular fodder for the gossip media and, as a result, Mayer made efforts to control his public image. His online presence increased, he began to stage pranks for the paparazzi, and he hosted a segment for the gossip show TMZ.
In early 2010, Mayer gave a controversial interview to Playboy magazine in which he revealed sexually explicit details about his former girlfriends Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston—calling his relationship with the former "sexual napalm." In response to a question about whether black women were interested in him, he said, "My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I've got a Benetton heart and a fuckin' David Duke cock. I'm going to start dating separately from my dick." He also used the word "nigger" in the interview. This set off accusations in the media of him being a misogynist, kiss-and-tell ex-boyfriend, and racist. He apologized via Twitter for his use of the word "nigger", saying, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize...a word that is so emotionally charged". He also tearfully apologized to his band and fans at his concert in Nashville later that night. In the following two years, he left New York and retreated from the media. Reflecting on that time in a May 2012 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he said, "I lost my head for a little while and I did a couple of dumb interviews and it kind of woke me up...It was a violent crash into being an adult. For a couple of years, it was just figuring it all out, and I'm glad I actually stayed out of the spotlight."
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performed vocals for the song "Half of My Heart" on Mayer's November 2009 album Battle Studies. Rumors began to circulate in the media that the two were a couple, an assertion that neither addressed. However, Swift released a song called "Dear John" in 2010, which was widely believed to be about her relationship with him. In June 2012, Mayer criticized the song, saying she never contacted him and that "it's abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait till he gets a load of this!'" The song "Paper Doll" was reported to be a response. In the March 21, 2019 episode of Current Mood, however, Mayer said, "When 'Paper Doll' came out, 100% of the people believed it was about somebody...But the song was not about that person and I could never tell anybody, 'That's not true,' because then I would be breaking my rule that songwriters don't say who the songs are about or not about."
In March 2014, Mayer sued watch dealer Robert Maron for $656,000 when he discovered that seven of the $5 million in watches he purchased from the dealer contained counterfeit parts. He dropped the action in May 2015, releasing a statement that asserted that research restored his "belief that Bob Maron is an expert on Rolex watches and confirmed that Bob Maron never sold him a counterfeit watch".
In 2020, Perez Hilton stated in his memoir TMI: My Life in Scandal that in 2007 at a club in Chelsea, Manhattan, Mayer came up to Hilton and said, 'I like to watch gay porn, you know,' adding, 'My favorite porn star is Brent Corrigan. He really turns me on', and then french-kissed Hilton.
Discography
Room for Squares (2001)
Heavier Things (2003)
Continuum (2006)
Battle Studies (2009)
Born and Raised (2012)
Paradise Valley (2013)
The Search for Everything (2017)
Sob Rock (2021)
Awards
Grammy Awards
Mayer has won seven awards from nineteen nominations.
Others awards and nominations
See also
Annual John Mayer Holiday Charity Revue
Notes
References
Works cited
Edwards, G. (2006). Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John? New York: Crown Publishing Group. .
External links
1977 births
Living people
21st-century American composers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American singers
American bloggers
American blues singers
American male bloggers
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male singer-songwriters
American philanthropists
American pop rock singers
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
Blues rock musicians
Columbia Records artists
Dead & Company members
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from Connecticut
John Mayer Trio members
Musicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut
People from Fairfield, Connecticut
People from Hidden Hills, California
Record producers from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from California | false | [
"A sponsorship broker is an individual, or agency, that procures sponsorship funding for properties (defined as an outlet with a captive audience that provides for a positive experience). Sponsorship brokers tend to specialize to particular niches within the sponsorship-marketing field.\n\nA typical sponsorship could be, for example, an arrangement to exchange advertising for the responsibility of providing funding for a popular event or entity. For example, a corporate entity may provide equipment for a famous band in exchange for brand recognition. The sponsor earns popularity this way while the sponsored can earn a lot of money and/or receive free music equipment. This type of sponsorship is prominent in the sports, arts, media and charity sectors.\n\nSee also \nDonation\nCause marketing\nAmbush marketing\nSports marketing\nSustaining program\nEuropean Sponsorship Association\n\nReferences \n\nSponsorships",
"Celebrity Family Feud is a broadcast network spin-off of the syndicated American game show Family Feud. Like the primetime All-Star Specials aired during the late 1970s and early 1980s by the show's then-network home ABC, the episodes feature teams of celebrities playing as a 'family' for charity, rather than the regular format of real families playing for cash and prizes.\n\nThe current version, outside the one-season summer format on NBC, has aired as a summer series on ABC since 2015, as a part of that network's \"Summer Fun & Games\" blocks of primetime game shows.\n\nHistory\nThe first incarnation of the spin-off was broadcast in 2008 by NBC as part of a block of summer reality series it branded as All-American Summer. Instead of featuring the host of the syndicated version at the time, John O'Hurley (who was hosting the short-lived Secret Talents of the Stars for CBS), the NBC celebrity version was hosted by Al Roker of NBC's morning show Today. This incarnation only lasted for one season before it was cancelled in March 2009. There were six episodes, with the first episode airing on June 24, 2008 and the last episode airing on July 29, 2008.\n\nOn April 9, 2015, ABC announced that it had picked up a new incarnation of Celebrity Family Feud, premiering on June 21, 2015 and hosted by Steve Harvey—the current host of the syndicated version of Family Feud. It marked the first time that any version of Family Feud aired on ABC since the end of the original version hosted by Richard Dawson in June 1985. Unlike the current syndicated version of Feud, which was taped in Atlanta, Georgia from 2011 until 2017 and again since 2020, this version has always been produced in Los Angeles, California, and features the return of Burton Richardson, who announced the show from 1999 to 2010, to the series. On August 4, 2016, ABC renewed Celebrity Family Feud for a fourth season. On August 6, 2017, ABC renewed Celebrity Family Feud for a fifth season and premiered on June 10, 2018. On August 7, 2018, ABC renewed Celebrity Family Feud for a sixth season, which premiered on June 9, 2019. On November 20, 2019, the series was renewed for a seventh season which premiered on May 31, 2020. On March 28, 2021, the series was renewed for an eighth season which premiered on June 6, 2021.\n\nUnder the terms of Fremantle's agreement with ABC, the network has a strict limit on how many episodes of Celebrity Family Feud it can release each season, so as not to compete against Family Feud's regular run in syndication.\n\nThe series in the summer is in off-network syndication with ViacomCBS’s BET.\n\nSeries overview\n\nFormat\nDuring the NBC run of Celebrity Family Feud, each episode featured a tournament format with three games. The winners of the two semi-final games played a final game, with the winner advancing to Fast Money. Due to time constraints, the format was slightly modified from the 2003 format used by the syndicated version, in that the double value round is eliminated, with each match containing two single rounds and a triple round, although the game still played first to 300 points or sudden death. In Fast Money, if one or both team members accrued at least 200 points, the group won $50,000 for their charity; otherwise, $25,000 was awarded to the group's charity if they fail. Families that lost and did not play Fast Money received $10,000 for their charity.\n\nThe ABC version does not use a tournament format and follows the same format as the syndicated version. Most episodes feature two self-contained games, each concluding with Fast Money; some episodes in later seasons consist of a single hour-long game. Winning teams earn $25,000 for their chosen charity by scoring 200 points in Fast Money, or $10,000 if they do not; teams that lose the main game earn $5,000 for their charity. On September 12, 2021, both teams were playing for the same charity so a member of each team played Fast Money for the $25,000 prize. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the eighth season used a socially distanced set with individual podiums, which allowed for some teams to have six players instead of the standard five.\n\nInternational versions\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n (NBC version/via Internet Archive)\n Official website (ABC version)\n \n\nAmerican game shows\n2008 American television series debuts\n2008 American television series endings\n2000s American game shows\n2010s American game shows\n2015 American television series debuts\nEnglish-language television shows\nFamily Feud\nAmerican Broadcasting Company original programming\nNBC original programming\nTelevision series by Fremantle (company)\nAmerican television spin-offs\nAmerican television series revived after cancellation\nCelebrity competitions"
]
|
[
"John Mayer",
"Philanthropy",
"what is a charity he works for?",
"Mayer created the \"Back to You\" Fund,",
"what does this charity do?",
"focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development.",
"how does the charity raise money?",
"The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items,",
"did the charity earn a lot of money?",
"The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value."
]
| C_7f228cfbf308449f96ad0534c535d539_0 | what is a type of philanthropy he works with? | 5 | What is a type of philanthropy John Mayer works with? | John Mayer | In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value. Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007. Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released under the title Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headline Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres. CANNOTANSWER | Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters | John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a following. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest Festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and eventually to Columbia Records, which released his first extended play Inside Wants Out. His following two studio albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—performed well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his single "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and begun performing the blues and rock music that had originally influenced him as a musician. He collaborated with blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton. Forming the John Mayer Trio, he released a live album, Try!, in 2005 and his third studio album Continuum in 2006. Both albums received positive reviews, and Continuum earned Mayer a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". That album was followed by Battle Studies in 2009, a return to pop, with a Battle Studies World Tour.
After having several controversial incidents with the media, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010 and began work on his fifth studio album, Born and Raised, which drew inspiration from the 1970s pop music of Laurel Canyon. However, the discovery of a granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the release of the album until May 2012, and forced him to cancel the planned tour. The album received a generally favorable reception, though was less commercially successful than his previous work. Mayer began performing as a singer again in January 2013, and that year released his sixth studio album, Paradise Valley, which incorporates country music influences. By 2014, he had sold a total of over 20 million albums worldwide. His seventh album, The Search for Everything, a loose concept album based around the theme of a romantic break-up, was released in 2017. Mayer released his latest album Sob Rock, inspired by 1980s soft rock music, in July 2021.
In 2015, three former members of the Grateful Dead joined with Mayer and two other musicians to form the band Dead & Company. It is the latest of several reunions of the band's surviving members since Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. The band remains active and its tours have been well received.
Mayer's secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing; he has authored columns for magazines such as Esquire. He supports various causes and has performed at charity benefits. He is a watch aficionado (with a collection he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars), contributing to the watch site Hodinkee, and has been on the jury at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
Early life
Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father, Richard Mayer (b. 1927), was a high-school principal, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman; b. 1947), was a middle-school English teacher. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism. As an elementary school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they played Nintendo together weekday afternoons after school for three years. He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).
After watching Michael J. Fox's guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 13 years old, his father rented one for him. A neighbor gave Mayer a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which cultivated Mayer's love of blues music. According to Mayer, his fascination with Vaughan started a "genealogical hunt" that led him to other blues guitarists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush, and Lightnin' Hopkins. Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar shop owner, Al Ferrante, and soon became consumed. His singular focus concerned his parents, and they twice took him to see a psychiatrist, who determined him to be healthy. Mayer says that his parents' contentious marriage led him to "disappear and create my own world I could believe in". After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school. In addition to performing solo, he was a member of a band called Villanova Junction (named for a Jimi Hendrix song) with Tim Procaccini, Joe Beleznay, and Rich Wolf.
When Mayer was 17, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, "That was the moment the songwriter in me was born", and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and says he feared having to enter a mental institution. He continues to manage such episodes with anti-anxiety medication.
Career
Early career (1996–1999)
Mayer considered skipping college to pursue music, but his parents dissuaded him. He enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in 1997 at age 19. At the urging of his college friend Clay Cook, they left Berklee after two semesters and moved to Atlanta; there, they formed a two-man band called LoFi Masters, and began performing in local coffee houses and club venues such as Eddie's Attic. According to Cook, they experienced musical differences due to Mayer's desire to move more towards pop music. The two parted ways and Mayer embarked on a solo career.
With the help of local producer and engineer Glenn Matullo, Mayer recorded the independent EP Inside Wants Out. The EP includes eight songs with Mayer on lead vocals and guitars. For the opening track, "Back To You", a full band was enlisted, including the EP's co-producer David "DeLa" LaBruyere on bass guitars. Cook had co-written many of the album's songs, including its first commercial single release, "No Such Thing"; however, his only performance contribution was backing vocals on the song "Comfortable".
Major label and commercial success (2000–2004)
Mayer and LaBruyere performed throughout Georgia and nearby states. Also, as his career coincided with the then-nascent internet music market, Mayer benefited from an online following. Mayer came to the attention of Gregg Latterman at Aware Records through an acquaintance of Mayer's, a lawyer, who sent Aware his EP. In early 2001, after including him in Aware Festival concerts and his songs on Aware compilations, Aware released Mayer's internet-only album, Room for Squares. During this time, Aware concluded a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists. In September, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added. The re-release included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from Inside Wants Out.
By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and "Why Georgia". It also received general praise critically, and Mayer drew comparisons to Dave Matthews. In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland". In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up." He also figuratively referred to himself as being 16, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was 16 years old at the time.
In February 2003, Mayer released a live CD and DVD of a concert in Birmingham, Alabama titled Any Given Thursday, which included songs previously not recorded, such as "Man on the Side", "Something's Missing", and "Covered in Rain". Commercially, the album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart. Its accompanying DVD release received conservative—although consistent—praise, with critics torn between his pop-idol image, and (at the time) emerging guitar prowess. Erik Crawford of AllMusic asked, "Is [Mayer] the consummate guitar hero exemplified when he plays a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Lenny', or is he the teen idol that the pubescent girls shriek for after he plays 'Your Body Is a Wonderland'?" That summer, Mayer went on the road with Counting Crows in a tour that spanned 42 dates between July 7 and September 2.
Heavier Things, Mayer's second album, was released in 2003 to generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Blender all gave positive, although reserved, feedback. The album was commercially successful, and while it did not sell as well as Room for Squares, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. The song "Daughters" won the 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year, and reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who had died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. On February 9, 2009, Mayer told Ellen DeGeneres that he thought he should not have won the Grammy for Song of the year because he thought that Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" was the better song. Because of this, he removed the top half of the Grammy and gave it to Keys, and kept the bottom part for himself. At the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2006, Mayer received the Hal David Starlight Award.
Mayer again recorded live concerts across seven nights of his U.S. tour in 2004. These recordings were released to the iTunes Store under the title As/Is, indicating that the errors were included along with the good moments. A few months later, a "best of" CD was compiled from the As/Is nights. The album included a previously unreleased cover of Marvin Gaye's song "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", featuring a solo from Mayer's supporting act—jazz and blues turntablist DJ Logic. The album covers of the As/Is releases feature drawings of anthropomorphic bunnies.
Change in musical direction (2005–2008)
As early as 2002, Chris Willman with Entertainment Weekly said that Mayer was "more historically savvy, and more ambitious than you'd guess from the unforced earnestness of [Room for] Squares. However, Mayer was largely associated with the Adult Contemporary and singer-songwriter genres. Fame allowed him access to his early influences, and he began collaborating with blues and jazz artists. He accompanied Buddy Guy in a concert at the Irving Plaza in December 2003. He toured with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, including a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. He also performed on commercial releases, namely, with Eric Clapton (Back Home, Crossroads Guitar Festival), Buddy Guy (Bring 'Em In), John Scofield (That's What I Say), and B.B. King (80). Although Mayer maintained his reputation as a singer-songwriter, he gained distinction as a guitarist.
Following the conclusion of his Heavier Things tour, Mayer began working with artists, including those from other genres of music. His voice was sampled on the song "Go" by rapper Common, and he appeared on a hidden track called "Bittersweet Poetry" from the Kanye West album Graduation. The collaborations drew praise from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Nelly. When asked about his presence in the hip hop community, Mayer said, "It's not music out there right now. That's why, to me, hip-hop is where rock used to be."
Around this time Mayer announced that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity". In the spring of 2005, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through studio sessions. The trio combined blues and rock music. In October 2005, they opened for the Rolling Stones and that November released a live album called Try! The band took a break in mid-2006.
Mayer's third studio album, titled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006, produced by Mayer and Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine blues and pop. In that vein, two of the tracks from his Trio release Try!—"Vultures" and "Gravity"—were included on Continuum. Despite his excitement, in a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head Don Ienner panned Continuum he briefly considered quitting music and studying design full-time.
The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change", which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show. The song was the third-most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, offering commentary on each track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 21, 2006, Mayer appeared on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". The song "Gravity" was featured on the television series House, in the episode "Cane & Able" and Numb3rs. He recorded a session for the British program Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on October 22, 2006.
On December 7, 2006, Mayer was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The Trio received a nomination for Try!. He won two: Best Pop Song with Vocal for "Waiting on the World to Change" and Best Pop Album for Continuum. Mayer remixed an acoustic version of his single "Waiting on the World to Change" with vocal additions from fellow musician Ben Harper. In preparation for Continuum, Mayer had booked the Village Recorder in Los Angeles to record five acoustic versions of his songs with veteran musician Robbie McIntosh. These recordings became The Village Sessions, an EP released on December 12, 2006. As usual, Mayer oversaw the artwork. The initial North American Continuum tour ended on February 28, 2007, with a show at Madison Square Garden that the New York Post described as "career-defining".
On November 20, 2007, the re-issue of Continuum became available online and in stores. The release contained a bonus disc of six live songs from his 2007 tour: five from Continuum and a cover of the Ray Charles song "I Don't Need No Doctor". His single "Say", from the film The Bucket List, became available through iTunes. On December 6, 2007, "Belief" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. He accompanied Alicia Keys on guitar on her song "No One" at the ceremony. Additionally, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007, listed among artists and entertainers.
In February 2008, Mayer hosted a three-day Caribbean cruise event that included performances with various musicians including David Ryan Harris, Brett Dennen, Colbie Caillat, and Dave Barnes, among others. The event was called "The Mayercraft Carrier" and was held aboard the cruise ship known as the Carnival Victory. A follow-up cruise titled "Mayercraft Carrier 2" sailed from Los Angeles March 27–31, 2009, on the Carnival Splendor.
On July 1, 2008, Mayer released Where the Light Is, a live concert film of Mayer's performance at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 8, 2007. The film was directed by Danny Clinch. It features Mayer opening with an acoustic set, followed by a blues set with the Trio and concluded by a full set with the band from the Continuum album.
Battle Studies (2009)
Australian artist Guy Sebastian invited Mayer to collaborate on three songs from his 2009 album Like It Like That. Mayer also played guitar on the title track of Crosby Loggins' debut LP, Time to Move.
On July 7, 2009, Mayer performed an instrumental guitar version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at Jackson's televised memorial service. He co-wrote "World of Chances" with Demi Lovato for Lovato's second album Here We Go Again, released later that month.
After the overwhelming success of Continuum, Mayer confessed to be intimidated with beginning on a follow-up. However, he stated, "I think it got a lot easier when I realized that no matter what I do, it's not going to be Continuum, good or bad." On November 17, 2009, Mayer's fourth studio album, Battle Studies, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The first single, "Who Says", was released on September 24, 2009, in advance of the album, followed on October 19 by "Heartbreak Warfare" and "Half of My Heart" on June 21, 2010. The accompanying arena tour grossed 45 million. Despite the album's commercial success, critics reactions were mixed. Some reviews glowed, calling it his "most adventurous", others called the album "safe" and noted that "Mayer the singer-songwriter and Mayer the man about town sometimes seem disconnected, like they don't even belong in the same body". Mayer admitted to Rolling Stone that he thought Battle Studies was not his best album.
Personal troubles and hiatus (2010–2013)
Following two revealing and highly controversial magazine interviews in February 2010 with Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines, Mayer withdrew from public life and ceased giving interviews. While still on tour for Battle Studies, he began work in earnest on his fifth studio album—which drew on the popular music of Laurel Canyon in the early 1970s. Around this time, he began to experience vocal problems, and sought medical assistance. On September 16, 2011, he posted on his blog that his next record, Born and Raised, would be delayed due to treatment he was receiving for a granuloma discovered on his vocal cords. Mayer described the event as a "temporary setback" and added that the album was entirely finished except for a few vocal tracks. A month later, on October 20, 2011, Mayer posted, "I had surgery this afternoon to remove it and am now on complete vocal rest for a month or more," during which he planned to "travel the country, look, and listen". However, the surgery did not work as expected, and he had to undergo another one that August. During his travels, he visited and fell in love with Bozeman, Montana, where he bought a house and re-settled in the spring of 2012.
With his treatments complete, Mayer finished the vocals on Born and Raised, and the album's first single, "Shadow Days", was released on February 27, 2012. The following day, he released the track listing for the album, announcing that it would be released on May 22 of that year. He described it as his "most honest" album, and begin booking dates at more "intimate" venues than for Battle Studies. He also accepted an invitation to appear at the South by Southwest festival. However, the granuloma returned, and on March 9, 2012, Mayer announced that he had been forced to cancel his tour and refrain from all singing indefinitely. Even so, Born and Raised was released as scheduled, and entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one, selling 219,000 copies in its first week. It also received generally positive critical feedback; Rolling Stone rated it number 17 on its list of the 50 Best Albums of 2012, and People magazine called it "a shimmering album". Meanwhile, Mayer brought a new focus to his guitar playing and, fearing that his vocal cords had been permanently damaged, tried to come to terms with a possible future as a session musician. Determined to be cured, he sought help from the UCLA Voice Center. That September, otolaryngologist Dr. Gerald Berke paralyzed Mayer's vocal cords with a series of high-dose Botox injections, hoping that they would allow the granuloma to heal. Mayer's vocal rest extended to several months and, unable to even talk, his performances were limited to accompanying other artists on guitar. He appeared in September 2012 on Saturday Night Live, where he joined musical guest Frank Ocean. He played with the Rolling Stones in New Jersey in December 2012.
By January 2013, Mayer had recovered sufficiently enough to perform at a benefit concert in Bozeman, after almost two years without singing publicly. In April 2013, he made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where he inducted the late Albert King. A show at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Alabama on April 25, 2013, followed by a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival the next day, marked his first full-length concerts since his health troubles.
Paradise Valley, Dead & Company, The Search for Everything (2013–2018)
In June 2013, Mayer announced that he was finishing work on his sixth album, Paradise Valley. Produced by Don Was, the album features "low-key folk-rock tunes". He collaborated with Frank Ocean on the song "Wildfire Pt. 2", and with Katy Perry on "Who You Love". The latter song would go on to become the album's third single, and an accompanying music video was released on December 17. On June 18, 2013, he released a lyric video for the album's first single, "Paper Doll", on his official YouTube page. The album was released August 20, 2013, and—meeting with positive reviews—debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 145,560 copies in the United States. Mayer embarked on a tour, his first in three years, in support of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. The American leg of the tour ran from July to December 2013 with Interscope recording artist Phillip Phillips serving as the supporting act. The tour visited Australia in April 2014.
During a concert in Adelaide, Mayer covered the Beyoncé song "XO" . One month later, on May 22, he released a studio version of the song on his SoundCloud account. It was made available for digital download by Columbia Records on May 27, 2014, through the iTunes Store. For the week ending June 1, 2014, Mayer's version debuted at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart. On the Canadian Hot 100, "XO" peaked at a position of 76. The single also peaked at number 81 on the Australian Singles Chart (its debut week), and at number 95 on the Dutch Singles Chart. In the UK, it peaked at 115 on the UK Singles Chart. Mayer recorded the song "Come Rain or Come Shine" as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her album Partners, released in September 2014.
In February 2015, Mayer performed alongside Ed Sheeran at the Grammy Awards. As of March, Mayer said he was taking break from working on a "deeply personal new album". Also, Mayer recounted that in 2011 he happened upon a song by the Grateful Dead while listening to Pandora, and that soon the band's music was all he would listen to. In February 2015, while guest hosting The Late Late Show, Mayer invited Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir to join him in a studio performance. While Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (surviving members of the Grateful Dead) were preparing for their Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead tour with Trey Anastasio, Mayer began practicing the band's catalog of songs. That August, Mayer, Weir, Kreutzmann, and Hart formed the group Dead & Company, along with Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge, and began a fall tour in the United States. The tour was well received (Billboard called it "magical"), and they continued to tour the US into 2016. Although Lesh has declined to join Dead & Company, Mayer also performed with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads in 2015.
As a result of his touring with Dead & Company, Mayer postponed working on his next studio album until January 2016, with plans to finish it by the end of the year. On November 17, 2016, Mayer released "Love on the Weekend" as the lead single from his EP The Search for Everything: Wave One, which was then released on January 20, 2017. A second EP, The Search for Everything: Wave Two, was released on February 24, 2017, along with the single "Still Feel Like Your Man". The album The Search for Everything was released on April 14, 2017 and was promoted by a third single titled "In the Blood", released on May 1, 2017, and by The Search for Everything World Tour from March to October of the same year.
Mayer also continued touring with Dead & Company during the summer and fall of 2017. On December 5, during the Fall Tour, his appendix burst, resulting in an emergency appendectomy and the postponement of the remaining tour dates to February 2018. In January 2018, Dead & Company announced their Dead & Company Summer Tour 2018.
Sob Rock (2018–present)
On May 10, 2018, Mayer released the single "New Light", co-produced by No I.D. and Mayer himself. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on the release day, he announced "more new music" for 2018. During his performance at the iHeartRadio Theater on October 24, 2018, he premiered a song titled "I Guess I Just Feel Like". On December 12, 2018, he announced a world tour for 2019. Mayer released two singles in 2019; the previously played "I Guess I Just Feel Like" on February 22, and "Carry Me Away" on September 6.
During an episode of John Mayer's show "Current Mood" on March 15, 2020, he revealed that he was in the process of writing and recording songs for a new album. In early 2021, he stated that the album was completely finished as he begun posting snippets of new songs on TikTok ahead of release. In an interview with Kerwin Frost, Mayer hinted at an April release for the album. Later, the date was pushed back. On June 1, 2021, Mayer officially announced his eighth album Sob Rock and on June 4, released the lead single, "Last Train Home" along with an accompanying music video. The album was released on July 16, 2021 as well as a music video for the song, "Shot In The Dark". The track list included previously released singles "New Light", "I Guess I Just Feel Like" and "Carry Me Away". "Carry Me Away" was slightly reworked production-wise to fit the album’s 1980s aesthetic.
Touring
Mayer began touring as a solo artist in 2001. While his early records were largely acoustic, early reviewers noted his unexpected electric "guitar heroics" during live performances.
Mayer has toured North America, Europe and Australia with many musical groups, including Maroon 5,Counting Crows, Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat and Train. In 2010, Mayer and Keith Urban performed at a CMT Crossroads concert a medley of their songs and a rendition of George Michael's single "Faith". This performance led to Urban and Mayer teaming up again for future performances, including at the 2010 CMT Music Awards.
Mayer allows audio taping and non-commercial trading of those recordings at most of his live performances. Mayer often shows up at small venues unannounced (or with little advance notice) for surprise concerts—occasionally for free or without accepting the performance fee. He has made appearances throughout the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York areas, including shows at the Laugh Factory, Eddie's Attic, and the Village Underground. After a public campaign by their senior class president, Mayer performed a surprise three-song set at the 2004 Pennsbury High School senior prom. In June 2015, Mayer appeared as a guest for two nights with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads, recreating the Grateful Dead's notable May 8 and June 9, 1977 concerts.
Headlining
Room for Squares Tour (2002)
Heavier Things Tour (2003–2004)
Continuum Tour (2006–2007)
John Mayer 2008 Summer Tour (2008)
Battle Studies World Tour (2009–2010)
Born and Raised World Tour (2013–2014)
The Search for Everything World Tour (2017)
John Mayer 2019 World Tour (2019)
Sob Rock Tour (2022)
Co-headlining
John Mayer/Guster Summer Tour (2002)
John Mayer/Counting Crows Summer Tour (2003)
John Mayer/Sheryl Crow Tour (2006)
Opening act
Sting European Tour (2004)
Touring with Dead & Company
Mayer joined each annual Tour in the years 2015 to the present.
Other ventures
Dead & Company
Since 2015, Mayer has been touring with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Founding bassist Phil Lesh has notably declined to participate in the project, although he has performed with Mayer on a few occasions since Dead & Company began. The role of bassist in Dead & Company has instead been played by Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band. Jeff Chimenti, who has toured with the various spin-offs of the Dead since the 1990s, is the group's keyboardist.
Although Mayer had been familiar with the music of the Grateful Dead since at least high school, he began to develop a strong interest in their music in 2011 after hearing their song Althea by chance on Pandora radio. In 2015, while the Dead's Fare Thee Well shows with Trey Anastasio were also being planned, Mayer performed "Althea" with Weir on The Late Late Show, along with "Truckin'." Weir was impressed with Mayer's take on the material and began planning to work with him after the Fare Thee Well shows, despite them being billed as something of finale for the band and its legacy. Weir discussed the genesis of the band and his thoughts about working with Mayer in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2016:
The thought of pop singer Mayer stepping in for Jerry Garcia was met with some initial skepticism by both fans and music critics, but the shows have since been well received. The band continues to tour in 2018, 2019 and into 2020 and has considered recording a studio album consisting of songs from the Grateful Dead catalog and potentially some originals. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Lesh praised the band's performances and explained his decision not to take part:
Author
With the June 2004 issue of Esquire, Mayer began a column called "Music Lessons with John Mayer". Each article featured a lesson and his views on various topics, both of personal and popular interest. In the August 2005 issue, he invited readers to create music for orphaned lyrics he had written. The winner was Tim Fagan of Los Angeles as announced in the following January's issue.
As social media gained momentum in the 2000s, Mayer became increasingly active online, and maintained four blogs: a Myspace page, a blog at his official site, another at Honeyee.com, one at tumblr, and a photoblog at StunningNikon.com. He was particularly prolific on Twitter, where he was noted for authoring his own posts, and he amassed 3.7 million followers. Although his posts often dealt with career-related matters, they also included jokes, videos, photos, and eventually what he called the "maintenance of vapor"—or misguided, personal responses to the media. On January 23, 2008, he posted the quote "There is danger in theoretical speculation of battle, in prejudice, in false reasoning, in pride, in braggadocio. There is one safe resource, the return to nature."; all the previous blog entries were deleted. On September 14, 2010, he deleted his personal Twitter account.
In the mid-2000s, he did comedy sporadically, making random appearances at the famed Comedy Cellar in New York and at other venues. He stated that it helped him write better, but that increased media attention made him too careful in his technique. He has since said he has no plans to return to it.
Watch collector
Mayer is an avid collector of watches, a pastime that he says keeps him "sane". His collection—which he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars—includes a Patek Philippe with a Sky Moon Tourbillion, a Rolex GMT Master 116710 BLNR, and an IWC Big Pilot Ref 5002, his signature watch. He has also served as a juror at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, a competition rewarding timepieces that champion the values of Swiss-made watches and writes a column for the horology website Hodinkee. In his column for January 16, 2015, he wrote an open letter to the watch brand IWC, encouraging it to "embrace [its] heritage, scale the product line down in terms of model variants, and simplify the design language". IWC replied, defending the changes they've made over the years, saying, "We have a wonderful past, it is true—but in admiring what we achieved thus far, we hope you will feel encouraged to look forward to what we achieve in the future".
Current Mood
During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show in September 2018, Mayer showed a trailer for his new Instagram Live show. The show, entitled Current Mood, debuted on his IGTV account on Sunday evening on September 30, 2018. Episodes have continued to air on that schedule on a weekly basis. Guests have included Charlie Puth, Cazzie David, and musician Thundercat. Mayer's latest season of Current Mood began on Sunday November 18, 2019 with guest Shawn Mendes and surprise feature with Camila Cabello on his first episode. For Current Mood Mayer coined notable jingles including "Camila Camendes," "CVS Bag," and "Drone Shot of My Yacht."
Appearances in the media
In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 titled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts.
Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during Apple's annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2004 as Jobs introduced the music production software GarageBand. Mayer became a fixture of the event, including at the 2007 iPhone announcement. Volkswagen concluded a deal with instrument manufacturer First Act to include a GarageMaster electric guitar that was playable through the stereo system of six of their 2007 models; Mayer (along with Slash and Christopher Guest) were selected to endorse the campaign and were featured playing the guitar in ads. Mayer used and endorsed the BlackBerry Curve.
Mayer made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, the Late Show with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mayer appeared with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Mayer wrote the theme song to the OWN network show Rollin' with Zach, which features Zach Anner. CBS invited him to guest host The Late Late Show in early 2015 on three dates, February 4–6, after the retirement of Craig Ferguson.
Mayer makes a cameo as a truck driver in the 2014 comedy horror film Zombeavers. In the 2015 film Get Hard, he played a version of himself who is disgusted with the "monetization of the creative process".
Instruments and equipment
John Mayer is a guitar collector and has collaborated with elite guitar companies to design his own instruments. He owns over 200 guitars.
In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer. The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code. This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag. In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters.
In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public, along with a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included in the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag, on which Mayer collaborated on the in-case designs. In 2006, Mayer was estimated to have more than 200 guitars in his personal collection.
John Mayer's most iconic guitar is the "Black1". Conceived after the Heavier Things tour, Mayer went to Fender Custom Shop with the desire to build a guitar. He was inspired by guitars of famous players the likes of Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He sought out masterbuilder John Cruz to help devise the design. In essence, Mayer wanted an all-black version of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "First Wife" Stratocaster. The guitar is heavily "relic'd" to specs very similar to the guitar used by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Black1 includes a mint pickguard, custom wound pickups, gold hardware, and gold tuners from the SRV Tribute Stratocaster. It was the principal guitar on the Continuum album. It was notably used on tracks such as "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You", and "Bold as Love". The Black1 has become a trademark to Mayer's music.
The Fender Custom Shop made a limited run of 83 replica Black1 Stratocasters, all of which were sold within 24 hours. Each one was carefully relic'd by John Cruz. In 2010, Fender announced a production model of Mayer's Black1 guitar. Un-relic'd production versions of the guitar were produced for a limited run of 500 worldwide. In addition, full production signature Stratocasters were produced in three-tone sunburst and Olympic White finishes.
In 2014, John Mayer announced that he was no longer a Fender Artist. As a result, his signature line of guitars was pulled from production. In 2015, Mayer announced that he was collaborating with PRS Guitars. In March 2016, Mayer and PRS revealed their collaborative project, the Super Eagle. This was a limited release from PRS's Private Stock line of instruments and each guitar features ultra-grade woods, abalone inlay, JCF Audio preamps, and a hand-signed sticker by glass-artist David Smith. Only 100 were produced, each retailing for over $10,000. In January 2017 at NAMM, PRS and Mayer announced the J-MOD 100 signature amp. In June 2017, the Super Eagle II was revealed, limited to 120 instruments.
In January 2018, Martin Guitar announced the limited-release (45 instruments) John Mayer Signature D-45, with list price $14,999. In March 2018, Mayer's signature Silver Sky model was released by PRS, available in four colors. While Music Trade called the Silver Sky "derivative", it said that all the elements were "designed from the ground up" and built with "attention to detail". While acknowledging its similarity to a Stratocaster, Matt Blackett of Guitar Player magazine ultimately said, "The Silver Sky absolutely delivers on the promise of being a damn-near-perfect version of this type of guitar." The magazine named its "Editor's Pick".
Reception
Mayer has stood out as among his peers as a guitarist. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks in an issue lauding the "New Guitar Gods", and the cover nicknamed him Slowhand Jr., a reference to Eric Clapton. Critics, however, point to how safe his music is. Chris Richards, in review of a 2017 concert, declared "John Mayer is an amazing guitar player", though he says he did so "through clenched teeth," adding that the fact should not absolve the guitarist of "his pillow-soft songcraft, the dull sentimentality of his lyrics, or that cuckoo-racist interview he gave to Playboy back in 2010". Music writer Steve Baltin commented on this dichotomy, saying that Mayer is "one of the sharpest and savviest musical minds you will ever encounter", and added, "While many have found reasons to dislike Mayer since the beginning of his career, he is a consummate musician's musician, an artist who has been embraced by Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Buddy Guy among others."
Mayer's inclusion in the Grateful Dead was not without its critics. Chris Robinson of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood said that "everything that Jerry Garcia ever talked about or stood for, John Mayer is the antithesis", and that while "Jerry was one of the most unique musicians in the world [...] here's John Mayer playing everyone else's licks". The comment itself drew controversy, and Mayer, for his part, said, "I care about this band too much to give that life", and that "I realized not long ago that I'm done debating my own merits."
Personal life
On his third episode of Current Mood, Mayer revealed he had been sober since 2016. He stopped drinking after having what he says was a six-day hangover after Drake's 30th birthday party.
Relationships
Mayer has been romantically involved with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than 17 times their face value.
Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey, location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007.
Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech shooting, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released as Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headlined Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres.
On March 1, 2019, John Mayer established the Heart and Armor Foundation in support of veterans of war. John has been actively involved in initiatives to help returning veterans for about 12 years.
Controversies
Mayer's relationship with Jessica Simpson coincided with behavior changes that significantly increased his tabloid exposure. Early in his career, he had expressed his resolve to completely avoid drugs, alcohol, clubbing, "red-carpet" events, dating celebrities, and anything that he felt would detract the focus from his music. In interviews, however, Mayer alluded to experiencing an extreme "anxiety bender" episode in his twenties that motivated him to be less reclusive. In 2006, he first mentioned that he had begun using marijuana. He began making appearances at clubs in Los Angeles and New York City, and Simpson became the first in a string of famous girlfriends, including Jennifer Aniston and Minka Kelly. By 2007, his personal life had become regular fodder for the gossip media and, as a result, Mayer made efforts to control his public image. His online presence increased, he began to stage pranks for the paparazzi, and he hosted a segment for the gossip show TMZ.
In early 2010, Mayer gave a controversial interview to Playboy magazine in which he revealed sexually explicit details about his former girlfriends Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston—calling his relationship with the former "sexual napalm." In response to a question about whether black women were interested in him, he said, "My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I've got a Benetton heart and a fuckin' David Duke cock. I'm going to start dating separately from my dick." He also used the word "nigger" in the interview. This set off accusations in the media of him being a misogynist, kiss-and-tell ex-boyfriend, and racist. He apologized via Twitter for his use of the word "nigger", saying, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize...a word that is so emotionally charged". He also tearfully apologized to his band and fans at his concert in Nashville later that night. In the following two years, he left New York and retreated from the media. Reflecting on that time in a May 2012 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he said, "I lost my head for a little while and I did a couple of dumb interviews and it kind of woke me up...It was a violent crash into being an adult. For a couple of years, it was just figuring it all out, and I'm glad I actually stayed out of the spotlight."
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performed vocals for the song "Half of My Heart" on Mayer's November 2009 album Battle Studies. Rumors began to circulate in the media that the two were a couple, an assertion that neither addressed. However, Swift released a song called "Dear John" in 2010, which was widely believed to be about her relationship with him. In June 2012, Mayer criticized the song, saying she never contacted him and that "it's abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait till he gets a load of this!'" The song "Paper Doll" was reported to be a response. In the March 21, 2019 episode of Current Mood, however, Mayer said, "When 'Paper Doll' came out, 100% of the people believed it was about somebody...But the song was not about that person and I could never tell anybody, 'That's not true,' because then I would be breaking my rule that songwriters don't say who the songs are about or not about."
In March 2014, Mayer sued watch dealer Robert Maron for $656,000 when he discovered that seven of the $5 million in watches he purchased from the dealer contained counterfeit parts. He dropped the action in May 2015, releasing a statement that asserted that research restored his "belief that Bob Maron is an expert on Rolex watches and confirmed that Bob Maron never sold him a counterfeit watch".
In 2020, Perez Hilton stated in his memoir TMI: My Life in Scandal that in 2007 at a club in Chelsea, Manhattan, Mayer came up to Hilton and said, 'I like to watch gay porn, you know,' adding, 'My favorite porn star is Brent Corrigan. He really turns me on', and then french-kissed Hilton.
Discography
Room for Squares (2001)
Heavier Things (2003)
Continuum (2006)
Battle Studies (2009)
Born and Raised (2012)
Paradise Valley (2013)
The Search for Everything (2017)
Sob Rock (2021)
Awards
Grammy Awards
Mayer has won seven awards from nineteen nominations.
Others awards and nominations
See also
Annual John Mayer Holiday Charity Revue
Notes
References
Works cited
Edwards, G. (2006). Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John? New York: Crown Publishing Group. .
External links
1977 births
Living people
21st-century American composers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American singers
American bloggers
American blues singers
American male bloggers
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male singer-songwriters
American philanthropists
American pop rock singers
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
Blues rock musicians
Columbia Records artists
Dead & Company members
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from Connecticut
John Mayer Trio members
Musicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut
People from Fairfield, Connecticut
People from Hidden Hills, California
Record producers from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from California | true | [
"The Institute for Philanthropy is a not-for-profit organisation which provides information and educational programmes to philanthropists and to charitable organizations. Originally established in 2000 by Hilary Browne-Wilkinson, a former solicitor at University College London, the Institute currently operates from offices in London and New York.\n\nThe Institute carries out research about charitable organizations and charitable tax law, and provides advice to potential donors on the efficient utilisation of funding.\n\nThe Institute works to increase effective philanthropy in the United Kingdom and internationally, by raising awareness and understanding of philanthropy, providing donor education and building donor networks.\n\nProgrammes \nThe Institute has developed several international philanthropy programmes:\n The Philanthropy Workshop, implemented in 1995 as an offshoot of the Rockefeller Foundation, is a series of three confidential one-week workshops which inform, educate, and connect wealthy donors so they are able to manage their own philanthropic activities more effectively.\n The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) was launched in Canada by the Toskan-Casale Foundation in 2002 at the Royal St. George's College in Toronto and has been directed by the Philanthropy Institute since 2007, working with the Toskan Casale Foundation and the Wood Family Trust. It is a school-based programme which works with local charities to help increase community awareness and knowledge of philanthropy among young people. As of 2013, it is part of the curriculum in 75 secondary schools. Pupils visit their chosen local charity and prepare presentations showing why that charity is worthy of support. The group judged to have made the best presentation in each school is granted £3,000 to award to their charity. Over 10,000 pupils have participated in the program.\n Next Generation Philanthropy is an educational program directed in partnership with the Institute for Family Business. It provides information and education to younger philanthropists in a group setting.\n Think Philanthropy is a series of lectures and workshops discussing and providing information about current issues and trends in the field of philanthropy, such as effective charitable asset management, climate change, funding in areas of high risk, and funding in an economic downturn. The talks are led philanthropists and by experts such as Paul Collier, Professor of Economics, Oxford University; Professor David Swensen, Chief Investment Officer, Yale University; Dr. Steve Howard, CEO, Climate Group; and Dr. Sigrid Rausing, Director of the Sigrid Rausing Trust.\n\nPartnerships \nThe Institute has partnered with several leading organisations including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, The Royal Bank of Canada and Arcapita. It has also worked with charitable foundations such as The Rockefeller Foundation, The Wellcome Trust and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It also provided advice and nominations for the Inaugural Happy List.\n\nReferences \n\nOrganizations established in 2000\nNon-profit organisations based in London\nNon-profit organizations based in New York City\nPhilanthropy",
"Rob Reich (born 1969) is an American political scientist. He is a professor of political science at Stanford University, the director of Stanford's McCoy Center for Ethics in Society, co-director of Stanford's Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), and associate director of Stanford's institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). A political theorist, Reich's work focuses primarily on applied ethics, educational inequality and the role of philanthropy in the public sector, along with other topics in liberal democratic theory.\n\nAcademic career \n\nReich teaches courses on justice, public service, philanthropy, practical ethics, and political theory at Stanford. He has received numerous awards for his teaching, including the Walter J. Gores award (Stanford's highest teaching honor) and the Phi Beta Kappa Undergraduate Teaching Prize. He is also a Bass Fellow in Undergraduate Education for \"extraordinary contributions to undergraduate education.\"\n\nIn Fall 2016, Reich will co-teach \"Election 2016\" at Stanford University. The course will attempt, with the help of experts, to make sense of an election that defies all historical precedent and to take stock of the health of American democracy. \"Election 2016\" will host a number of guest speakers including David Plouffe and David Axelrod. It will be the centerpiece of a campus-wide campaign of events around the 2016 presidential elections.\n\nReich's research has explored a range of topics in political theory, with his most recent work focusing primarily on the role of philanthropy in democratic societies. Reich's scholarship on the charitable tax deduction, Teach for America, and non-profit status is frequently cited in the New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. He is a contributor to the Boston Review, a magazine co-edited by former Stanford political science professor Joshua Cohen. Reich was the lead author of their 2013 forum on foundations and democracy, and wrote the essay titled, \"What are Foundations For?\". In 2018, Princeton University Press published Reich's book, Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better, which purports to offer a political theory for philanthropy.\n\nBeginning in 2018, with Stanford Professors Mehran Sahami and Jeremy Weinstein, Reich has begun teaching a large introductory course on technology, policy, and ethics, which has been featured in the New York Times and The Nation.\n\nSelected publications\n\nBooks \n Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in Education (2003) \n Toward a Humanist Justice: The Political Philosophy of Susan Moller Okin (2009), co-edited with Debra Satz \n Education, Justice, and Democracy (2013), co-edited with Danielle Allen, won the 2013 PROSE Award for the best book in education. \n Occupy the Future (2013), co-edited with David Grusky, Doug McAdam, and Debra Satz \n Philanthropy in Democratic Societies: History, Institutions, Values (2016) contributor and co-editor with Lucy Berholz and Chiara Cordelli.\n Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better(2018).\n Digital Technology and Democratic Theory (2021) contributor and co-editor with Lucy Berholz and Hélène Landemore.\n System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong And How We Can Reboot (2021).\n\nArticles \n “Repugnant to the Whole Idea of Democracy? On the Role of Foundations in Democratic Societies,” PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 49, July 2016.\n “Gift Giving and Philanthropy in Market Democracy,” in Critical Review, Vol. 26, Nos. 3-4.\n \"Philanthropy and Caring for the Needs of Strangers,\" Social Research, Vol. 80, No. 2, Summer 2013.\n \"Equality, Adequacy, and K-12 Education,\" in Education, Justice, and Democracy, Danielle Allen and Rob Reich, eds., University of Chicago Press.\n \"Not Very Giving.\" New York Times, September 5, 2013.\n \"Toward a Political Theory of Philanthropy,\" in Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy, Patricia Illingworth, Thomas Pogge, Leif Wenar, eds., Oxford University Press.\n\nService \n\nIn 2001, Reich and Debra Satz founded the non-profit Hope House Scholars Program to teach humanities to women in Hope House, a substance abuse treatment center for women in Redwood City, California. The pair received the Roland Prize from Stanford for their work on the program. He is also involved with several committees for evaluating undergraduate education, faculty diversity, admission and student life at Stanford.\n\nReich has worked as a researcher and moderator at the Aspen Institute, and has served on various committees for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is a co-founder and advisor to the #GivingTuesday campaign, and is currently a board member for the Boston Review. He was a board member for GiveWell, a nonprofit that evaluates charities for donors, between 2013 and March, 2019.\n\nPersonal life and education \n\nReich received his B.A. in philosophy from Yale University and his Ph.D. in philosophy of education from Stanford University. His son, Gus Kirkpatrick, attends the esteemed Syracuse University where he is a member of the Pi Chapter House of Psi Upsilon Fraternity. He served as an early corps member in Teach for America, during which he taught sixth grade in Houston, Texas.\n\nHe is often confused with Robert Reich, professor of political science at the University of California - Berkeley and former secretary of the department of labor.\n\nSee also\nEthics of philanthropy\n\nReferences \n\n1969 births\nLiving people\nAmerican political scientists\nStanford University faculty\nYale University alumni\nStanford University alumni"
]
|
[
"John Mayer",
"Philanthropy",
"what is a charity he works for?",
"Mayer created the \"Back to You\" Fund,",
"what does this charity do?",
"focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development.",
"how does the charity raise money?",
"The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items,",
"did the charity earn a lot of money?",
"The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value.",
"what is a type of philanthropy he works with?",
"Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters"
]
| C_7f228cfbf308449f96ad0534c535d539_0 | does he work with any other artists for charity? | 6 | Besides Zac Brown,does John Mayer work with any other artists for charity? | John Mayer | In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value. Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007. Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released under the title Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headline Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres. CANNOTANSWER | In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert | John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a following. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest Festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and eventually to Columbia Records, which released his first extended play Inside Wants Out. His following two studio albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—performed well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his single "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and begun performing the blues and rock music that had originally influenced him as a musician. He collaborated with blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton. Forming the John Mayer Trio, he released a live album, Try!, in 2005 and his third studio album Continuum in 2006. Both albums received positive reviews, and Continuum earned Mayer a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". That album was followed by Battle Studies in 2009, a return to pop, with a Battle Studies World Tour.
After having several controversial incidents with the media, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010 and began work on his fifth studio album, Born and Raised, which drew inspiration from the 1970s pop music of Laurel Canyon. However, the discovery of a granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the release of the album until May 2012, and forced him to cancel the planned tour. The album received a generally favorable reception, though was less commercially successful than his previous work. Mayer began performing as a singer again in January 2013, and that year released his sixth studio album, Paradise Valley, which incorporates country music influences. By 2014, he had sold a total of over 20 million albums worldwide. His seventh album, The Search for Everything, a loose concept album based around the theme of a romantic break-up, was released in 2017. Mayer released his latest album Sob Rock, inspired by 1980s soft rock music, in July 2021.
In 2015, three former members of the Grateful Dead joined with Mayer and two other musicians to form the band Dead & Company. It is the latest of several reunions of the band's surviving members since Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. The band remains active and its tours have been well received.
Mayer's secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing; he has authored columns for magazines such as Esquire. He supports various causes and has performed at charity benefits. He is a watch aficionado (with a collection he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars), contributing to the watch site Hodinkee, and has been on the jury at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
Early life
Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father, Richard Mayer (b. 1927), was a high-school principal, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman; b. 1947), was a middle-school English teacher. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism. As an elementary school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they played Nintendo together weekday afternoons after school for three years. He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).
After watching Michael J. Fox's guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 13 years old, his father rented one for him. A neighbor gave Mayer a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which cultivated Mayer's love of blues music. According to Mayer, his fascination with Vaughan started a "genealogical hunt" that led him to other blues guitarists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush, and Lightnin' Hopkins. Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar shop owner, Al Ferrante, and soon became consumed. His singular focus concerned his parents, and they twice took him to see a psychiatrist, who determined him to be healthy. Mayer says that his parents' contentious marriage led him to "disappear and create my own world I could believe in". After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school. In addition to performing solo, he was a member of a band called Villanova Junction (named for a Jimi Hendrix song) with Tim Procaccini, Joe Beleznay, and Rich Wolf.
When Mayer was 17, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, "That was the moment the songwriter in me was born", and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and says he feared having to enter a mental institution. He continues to manage such episodes with anti-anxiety medication.
Career
Early career (1996–1999)
Mayer considered skipping college to pursue music, but his parents dissuaded him. He enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in 1997 at age 19. At the urging of his college friend Clay Cook, they left Berklee after two semesters and moved to Atlanta; there, they formed a two-man band called LoFi Masters, and began performing in local coffee houses and club venues such as Eddie's Attic. According to Cook, they experienced musical differences due to Mayer's desire to move more towards pop music. The two parted ways and Mayer embarked on a solo career.
With the help of local producer and engineer Glenn Matullo, Mayer recorded the independent EP Inside Wants Out. The EP includes eight songs with Mayer on lead vocals and guitars. For the opening track, "Back To You", a full band was enlisted, including the EP's co-producer David "DeLa" LaBruyere on bass guitars. Cook had co-written many of the album's songs, including its first commercial single release, "No Such Thing"; however, his only performance contribution was backing vocals on the song "Comfortable".
Major label and commercial success (2000–2004)
Mayer and LaBruyere performed throughout Georgia and nearby states. Also, as his career coincided with the then-nascent internet music market, Mayer benefited from an online following. Mayer came to the attention of Gregg Latterman at Aware Records through an acquaintance of Mayer's, a lawyer, who sent Aware his EP. In early 2001, after including him in Aware Festival concerts and his songs on Aware compilations, Aware released Mayer's internet-only album, Room for Squares. During this time, Aware concluded a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists. In September, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added. The re-release included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from Inside Wants Out.
By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and "Why Georgia". It also received general praise critically, and Mayer drew comparisons to Dave Matthews. In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland". In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up." He also figuratively referred to himself as being 16, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was 16 years old at the time.
In February 2003, Mayer released a live CD and DVD of a concert in Birmingham, Alabama titled Any Given Thursday, which included songs previously not recorded, such as "Man on the Side", "Something's Missing", and "Covered in Rain". Commercially, the album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart. Its accompanying DVD release received conservative—although consistent—praise, with critics torn between his pop-idol image, and (at the time) emerging guitar prowess. Erik Crawford of AllMusic asked, "Is [Mayer] the consummate guitar hero exemplified when he plays a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Lenny', or is he the teen idol that the pubescent girls shriek for after he plays 'Your Body Is a Wonderland'?" That summer, Mayer went on the road with Counting Crows in a tour that spanned 42 dates between July 7 and September 2.
Heavier Things, Mayer's second album, was released in 2003 to generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Blender all gave positive, although reserved, feedback. The album was commercially successful, and while it did not sell as well as Room for Squares, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. The song "Daughters" won the 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year, and reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who had died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. On February 9, 2009, Mayer told Ellen DeGeneres that he thought he should not have won the Grammy for Song of the year because he thought that Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" was the better song. Because of this, he removed the top half of the Grammy and gave it to Keys, and kept the bottom part for himself. At the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2006, Mayer received the Hal David Starlight Award.
Mayer again recorded live concerts across seven nights of his U.S. tour in 2004. These recordings were released to the iTunes Store under the title As/Is, indicating that the errors were included along with the good moments. A few months later, a "best of" CD was compiled from the As/Is nights. The album included a previously unreleased cover of Marvin Gaye's song "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", featuring a solo from Mayer's supporting act—jazz and blues turntablist DJ Logic. The album covers of the As/Is releases feature drawings of anthropomorphic bunnies.
Change in musical direction (2005–2008)
As early as 2002, Chris Willman with Entertainment Weekly said that Mayer was "more historically savvy, and more ambitious than you'd guess from the unforced earnestness of [Room for] Squares. However, Mayer was largely associated with the Adult Contemporary and singer-songwriter genres. Fame allowed him access to his early influences, and he began collaborating with blues and jazz artists. He accompanied Buddy Guy in a concert at the Irving Plaza in December 2003. He toured with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, including a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. He also performed on commercial releases, namely, with Eric Clapton (Back Home, Crossroads Guitar Festival), Buddy Guy (Bring 'Em In), John Scofield (That's What I Say), and B.B. King (80). Although Mayer maintained his reputation as a singer-songwriter, he gained distinction as a guitarist.
Following the conclusion of his Heavier Things tour, Mayer began working with artists, including those from other genres of music. His voice was sampled on the song "Go" by rapper Common, and he appeared on a hidden track called "Bittersweet Poetry" from the Kanye West album Graduation. The collaborations drew praise from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Nelly. When asked about his presence in the hip hop community, Mayer said, "It's not music out there right now. That's why, to me, hip-hop is where rock used to be."
Around this time Mayer announced that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity". In the spring of 2005, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through studio sessions. The trio combined blues and rock music. In October 2005, they opened for the Rolling Stones and that November released a live album called Try! The band took a break in mid-2006.
Mayer's third studio album, titled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006, produced by Mayer and Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine blues and pop. In that vein, two of the tracks from his Trio release Try!—"Vultures" and "Gravity"—were included on Continuum. Despite his excitement, in a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head Don Ienner panned Continuum he briefly considered quitting music and studying design full-time.
The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change", which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show. The song was the third-most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, offering commentary on each track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 21, 2006, Mayer appeared on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". The song "Gravity" was featured on the television series House, in the episode "Cane & Able" and Numb3rs. He recorded a session for the British program Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on October 22, 2006.
On December 7, 2006, Mayer was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The Trio received a nomination for Try!. He won two: Best Pop Song with Vocal for "Waiting on the World to Change" and Best Pop Album for Continuum. Mayer remixed an acoustic version of his single "Waiting on the World to Change" with vocal additions from fellow musician Ben Harper. In preparation for Continuum, Mayer had booked the Village Recorder in Los Angeles to record five acoustic versions of his songs with veteran musician Robbie McIntosh. These recordings became The Village Sessions, an EP released on December 12, 2006. As usual, Mayer oversaw the artwork. The initial North American Continuum tour ended on February 28, 2007, with a show at Madison Square Garden that the New York Post described as "career-defining".
On November 20, 2007, the re-issue of Continuum became available online and in stores. The release contained a bonus disc of six live songs from his 2007 tour: five from Continuum and a cover of the Ray Charles song "I Don't Need No Doctor". His single "Say", from the film The Bucket List, became available through iTunes. On December 6, 2007, "Belief" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. He accompanied Alicia Keys on guitar on her song "No One" at the ceremony. Additionally, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007, listed among artists and entertainers.
In February 2008, Mayer hosted a three-day Caribbean cruise event that included performances with various musicians including David Ryan Harris, Brett Dennen, Colbie Caillat, and Dave Barnes, among others. The event was called "The Mayercraft Carrier" and was held aboard the cruise ship known as the Carnival Victory. A follow-up cruise titled "Mayercraft Carrier 2" sailed from Los Angeles March 27–31, 2009, on the Carnival Splendor.
On July 1, 2008, Mayer released Where the Light Is, a live concert film of Mayer's performance at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 8, 2007. The film was directed by Danny Clinch. It features Mayer opening with an acoustic set, followed by a blues set with the Trio and concluded by a full set with the band from the Continuum album.
Battle Studies (2009)
Australian artist Guy Sebastian invited Mayer to collaborate on three songs from his 2009 album Like It Like That. Mayer also played guitar on the title track of Crosby Loggins' debut LP, Time to Move.
On July 7, 2009, Mayer performed an instrumental guitar version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at Jackson's televised memorial service. He co-wrote "World of Chances" with Demi Lovato for Lovato's second album Here We Go Again, released later that month.
After the overwhelming success of Continuum, Mayer confessed to be intimidated with beginning on a follow-up. However, he stated, "I think it got a lot easier when I realized that no matter what I do, it's not going to be Continuum, good or bad." On November 17, 2009, Mayer's fourth studio album, Battle Studies, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The first single, "Who Says", was released on September 24, 2009, in advance of the album, followed on October 19 by "Heartbreak Warfare" and "Half of My Heart" on June 21, 2010. The accompanying arena tour grossed 45 million. Despite the album's commercial success, critics reactions were mixed. Some reviews glowed, calling it his "most adventurous", others called the album "safe" and noted that "Mayer the singer-songwriter and Mayer the man about town sometimes seem disconnected, like they don't even belong in the same body". Mayer admitted to Rolling Stone that he thought Battle Studies was not his best album.
Personal troubles and hiatus (2010–2013)
Following two revealing and highly controversial magazine interviews in February 2010 with Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines, Mayer withdrew from public life and ceased giving interviews. While still on tour for Battle Studies, he began work in earnest on his fifth studio album—which drew on the popular music of Laurel Canyon in the early 1970s. Around this time, he began to experience vocal problems, and sought medical assistance. On September 16, 2011, he posted on his blog that his next record, Born and Raised, would be delayed due to treatment he was receiving for a granuloma discovered on his vocal cords. Mayer described the event as a "temporary setback" and added that the album was entirely finished except for a few vocal tracks. A month later, on October 20, 2011, Mayer posted, "I had surgery this afternoon to remove it and am now on complete vocal rest for a month or more," during which he planned to "travel the country, look, and listen". However, the surgery did not work as expected, and he had to undergo another one that August. During his travels, he visited and fell in love with Bozeman, Montana, where he bought a house and re-settled in the spring of 2012.
With his treatments complete, Mayer finished the vocals on Born and Raised, and the album's first single, "Shadow Days", was released on February 27, 2012. The following day, he released the track listing for the album, announcing that it would be released on May 22 of that year. He described it as his "most honest" album, and begin booking dates at more "intimate" venues than for Battle Studies. He also accepted an invitation to appear at the South by Southwest festival. However, the granuloma returned, and on March 9, 2012, Mayer announced that he had been forced to cancel his tour and refrain from all singing indefinitely. Even so, Born and Raised was released as scheduled, and entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one, selling 219,000 copies in its first week. It also received generally positive critical feedback; Rolling Stone rated it number 17 on its list of the 50 Best Albums of 2012, and People magazine called it "a shimmering album". Meanwhile, Mayer brought a new focus to his guitar playing and, fearing that his vocal cords had been permanently damaged, tried to come to terms with a possible future as a session musician. Determined to be cured, he sought help from the UCLA Voice Center. That September, otolaryngologist Dr. Gerald Berke paralyzed Mayer's vocal cords with a series of high-dose Botox injections, hoping that they would allow the granuloma to heal. Mayer's vocal rest extended to several months and, unable to even talk, his performances were limited to accompanying other artists on guitar. He appeared in September 2012 on Saturday Night Live, where he joined musical guest Frank Ocean. He played with the Rolling Stones in New Jersey in December 2012.
By January 2013, Mayer had recovered sufficiently enough to perform at a benefit concert in Bozeman, after almost two years without singing publicly. In April 2013, he made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where he inducted the late Albert King. A show at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Alabama on April 25, 2013, followed by a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival the next day, marked his first full-length concerts since his health troubles.
Paradise Valley, Dead & Company, The Search for Everything (2013–2018)
In June 2013, Mayer announced that he was finishing work on his sixth album, Paradise Valley. Produced by Don Was, the album features "low-key folk-rock tunes". He collaborated with Frank Ocean on the song "Wildfire Pt. 2", and with Katy Perry on "Who You Love". The latter song would go on to become the album's third single, and an accompanying music video was released on December 17. On June 18, 2013, he released a lyric video for the album's first single, "Paper Doll", on his official YouTube page. The album was released August 20, 2013, and—meeting with positive reviews—debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 145,560 copies in the United States. Mayer embarked on a tour, his first in three years, in support of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. The American leg of the tour ran from July to December 2013 with Interscope recording artist Phillip Phillips serving as the supporting act. The tour visited Australia in April 2014.
During a concert in Adelaide, Mayer covered the Beyoncé song "XO" . One month later, on May 22, he released a studio version of the song on his SoundCloud account. It was made available for digital download by Columbia Records on May 27, 2014, through the iTunes Store. For the week ending June 1, 2014, Mayer's version debuted at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart. On the Canadian Hot 100, "XO" peaked at a position of 76. The single also peaked at number 81 on the Australian Singles Chart (its debut week), and at number 95 on the Dutch Singles Chart. In the UK, it peaked at 115 on the UK Singles Chart. Mayer recorded the song "Come Rain or Come Shine" as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her album Partners, released in September 2014.
In February 2015, Mayer performed alongside Ed Sheeran at the Grammy Awards. As of March, Mayer said he was taking break from working on a "deeply personal new album". Also, Mayer recounted that in 2011 he happened upon a song by the Grateful Dead while listening to Pandora, and that soon the band's music was all he would listen to. In February 2015, while guest hosting The Late Late Show, Mayer invited Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir to join him in a studio performance. While Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (surviving members of the Grateful Dead) were preparing for their Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead tour with Trey Anastasio, Mayer began practicing the band's catalog of songs. That August, Mayer, Weir, Kreutzmann, and Hart formed the group Dead & Company, along with Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge, and began a fall tour in the United States. The tour was well received (Billboard called it "magical"), and they continued to tour the US into 2016. Although Lesh has declined to join Dead & Company, Mayer also performed with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads in 2015.
As a result of his touring with Dead & Company, Mayer postponed working on his next studio album until January 2016, with plans to finish it by the end of the year. On November 17, 2016, Mayer released "Love on the Weekend" as the lead single from his EP The Search for Everything: Wave One, which was then released on January 20, 2017. A second EP, The Search for Everything: Wave Two, was released on February 24, 2017, along with the single "Still Feel Like Your Man". The album The Search for Everything was released on April 14, 2017 and was promoted by a third single titled "In the Blood", released on May 1, 2017, and by The Search for Everything World Tour from March to October of the same year.
Mayer also continued touring with Dead & Company during the summer and fall of 2017. On December 5, during the Fall Tour, his appendix burst, resulting in an emergency appendectomy and the postponement of the remaining tour dates to February 2018. In January 2018, Dead & Company announced their Dead & Company Summer Tour 2018.
Sob Rock (2018–present)
On May 10, 2018, Mayer released the single "New Light", co-produced by No I.D. and Mayer himself. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on the release day, he announced "more new music" for 2018. During his performance at the iHeartRadio Theater on October 24, 2018, he premiered a song titled "I Guess I Just Feel Like". On December 12, 2018, he announced a world tour for 2019. Mayer released two singles in 2019; the previously played "I Guess I Just Feel Like" on February 22, and "Carry Me Away" on September 6.
During an episode of John Mayer's show "Current Mood" on March 15, 2020, he revealed that he was in the process of writing and recording songs for a new album. In early 2021, he stated that the album was completely finished as he begun posting snippets of new songs on TikTok ahead of release. In an interview with Kerwin Frost, Mayer hinted at an April release for the album. Later, the date was pushed back. On June 1, 2021, Mayer officially announced his eighth album Sob Rock and on June 4, released the lead single, "Last Train Home" along with an accompanying music video. The album was released on July 16, 2021 as well as a music video for the song, "Shot In The Dark". The track list included previously released singles "New Light", "I Guess I Just Feel Like" and "Carry Me Away". "Carry Me Away" was slightly reworked production-wise to fit the album’s 1980s aesthetic.
Touring
Mayer began touring as a solo artist in 2001. While his early records were largely acoustic, early reviewers noted his unexpected electric "guitar heroics" during live performances.
Mayer has toured North America, Europe and Australia with many musical groups, including Maroon 5,Counting Crows, Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat and Train. In 2010, Mayer and Keith Urban performed at a CMT Crossroads concert a medley of their songs and a rendition of George Michael's single "Faith". This performance led to Urban and Mayer teaming up again for future performances, including at the 2010 CMT Music Awards.
Mayer allows audio taping and non-commercial trading of those recordings at most of his live performances. Mayer often shows up at small venues unannounced (or with little advance notice) for surprise concerts—occasionally for free or without accepting the performance fee. He has made appearances throughout the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York areas, including shows at the Laugh Factory, Eddie's Attic, and the Village Underground. After a public campaign by their senior class president, Mayer performed a surprise three-song set at the 2004 Pennsbury High School senior prom. In June 2015, Mayer appeared as a guest for two nights with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads, recreating the Grateful Dead's notable May 8 and June 9, 1977 concerts.
Headlining
Room for Squares Tour (2002)
Heavier Things Tour (2003–2004)
Continuum Tour (2006–2007)
John Mayer 2008 Summer Tour (2008)
Battle Studies World Tour (2009–2010)
Born and Raised World Tour (2013–2014)
The Search for Everything World Tour (2017)
John Mayer 2019 World Tour (2019)
Sob Rock Tour (2022)
Co-headlining
John Mayer/Guster Summer Tour (2002)
John Mayer/Counting Crows Summer Tour (2003)
John Mayer/Sheryl Crow Tour (2006)
Opening act
Sting European Tour (2004)
Touring with Dead & Company
Mayer joined each annual Tour in the years 2015 to the present.
Other ventures
Dead & Company
Since 2015, Mayer has been touring with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Founding bassist Phil Lesh has notably declined to participate in the project, although he has performed with Mayer on a few occasions since Dead & Company began. The role of bassist in Dead & Company has instead been played by Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band. Jeff Chimenti, who has toured with the various spin-offs of the Dead since the 1990s, is the group's keyboardist.
Although Mayer had been familiar with the music of the Grateful Dead since at least high school, he began to develop a strong interest in their music in 2011 after hearing their song Althea by chance on Pandora radio. In 2015, while the Dead's Fare Thee Well shows with Trey Anastasio were also being planned, Mayer performed "Althea" with Weir on The Late Late Show, along with "Truckin'." Weir was impressed with Mayer's take on the material and began planning to work with him after the Fare Thee Well shows, despite them being billed as something of finale for the band and its legacy. Weir discussed the genesis of the band and his thoughts about working with Mayer in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2016:
The thought of pop singer Mayer stepping in for Jerry Garcia was met with some initial skepticism by both fans and music critics, but the shows have since been well received. The band continues to tour in 2018, 2019 and into 2020 and has considered recording a studio album consisting of songs from the Grateful Dead catalog and potentially some originals. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Lesh praised the band's performances and explained his decision not to take part:
Author
With the June 2004 issue of Esquire, Mayer began a column called "Music Lessons with John Mayer". Each article featured a lesson and his views on various topics, both of personal and popular interest. In the August 2005 issue, he invited readers to create music for orphaned lyrics he had written. The winner was Tim Fagan of Los Angeles as announced in the following January's issue.
As social media gained momentum in the 2000s, Mayer became increasingly active online, and maintained four blogs: a Myspace page, a blog at his official site, another at Honeyee.com, one at tumblr, and a photoblog at StunningNikon.com. He was particularly prolific on Twitter, where he was noted for authoring his own posts, and he amassed 3.7 million followers. Although his posts often dealt with career-related matters, they also included jokes, videos, photos, and eventually what he called the "maintenance of vapor"—or misguided, personal responses to the media. On January 23, 2008, he posted the quote "There is danger in theoretical speculation of battle, in prejudice, in false reasoning, in pride, in braggadocio. There is one safe resource, the return to nature."; all the previous blog entries were deleted. On September 14, 2010, he deleted his personal Twitter account.
In the mid-2000s, he did comedy sporadically, making random appearances at the famed Comedy Cellar in New York and at other venues. He stated that it helped him write better, but that increased media attention made him too careful in his technique. He has since said he has no plans to return to it.
Watch collector
Mayer is an avid collector of watches, a pastime that he says keeps him "sane". His collection—which he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars—includes a Patek Philippe with a Sky Moon Tourbillion, a Rolex GMT Master 116710 BLNR, and an IWC Big Pilot Ref 5002, his signature watch. He has also served as a juror at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, a competition rewarding timepieces that champion the values of Swiss-made watches and writes a column for the horology website Hodinkee. In his column for January 16, 2015, he wrote an open letter to the watch brand IWC, encouraging it to "embrace [its] heritage, scale the product line down in terms of model variants, and simplify the design language". IWC replied, defending the changes they've made over the years, saying, "We have a wonderful past, it is true—but in admiring what we achieved thus far, we hope you will feel encouraged to look forward to what we achieve in the future".
Current Mood
During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show in September 2018, Mayer showed a trailer for his new Instagram Live show. The show, entitled Current Mood, debuted on his IGTV account on Sunday evening on September 30, 2018. Episodes have continued to air on that schedule on a weekly basis. Guests have included Charlie Puth, Cazzie David, and musician Thundercat. Mayer's latest season of Current Mood began on Sunday November 18, 2019 with guest Shawn Mendes and surprise feature with Camila Cabello on his first episode. For Current Mood Mayer coined notable jingles including "Camila Camendes," "CVS Bag," and "Drone Shot of My Yacht."
Appearances in the media
In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 titled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts.
Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during Apple's annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2004 as Jobs introduced the music production software GarageBand. Mayer became a fixture of the event, including at the 2007 iPhone announcement. Volkswagen concluded a deal with instrument manufacturer First Act to include a GarageMaster electric guitar that was playable through the stereo system of six of their 2007 models; Mayer (along with Slash and Christopher Guest) were selected to endorse the campaign and were featured playing the guitar in ads. Mayer used and endorsed the BlackBerry Curve.
Mayer made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, the Late Show with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mayer appeared with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Mayer wrote the theme song to the OWN network show Rollin' with Zach, which features Zach Anner. CBS invited him to guest host The Late Late Show in early 2015 on three dates, February 4–6, after the retirement of Craig Ferguson.
Mayer makes a cameo as a truck driver in the 2014 comedy horror film Zombeavers. In the 2015 film Get Hard, he played a version of himself who is disgusted with the "monetization of the creative process".
Instruments and equipment
John Mayer is a guitar collector and has collaborated with elite guitar companies to design his own instruments. He owns over 200 guitars.
In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer. The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code. This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag. In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters.
In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public, along with a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included in the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag, on which Mayer collaborated on the in-case designs. In 2006, Mayer was estimated to have more than 200 guitars in his personal collection.
John Mayer's most iconic guitar is the "Black1". Conceived after the Heavier Things tour, Mayer went to Fender Custom Shop with the desire to build a guitar. He was inspired by guitars of famous players the likes of Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He sought out masterbuilder John Cruz to help devise the design. In essence, Mayer wanted an all-black version of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "First Wife" Stratocaster. The guitar is heavily "relic'd" to specs very similar to the guitar used by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Black1 includes a mint pickguard, custom wound pickups, gold hardware, and gold tuners from the SRV Tribute Stratocaster. It was the principal guitar on the Continuum album. It was notably used on tracks such as "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You", and "Bold as Love". The Black1 has become a trademark to Mayer's music.
The Fender Custom Shop made a limited run of 83 replica Black1 Stratocasters, all of which were sold within 24 hours. Each one was carefully relic'd by John Cruz. In 2010, Fender announced a production model of Mayer's Black1 guitar. Un-relic'd production versions of the guitar were produced for a limited run of 500 worldwide. In addition, full production signature Stratocasters were produced in three-tone sunburst and Olympic White finishes.
In 2014, John Mayer announced that he was no longer a Fender Artist. As a result, his signature line of guitars was pulled from production. In 2015, Mayer announced that he was collaborating with PRS Guitars. In March 2016, Mayer and PRS revealed their collaborative project, the Super Eagle. This was a limited release from PRS's Private Stock line of instruments and each guitar features ultra-grade woods, abalone inlay, JCF Audio preamps, and a hand-signed sticker by glass-artist David Smith. Only 100 were produced, each retailing for over $10,000. In January 2017 at NAMM, PRS and Mayer announced the J-MOD 100 signature amp. In June 2017, the Super Eagle II was revealed, limited to 120 instruments.
In January 2018, Martin Guitar announced the limited-release (45 instruments) John Mayer Signature D-45, with list price $14,999. In March 2018, Mayer's signature Silver Sky model was released by PRS, available in four colors. While Music Trade called the Silver Sky "derivative", it said that all the elements were "designed from the ground up" and built with "attention to detail". While acknowledging its similarity to a Stratocaster, Matt Blackett of Guitar Player magazine ultimately said, "The Silver Sky absolutely delivers on the promise of being a damn-near-perfect version of this type of guitar." The magazine named its "Editor's Pick".
Reception
Mayer has stood out as among his peers as a guitarist. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks in an issue lauding the "New Guitar Gods", and the cover nicknamed him Slowhand Jr., a reference to Eric Clapton. Critics, however, point to how safe his music is. Chris Richards, in review of a 2017 concert, declared "John Mayer is an amazing guitar player", though he says he did so "through clenched teeth," adding that the fact should not absolve the guitarist of "his pillow-soft songcraft, the dull sentimentality of his lyrics, or that cuckoo-racist interview he gave to Playboy back in 2010". Music writer Steve Baltin commented on this dichotomy, saying that Mayer is "one of the sharpest and savviest musical minds you will ever encounter", and added, "While many have found reasons to dislike Mayer since the beginning of his career, he is a consummate musician's musician, an artist who has been embraced by Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Buddy Guy among others."
Mayer's inclusion in the Grateful Dead was not without its critics. Chris Robinson of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood said that "everything that Jerry Garcia ever talked about or stood for, John Mayer is the antithesis", and that while "Jerry was one of the most unique musicians in the world [...] here's John Mayer playing everyone else's licks". The comment itself drew controversy, and Mayer, for his part, said, "I care about this band too much to give that life", and that "I realized not long ago that I'm done debating my own merits."
Personal life
On his third episode of Current Mood, Mayer revealed he had been sober since 2016. He stopped drinking after having what he says was a six-day hangover after Drake's 30th birthday party.
Relationships
Mayer has been romantically involved with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than 17 times their face value.
Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey, location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007.
Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech shooting, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released as Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headlined Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres.
On March 1, 2019, John Mayer established the Heart and Armor Foundation in support of veterans of war. John has been actively involved in initiatives to help returning veterans for about 12 years.
Controversies
Mayer's relationship with Jessica Simpson coincided with behavior changes that significantly increased his tabloid exposure. Early in his career, he had expressed his resolve to completely avoid drugs, alcohol, clubbing, "red-carpet" events, dating celebrities, and anything that he felt would detract the focus from his music. In interviews, however, Mayer alluded to experiencing an extreme "anxiety bender" episode in his twenties that motivated him to be less reclusive. In 2006, he first mentioned that he had begun using marijuana. He began making appearances at clubs in Los Angeles and New York City, and Simpson became the first in a string of famous girlfriends, including Jennifer Aniston and Minka Kelly. By 2007, his personal life had become regular fodder for the gossip media and, as a result, Mayer made efforts to control his public image. His online presence increased, he began to stage pranks for the paparazzi, and he hosted a segment for the gossip show TMZ.
In early 2010, Mayer gave a controversial interview to Playboy magazine in which he revealed sexually explicit details about his former girlfriends Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston—calling his relationship with the former "sexual napalm." In response to a question about whether black women were interested in him, he said, "My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I've got a Benetton heart and a fuckin' David Duke cock. I'm going to start dating separately from my dick." He also used the word "nigger" in the interview. This set off accusations in the media of him being a misogynist, kiss-and-tell ex-boyfriend, and racist. He apologized via Twitter for his use of the word "nigger", saying, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize...a word that is so emotionally charged". He also tearfully apologized to his band and fans at his concert in Nashville later that night. In the following two years, he left New York and retreated from the media. Reflecting on that time in a May 2012 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he said, "I lost my head for a little while and I did a couple of dumb interviews and it kind of woke me up...It was a violent crash into being an adult. For a couple of years, it was just figuring it all out, and I'm glad I actually stayed out of the spotlight."
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performed vocals for the song "Half of My Heart" on Mayer's November 2009 album Battle Studies. Rumors began to circulate in the media that the two were a couple, an assertion that neither addressed. However, Swift released a song called "Dear John" in 2010, which was widely believed to be about her relationship with him. In June 2012, Mayer criticized the song, saying she never contacted him and that "it's abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait till he gets a load of this!'" The song "Paper Doll" was reported to be a response. In the March 21, 2019 episode of Current Mood, however, Mayer said, "When 'Paper Doll' came out, 100% of the people believed it was about somebody...But the song was not about that person and I could never tell anybody, 'That's not true,' because then I would be breaking my rule that songwriters don't say who the songs are about or not about."
In March 2014, Mayer sued watch dealer Robert Maron for $656,000 when he discovered that seven of the $5 million in watches he purchased from the dealer contained counterfeit parts. He dropped the action in May 2015, releasing a statement that asserted that research restored his "belief that Bob Maron is an expert on Rolex watches and confirmed that Bob Maron never sold him a counterfeit watch".
In 2020, Perez Hilton stated in his memoir TMI: My Life in Scandal that in 2007 at a club in Chelsea, Manhattan, Mayer came up to Hilton and said, 'I like to watch gay porn, you know,' adding, 'My favorite porn star is Brent Corrigan. He really turns me on', and then french-kissed Hilton.
Discography
Room for Squares (2001)
Heavier Things (2003)
Continuum (2006)
Battle Studies (2009)
Born and Raised (2012)
Paradise Valley (2013)
The Search for Everything (2017)
Sob Rock (2021)
Awards
Grammy Awards
Mayer has won seven awards from nineteen nominations.
Others awards and nominations
See also
Annual John Mayer Holiday Charity Revue
Notes
References
Works cited
Edwards, G. (2006). Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John? New York: Crown Publishing Group. .
External links
1977 births
Living people
21st-century American composers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American singers
American bloggers
American blues singers
American male bloggers
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male singer-songwriters
American philanthropists
American pop rock singers
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
Blues rock musicians
Columbia Records artists
Dead & Company members
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from Connecticut
John Mayer Trio members
Musicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut
People from Fairfield, Connecticut
People from Hidden Hills, California
Record producers from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from California | false | [
"This is the discography of French singer-songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman, including his work as a solo artists and as part of Taï Phong and Fredericks Goldman Jones. For his work with the charity group Les Enfoirés, with whom he recorded 26 albums, see .\n\nSolo albums\n\nStudio albums\n\nLive albums\n\nSoundtrack albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nBox sets\n\nVideo albums\n\nCollaborative albums\n\nWith Taï Phong\n\nWith Fredericks Goldman Jones\n\nSingles\n\nWith Taï Phong\n\nWith Fredericks Goldman Jones\n\nCharity singles\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nDiscographies of French artists\nPop music discographies\nRock music discographies",
"James Rizzi (October 5, 1950 – December 26, 2011) was an American pop artist who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.\n\nBiography\nRizzi graduated from University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. He came up with the idea of 3D multiples now mostly associated with his name when, having taken classes in painting, printmaking and sculpturing, he had to hand in grade work for all three subjects, but only had time for doing one. So he created an etching, printed it twice, handcolored it, and mounted parts of the one print on top of the other, using wire as a means of adding depth. Having received good grades from all three teachers, he stuck with the idea and developed it further.\n\nRizzi was most famous for his 3D artwork, \"especially the large, elaborate prints and teeming anthropomorphic cityscapes. His merry maximalism and delight in delirious detail and elaborate minutiae created a true art brand, a trademark style as recognizable as any in the world.\"\n\nLate in life, he returned to painting. His \"latest paintings combine his Picasso meets Hanna-Barbera drawing style with an increasingly chromatic palette and a complex graphic structure that simultaneously evokes cubism and the most sophisticated Amerindian friezes.\"\n\nTimeline\n\nGallery\n\nBooks \n James Rizzi: New York. Prestel 1996, \n James Rizzi, Peter Bührer: Mein New York Kochbuch. Hahn 1997, \n James Rizzi, Peter Bührer: American Cookies and more. Südwest 2000, \n James Rizzi, Glenn O`Brien: James Rizzi. Artwork 1993-2006, Art28 2006,\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n \n Official website\n James J. Rizzi Scholarship Fund - The James J. Rizzi Scholarship Fund for the School of Art at the University of Florida.\n RTL Spendenmarathon - Design of logo for German television children's charity.\n SWR Herzenssache - Donation of artwork for German radio children's charity.\n James Rizzi Private Gallery NYC - Early close personal friend of James Rizzi, Art Dealer\n \"James Rizzi Art\" (One of the largest collections of James Rizzi artworks)\n Gone with the wind Charity - Donation of a complete edition of artwork to the German Lions Club Krefeld Rheintor.\n Peter Maffay: Encounters - an alliance for children - Cooperation with Peter Maffay for his children's charity \"Encounters\" and the Lakota Circle School in South Dakota.\n\n1950 births\n2011 deaths\nUniversity of Florida alumni\n20th-century American painters\n20th-century male artists\nAmerican male painters\n21st-century American painters\n21st-century male artists\nArtists from New York (state)\nAmerican pop artists\nAmerican stamp designers\nPeople from Brooklyn\nAmerican people of Italian descent"
]
|
[
"John Mayer",
"Philanthropy",
"what is a charity he works for?",
"Mayer created the \"Back to You\" Fund,",
"what does this charity do?",
"focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development.",
"how does the charity raise money?",
"The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items,",
"did the charity earn a lot of money?",
"The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value.",
"what is a type of philanthropy he works with?",
"Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters",
"does he work with any other artists for charity?",
"In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert"
]
| C_7f228cfbf308449f96ad0534c535d539_0 | how many people attended? | 7 | How many people attended John Mayer free concert? | John Mayer | In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than seventeen times their face value. Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007. Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released under the title Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headline Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a following. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest Festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and eventually to Columbia Records, which released his first extended play Inside Wants Out. His following two studio albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—performed well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his single "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and begun performing the blues and rock music that had originally influenced him as a musician. He collaborated with blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton. Forming the John Mayer Trio, he released a live album, Try!, in 2005 and his third studio album Continuum in 2006. Both albums received positive reviews, and Continuum earned Mayer a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". That album was followed by Battle Studies in 2009, a return to pop, with a Battle Studies World Tour.
After having several controversial incidents with the media, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010 and began work on his fifth studio album, Born and Raised, which drew inspiration from the 1970s pop music of Laurel Canyon. However, the discovery of a granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the release of the album until May 2012, and forced him to cancel the planned tour. The album received a generally favorable reception, though was less commercially successful than his previous work. Mayer began performing as a singer again in January 2013, and that year released his sixth studio album, Paradise Valley, which incorporates country music influences. By 2014, he had sold a total of over 20 million albums worldwide. His seventh album, The Search for Everything, a loose concept album based around the theme of a romantic break-up, was released in 2017. Mayer released his latest album Sob Rock, inspired by 1980s soft rock music, in July 2021.
In 2015, three former members of the Grateful Dead joined with Mayer and two other musicians to form the band Dead & Company. It is the latest of several reunions of the band's surviving members since Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. The band remains active and its tours have been well received.
Mayer's secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing; he has authored columns for magazines such as Esquire. He supports various causes and has performed at charity benefits. He is a watch aficionado (with a collection he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars), contributing to the watch site Hodinkee, and has been on the jury at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
Early life
Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father, Richard Mayer (b. 1927), was a high-school principal, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman; b. 1947), was a middle-school English teacher. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism. As an elementary school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they played Nintendo together weekday afternoons after school for three years. He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).
After watching Michael J. Fox's guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 13 years old, his father rented one for him. A neighbor gave Mayer a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which cultivated Mayer's love of blues music. According to Mayer, his fascination with Vaughan started a "genealogical hunt" that led him to other blues guitarists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush, and Lightnin' Hopkins. Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar shop owner, Al Ferrante, and soon became consumed. His singular focus concerned his parents, and they twice took him to see a psychiatrist, who determined him to be healthy. Mayer says that his parents' contentious marriage led him to "disappear and create my own world I could believe in". After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school. In addition to performing solo, he was a member of a band called Villanova Junction (named for a Jimi Hendrix song) with Tim Procaccini, Joe Beleznay, and Rich Wolf.
When Mayer was 17, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, "That was the moment the songwriter in me was born", and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and says he feared having to enter a mental institution. He continues to manage such episodes with anti-anxiety medication.
Career
Early career (1996–1999)
Mayer considered skipping college to pursue music, but his parents dissuaded him. He enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in 1997 at age 19. At the urging of his college friend Clay Cook, they left Berklee after two semesters and moved to Atlanta; there, they formed a two-man band called LoFi Masters, and began performing in local coffee houses and club venues such as Eddie's Attic. According to Cook, they experienced musical differences due to Mayer's desire to move more towards pop music. The two parted ways and Mayer embarked on a solo career.
With the help of local producer and engineer Glenn Matullo, Mayer recorded the independent EP Inside Wants Out. The EP includes eight songs with Mayer on lead vocals and guitars. For the opening track, "Back To You", a full band was enlisted, including the EP's co-producer David "DeLa" LaBruyere on bass guitars. Cook had co-written many of the album's songs, including its first commercial single release, "No Such Thing"; however, his only performance contribution was backing vocals on the song "Comfortable".
Major label and commercial success (2000–2004)
Mayer and LaBruyere performed throughout Georgia and nearby states. Also, as his career coincided with the then-nascent internet music market, Mayer benefited from an online following. Mayer came to the attention of Gregg Latterman at Aware Records through an acquaintance of Mayer's, a lawyer, who sent Aware his EP. In early 2001, after including him in Aware Festival concerts and his songs on Aware compilations, Aware released Mayer's internet-only album, Room for Squares. During this time, Aware concluded a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists. In September, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added. The re-release included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from Inside Wants Out.
By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and "Why Georgia". It also received general praise critically, and Mayer drew comparisons to Dave Matthews. In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland". In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up." He also figuratively referred to himself as being 16, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was 16 years old at the time.
In February 2003, Mayer released a live CD and DVD of a concert in Birmingham, Alabama titled Any Given Thursday, which included songs previously not recorded, such as "Man on the Side", "Something's Missing", and "Covered in Rain". Commercially, the album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart. Its accompanying DVD release received conservative—although consistent—praise, with critics torn between his pop-idol image, and (at the time) emerging guitar prowess. Erik Crawford of AllMusic asked, "Is [Mayer] the consummate guitar hero exemplified when he plays a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Lenny', or is he the teen idol that the pubescent girls shriek for after he plays 'Your Body Is a Wonderland'?" That summer, Mayer went on the road with Counting Crows in a tour that spanned 42 dates between July 7 and September 2.
Heavier Things, Mayer's second album, was released in 2003 to generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Blender all gave positive, although reserved, feedback. The album was commercially successful, and while it did not sell as well as Room for Squares, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. The song "Daughters" won the 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year, and reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who had died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. On February 9, 2009, Mayer told Ellen DeGeneres that he thought he should not have won the Grammy for Song of the year because he thought that Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" was the better song. Because of this, he removed the top half of the Grammy and gave it to Keys, and kept the bottom part for himself. At the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2006, Mayer received the Hal David Starlight Award.
Mayer again recorded live concerts across seven nights of his U.S. tour in 2004. These recordings were released to the iTunes Store under the title As/Is, indicating that the errors were included along with the good moments. A few months later, a "best of" CD was compiled from the As/Is nights. The album included a previously unreleased cover of Marvin Gaye's song "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", featuring a solo from Mayer's supporting act—jazz and blues turntablist DJ Logic. The album covers of the As/Is releases feature drawings of anthropomorphic bunnies.
Change in musical direction (2005–2008)
As early as 2002, Chris Willman with Entertainment Weekly said that Mayer was "more historically savvy, and more ambitious than you'd guess from the unforced earnestness of [Room for] Squares. However, Mayer was largely associated with the Adult Contemporary and singer-songwriter genres. Fame allowed him access to his early influences, and he began collaborating with blues and jazz artists. He accompanied Buddy Guy in a concert at the Irving Plaza in December 2003. He toured with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, including a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. He also performed on commercial releases, namely, with Eric Clapton (Back Home, Crossroads Guitar Festival), Buddy Guy (Bring 'Em In), John Scofield (That's What I Say), and B.B. King (80). Although Mayer maintained his reputation as a singer-songwriter, he gained distinction as a guitarist.
Following the conclusion of his Heavier Things tour, Mayer began working with artists, including those from other genres of music. His voice was sampled on the song "Go" by rapper Common, and he appeared on a hidden track called "Bittersweet Poetry" from the Kanye West album Graduation. The collaborations drew praise from rap heavyweights Jay-Z and Nelly. When asked about his presence in the hip hop community, Mayer said, "It's not music out there right now. That's why, to me, hip-hop is where rock used to be."
Around this time Mayer announced that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity". In the spring of 2005, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through studio sessions. The trio combined blues and rock music. In October 2005, they opened for the Rolling Stones and that November released a live album called Try! The band took a break in mid-2006.
Mayer's third studio album, titled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006, produced by Mayer and Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine blues and pop. In that vein, two of the tracks from his Trio release Try!—"Vultures" and "Gravity"—were included on Continuum. Despite his excitement, in a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head Don Ienner panned Continuum he briefly considered quitting music and studying design full-time.
The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change", which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show. The song was the third-most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, offering commentary on each track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 21, 2006, Mayer appeared on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". The song "Gravity" was featured on the television series House, in the episode "Cane & Able" and Numb3rs. He recorded a session for the British program Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on October 22, 2006.
On December 7, 2006, Mayer was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The Trio received a nomination for Try!. He won two: Best Pop Song with Vocal for "Waiting on the World to Change" and Best Pop Album for Continuum. Mayer remixed an acoustic version of his single "Waiting on the World to Change" with vocal additions from fellow musician Ben Harper. In preparation for Continuum, Mayer had booked the Village Recorder in Los Angeles to record five acoustic versions of his songs with veteran musician Robbie McIntosh. These recordings became The Village Sessions, an EP released on December 12, 2006. As usual, Mayer oversaw the artwork. The initial North American Continuum tour ended on February 28, 2007, with a show at Madison Square Garden that the New York Post described as "career-defining".
On November 20, 2007, the re-issue of Continuum became available online and in stores. The release contained a bonus disc of six live songs from his 2007 tour: five from Continuum and a cover of the Ray Charles song "I Don't Need No Doctor". His single "Say", from the film The Bucket List, became available through iTunes. On December 6, 2007, "Belief" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. He accompanied Alicia Keys on guitar on her song "No One" at the ceremony. Additionally, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007, listed among artists and entertainers.
In February 2008, Mayer hosted a three-day Caribbean cruise event that included performances with various musicians including David Ryan Harris, Brett Dennen, Colbie Caillat, and Dave Barnes, among others. The event was called "The Mayercraft Carrier" and was held aboard the cruise ship known as the Carnival Victory. A follow-up cruise titled "Mayercraft Carrier 2" sailed from Los Angeles March 27–31, 2009, on the Carnival Splendor.
On July 1, 2008, Mayer released Where the Light Is, a live concert film of Mayer's performance at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 8, 2007. The film was directed by Danny Clinch. It features Mayer opening with an acoustic set, followed by a blues set with the Trio and concluded by a full set with the band from the Continuum album.
Battle Studies (2009)
Australian artist Guy Sebastian invited Mayer to collaborate on three songs from his 2009 album Like It Like That. Mayer also played guitar on the title track of Crosby Loggins' debut LP, Time to Move.
On July 7, 2009, Mayer performed an instrumental guitar version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at Jackson's televised memorial service. He co-wrote "World of Chances" with Demi Lovato for Lovato's second album Here We Go Again, released later that month.
After the overwhelming success of Continuum, Mayer confessed to be intimidated with beginning on a follow-up. However, he stated, "I think it got a lot easier when I realized that no matter what I do, it's not going to be Continuum, good or bad." On November 17, 2009, Mayer's fourth studio album, Battle Studies, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The first single, "Who Says", was released on September 24, 2009, in advance of the album, followed on October 19 by "Heartbreak Warfare" and "Half of My Heart" on June 21, 2010. The accompanying arena tour grossed 45 million. Despite the album's commercial success, critics reactions were mixed. Some reviews glowed, calling it his "most adventurous", others called the album "safe" and noted that "Mayer the singer-songwriter and Mayer the man about town sometimes seem disconnected, like they don't even belong in the same body". Mayer admitted to Rolling Stone that he thought Battle Studies was not his best album.
Personal troubles and hiatus (2010–2013)
Following two revealing and highly controversial magazine interviews in February 2010 with Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines, Mayer withdrew from public life and ceased giving interviews. While still on tour for Battle Studies, he began work in earnest on his fifth studio album—which drew on the popular music of Laurel Canyon in the early 1970s. Around this time, he began to experience vocal problems, and sought medical assistance. On September 16, 2011, he posted on his blog that his next record, Born and Raised, would be delayed due to treatment he was receiving for a granuloma discovered on his vocal cords. Mayer described the event as a "temporary setback" and added that the album was entirely finished except for a few vocal tracks. A month later, on October 20, 2011, Mayer posted, "I had surgery this afternoon to remove it and am now on complete vocal rest for a month or more," during which he planned to "travel the country, look, and listen". However, the surgery did not work as expected, and he had to undergo another one that August. During his travels, he visited and fell in love with Bozeman, Montana, where he bought a house and re-settled in the spring of 2012.
With his treatments complete, Mayer finished the vocals on Born and Raised, and the album's first single, "Shadow Days", was released on February 27, 2012. The following day, he released the track listing for the album, announcing that it would be released on May 22 of that year. He described it as his "most honest" album, and begin booking dates at more "intimate" venues than for Battle Studies. He also accepted an invitation to appear at the South by Southwest festival. However, the granuloma returned, and on March 9, 2012, Mayer announced that he had been forced to cancel his tour and refrain from all singing indefinitely. Even so, Born and Raised was released as scheduled, and entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one, selling 219,000 copies in its first week. It also received generally positive critical feedback; Rolling Stone rated it number 17 on its list of the 50 Best Albums of 2012, and People magazine called it "a shimmering album". Meanwhile, Mayer brought a new focus to his guitar playing and, fearing that his vocal cords had been permanently damaged, tried to come to terms with a possible future as a session musician. Determined to be cured, he sought help from the UCLA Voice Center. That September, otolaryngologist Dr. Gerald Berke paralyzed Mayer's vocal cords with a series of high-dose Botox injections, hoping that they would allow the granuloma to heal. Mayer's vocal rest extended to several months and, unable to even talk, his performances were limited to accompanying other artists on guitar. He appeared in September 2012 on Saturday Night Live, where he joined musical guest Frank Ocean. He played with the Rolling Stones in New Jersey in December 2012.
By January 2013, Mayer had recovered sufficiently enough to perform at a benefit concert in Bozeman, after almost two years without singing publicly. In April 2013, he made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, where he inducted the late Albert King. A show at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in Alabama on April 25, 2013, followed by a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival the next day, marked his first full-length concerts since his health troubles.
Paradise Valley, Dead & Company, The Search for Everything (2013–2018)
In June 2013, Mayer announced that he was finishing work on his sixth album, Paradise Valley. Produced by Don Was, the album features "low-key folk-rock tunes". He collaborated with Frank Ocean on the song "Wildfire Pt. 2", and with Katy Perry on "Who You Love". The latter song would go on to become the album's third single, and an accompanying music video was released on December 17. On June 18, 2013, he released a lyric video for the album's first single, "Paper Doll", on his official YouTube page. The album was released August 20, 2013, and—meeting with positive reviews—debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 145,560 copies in the United States. Mayer embarked on a tour, his first in three years, in support of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. The American leg of the tour ran from July to December 2013 with Interscope recording artist Phillip Phillips serving as the supporting act. The tour visited Australia in April 2014.
During a concert in Adelaide, Mayer covered the Beyoncé song "XO" . One month later, on May 22, he released a studio version of the song on his SoundCloud account. It was made available for digital download by Columbia Records on May 27, 2014, through the iTunes Store. For the week ending June 1, 2014, Mayer's version debuted at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart. On the Canadian Hot 100, "XO" peaked at a position of 76. The single also peaked at number 81 on the Australian Singles Chart (its debut week), and at number 95 on the Dutch Singles Chart. In the UK, it peaked at 115 on the UK Singles Chart. Mayer recorded the song "Come Rain or Come Shine" as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her album Partners, released in September 2014.
In February 2015, Mayer performed alongside Ed Sheeran at the Grammy Awards. As of March, Mayer said he was taking break from working on a "deeply personal new album". Also, Mayer recounted that in 2011 he happened upon a song by the Grateful Dead while listening to Pandora, and that soon the band's music was all he would listen to. In February 2015, while guest hosting The Late Late Show, Mayer invited Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir to join him in a studio performance. While Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (surviving members of the Grateful Dead) were preparing for their Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead tour with Trey Anastasio, Mayer began practicing the band's catalog of songs. That August, Mayer, Weir, Kreutzmann, and Hart formed the group Dead & Company, along with Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge, and began a fall tour in the United States. The tour was well received (Billboard called it "magical"), and they continued to tour the US into 2016. Although Lesh has declined to join Dead & Company, Mayer also performed with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads in 2015.
As a result of his touring with Dead & Company, Mayer postponed working on his next studio album until January 2016, with plans to finish it by the end of the year. On November 17, 2016, Mayer released "Love on the Weekend" as the lead single from his EP The Search for Everything: Wave One, which was then released on January 20, 2017. A second EP, The Search for Everything: Wave Two, was released on February 24, 2017, along with the single "Still Feel Like Your Man". The album The Search for Everything was released on April 14, 2017 and was promoted by a third single titled "In the Blood", released on May 1, 2017, and by The Search for Everything World Tour from March to October of the same year.
Mayer also continued touring with Dead & Company during the summer and fall of 2017. On December 5, during the Fall Tour, his appendix burst, resulting in an emergency appendectomy and the postponement of the remaining tour dates to February 2018. In January 2018, Dead & Company announced their Dead & Company Summer Tour 2018.
Sob Rock (2018–present)
On May 10, 2018, Mayer released the single "New Light", co-produced by No I.D. and Mayer himself. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on the release day, he announced "more new music" for 2018. During his performance at the iHeartRadio Theater on October 24, 2018, he premiered a song titled "I Guess I Just Feel Like". On December 12, 2018, he announced a world tour for 2019. Mayer released two singles in 2019; the previously played "I Guess I Just Feel Like" on February 22, and "Carry Me Away" on September 6.
During an episode of John Mayer's show "Current Mood" on March 15, 2020, he revealed that he was in the process of writing and recording songs for a new album. In early 2021, he stated that the album was completely finished as he begun posting snippets of new songs on TikTok ahead of release. In an interview with Kerwin Frost, Mayer hinted at an April release for the album. Later, the date was pushed back. On June 1, 2021, Mayer officially announced his eighth album Sob Rock and on June 4, released the lead single, "Last Train Home" along with an accompanying music video. The album was released on July 16, 2021 as well as a music video for the song, "Shot In The Dark". The track list included previously released singles "New Light", "I Guess I Just Feel Like" and "Carry Me Away". "Carry Me Away" was slightly reworked production-wise to fit the album’s 1980s aesthetic.
Touring
Mayer began touring as a solo artist in 2001. While his early records were largely acoustic, early reviewers noted his unexpected electric "guitar heroics" during live performances.
Mayer has toured North America, Europe and Australia with many musical groups, including Maroon 5,Counting Crows, Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat and Train. In 2010, Mayer and Keith Urban performed at a CMT Crossroads concert a medley of their songs and a rendition of George Michael's single "Faith". This performance led to Urban and Mayer teaming up again for future performances, including at the 2010 CMT Music Awards.
Mayer allows audio taping and non-commercial trading of those recordings at most of his live performances. Mayer often shows up at small venues unannounced (or with little advance notice) for surprise concerts—occasionally for free or without accepting the performance fee. He has made appearances throughout the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York areas, including shows at the Laugh Factory, Eddie's Attic, and the Village Underground. After a public campaign by their senior class president, Mayer performed a surprise three-song set at the 2004 Pennsbury High School senior prom. In June 2015, Mayer appeared as a guest for two nights with Phil Lesh and Friends at Terrapin Crossroads, recreating the Grateful Dead's notable May 8 and June 9, 1977 concerts.
Headlining
Room for Squares Tour (2002)
Heavier Things Tour (2003–2004)
Continuum Tour (2006–2007)
John Mayer 2008 Summer Tour (2008)
Battle Studies World Tour (2009–2010)
Born and Raised World Tour (2013–2014)
The Search for Everything World Tour (2017)
John Mayer 2019 World Tour (2019)
Sob Rock Tour (2022)
Co-headlining
John Mayer/Guster Summer Tour (2002)
John Mayer/Counting Crows Summer Tour (2003)
John Mayer/Sheryl Crow Tour (2006)
Opening act
Sting European Tour (2004)
Touring with Dead & Company
Mayer joined each annual Tour in the years 2015 to the present.
Other ventures
Dead & Company
Since 2015, Mayer has been touring with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Founding bassist Phil Lesh has notably declined to participate in the project, although he has performed with Mayer on a few occasions since Dead & Company began. The role of bassist in Dead & Company has instead been played by Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band. Jeff Chimenti, who has toured with the various spin-offs of the Dead since the 1990s, is the group's keyboardist.
Although Mayer had been familiar with the music of the Grateful Dead since at least high school, he began to develop a strong interest in their music in 2011 after hearing their song Althea by chance on Pandora radio. In 2015, while the Dead's Fare Thee Well shows with Trey Anastasio were also being planned, Mayer performed "Althea" with Weir on The Late Late Show, along with "Truckin'." Weir was impressed with Mayer's take on the material and began planning to work with him after the Fare Thee Well shows, despite them being billed as something of finale for the band and its legacy. Weir discussed the genesis of the band and his thoughts about working with Mayer in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2016:
The thought of pop singer Mayer stepping in for Jerry Garcia was met with some initial skepticism by both fans and music critics, but the shows have since been well received. The band continues to tour in 2018, 2019 and into 2020 and has considered recording a studio album consisting of songs from the Grateful Dead catalog and potentially some originals. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Lesh praised the band's performances and explained his decision not to take part:
Author
With the June 2004 issue of Esquire, Mayer began a column called "Music Lessons with John Mayer". Each article featured a lesson and his views on various topics, both of personal and popular interest. In the August 2005 issue, he invited readers to create music for orphaned lyrics he had written. The winner was Tim Fagan of Los Angeles as announced in the following January's issue.
As social media gained momentum in the 2000s, Mayer became increasingly active online, and maintained four blogs: a Myspace page, a blog at his official site, another at Honeyee.com, one at tumblr, and a photoblog at StunningNikon.com. He was particularly prolific on Twitter, where he was noted for authoring his own posts, and he amassed 3.7 million followers. Although his posts often dealt with career-related matters, they also included jokes, videos, photos, and eventually what he called the "maintenance of vapor"—or misguided, personal responses to the media. On January 23, 2008, he posted the quote "There is danger in theoretical speculation of battle, in prejudice, in false reasoning, in pride, in braggadocio. There is one safe resource, the return to nature."; all the previous blog entries were deleted. On September 14, 2010, he deleted his personal Twitter account.
In the mid-2000s, he did comedy sporadically, making random appearances at the famed Comedy Cellar in New York and at other venues. He stated that it helped him write better, but that increased media attention made him too careful in his technique. He has since said he has no plans to return to it.
Watch collector
Mayer is an avid collector of watches, a pastime that he says keeps him "sane". His collection—which he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars—includes a Patek Philippe with a Sky Moon Tourbillion, a Rolex GMT Master 116710 BLNR, and an IWC Big Pilot Ref 5002, his signature watch. He has also served as a juror at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, a competition rewarding timepieces that champion the values of Swiss-made watches and writes a column for the horology website Hodinkee. In his column for January 16, 2015, he wrote an open letter to the watch brand IWC, encouraging it to "embrace [its] heritage, scale the product line down in terms of model variants, and simplify the design language". IWC replied, defending the changes they've made over the years, saying, "We have a wonderful past, it is true—but in admiring what we achieved thus far, we hope you will feel encouraged to look forward to what we achieve in the future".
Current Mood
During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show in September 2018, Mayer showed a trailer for his new Instagram Live show. The show, entitled Current Mood, debuted on his IGTV account on Sunday evening on September 30, 2018. Episodes have continued to air on that schedule on a weekly basis. Guests have included Charlie Puth, Cazzie David, and musician Thundercat. Mayer's latest season of Current Mood began on Sunday November 18, 2019 with guest Shawn Mendes and surprise feature with Camila Cabello on his first episode. For Current Mood Mayer coined notable jingles including "Camila Camendes," "CVS Bag," and "Drone Shot of My Yacht."
Appearances in the media
In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 titled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts.
Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during Apple's annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2004 as Jobs introduced the music production software GarageBand. Mayer became a fixture of the event, including at the 2007 iPhone announcement. Volkswagen concluded a deal with instrument manufacturer First Act to include a GarageMaster electric guitar that was playable through the stereo system of six of their 2007 models; Mayer (along with Slash and Christopher Guest) were selected to endorse the campaign and were featured playing the guitar in ads. Mayer used and endorsed the BlackBerry Curve.
Mayer made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, the Late Show with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mayer appeared with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Mayer wrote the theme song to the OWN network show Rollin' with Zach, which features Zach Anner. CBS invited him to guest host The Late Late Show in early 2015 on three dates, February 4–6, after the retirement of Craig Ferguson.
Mayer makes a cameo as a truck driver in the 2014 comedy horror film Zombeavers. In the 2015 film Get Hard, he played a version of himself who is disgusted with the "monetization of the creative process".
Instruments and equipment
John Mayer is a guitar collector and has collaborated with elite guitar companies to design his own instruments. He owns over 200 guitars.
In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer. The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code. This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag. In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters.
In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public, along with a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included in the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag, on which Mayer collaborated on the in-case designs. In 2006, Mayer was estimated to have more than 200 guitars in his personal collection.
John Mayer's most iconic guitar is the "Black1". Conceived after the Heavier Things tour, Mayer went to Fender Custom Shop with the desire to build a guitar. He was inspired by guitars of famous players the likes of Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He sought out masterbuilder John Cruz to help devise the design. In essence, Mayer wanted an all-black version of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "First Wife" Stratocaster. The guitar is heavily "relic'd" to specs very similar to the guitar used by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Black1 includes a mint pickguard, custom wound pickups, gold hardware, and gold tuners from the SRV Tribute Stratocaster. It was the principal guitar on the Continuum album. It was notably used on tracks such as "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You", and "Bold as Love". The Black1 has become a trademark to Mayer's music.
The Fender Custom Shop made a limited run of 83 replica Black1 Stratocasters, all of which were sold within 24 hours. Each one was carefully relic'd by John Cruz. In 2010, Fender announced a production model of Mayer's Black1 guitar. Un-relic'd production versions of the guitar were produced for a limited run of 500 worldwide. In addition, full production signature Stratocasters were produced in three-tone sunburst and Olympic White finishes.
In 2014, John Mayer announced that he was no longer a Fender Artist. As a result, his signature line of guitars was pulled from production. In 2015, Mayer announced that he was collaborating with PRS Guitars. In March 2016, Mayer and PRS revealed their collaborative project, the Super Eagle. This was a limited release from PRS's Private Stock line of instruments and each guitar features ultra-grade woods, abalone inlay, JCF Audio preamps, and a hand-signed sticker by glass-artist David Smith. Only 100 were produced, each retailing for over $10,000. In January 2017 at NAMM, PRS and Mayer announced the J-MOD 100 signature amp. In June 2017, the Super Eagle II was revealed, limited to 120 instruments.
In January 2018, Martin Guitar announced the limited-release (45 instruments) John Mayer Signature D-45, with list price $14,999. In March 2018, Mayer's signature Silver Sky model was released by PRS, available in four colors. While Music Trade called the Silver Sky "derivative", it said that all the elements were "designed from the ground up" and built with "attention to detail". While acknowledging its similarity to a Stratocaster, Matt Blackett of Guitar Player magazine ultimately said, "The Silver Sky absolutely delivers on the promise of being a damn-near-perfect version of this type of guitar." The magazine named its "Editor's Pick".
Reception
Mayer has stood out as among his peers as a guitarist. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks in an issue lauding the "New Guitar Gods", and the cover nicknamed him Slowhand Jr., a reference to Eric Clapton. Critics, however, point to how safe his music is. Chris Richards, in review of a 2017 concert, declared "John Mayer is an amazing guitar player", though he says he did so "through clenched teeth," adding that the fact should not absolve the guitarist of "his pillow-soft songcraft, the dull sentimentality of his lyrics, or that cuckoo-racist interview he gave to Playboy back in 2010". Music writer Steve Baltin commented on this dichotomy, saying that Mayer is "one of the sharpest and savviest musical minds you will ever encounter", and added, "While many have found reasons to dislike Mayer since the beginning of his career, he is a consummate musician's musician, an artist who has been embraced by Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Buddy Guy among others."
Mayer's inclusion in the Grateful Dead was not without its critics. Chris Robinson of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood said that "everything that Jerry Garcia ever talked about or stood for, John Mayer is the antithesis", and that while "Jerry was one of the most unique musicians in the world [...] here's John Mayer playing everyone else's licks". The comment itself drew controversy, and Mayer, for his part, said, "I care about this band too much to give that life", and that "I realized not long ago that I'm done debating my own merits."
Personal life
On his third episode of Current Mood, Mayer revealed he had been sober since 2016. He stopped drinking after having what he says was a six-day hangover after Drake's 30th birthday party.
Relationships
Mayer has been romantically involved with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Mayer created the "Back to You" Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development. The foundation auctions exclusive John Mayer items, such as guitar picks, T-shirts and signed CDs. The auctions have been successful, with some tickets selling for more than 17 times their face value.
Mayer participated at the East Rutherford, New Jersey, location of the Live Earth project, a musical rally to support awareness for climate change held July 7, 2007.
Mayer performed at a number of benefits and telethons for charity throughout his career. He has participated in benefits for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In response to the Virginia Tech shooting, Mayer (along with Dave Matthews Band, Phil Vassar, and Nas) performed a free concert at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium on September 6, 2007. followed by an appearance with Rob Thomas at the Annual Holiday Concert at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla that winter. On December 8, 2007, Mayer hosted the first annual Charity Revue, a tradition he has continued each year. Charities who have benefited from the concerts include Toys for Tots, Inner City Arts and the Los Angeles Mission. CDs and DVDs of the first concert were released as Where the Light Is in July 2008. Mayer appeared on Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, a celebrity initiative to support Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Mayer (along with Keith Urban) headlined Tiger Jam 2011 in Las Vegas to help raise around $750,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2013, Mayer participated with Zac Brown in a benefit concert in Bozeman, Montana where they raised more than $100,000 for firefighters who battled a wildfire in the summer of 2012 in Paradise Valley that destroyed 12,000 acres.
On March 1, 2019, John Mayer established the Heart and Armor Foundation in support of veterans of war. John has been actively involved in initiatives to help returning veterans for about 12 years.
Controversies
Mayer's relationship with Jessica Simpson coincided with behavior changes that significantly increased his tabloid exposure. Early in his career, he had expressed his resolve to completely avoid drugs, alcohol, clubbing, "red-carpet" events, dating celebrities, and anything that he felt would detract the focus from his music. In interviews, however, Mayer alluded to experiencing an extreme "anxiety bender" episode in his twenties that motivated him to be less reclusive. In 2006, he first mentioned that he had begun using marijuana. He began making appearances at clubs in Los Angeles and New York City, and Simpson became the first in a string of famous girlfriends, including Jennifer Aniston and Minka Kelly. By 2007, his personal life had become regular fodder for the gossip media and, as a result, Mayer made efforts to control his public image. His online presence increased, he began to stage pranks for the paparazzi, and he hosted a segment for the gossip show TMZ.
In early 2010, Mayer gave a controversial interview to Playboy magazine in which he revealed sexually explicit details about his former girlfriends Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston—calling his relationship with the former "sexual napalm." In response to a question about whether black women were interested in him, he said, "My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I've got a Benetton heart and a fuckin' David Duke cock. I'm going to start dating separately from my dick." He also used the word "nigger" in the interview. This set off accusations in the media of him being a misogynist, kiss-and-tell ex-boyfriend, and racist. He apologized via Twitter for his use of the word "nigger", saying, "It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize...a word that is so emotionally charged". He also tearfully apologized to his band and fans at his concert in Nashville later that night. In the following two years, he left New York and retreated from the media. Reflecting on that time in a May 2012 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he said, "I lost my head for a little while and I did a couple of dumb interviews and it kind of woke me up...It was a violent crash into being an adult. For a couple of years, it was just figuring it all out, and I'm glad I actually stayed out of the spotlight."
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performed vocals for the song "Half of My Heart" on Mayer's November 2009 album Battle Studies. Rumors began to circulate in the media that the two were a couple, an assertion that neither addressed. However, Swift released a song called "Dear John" in 2010, which was widely believed to be about her relationship with him. In June 2012, Mayer criticized the song, saying she never contacted him and that "it's abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait till he gets a load of this!'" The song "Paper Doll" was reported to be a response. In the March 21, 2019 episode of Current Mood, however, Mayer said, "When 'Paper Doll' came out, 100% of the people believed it was about somebody...But the song was not about that person and I could never tell anybody, 'That's not true,' because then I would be breaking my rule that songwriters don't say who the songs are about or not about."
In March 2014, Mayer sued watch dealer Robert Maron for $656,000 when he discovered that seven of the $5 million in watches he purchased from the dealer contained counterfeit parts. He dropped the action in May 2015, releasing a statement that asserted that research restored his "belief that Bob Maron is an expert on Rolex watches and confirmed that Bob Maron never sold him a counterfeit watch".
In 2020, Perez Hilton stated in his memoir TMI: My Life in Scandal that in 2007 at a club in Chelsea, Manhattan, Mayer came up to Hilton and said, 'I like to watch gay porn, you know,' adding, 'My favorite porn star is Brent Corrigan. He really turns me on', and then french-kissed Hilton.
Discography
Room for Squares (2001)
Heavier Things (2003)
Continuum (2006)
Battle Studies (2009)
Born and Raised (2012)
Paradise Valley (2013)
The Search for Everything (2017)
Sob Rock (2021)
Awards
Grammy Awards
Mayer has won seven awards from nineteen nominations.
Others awards and nominations
See also
Annual John Mayer Holiday Charity Revue
Notes
References
Works cited
Edwards, G. (2006). Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John? New York: Crown Publishing Group. .
External links
1977 births
Living people
21st-century American composers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American singers
American bloggers
American blues singers
American male bloggers
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male singer-songwriters
American philanthropists
American pop rock singers
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
Blues rock musicians
Columbia Records artists
Dead & Company members
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from Connecticut
John Mayer Trio members
Musicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut
People from Fairfield, Connecticut
People from Hidden Hills, California
Record producers from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from Connecticut
Singer-songwriters from California | false | [
"\"How Many\" is the lead single from the motion picture soundtrack for the film Circuit. It was released on December 3, 2002, and was Taylor Dayne's last single for five years, until the 2007 release of \"Beautiful\".\n\nCharts\nThe song peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.\n\nCD maxi single track listing\nDisc 1\n \"How Many\" (original version)\n \"How Many\" (Big Bang Radio Edit)\n \"How Many\" (Guido Osorio Club Mix)\n \"How Many\" (Lifestylus Deep and Heavy)\n \"How Many\" (Fiburn and Urik Club Mix)\n \"How Many\" (Menergy's Sound Factory Vox Dub)\n \"How Many\" (Guido Osorio Dub)\n \"How Many\" (Friburn and Urik Dub)\n \"How Many\" (Lifestylus Dub)\n \"How Many\" (K-Pable Mix)\n\nDisc 2\n \"How Many\" (Vibelicious Radio Edit)\n \"How Many\" (DJ Manolo and Gene Therapy Mix)\n \"How Many\" (Big Bang Mix)\n \"How Many\" (Bet Boyz Vocal Dub)\n \"How Many\" (Dj's Inc. Mix)\n \"How Many\" (Nocturnal Minds Mix)\n \"How Many\" (Vibelicious Anthem Mix)\n \"How Many\" (Wes Wallace Dub)\n \"How Many\" (Eddie X and Spiritual Being Mix)\n \"How Many\" (the Larry K Classic Club Mix)\n\nReferences \n\n2002 singles\nTaylor Dayne songs\nSongs written by Tony Moran\nSongs written by Harriet (singer)",
"This World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) list includes prior and scheduled Worldcons. The data is maintained by the Long List Committee, a World Science Fiction Society sub-committee.\n\nNotes:\n Name – a convention is normally listed by the least confusing version of its name. This is usually the name preferred by the convention, but fannish tradition is followed in retroactively numbering the first Worldcon in a series 1 (or I or One).\n Guests of honor – custom in designating guests of honor has varied greatly, with some conventions giving specific titles (Fan, Pro, Australia, US, Artist, etc.) and some simply call them all guests of honor. Specific labels have been used where they existed, as have regional variants in spelling.\n Size – where available, this column records two numbers: how many paying members attended the Worldcon and how many total members there were (in parentheses). The available data is very incomplete and imprecise and many of these numbers are probably substantially in error.\n No Worldcons were held between 1942 and 1945 due to World War II.\n\nExternal links\n Official Worldcon long list\n\nReferences"
]
|
[
"New Order (band)",
"Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985-1987"
]
| C_f4bea434299f44b4810b6d7037af7e7b_0 | what happened in 1985? | 1 | what happened in 1985 for Factory Records? | New Order (band) | 1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing "The Perfect Kiss"--the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme--and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex. Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"--referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"--originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead--would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions. In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The single reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart, but would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order. CANNOTANSWER | Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing "The Perfect Kiss"-- | New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The band formed after the demise of Joy Division, following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis; they were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
While the band's early years were overshadowed by the legacy of Joy Division, their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work. Their 1983 hit "Blue Monday" became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time and a popular club track. In the 1980s, they released successful albums such as Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Technique (1989), and the singles compilation Substance (1987). They disbanded in 1993 to work on individual projects before reuniting in 1998. In the years since, New Order has gone through various hiatuses and personnel changes, most prominently the departure of Hook in 2007. They released their tenth studio album, Music Complete, in 2015.
History
Origins and formation: 1977–1980
Between 1977 and 1980, Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner were members of the post-punk band Joy Division, often featuring heavy production input from producer Martin Hannett. Curtis took his own life on 18 May 1980, the day before Joy Division were scheduled to depart for their first American tour, and prior to the release of the band's second album, Closer. The rest of the band decided soon after Curtis's death that they would carry on. Prior to his death, the members of Joy Division had agreed not to continue under the Joy Division name should any one member leave. On 29 July 1980, the still unnamed trio debuted live at Manchester's Beach Club. Rob Gretton, the band's manager for over 20 years, is credited for having found the name New Order in an article in The Guardian titled "The People's New Order of Kampuchea". The band adopted this name, despite its previous use for former Stooge Ron Asheton's band The New Order. The group states that the name New Order (as was also the case with "Joy Division") does not draw a direct line to National Socialism or Fascism.
The band rehearsed with each member taking turns on vocals. Sumner ultimately took the role, as he could sing when he wasn't playing his guitar. They wanted to complete the line-up with someone they knew well and whose musical skill and style was compatible with their own. Gretton suggested Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert, and she was invited to join the band in early October 1980, as keyboardist and guitarist. Her first live performance with the band occurred at The Squat in Manchester on 25 October 1980.
Movement: 1981–1982
The initial release as New Order was the single "Ceremony", backed with "In a Lonely Place". These two songs were written in the weeks before Curtis took his own life. With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers. The band viewed the period as a low point, as they were still reeling from Curtis' death. Hook commented that the only positive thing to come out of the Movement sessions was that producer Martin Hannett had showed the band how to use a mixing board, which allowed them to produce records by themselves from then on. More recently, Hook indicated a change of heart: "I think Movement gets a raw deal in general really – for me, when you consider the circumstances in which it was written, it is a fantastic record."
New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where the band were introduced to post-disco, freestyle and electro. The band had taken to listening to Italian disco to cheer themselves up, while Morris taught himself drum programming. The singles that followed, "Everything's Gone Green" and "Temptation", saw a change in direction toward dance music.
The Haçienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester and was even issued a Factory catalogue number: FAC51. The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled "Prime 5 8 6", but released 15 years later as "Video 5 8 6". Composed primarily by Sumner and Morris, "Prime 5 8 6"/"Video 5 8 6" was an early version of "5 8 6" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on "Blue Monday" and "Ultraviolence".
Power, Corruption & Lies: 1983–1984
Power, Corruption & Lies, released in May 1983, was a synthesiser-based outing and a dramatic change in sound from Joy Division and the preceding album, although the band had been hinting at the increased use of technology during the music-making process for a number of years then, including their work as Joy Division. Starting from what earlier singles had hinted, this was where the band had found their footing, mixing early techno music with their earlier guitar-based sound and showing the strong influence of acts like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder. Even further in this direction was the electronically sequenced, four-on-the-floor single "Blue Monday". Inspired by Klein + M.B.O.'s "Dirty Talk" and Sylvester's disco classic, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "Blue Monday" became the best-selling independent 12" single of all time in the UK; however, (much to the chagrin of the buying public) it was not on the track list of Power, Corruption & Lies. The song was included however on the cassette format in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, and on the original North American CD release of the album, alongside its B-side, "The Beach". "Blue Monday" was also included on the 2008 collector's edition of Power, Corruption & Lies.
The 1983 single "Confusion" firmly established the group as a dance music force, inspiring many musicians in subsequent years. In 1984 they followed the largely synthesised single "Thieves Like Us" with the heavy guitar-drum-bass rumble of "Murder", a not-too-distant cousin of "Ecstasy" from the Power, Corruption & Lies album. KROQ Los Angeles DJ Jed the Fish claims New Order had more to do with the emergence of house music than the Warehouse music of Chicago and "Frankie Knuckles and the whole so-called House music scene. Unless you were actually from regional Chicago, had you ever heard of House music until New Order? Be real, now."
Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985–1987
1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, guitar-based and electronic, and included "The Perfect Kiss"—the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme—and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex.
Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" (a Top 20 hit in Australia and New Zealand) and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"—referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"—originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead—would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions.
In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The song was one of four new tracks recorded for the American comedy film Salvatation!, and reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart. However, it would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order.
Technique, Republic and first break-up: 1988–1993
By this time, the group was heavily influenced by the Balearic sounds of Ibiza, which were making their way into the Haçienda. Partly recorded at Mediterranean Sound studios on Ibiza, Technique was released in February 1989. The album entered the charts at number one in the UK and contained a mix of acid house influence (as on opening track "Fine Time") and a more traditional rock sound (as on the single "Run 2"). The album is a blend of upbeat, accessible music coupled with blunt, poignant lyrics. During the summer of 1989, New Order supported Technique by touring with Public Image Ltd, Throwing Muses and the Sugarcubes across the United States and Canada in what the press dubbed the "Monsters of Alternative Rock" tour. Around this time, band members also began side projects including Electronic (Sumner with Johnny Marr) and Revenge (Hook with Davyth Hicks). Morris and Gilbert began to work together on outside TV theme production work. In 1991, the band were sued by the publishing company of American singer John Denver, who alleged that the guitar break in "Run 2" was similar to his song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The case was settled out of court and the song has since been credited to both New Order and John Denver.
In 1990, New Order recorded the official song of the England national football team's 1990 World Cup campaign, "World in Motion", under the ad hoc band name EnglandNewOrder. The song, co-written with comedian Keith Allen, was the band's sole number one UK hit. The song was originally planned to be titled "E for England", however the Football Association vetoed the title upon realising that this was a reference to ecstasy; a drug heavily associated with the Haçienda. (Allen claimed that his original draft lyrics included "E is for England, England starts with E / We'll all be smiling when we're in Italy.") The song also featured chanting from members of the England team and Allen, and a guest rap from England player John Barnes. It was again produced by Stephen Hague, who the band chose to produce their next album.
The band's next album Republic was shadowed by the collapse of their longtime label Factory Records. The label had been ailing due to financial difficulties, and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1992. New Order never had a formal contract with Factory. Although unusual for a major group, this was Factory's standard practice until the mid-1980s. Because of this, the band, rather than Factory Records, legally owned all of their recordings. This has been cited by Wilson himself as the main reason London Records' 1992 offer to buy the ailing label fell through. Following Factory's collapse, New Order signed with London, as did Morris and Gilbert separately for their side project The Other Two, whose debut album was originally intended for release on Factory. Republic, released around the world in 1993, spawned the singles "Regret"—New Order's highest-charting single in the US—"Ruined in a Day", "World", and "Spooky".
Following the release and promotion of Republic, the band put New Order on hold while focusing on side projects; with The Other Two's debut album released in 1993. In 1994, a second singles collection was released, entitled The Best of New Order. It featured all of the band's singles since Substance as well as a few extra tracks: "Vanishing Point" (from 1989's Technique), "The Perfect Kiss", "Thieves Like Us", "Shellshock", and remixes of "True Faith", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "1963", and "Round & Round". The new versions of "True Faith" and "1963" (the latter as a more guitar-oriented version produced by Arthur Baker) were released as singles to promote the album. In the US, the track listing was altered to set it apart from Substance as well as the UK release of The Best of New Order which had been available months prior. This collection was followed by a remix album, The Rest of New Order, featuring a selection of existing and newly commissioned mixes of classic New Order tracks. Some versions contained an extra disc or cassette composed entirely of remixes of "Blue Monday". "Blue Monday" was released as a single for a third time to promote the collection.
Reformation and Get Ready: 1998–2003
The group reconvened in 1998 at the suggestion of Rob Gretton. Nearly five years had passed since they had last seen each other. Sumner said, "We decided before we agreed to doing any gig, to have a meeting, and if anyone had any grudges to bear, to iron them out." By the second meeting everyone agreed to continue playing, scheduling their reunion gig for the Phoenix Festival that same year. In addition to rarer songs, New Order also decided to begin playing Joy Division songs again. When the Phoenix Festival was cancelled due to low ticket sales, New Order instead played the last night of that year's Reading Festival.
Their 2001 release Get Ready largely departed from their more electronic style and focused on more guitar oriented music. According to Sumner, "Get Ready was guitar-heavy simply because we felt that we'd left that instrument alone for a long time." Longtime fan Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins played guitar and sang back-up on the track "Turn My Way," and in 2001 toured with the band on dates in the UK, US, and Japan for a short period of time. Phil Cunningham (formerly of Marion) joined the band in a live capacity, deputising for Gilbert who declined to tour in favour of caring for her and Morris' children. Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie provided vocals on the track "Rock the Shack". Singles from the album included "Crystal," "60 Miles an Hour" and Someone Like You."
In 2002, Q featured New Order on their list of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die", although this was as part of a sub-list of "5 Bands That Could Go Either Way". Both New Order and Joy Division were portrayed in the Michael Winterbottom film 24 Hour Party People, depicting the rise and fall of Factory Records as seen through the eyes of label founder Tony Wilson. Cameos by Wilson himself, along with Mark E. Smith of the Fall and former members of Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets, lent a degree of legitimacy to the proceedings. The film touched on some of Factory's other artists, including Happy Mondays and the Durutti Column. The soundtrack featured the new track "Here to Stay," produced by the Chemical Brothers, which was released as a single. The single's music video highlighted scenes taken from the film.
Waiting for the Sirens' Call, Singles and second break-up: 2004–2007
The band released a new album on 27 March 2005, titled Waiting for the Sirens' Call, their first with new member Phil Cunningham. Cunningham replaced Gilbert (now married to Morris) so she could look after their children. Singles from this album were "Krafty", "Jetstream" (which features guest vocals by Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters), and the title track. At the 2005 NME Awards, New Order and Joy Division received the award for "Godlike Geniuses" (for lifetime achievement). Previous winners include Ozzy Osbourne, the Clash, and Happy Mondays. In 2006 the album track "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Dance Recording.
In the autumn of 2005, the group released another greatest hits compilation, in the form of Singles. The two-disc release was an updated version of the Substance collection and contained every single released from their 1981 debut all the way through to "Waiting for the Sirens' Call". However, unlike Substance, which focused almost exclusively on the 12" versions of the group's singles, Singles collected the 7" versions, many of which (like "Ceremony", "Temptation" and "Confusion") had never been released on CD. The album was accompanied by a two-disc DVD set, titled Item, that collected the extended UK version of NewOrderStory with a DVD of all New Order music videos as well as two newly commissioned videos for "Temptation '87" and "Ceremony".
The New Order: Live in Glasgow DVD was recorded at the Glasgow Academy in 2006 and features 18 tracks, including 4 Joy Division songs. Next to that, the release also contains a bonus disc of footage from the band's personal archive including 1980s footage from Glastonbury (June 1981), Rome, Cork, Rotterdam and Toronto.
In 2006, the band played several one-off live dates as well as short tours in the UK, Brazil and Argentina. After their Buenos Aires show in November 2006, Peter Hook suggested that the band should stop touring. In early May 2007, Hook was interviewed by British radio station XFM – originally to talk about his contribution to the debut album of Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell's new band Satellite Party – and stated that "Me and Bernard aren't working together." Further complicating the news, NewOrderOnline, a website with support from New Order management, reported that according to "a source close to the band", "The news about the split is false... New Order still exists despite what [Hook] said ... Peter Hook can leave the band, but this doesn't mean the end of New Order." However, Sumner revealed in 2009 that he no longer wished to make music as New Order.
Reunion with new line-up, Lost Sirens and Music Complete: 2011–2016
In September 2011, the band announced that they would perform for the first time since 2006, at the Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 17 October and at the Bataclan, Paris on 18 October. The band's line-up included keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, who returned to the band after a ten-year break, and Bad Lieutenant bassist Tom Chapman in place of Peter Hook. They played subsequent shows in London and South America in December, and released Live at the London Troxy, a live album from their performance on 10 December 2011 at The Troxy in London.
They continued to tour throughout 2012, including a short tour of New Zealand and Australia in February/March, and several festival appearances in 2012. New Order performed at Hyde Park with Blur and the Specials to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Lost Sirens was released in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2013. Lost Sirens is an eight-track album of songs recorded during the sessions for Waiting for the Sirens' Call. The album was discussed by Gillian Gilbert in a Brazilian interview to promote the band's appearance in São Paulo. She acknowledged issues with former member Peter Hook, and stated there was "a lot going on behind the scenes on the copyright" delaying the release.
The band debuted their first new song since the Waiting for the Sirens' Call sessions, "Singularity", during Lollapalooza Chile in March 2014. In July, the group toured North America, where they debuted another song, "Plastic". On 2 September the band signed to Mute Records. The New Order back catalogue remains with Warner Music.
On 22 September 2015, the band released a new album, Music Complete, their first without Peter Hook. The album was produced mostly by the band themselves, except "Singularity" and "Unlearn This Hatred", both produced by Tom Rowlands, while "Superheated" features additional production by Stuart Price.
On 13 May 2016, New Order released a follow-up remix album Complete Music, which consists of extended and reworked mixes of each track from Music Complete.
In November 2015, Peter Hook sued Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. In an objection, it was revealed that Sumner, Morris and Gilbert had set up a new company behind Hook's back, that it has generated an income of £7.8 million in four years while Hook received only a fraction of that. The three members argued they had treated Hook fairly and that his stake in the band's royalties was reasonable, despite the fact that in four years, Hook had only received "1.25 per cent of the band's royalties and other income from merchandising and performances". The judge ruled that there was "at least a reasonable prospect" of Hook proving that he was not getting a fair share of royalties and other income and rejected Sumner and Morris's lawyer argument. The judge was willing to hear the case but urged the parties to come to an agreement rather than suffer legal costs of around £900,000. On 20 September 2017, the band announced that a full and final settlement had been reached in the dispute.
Touring and recent work: 2017–present
On 13 July 2017, New Order played a concert at Manchester International Festival with Liam Gillick. On 12 July 2019 the performance was released as a live album titled Σ(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.. (Live at MIF). The collaboration between Gillick and New Order was the subject of a documentary feature titled 'New Order: Decades', directed by Mike Christie and broadcast in the UK by Sky Arts and Showtime in the USA.
On 23 August 2018, the band played the first date of a North American tour at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul Minnesota, US. According to the band's official website, other stops on the tour included Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC; Toronto, Ontario; Long Beach, California; Kahului, Hawaii; and Honolulu, Hawaii. As of 24 August 2018, a single show in Santiago, Chile had been announced for 21 November 2018.
In January 2020, the band played a four night residency in Florida, and in February 2020, they announced a co-headlining tour in North America with the Pet Shop Boys, and that the only concert in the UK in 2020 would be at The O2 on 10 October. These tour dates were later rescheduled for 2021.
On 8 September 2020 the band released the single "Be a Rebel" 5 years after their previous release. A music video for the single, directed by NYSU, premiered on YouTube on 2 December.
On 11 February 2021, the band announced their plans to release a live album and concert film of their 2018 show at London's Alexandra Palace, directed by Mike Christie. Entitled Education Entertainment Recreation (Live at Alexandra Palace), it was released on 7 May.
Other projects
In 1988, Bernard Sumner teamed up with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to form the group Electronic, also enlisting the help of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. Electronic regrouped in 1996 for Raise the Pressure, which also featured Karl Bartos (formerly of Kraftwerk). The project's third album Twisted Tenderness was released in 1999 after which the band dissolved.
In June 2009, Sumner formed a new band called Bad Lieutenant with Phil Cunningham (guitar) and Jake Evans (guitar and vocals). Their album Never Cry Another Tear was released on 5 October 2009. In addition to Cunningham and Evans the album also features appearances by Stephen Morris (drums), Jack Mitchell (drums), Tom Chapman (bass) and Alex James (bass). The live band included Morris on drums and Tom Chapman on bass.
Peter Hook has been involved with several other projects. In the 1990s, Hook recorded with Killing Joke with a view to joining the band. However, original bassist Martin 'Youth' Glover instead returned to the band. In 1995 he toured with the Durutti Column. He has recorded one album with the band Revenge with Davyth Hicks and Chris Jones and two with Monaco (both as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist) with David Potts. Monaco scored a club and alternative radio hit with "What Do You Want From Me?" in 1997. Hook also formed a band called Freebass with fellow bass players Mani (the Stone Roses) and Andy Rourke (the Smiths) and vocalist Gary Briggs, which was active from 2007 to 2010. He also contributed to Perry Farrell's Satellite Party. Hook's current band Peter Hook and the Light is touring Joy Division and New Order albums in their entirety.
In 1990 Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris formed their own band, The Other Two. The Other Two released its first single "Tasty Fish" in 1991 and released two albums, The Other Two & You in 1993 and Super Highways in 1999. They have also been involved in scoring television soundtracks, like Making Out. In 2007, Gilbert and Morris remixed two tracks for the Nine Inch Nails remixes album Year Zero Remixed.
BeMusic
"BeMusic" was a name the band used for their publishing company (the LP label for Movement says "B Music" in large letters, though using an italic ß for the letter B). All four members of the band used the name for production work for other artists' recordings between 1982 and 1985.
The first BeMusic credit was for Peter Hook producing Stockholm Monsters in 1982. Other artists with producer or musician credit for "BeMusic" were 52nd Street, Section 25, Marcel King, Quando Quango, Paul Haig, Thick Pigeon, Nyam Nyam and Life.
Their production work as BeMusic was collected on two LTM Recordings compilation CDs, Cool As Ice: The BeMusic Productions and Twice As Nice (which also included production work by Donald Johnson, of A Certain Ratio, and Arthur Baker).
Influences, style and legacy
New Order's music mixes rock with dance music, as can be seen on signature tracks such as 1982's "Temptation", 1983's "Blue Monday" and 1987's "True Faith". Founding member Hook stated that the band's shift from playing cold dark tracks from 1981 to producing electro/rock tracks from 1982 was inspired by the music of German electronic group Kraftwerk, US rock band Sparks who had produced disco/electro-rock music with producer Giorgio Moroder on their No. 1 in Heaven album, and also the Moroder/Donna Summer collaboration on "I Feel Love". Along with Kraftwerk, the English bands Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) educated singer Bernard Sumner that one "could make music without guitars". New Order's collaboration with New York DJ Arthur Baker was inspired by the records' sounds of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force.
According to a staff-written "Allmusic" history, the band are also regarded as "the first alternative dance" music group with their fusion of "used icy, gloomy post-punk with Kraftwerk-style synth-pop" and were also labeled as synth-pop, post-punk, new wave, dance-rock and electronica.
They have heavily influenced techno, rock, and pop musicians including Moby, and were themselves influenced by the likes of David Bowie and Neu!. They have also significantly influenced electro, freestyle and house. New Order's Kraftwerk influence was acknowledged by their single "Krafty", which had cover art referencing "Autobahn".
Drummer Stephen Morris plays a mixture of acoustic and electronic drums, and in many cases plays along seamlessly with sequenced parts. All the band members could and did switch instruments throughout gigs, as evidenced on Jonathan Demme's video for "The Perfect Kiss" and the concert videos Taras Shevchenko (recorded in New York, November 1981) and Pumped Full of Drugs (Tokyo, May 1985). During such live gigs, Sumner alternated between guitar, keyboards, melodica and (on the track "Confusion") bass; Gilbert switched between keyboards and guitar, Morris between drums and keyboards, and Hook played both bass and electronic drums. Taras Shevchenko is also notable for the fact all four members of the group have left the stage before the final song, "Temptation", comes to a complete end.
Reputation
Both New Order and Joy Division were among the most successful artists on the Factory Records label, run by Granada television personality Tony Wilson, and partnered with Factory in the financing of the Manchester club The Haçienda. Speaking in 2009, fellow synthpop musician Phil Oakey described New Order's slow-burn career as cult musicians as being unusually prolonged and effective: "If you want to make a lot of money out of pop, be number 3 a lot. Like New Order did."
Cover artwork
Almost all New Order recordings bear minimalist packaging, art directed by Peter Saville. The group's record sleeves bucked the 1980s trend by rarely showing the band members (with the exception of the Low-Life album) or even providing basic information such as the band name or title of the release. Song names were often hidden within the shrink wrapped package, either on the disc itself (such as the "Blue Monday" single), on an inconspicuous part of an inner sleeve ("The Perfect Kiss" single), or written in a cryptic colour code invented by Saville (Power, Corruption & Lies). Saville said his intention was to sell the band as a "mass-produced secret" of sorts, and that the minimalist style was enough to allow fans to identify the band's products without explicit labelling. Saville frequently sent the artwork straight to the printer, unreviewed by either the band or the label.
Awards and nominations
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1983
| rowspan="3" | NME Awards
| Power, Corruption & Lies
| Best Dressed Sleeve
|
|-
| "Blue Monday"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Themselves
| Best Group
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1988
| Brit Awards
| "True Faith"
| Best British Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Pollstar Concert Industry Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| rowspan=2|Most Creative Stage Production
|
|-
| 1990
|
|-
| 1991
| Ivor Novello Awards
| "World in Motion"
| Best Selling A Side
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1993
| Mercury Prize
| Republic
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Billboard Music Awards
| Themselves
| Top Modern Rock Tracks Artist
|
|-
| "Regret"
| Top Modern Rock Track
|
|-
|1994
| D&AD Awards
| "World (The Price of Love)"
| Pop Promo Video
| style="background:#BF8040"| Wood Pencil
|-
| 1999
| rowspan=1|Q Awards
| Themselves
| Q Inspiration Award
|
|-
| 2000
| ASCAP Pop Music Awards
| "Blue Monday"
| Most Performed Song
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2001
|Q Awards
| "Crystal"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Žebřík Music Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Surprise
|
|-
| 2005
| NME Awards
| Godlike Genius Award
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Grammy Awards
| "Guilt is a Useless Emotion"
| Best Dance Recording
|
|-
| MTV VMAJ
| "Krafty"
| Best Dance Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2012
| UK Festival Awards
| rowspan="3" | Themselves
| Headliner of the Year
|
|-
| Artrocker Awards
| Legend Award
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2015
| rowspan="2" | Q Awards
| Q Outstanding Contribution To Music
|
|-
| "Restless"
| Best Track
|
|-
|Best Art Vinyl
|Music Complete
| Best Art Vinyl
|
|-
| 2016
| International Dance Music Awards
| "Plastic"
| Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track
|
|-
| 2019
| Silver Clef Awards
| Bernard Sumner
| Outstanding Achievement Award
|
Band members
Current
Bernard Sumner – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, melodica (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Gillian Gilbert – keyboards, guitars, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2001, 2011–present)
Phil Cunningham – guitars, keyboards, electronic percussion (2001–2007, 2011–present)
Tom Chapman – bass, keyboards (2011–present)
Former
Peter Hook – bass, electronic percussion, vocals, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007)
Timeline
Discography
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Lost Sirens (2013)
Music Complete (2015)
References
Further reading
Hickey, Dec. From Heaven to Heaven. New Order Live. The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters. London: Dec Hickey, 2012.
Edge, Brian. New Order + Joy Division: Pleasures and Wayward Distractions. London: Omnibus Press, 1988.
Flowers, Claude. New Order + Joy Division: Dreams Never End. London: Omnibus Press, 1995.
Johnson, Mark. An Ideal For Living: An History Of Joy Division. London: Bobcat Books, 1984.
Middles, Mick. From Joy Division to New Order: The Factory Story. London: Virgin Books, 1996.
External links
New Order Online – band-endorsed fansite
English new wave musical groups
English post-punk music groups
British synth-pop new wave groups
English synth-pop groups
Alternative dance musical groups
Dance-rock musical groups
Brit Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
1980 establishments in England
1993 disestablishments in England
1998 establishments in England
2007 disestablishments in England
2011 establishments in England
Musical groups established in 1980
Musical groups disestablished in 1993
Musical groups reestablished in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2007
Musical groups reestablished in 2011
Qwest Records artists
Reprise Records artists
Mute Records artists
Factory Records artists
Factory Benelux artists
Musical quintets
Musical groups from Manchester | false | [
"Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books",
"\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim"
]
|
[
"New Order (band)",
"Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985-1987",
"what happened in 1985?",
"Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing \"The Perfect Kiss\"--"
]
| C_f4bea434299f44b4810b6d7037af7e7b_0 | was low-life an album? | 2 | was low-life an album? | New Order (band) | 1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing "The Perfect Kiss"--the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme--and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex. Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"--referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"--originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead--would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions. In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The single reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart, but would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The band formed after the demise of Joy Division, following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis; they were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
While the band's early years were overshadowed by the legacy of Joy Division, their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work. Their 1983 hit "Blue Monday" became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time and a popular club track. In the 1980s, they released successful albums such as Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Technique (1989), and the singles compilation Substance (1987). They disbanded in 1993 to work on individual projects before reuniting in 1998. In the years since, New Order has gone through various hiatuses and personnel changes, most prominently the departure of Hook in 2007. They released their tenth studio album, Music Complete, in 2015.
History
Origins and formation: 1977–1980
Between 1977 and 1980, Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner were members of the post-punk band Joy Division, often featuring heavy production input from producer Martin Hannett. Curtis took his own life on 18 May 1980, the day before Joy Division were scheduled to depart for their first American tour, and prior to the release of the band's second album, Closer. The rest of the band decided soon after Curtis's death that they would carry on. Prior to his death, the members of Joy Division had agreed not to continue under the Joy Division name should any one member leave. On 29 July 1980, the still unnamed trio debuted live at Manchester's Beach Club. Rob Gretton, the band's manager for over 20 years, is credited for having found the name New Order in an article in The Guardian titled "The People's New Order of Kampuchea". The band adopted this name, despite its previous use for former Stooge Ron Asheton's band The New Order. The group states that the name New Order (as was also the case with "Joy Division") does not draw a direct line to National Socialism or Fascism.
The band rehearsed with each member taking turns on vocals. Sumner ultimately took the role, as he could sing when he wasn't playing his guitar. They wanted to complete the line-up with someone they knew well and whose musical skill and style was compatible with their own. Gretton suggested Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert, and she was invited to join the band in early October 1980, as keyboardist and guitarist. Her first live performance with the band occurred at The Squat in Manchester on 25 October 1980.
Movement: 1981–1982
The initial release as New Order was the single "Ceremony", backed with "In a Lonely Place". These two songs were written in the weeks before Curtis took his own life. With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers. The band viewed the period as a low point, as they were still reeling from Curtis' death. Hook commented that the only positive thing to come out of the Movement sessions was that producer Martin Hannett had showed the band how to use a mixing board, which allowed them to produce records by themselves from then on. More recently, Hook indicated a change of heart: "I think Movement gets a raw deal in general really – for me, when you consider the circumstances in which it was written, it is a fantastic record."
New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where the band were introduced to post-disco, freestyle and electro. The band had taken to listening to Italian disco to cheer themselves up, while Morris taught himself drum programming. The singles that followed, "Everything's Gone Green" and "Temptation", saw a change in direction toward dance music.
The Haçienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester and was even issued a Factory catalogue number: FAC51. The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled "Prime 5 8 6", but released 15 years later as "Video 5 8 6". Composed primarily by Sumner and Morris, "Prime 5 8 6"/"Video 5 8 6" was an early version of "5 8 6" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on "Blue Monday" and "Ultraviolence".
Power, Corruption & Lies: 1983–1984
Power, Corruption & Lies, released in May 1983, was a synthesiser-based outing and a dramatic change in sound from Joy Division and the preceding album, although the band had been hinting at the increased use of technology during the music-making process for a number of years then, including their work as Joy Division. Starting from what earlier singles had hinted, this was where the band had found their footing, mixing early techno music with their earlier guitar-based sound and showing the strong influence of acts like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder. Even further in this direction was the electronically sequenced, four-on-the-floor single "Blue Monday". Inspired by Klein + M.B.O.'s "Dirty Talk" and Sylvester's disco classic, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "Blue Monday" became the best-selling independent 12" single of all time in the UK; however, (much to the chagrin of the buying public) it was not on the track list of Power, Corruption & Lies. The song was included however on the cassette format in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, and on the original North American CD release of the album, alongside its B-side, "The Beach". "Blue Monday" was also included on the 2008 collector's edition of Power, Corruption & Lies.
The 1983 single "Confusion" firmly established the group as a dance music force, inspiring many musicians in subsequent years. In 1984 they followed the largely synthesised single "Thieves Like Us" with the heavy guitar-drum-bass rumble of "Murder", a not-too-distant cousin of "Ecstasy" from the Power, Corruption & Lies album. KROQ Los Angeles DJ Jed the Fish claims New Order had more to do with the emergence of house music than the Warehouse music of Chicago and "Frankie Knuckles and the whole so-called House music scene. Unless you were actually from regional Chicago, had you ever heard of House music until New Order? Be real, now."
Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985–1987
1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, guitar-based and electronic, and included "The Perfect Kiss"—the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme—and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex.
Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" (a Top 20 hit in Australia and New Zealand) and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"—referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"—originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead—would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions.
In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The song was one of four new tracks recorded for the American comedy film Salvatation!, and reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart. However, it would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order.
Technique, Republic and first break-up: 1988–1993
By this time, the group was heavily influenced by the Balearic sounds of Ibiza, which were making their way into the Haçienda. Partly recorded at Mediterranean Sound studios on Ibiza, Technique was released in February 1989. The album entered the charts at number one in the UK and contained a mix of acid house influence (as on opening track "Fine Time") and a more traditional rock sound (as on the single "Run 2"). The album is a blend of upbeat, accessible music coupled with blunt, poignant lyrics. During the summer of 1989, New Order supported Technique by touring with Public Image Ltd, Throwing Muses and the Sugarcubes across the United States and Canada in what the press dubbed the "Monsters of Alternative Rock" tour. Around this time, band members also began side projects including Electronic (Sumner with Johnny Marr) and Revenge (Hook with Davyth Hicks). Morris and Gilbert began to work together on outside TV theme production work. In 1991, the band were sued by the publishing company of American singer John Denver, who alleged that the guitar break in "Run 2" was similar to his song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The case was settled out of court and the song has since been credited to both New Order and John Denver.
In 1990, New Order recorded the official song of the England national football team's 1990 World Cup campaign, "World in Motion", under the ad hoc band name EnglandNewOrder. The song, co-written with comedian Keith Allen, was the band's sole number one UK hit. The song was originally planned to be titled "E for England", however the Football Association vetoed the title upon realising that this was a reference to ecstasy; a drug heavily associated with the Haçienda. (Allen claimed that his original draft lyrics included "E is for England, England starts with E / We'll all be smiling when we're in Italy.") The song also featured chanting from members of the England team and Allen, and a guest rap from England player John Barnes. It was again produced by Stephen Hague, who the band chose to produce their next album.
The band's next album Republic was shadowed by the collapse of their longtime label Factory Records. The label had been ailing due to financial difficulties, and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1992. New Order never had a formal contract with Factory. Although unusual for a major group, this was Factory's standard practice until the mid-1980s. Because of this, the band, rather than Factory Records, legally owned all of their recordings. This has been cited by Wilson himself as the main reason London Records' 1992 offer to buy the ailing label fell through. Following Factory's collapse, New Order signed with London, as did Morris and Gilbert separately for their side project The Other Two, whose debut album was originally intended for release on Factory. Republic, released around the world in 1993, spawned the singles "Regret"—New Order's highest-charting single in the US—"Ruined in a Day", "World", and "Spooky".
Following the release and promotion of Republic, the band put New Order on hold while focusing on side projects; with The Other Two's debut album released in 1993. In 1994, a second singles collection was released, entitled The Best of New Order. It featured all of the band's singles since Substance as well as a few extra tracks: "Vanishing Point" (from 1989's Technique), "The Perfect Kiss", "Thieves Like Us", "Shellshock", and remixes of "True Faith", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "1963", and "Round & Round". The new versions of "True Faith" and "1963" (the latter as a more guitar-oriented version produced by Arthur Baker) were released as singles to promote the album. In the US, the track listing was altered to set it apart from Substance as well as the UK release of The Best of New Order which had been available months prior. This collection was followed by a remix album, The Rest of New Order, featuring a selection of existing and newly commissioned mixes of classic New Order tracks. Some versions contained an extra disc or cassette composed entirely of remixes of "Blue Monday". "Blue Monday" was released as a single for a third time to promote the collection.
Reformation and Get Ready: 1998–2003
The group reconvened in 1998 at the suggestion of Rob Gretton. Nearly five years had passed since they had last seen each other. Sumner said, "We decided before we agreed to doing any gig, to have a meeting, and if anyone had any grudges to bear, to iron them out." By the second meeting everyone agreed to continue playing, scheduling their reunion gig for the Phoenix Festival that same year. In addition to rarer songs, New Order also decided to begin playing Joy Division songs again. When the Phoenix Festival was cancelled due to low ticket sales, New Order instead played the last night of that year's Reading Festival.
Their 2001 release Get Ready largely departed from their more electronic style and focused on more guitar oriented music. According to Sumner, "Get Ready was guitar-heavy simply because we felt that we'd left that instrument alone for a long time." Longtime fan Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins played guitar and sang back-up on the track "Turn My Way," and in 2001 toured with the band on dates in the UK, US, and Japan for a short period of time. Phil Cunningham (formerly of Marion) joined the band in a live capacity, deputising for Gilbert who declined to tour in favour of caring for her and Morris' children. Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie provided vocals on the track "Rock the Shack". Singles from the album included "Crystal," "60 Miles an Hour" and Someone Like You."
In 2002, Q featured New Order on their list of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die", although this was as part of a sub-list of "5 Bands That Could Go Either Way". Both New Order and Joy Division were portrayed in the Michael Winterbottom film 24 Hour Party People, depicting the rise and fall of Factory Records as seen through the eyes of label founder Tony Wilson. Cameos by Wilson himself, along with Mark E. Smith of the Fall and former members of Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets, lent a degree of legitimacy to the proceedings. The film touched on some of Factory's other artists, including Happy Mondays and the Durutti Column. The soundtrack featured the new track "Here to Stay," produced by the Chemical Brothers, which was released as a single. The single's music video highlighted scenes taken from the film.
Waiting for the Sirens' Call, Singles and second break-up: 2004–2007
The band released a new album on 27 March 2005, titled Waiting for the Sirens' Call, their first with new member Phil Cunningham. Cunningham replaced Gilbert (now married to Morris) so she could look after their children. Singles from this album were "Krafty", "Jetstream" (which features guest vocals by Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters), and the title track. At the 2005 NME Awards, New Order and Joy Division received the award for "Godlike Geniuses" (for lifetime achievement). Previous winners include Ozzy Osbourne, the Clash, and Happy Mondays. In 2006 the album track "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Dance Recording.
In the autumn of 2005, the group released another greatest hits compilation, in the form of Singles. The two-disc release was an updated version of the Substance collection and contained every single released from their 1981 debut all the way through to "Waiting for the Sirens' Call". However, unlike Substance, which focused almost exclusively on the 12" versions of the group's singles, Singles collected the 7" versions, many of which (like "Ceremony", "Temptation" and "Confusion") had never been released on CD. The album was accompanied by a two-disc DVD set, titled Item, that collected the extended UK version of NewOrderStory with a DVD of all New Order music videos as well as two newly commissioned videos for "Temptation '87" and "Ceremony".
The New Order: Live in Glasgow DVD was recorded at the Glasgow Academy in 2006 and features 18 tracks, including 4 Joy Division songs. Next to that, the release also contains a bonus disc of footage from the band's personal archive including 1980s footage from Glastonbury (June 1981), Rome, Cork, Rotterdam and Toronto.
In 2006, the band played several one-off live dates as well as short tours in the UK, Brazil and Argentina. After their Buenos Aires show in November 2006, Peter Hook suggested that the band should stop touring. In early May 2007, Hook was interviewed by British radio station XFM – originally to talk about his contribution to the debut album of Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell's new band Satellite Party – and stated that "Me and Bernard aren't working together." Further complicating the news, NewOrderOnline, a website with support from New Order management, reported that according to "a source close to the band", "The news about the split is false... New Order still exists despite what [Hook] said ... Peter Hook can leave the band, but this doesn't mean the end of New Order." However, Sumner revealed in 2009 that he no longer wished to make music as New Order.
Reunion with new line-up, Lost Sirens and Music Complete: 2011–2016
In September 2011, the band announced that they would perform for the first time since 2006, at the Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 17 October and at the Bataclan, Paris on 18 October. The band's line-up included keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, who returned to the band after a ten-year break, and Bad Lieutenant bassist Tom Chapman in place of Peter Hook. They played subsequent shows in London and South America in December, and released Live at the London Troxy, a live album from their performance on 10 December 2011 at The Troxy in London.
They continued to tour throughout 2012, including a short tour of New Zealand and Australia in February/March, and several festival appearances in 2012. New Order performed at Hyde Park with Blur and the Specials to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Lost Sirens was released in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2013. Lost Sirens is an eight-track album of songs recorded during the sessions for Waiting for the Sirens' Call. The album was discussed by Gillian Gilbert in a Brazilian interview to promote the band's appearance in São Paulo. She acknowledged issues with former member Peter Hook, and stated there was "a lot going on behind the scenes on the copyright" delaying the release.
The band debuted their first new song since the Waiting for the Sirens' Call sessions, "Singularity", during Lollapalooza Chile in March 2014. In July, the group toured North America, where they debuted another song, "Plastic". On 2 September the band signed to Mute Records. The New Order back catalogue remains with Warner Music.
On 22 September 2015, the band released a new album, Music Complete, their first without Peter Hook. The album was produced mostly by the band themselves, except "Singularity" and "Unlearn This Hatred", both produced by Tom Rowlands, while "Superheated" features additional production by Stuart Price.
On 13 May 2016, New Order released a follow-up remix album Complete Music, which consists of extended and reworked mixes of each track from Music Complete.
In November 2015, Peter Hook sued Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. In an objection, it was revealed that Sumner, Morris and Gilbert had set up a new company behind Hook's back, that it has generated an income of £7.8 million in four years while Hook received only a fraction of that. The three members argued they had treated Hook fairly and that his stake in the band's royalties was reasonable, despite the fact that in four years, Hook had only received "1.25 per cent of the band's royalties and other income from merchandising and performances". The judge ruled that there was "at least a reasonable prospect" of Hook proving that he was not getting a fair share of royalties and other income and rejected Sumner and Morris's lawyer argument. The judge was willing to hear the case but urged the parties to come to an agreement rather than suffer legal costs of around £900,000. On 20 September 2017, the band announced that a full and final settlement had been reached in the dispute.
Touring and recent work: 2017–present
On 13 July 2017, New Order played a concert at Manchester International Festival with Liam Gillick. On 12 July 2019 the performance was released as a live album titled Σ(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.. (Live at MIF). The collaboration between Gillick and New Order was the subject of a documentary feature titled 'New Order: Decades', directed by Mike Christie and broadcast in the UK by Sky Arts and Showtime in the USA.
On 23 August 2018, the band played the first date of a North American tour at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul Minnesota, US. According to the band's official website, other stops on the tour included Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC; Toronto, Ontario; Long Beach, California; Kahului, Hawaii; and Honolulu, Hawaii. As of 24 August 2018, a single show in Santiago, Chile had been announced for 21 November 2018.
In January 2020, the band played a four night residency in Florida, and in February 2020, they announced a co-headlining tour in North America with the Pet Shop Boys, and that the only concert in the UK in 2020 would be at The O2 on 10 October. These tour dates were later rescheduled for 2021.
On 8 September 2020 the band released the single "Be a Rebel" 5 years after their previous release. A music video for the single, directed by NYSU, premiered on YouTube on 2 December.
On 11 February 2021, the band announced their plans to release a live album and concert film of their 2018 show at London's Alexandra Palace, directed by Mike Christie. Entitled Education Entertainment Recreation (Live at Alexandra Palace), it was released on 7 May.
Other projects
In 1988, Bernard Sumner teamed up with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to form the group Electronic, also enlisting the help of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. Electronic regrouped in 1996 for Raise the Pressure, which also featured Karl Bartos (formerly of Kraftwerk). The project's third album Twisted Tenderness was released in 1999 after which the band dissolved.
In June 2009, Sumner formed a new band called Bad Lieutenant with Phil Cunningham (guitar) and Jake Evans (guitar and vocals). Their album Never Cry Another Tear was released on 5 October 2009. In addition to Cunningham and Evans the album also features appearances by Stephen Morris (drums), Jack Mitchell (drums), Tom Chapman (bass) and Alex James (bass). The live band included Morris on drums and Tom Chapman on bass.
Peter Hook has been involved with several other projects. In the 1990s, Hook recorded with Killing Joke with a view to joining the band. However, original bassist Martin 'Youth' Glover instead returned to the band. In 1995 he toured with the Durutti Column. He has recorded one album with the band Revenge with Davyth Hicks and Chris Jones and two with Monaco (both as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist) with David Potts. Monaco scored a club and alternative radio hit with "What Do You Want From Me?" in 1997. Hook also formed a band called Freebass with fellow bass players Mani (the Stone Roses) and Andy Rourke (the Smiths) and vocalist Gary Briggs, which was active from 2007 to 2010. He also contributed to Perry Farrell's Satellite Party. Hook's current band Peter Hook and the Light is touring Joy Division and New Order albums in their entirety.
In 1990 Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris formed their own band, The Other Two. The Other Two released its first single "Tasty Fish" in 1991 and released two albums, The Other Two & You in 1993 and Super Highways in 1999. They have also been involved in scoring television soundtracks, like Making Out. In 2007, Gilbert and Morris remixed two tracks for the Nine Inch Nails remixes album Year Zero Remixed.
BeMusic
"BeMusic" was a name the band used for their publishing company (the LP label for Movement says "B Music" in large letters, though using an italic ß for the letter B). All four members of the band used the name for production work for other artists' recordings between 1982 and 1985.
The first BeMusic credit was for Peter Hook producing Stockholm Monsters in 1982. Other artists with producer or musician credit for "BeMusic" were 52nd Street, Section 25, Marcel King, Quando Quango, Paul Haig, Thick Pigeon, Nyam Nyam and Life.
Their production work as BeMusic was collected on two LTM Recordings compilation CDs, Cool As Ice: The BeMusic Productions and Twice As Nice (which also included production work by Donald Johnson, of A Certain Ratio, and Arthur Baker).
Influences, style and legacy
New Order's music mixes rock with dance music, as can be seen on signature tracks such as 1982's "Temptation", 1983's "Blue Monday" and 1987's "True Faith". Founding member Hook stated that the band's shift from playing cold dark tracks from 1981 to producing electro/rock tracks from 1982 was inspired by the music of German electronic group Kraftwerk, US rock band Sparks who had produced disco/electro-rock music with producer Giorgio Moroder on their No. 1 in Heaven album, and also the Moroder/Donna Summer collaboration on "I Feel Love". Along with Kraftwerk, the English bands Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) educated singer Bernard Sumner that one "could make music without guitars". New Order's collaboration with New York DJ Arthur Baker was inspired by the records' sounds of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force.
According to a staff-written "Allmusic" history, the band are also regarded as "the first alternative dance" music group with their fusion of "used icy, gloomy post-punk with Kraftwerk-style synth-pop" and were also labeled as synth-pop, post-punk, new wave, dance-rock and electronica.
They have heavily influenced techno, rock, and pop musicians including Moby, and were themselves influenced by the likes of David Bowie and Neu!. They have also significantly influenced electro, freestyle and house. New Order's Kraftwerk influence was acknowledged by their single "Krafty", which had cover art referencing "Autobahn".
Drummer Stephen Morris plays a mixture of acoustic and electronic drums, and in many cases plays along seamlessly with sequenced parts. All the band members could and did switch instruments throughout gigs, as evidenced on Jonathan Demme's video for "The Perfect Kiss" and the concert videos Taras Shevchenko (recorded in New York, November 1981) and Pumped Full of Drugs (Tokyo, May 1985). During such live gigs, Sumner alternated between guitar, keyboards, melodica and (on the track "Confusion") bass; Gilbert switched between keyboards and guitar, Morris between drums and keyboards, and Hook played both bass and electronic drums. Taras Shevchenko is also notable for the fact all four members of the group have left the stage before the final song, "Temptation", comes to a complete end.
Reputation
Both New Order and Joy Division were among the most successful artists on the Factory Records label, run by Granada television personality Tony Wilson, and partnered with Factory in the financing of the Manchester club The Haçienda. Speaking in 2009, fellow synthpop musician Phil Oakey described New Order's slow-burn career as cult musicians as being unusually prolonged and effective: "If you want to make a lot of money out of pop, be number 3 a lot. Like New Order did."
Cover artwork
Almost all New Order recordings bear minimalist packaging, art directed by Peter Saville. The group's record sleeves bucked the 1980s trend by rarely showing the band members (with the exception of the Low-Life album) or even providing basic information such as the band name or title of the release. Song names were often hidden within the shrink wrapped package, either on the disc itself (such as the "Blue Monday" single), on an inconspicuous part of an inner sleeve ("The Perfect Kiss" single), or written in a cryptic colour code invented by Saville (Power, Corruption & Lies). Saville said his intention was to sell the band as a "mass-produced secret" of sorts, and that the minimalist style was enough to allow fans to identify the band's products without explicit labelling. Saville frequently sent the artwork straight to the printer, unreviewed by either the band or the label.
Awards and nominations
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1983
| rowspan="3" | NME Awards
| Power, Corruption & Lies
| Best Dressed Sleeve
|
|-
| "Blue Monday"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Themselves
| Best Group
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1988
| Brit Awards
| "True Faith"
| Best British Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Pollstar Concert Industry Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| rowspan=2|Most Creative Stage Production
|
|-
| 1990
|
|-
| 1991
| Ivor Novello Awards
| "World in Motion"
| Best Selling A Side
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1993
| Mercury Prize
| Republic
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Billboard Music Awards
| Themselves
| Top Modern Rock Tracks Artist
|
|-
| "Regret"
| Top Modern Rock Track
|
|-
|1994
| D&AD Awards
| "World (The Price of Love)"
| Pop Promo Video
| style="background:#BF8040"| Wood Pencil
|-
| 1999
| rowspan=1|Q Awards
| Themselves
| Q Inspiration Award
|
|-
| 2000
| ASCAP Pop Music Awards
| "Blue Monday"
| Most Performed Song
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2001
|Q Awards
| "Crystal"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Žebřík Music Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Surprise
|
|-
| 2005
| NME Awards
| Godlike Genius Award
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Grammy Awards
| "Guilt is a Useless Emotion"
| Best Dance Recording
|
|-
| MTV VMAJ
| "Krafty"
| Best Dance Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2012
| UK Festival Awards
| rowspan="3" | Themselves
| Headliner of the Year
|
|-
| Artrocker Awards
| Legend Award
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2015
| rowspan="2" | Q Awards
| Q Outstanding Contribution To Music
|
|-
| "Restless"
| Best Track
|
|-
|Best Art Vinyl
|Music Complete
| Best Art Vinyl
|
|-
| 2016
| International Dance Music Awards
| "Plastic"
| Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track
|
|-
| 2019
| Silver Clef Awards
| Bernard Sumner
| Outstanding Achievement Award
|
Band members
Current
Bernard Sumner – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, melodica (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Gillian Gilbert – keyboards, guitars, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2001, 2011–present)
Phil Cunningham – guitars, keyboards, electronic percussion (2001–2007, 2011–present)
Tom Chapman – bass, keyboards (2011–present)
Former
Peter Hook – bass, electronic percussion, vocals, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007)
Timeline
Discography
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Lost Sirens (2013)
Music Complete (2015)
References
Further reading
Hickey, Dec. From Heaven to Heaven. New Order Live. The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters. London: Dec Hickey, 2012.
Edge, Brian. New Order + Joy Division: Pleasures and Wayward Distractions. London: Omnibus Press, 1988.
Flowers, Claude. New Order + Joy Division: Dreams Never End. London: Omnibus Press, 1995.
Johnson, Mark. An Ideal For Living: An History Of Joy Division. London: Bobcat Books, 1984.
Middles, Mick. From Joy Division to New Order: The Factory Story. London: Virgin Books, 1996.
External links
New Order Online – band-endorsed fansite
English new wave musical groups
English post-punk music groups
British synth-pop new wave groups
English synth-pop groups
Alternative dance musical groups
Dance-rock musical groups
Brit Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
1980 establishments in England
1993 disestablishments in England
1998 establishments in England
2007 disestablishments in England
2011 establishments in England
Musical groups established in 1980
Musical groups disestablished in 1993
Musical groups reestablished in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2007
Musical groups reestablished in 2011
Qwest Records artists
Reprise Records artists
Mute Records artists
Factory Records artists
Factory Benelux artists
Musical quintets
Musical groups from Manchester | false | [
"Once in a Long, Long While... is the third album by Icelandic band Low Roar, released in 2017. The album's lyrics are inspired by Ryan Karazija's recent divorce and his life as an expatriate in Iceland. One reviewer described the album as \"flow[ing] between dreamy and floating and more solidly rhythmic tracks,\" and another described it as having an \"atmosphere [that] never permits the sun to linger for very long, shutting it out with harsh, icy synth.\" The song “Waiting (10 Years)\" was released as a single.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences \n\n2017 albums\nLow Roar albums",
"Tomcats Screaming Outside is the first (and to date only) solo album from British musician Roland Orzabal of the group Tears for Fears, and was released on 2 April 2001. Although Orzabal had effectively made two solo albums under the Tears for Fears moniker in the 1990s (following the departure of bandmate Curt Smith), Elemental and Raoul and the Kings of Spain, this was the first recording to be released under his own name.\n\nThis album was Orzabal's last to feature contributions from Alan Griffiths, who co-wrote most of the tracks on this album as well as the previous two Tears for Fears albums. The album was given a low-key release and did not chart, but earned some critical acclaim for its clever melding of pop songwriting and drum and bass, ambient techno and trip hop textures. Dan Gennoe claimed in Amazon.com's editorial review: \"Solo album or not, Tomcats Screaming Outside is the best Tears for Fears album in a decade.\"\n\nIn a 2000 interview Orzabal commented on his influences for the album: \"I started out with an absolute concrete vision of where I wanted to go so I started with a very different rhythm approach, with drum and bass/jungle...and I ended up with something that wasn't the original plan.\"\n\nThe US release of the album (on Gold Circle Records) had the unfortunate coincidence to be released on September 11, 2001 the same day the United States experienced its worst-ever terrorist attack, and drew little notice outside Tears for Fears' core fan base.\n\nTrack listing\nAll songs written by Roland Orzabal/Alan Griffiths, except where indicated.\n \"Ticket to the World\" – 5:48\n \"Low Life\" – 4:36 (Orzabal)\n \"Hypnoculture\" – 3:13 (Orzabal)\n \"Bullets for Brains\" – 4:08\n \"For the Love of Cain\" – 4:06 (Orzabal)\n \"Under Ether\" – 5:51\n \"Day By Day By Day By Day By Day\" – 4:35\n \"Dandelion\" – 3:03\n \"Hey Andy!\" – 4:25 (Orzabal)\n \"Kill Love\" – 5:40\n \"Snowdrop\" – 4:23\n \"Maybe Our Days Are Numbered\" – 4:47\n\nSingles\n\"Low Life\" was the first single from the album. Plans to release the single in the UK were scrapped at the last minute, although it did see a commercial release in mainland Europe. \"Low Life\" was also played in the US on adult alternative radio. \"For the Love of Cain\" was planned as the second single release from the album, but it was cancelled since the first single had no chart success in Germany. Only a limited number of copies were sold through Orzabal's official website.\n\n\"Low Life\" (12 March 2001)\n\"Low Life\" (Album Version) – 4:37\n\"Low Life\" (Supersub Mix) – 4:58\n\"Low Life\" (President Who? Mix) – 4:50\n\"Low Life\" (Radio Edit) – 4:07\n\n\"For the Love of Cain\" (August 2001)\n\"For the Love of Cain (Radio Edit) – 3:33\n\"Day By Day By Day By Day By Day\" (Album Version) – 4:35\n\"Low Life\" (Album Version) – 4:37\n\"Low Life\" (Video) – 4:35\n\nPersonnel\nRoland Orzabal - guitar, keyboards, programming, vocals\nAlan Griffiths - guitar, keyboards, programming\nDavid Sutton - bass\nNick D'Virgilio - drums\nMark O'Donoughue - engineer, mixing\nCurtis Evans - design\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nInterview with Orzabal in September 2000 published in Lexicon Magazine and Sorted Magazine\n\n2001 debut albums\nDrum and bass albums\nEagle Records albums"
]
|
[
"New Order (band)",
"Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985-1987",
"what happened in 1985?",
"Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing \"The Perfect Kiss\"--",
"was low-life an album?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_f4bea434299f44b4810b6d7037af7e7b_0 | what was brotherhood? | 3 | what was brotherhood related to Low-Life? | New Order (band) | 1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing "The Perfect Kiss"--the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme--and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex. Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"--referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"--originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead--would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions. In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The single reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart, but would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order. CANNOTANSWER | album | New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The band formed after the demise of Joy Division, following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis; they were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
While the band's early years were overshadowed by the legacy of Joy Division, their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work. Their 1983 hit "Blue Monday" became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time and a popular club track. In the 1980s, they released successful albums such as Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Technique (1989), and the singles compilation Substance (1987). They disbanded in 1993 to work on individual projects before reuniting in 1998. In the years since, New Order has gone through various hiatuses and personnel changes, most prominently the departure of Hook in 2007. They released their tenth studio album, Music Complete, in 2015.
History
Origins and formation: 1977–1980
Between 1977 and 1980, Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner were members of the post-punk band Joy Division, often featuring heavy production input from producer Martin Hannett. Curtis took his own life on 18 May 1980, the day before Joy Division were scheduled to depart for their first American tour, and prior to the release of the band's second album, Closer. The rest of the band decided soon after Curtis's death that they would carry on. Prior to his death, the members of Joy Division had agreed not to continue under the Joy Division name should any one member leave. On 29 July 1980, the still unnamed trio debuted live at Manchester's Beach Club. Rob Gretton, the band's manager for over 20 years, is credited for having found the name New Order in an article in The Guardian titled "The People's New Order of Kampuchea". The band adopted this name, despite its previous use for former Stooge Ron Asheton's band The New Order. The group states that the name New Order (as was also the case with "Joy Division") does not draw a direct line to National Socialism or Fascism.
The band rehearsed with each member taking turns on vocals. Sumner ultimately took the role, as he could sing when he wasn't playing his guitar. They wanted to complete the line-up with someone they knew well and whose musical skill and style was compatible with their own. Gretton suggested Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert, and she was invited to join the band in early October 1980, as keyboardist and guitarist. Her first live performance with the band occurred at The Squat in Manchester on 25 October 1980.
Movement: 1981–1982
The initial release as New Order was the single "Ceremony", backed with "In a Lonely Place". These two songs were written in the weeks before Curtis took his own life. With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers. The band viewed the period as a low point, as they were still reeling from Curtis' death. Hook commented that the only positive thing to come out of the Movement sessions was that producer Martin Hannett had showed the band how to use a mixing board, which allowed them to produce records by themselves from then on. More recently, Hook indicated a change of heart: "I think Movement gets a raw deal in general really – for me, when you consider the circumstances in which it was written, it is a fantastic record."
New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where the band were introduced to post-disco, freestyle and electro. The band had taken to listening to Italian disco to cheer themselves up, while Morris taught himself drum programming. The singles that followed, "Everything's Gone Green" and "Temptation", saw a change in direction toward dance music.
The Haçienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester and was even issued a Factory catalogue number: FAC51. The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled "Prime 5 8 6", but released 15 years later as "Video 5 8 6". Composed primarily by Sumner and Morris, "Prime 5 8 6"/"Video 5 8 6" was an early version of "5 8 6" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on "Blue Monday" and "Ultraviolence".
Power, Corruption & Lies: 1983–1984
Power, Corruption & Lies, released in May 1983, was a synthesiser-based outing and a dramatic change in sound from Joy Division and the preceding album, although the band had been hinting at the increased use of technology during the music-making process for a number of years then, including their work as Joy Division. Starting from what earlier singles had hinted, this was where the band had found their footing, mixing early techno music with their earlier guitar-based sound and showing the strong influence of acts like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder. Even further in this direction was the electronically sequenced, four-on-the-floor single "Blue Monday". Inspired by Klein + M.B.O.'s "Dirty Talk" and Sylvester's disco classic, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "Blue Monday" became the best-selling independent 12" single of all time in the UK; however, (much to the chagrin of the buying public) it was not on the track list of Power, Corruption & Lies. The song was included however on the cassette format in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, and on the original North American CD release of the album, alongside its B-side, "The Beach". "Blue Monday" was also included on the 2008 collector's edition of Power, Corruption & Lies.
The 1983 single "Confusion" firmly established the group as a dance music force, inspiring many musicians in subsequent years. In 1984 they followed the largely synthesised single "Thieves Like Us" with the heavy guitar-drum-bass rumble of "Murder", a not-too-distant cousin of "Ecstasy" from the Power, Corruption & Lies album. KROQ Los Angeles DJ Jed the Fish claims New Order had more to do with the emergence of house music than the Warehouse music of Chicago and "Frankie Knuckles and the whole so-called House music scene. Unless you were actually from regional Chicago, had you ever heard of House music until New Order? Be real, now."
Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985–1987
1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, guitar-based and electronic, and included "The Perfect Kiss"—the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme—and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex.
Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" (a Top 20 hit in Australia and New Zealand) and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"—referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"—originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead—would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions.
In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The song was one of four new tracks recorded for the American comedy film Salvatation!, and reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart. However, it would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order.
Technique, Republic and first break-up: 1988–1993
By this time, the group was heavily influenced by the Balearic sounds of Ibiza, which were making their way into the Haçienda. Partly recorded at Mediterranean Sound studios on Ibiza, Technique was released in February 1989. The album entered the charts at number one in the UK and contained a mix of acid house influence (as on opening track "Fine Time") and a more traditional rock sound (as on the single "Run 2"). The album is a blend of upbeat, accessible music coupled with blunt, poignant lyrics. During the summer of 1989, New Order supported Technique by touring with Public Image Ltd, Throwing Muses and the Sugarcubes across the United States and Canada in what the press dubbed the "Monsters of Alternative Rock" tour. Around this time, band members also began side projects including Electronic (Sumner with Johnny Marr) and Revenge (Hook with Davyth Hicks). Morris and Gilbert began to work together on outside TV theme production work. In 1991, the band were sued by the publishing company of American singer John Denver, who alleged that the guitar break in "Run 2" was similar to his song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The case was settled out of court and the song has since been credited to both New Order and John Denver.
In 1990, New Order recorded the official song of the England national football team's 1990 World Cup campaign, "World in Motion", under the ad hoc band name EnglandNewOrder. The song, co-written with comedian Keith Allen, was the band's sole number one UK hit. The song was originally planned to be titled "E for England", however the Football Association vetoed the title upon realising that this was a reference to ecstasy; a drug heavily associated with the Haçienda. (Allen claimed that his original draft lyrics included "E is for England, England starts with E / We'll all be smiling when we're in Italy.") The song also featured chanting from members of the England team and Allen, and a guest rap from England player John Barnes. It was again produced by Stephen Hague, who the band chose to produce their next album.
The band's next album Republic was shadowed by the collapse of their longtime label Factory Records. The label had been ailing due to financial difficulties, and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1992. New Order never had a formal contract with Factory. Although unusual for a major group, this was Factory's standard practice until the mid-1980s. Because of this, the band, rather than Factory Records, legally owned all of their recordings. This has been cited by Wilson himself as the main reason London Records' 1992 offer to buy the ailing label fell through. Following Factory's collapse, New Order signed with London, as did Morris and Gilbert separately for their side project The Other Two, whose debut album was originally intended for release on Factory. Republic, released around the world in 1993, spawned the singles "Regret"—New Order's highest-charting single in the US—"Ruined in a Day", "World", and "Spooky".
Following the release and promotion of Republic, the band put New Order on hold while focusing on side projects; with The Other Two's debut album released in 1993. In 1994, a second singles collection was released, entitled The Best of New Order. It featured all of the band's singles since Substance as well as a few extra tracks: "Vanishing Point" (from 1989's Technique), "The Perfect Kiss", "Thieves Like Us", "Shellshock", and remixes of "True Faith", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "1963", and "Round & Round". The new versions of "True Faith" and "1963" (the latter as a more guitar-oriented version produced by Arthur Baker) were released as singles to promote the album. In the US, the track listing was altered to set it apart from Substance as well as the UK release of The Best of New Order which had been available months prior. This collection was followed by a remix album, The Rest of New Order, featuring a selection of existing and newly commissioned mixes of classic New Order tracks. Some versions contained an extra disc or cassette composed entirely of remixes of "Blue Monday". "Blue Monday" was released as a single for a third time to promote the collection.
Reformation and Get Ready: 1998–2003
The group reconvened in 1998 at the suggestion of Rob Gretton. Nearly five years had passed since they had last seen each other. Sumner said, "We decided before we agreed to doing any gig, to have a meeting, and if anyone had any grudges to bear, to iron them out." By the second meeting everyone agreed to continue playing, scheduling their reunion gig for the Phoenix Festival that same year. In addition to rarer songs, New Order also decided to begin playing Joy Division songs again. When the Phoenix Festival was cancelled due to low ticket sales, New Order instead played the last night of that year's Reading Festival.
Their 2001 release Get Ready largely departed from their more electronic style and focused on more guitar oriented music. According to Sumner, "Get Ready was guitar-heavy simply because we felt that we'd left that instrument alone for a long time." Longtime fan Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins played guitar and sang back-up on the track "Turn My Way," and in 2001 toured with the band on dates in the UK, US, and Japan for a short period of time. Phil Cunningham (formerly of Marion) joined the band in a live capacity, deputising for Gilbert who declined to tour in favour of caring for her and Morris' children. Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie provided vocals on the track "Rock the Shack". Singles from the album included "Crystal," "60 Miles an Hour" and Someone Like You."
In 2002, Q featured New Order on their list of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die", although this was as part of a sub-list of "5 Bands That Could Go Either Way". Both New Order and Joy Division were portrayed in the Michael Winterbottom film 24 Hour Party People, depicting the rise and fall of Factory Records as seen through the eyes of label founder Tony Wilson. Cameos by Wilson himself, along with Mark E. Smith of the Fall and former members of Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets, lent a degree of legitimacy to the proceedings. The film touched on some of Factory's other artists, including Happy Mondays and the Durutti Column. The soundtrack featured the new track "Here to Stay," produced by the Chemical Brothers, which was released as a single. The single's music video highlighted scenes taken from the film.
Waiting for the Sirens' Call, Singles and second break-up: 2004–2007
The band released a new album on 27 March 2005, titled Waiting for the Sirens' Call, their first with new member Phil Cunningham. Cunningham replaced Gilbert (now married to Morris) so she could look after their children. Singles from this album were "Krafty", "Jetstream" (which features guest vocals by Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters), and the title track. At the 2005 NME Awards, New Order and Joy Division received the award for "Godlike Geniuses" (for lifetime achievement). Previous winners include Ozzy Osbourne, the Clash, and Happy Mondays. In 2006 the album track "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Dance Recording.
In the autumn of 2005, the group released another greatest hits compilation, in the form of Singles. The two-disc release was an updated version of the Substance collection and contained every single released from their 1981 debut all the way through to "Waiting for the Sirens' Call". However, unlike Substance, which focused almost exclusively on the 12" versions of the group's singles, Singles collected the 7" versions, many of which (like "Ceremony", "Temptation" and "Confusion") had never been released on CD. The album was accompanied by a two-disc DVD set, titled Item, that collected the extended UK version of NewOrderStory with a DVD of all New Order music videos as well as two newly commissioned videos for "Temptation '87" and "Ceremony".
The New Order: Live in Glasgow DVD was recorded at the Glasgow Academy in 2006 and features 18 tracks, including 4 Joy Division songs. Next to that, the release also contains a bonus disc of footage from the band's personal archive including 1980s footage from Glastonbury (June 1981), Rome, Cork, Rotterdam and Toronto.
In 2006, the band played several one-off live dates as well as short tours in the UK, Brazil and Argentina. After their Buenos Aires show in November 2006, Peter Hook suggested that the band should stop touring. In early May 2007, Hook was interviewed by British radio station XFM – originally to talk about his contribution to the debut album of Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell's new band Satellite Party – and stated that "Me and Bernard aren't working together." Further complicating the news, NewOrderOnline, a website with support from New Order management, reported that according to "a source close to the band", "The news about the split is false... New Order still exists despite what [Hook] said ... Peter Hook can leave the band, but this doesn't mean the end of New Order." However, Sumner revealed in 2009 that he no longer wished to make music as New Order.
Reunion with new line-up, Lost Sirens and Music Complete: 2011–2016
In September 2011, the band announced that they would perform for the first time since 2006, at the Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 17 October and at the Bataclan, Paris on 18 October. The band's line-up included keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, who returned to the band after a ten-year break, and Bad Lieutenant bassist Tom Chapman in place of Peter Hook. They played subsequent shows in London and South America in December, and released Live at the London Troxy, a live album from their performance on 10 December 2011 at The Troxy in London.
They continued to tour throughout 2012, including a short tour of New Zealand and Australia in February/March, and several festival appearances in 2012. New Order performed at Hyde Park with Blur and the Specials to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Lost Sirens was released in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2013. Lost Sirens is an eight-track album of songs recorded during the sessions for Waiting for the Sirens' Call. The album was discussed by Gillian Gilbert in a Brazilian interview to promote the band's appearance in São Paulo. She acknowledged issues with former member Peter Hook, and stated there was "a lot going on behind the scenes on the copyright" delaying the release.
The band debuted their first new song since the Waiting for the Sirens' Call sessions, "Singularity", during Lollapalooza Chile in March 2014. In July, the group toured North America, where they debuted another song, "Plastic". On 2 September the band signed to Mute Records. The New Order back catalogue remains with Warner Music.
On 22 September 2015, the band released a new album, Music Complete, their first without Peter Hook. The album was produced mostly by the band themselves, except "Singularity" and "Unlearn This Hatred", both produced by Tom Rowlands, while "Superheated" features additional production by Stuart Price.
On 13 May 2016, New Order released a follow-up remix album Complete Music, which consists of extended and reworked mixes of each track from Music Complete.
In November 2015, Peter Hook sued Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. In an objection, it was revealed that Sumner, Morris and Gilbert had set up a new company behind Hook's back, that it has generated an income of £7.8 million in four years while Hook received only a fraction of that. The three members argued they had treated Hook fairly and that his stake in the band's royalties was reasonable, despite the fact that in four years, Hook had only received "1.25 per cent of the band's royalties and other income from merchandising and performances". The judge ruled that there was "at least a reasonable prospect" of Hook proving that he was not getting a fair share of royalties and other income and rejected Sumner and Morris's lawyer argument. The judge was willing to hear the case but urged the parties to come to an agreement rather than suffer legal costs of around £900,000. On 20 September 2017, the band announced that a full and final settlement had been reached in the dispute.
Touring and recent work: 2017–present
On 13 July 2017, New Order played a concert at Manchester International Festival with Liam Gillick. On 12 July 2019 the performance was released as a live album titled Σ(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.. (Live at MIF). The collaboration between Gillick and New Order was the subject of a documentary feature titled 'New Order: Decades', directed by Mike Christie and broadcast in the UK by Sky Arts and Showtime in the USA.
On 23 August 2018, the band played the first date of a North American tour at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul Minnesota, US. According to the band's official website, other stops on the tour included Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC; Toronto, Ontario; Long Beach, California; Kahului, Hawaii; and Honolulu, Hawaii. As of 24 August 2018, a single show in Santiago, Chile had been announced for 21 November 2018.
In January 2020, the band played a four night residency in Florida, and in February 2020, they announced a co-headlining tour in North America with the Pet Shop Boys, and that the only concert in the UK in 2020 would be at The O2 on 10 October. These tour dates were later rescheduled for 2021.
On 8 September 2020 the band released the single "Be a Rebel" 5 years after their previous release. A music video for the single, directed by NYSU, premiered on YouTube on 2 December.
On 11 February 2021, the band announced their plans to release a live album and concert film of their 2018 show at London's Alexandra Palace, directed by Mike Christie. Entitled Education Entertainment Recreation (Live at Alexandra Palace), it was released on 7 May.
Other projects
In 1988, Bernard Sumner teamed up with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to form the group Electronic, also enlisting the help of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. Electronic regrouped in 1996 for Raise the Pressure, which also featured Karl Bartos (formerly of Kraftwerk). The project's third album Twisted Tenderness was released in 1999 after which the band dissolved.
In June 2009, Sumner formed a new band called Bad Lieutenant with Phil Cunningham (guitar) and Jake Evans (guitar and vocals). Their album Never Cry Another Tear was released on 5 October 2009. In addition to Cunningham and Evans the album also features appearances by Stephen Morris (drums), Jack Mitchell (drums), Tom Chapman (bass) and Alex James (bass). The live band included Morris on drums and Tom Chapman on bass.
Peter Hook has been involved with several other projects. In the 1990s, Hook recorded with Killing Joke with a view to joining the band. However, original bassist Martin 'Youth' Glover instead returned to the band. In 1995 he toured with the Durutti Column. He has recorded one album with the band Revenge with Davyth Hicks and Chris Jones and two with Monaco (both as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist) with David Potts. Monaco scored a club and alternative radio hit with "What Do You Want From Me?" in 1997. Hook also formed a band called Freebass with fellow bass players Mani (the Stone Roses) and Andy Rourke (the Smiths) and vocalist Gary Briggs, which was active from 2007 to 2010. He also contributed to Perry Farrell's Satellite Party. Hook's current band Peter Hook and the Light is touring Joy Division and New Order albums in their entirety.
In 1990 Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris formed their own band, The Other Two. The Other Two released its first single "Tasty Fish" in 1991 and released two albums, The Other Two & You in 1993 and Super Highways in 1999. They have also been involved in scoring television soundtracks, like Making Out. In 2007, Gilbert and Morris remixed two tracks for the Nine Inch Nails remixes album Year Zero Remixed.
BeMusic
"BeMusic" was a name the band used for their publishing company (the LP label for Movement says "B Music" in large letters, though using an italic ß for the letter B). All four members of the band used the name for production work for other artists' recordings between 1982 and 1985.
The first BeMusic credit was for Peter Hook producing Stockholm Monsters in 1982. Other artists with producer or musician credit for "BeMusic" were 52nd Street, Section 25, Marcel King, Quando Quango, Paul Haig, Thick Pigeon, Nyam Nyam and Life.
Their production work as BeMusic was collected on two LTM Recordings compilation CDs, Cool As Ice: The BeMusic Productions and Twice As Nice (which also included production work by Donald Johnson, of A Certain Ratio, and Arthur Baker).
Influences, style and legacy
New Order's music mixes rock with dance music, as can be seen on signature tracks such as 1982's "Temptation", 1983's "Blue Monday" and 1987's "True Faith". Founding member Hook stated that the band's shift from playing cold dark tracks from 1981 to producing electro/rock tracks from 1982 was inspired by the music of German electronic group Kraftwerk, US rock band Sparks who had produced disco/electro-rock music with producer Giorgio Moroder on their No. 1 in Heaven album, and also the Moroder/Donna Summer collaboration on "I Feel Love". Along with Kraftwerk, the English bands Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) educated singer Bernard Sumner that one "could make music without guitars". New Order's collaboration with New York DJ Arthur Baker was inspired by the records' sounds of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force.
According to a staff-written "Allmusic" history, the band are also regarded as "the first alternative dance" music group with their fusion of "used icy, gloomy post-punk with Kraftwerk-style synth-pop" and were also labeled as synth-pop, post-punk, new wave, dance-rock and electronica.
They have heavily influenced techno, rock, and pop musicians including Moby, and were themselves influenced by the likes of David Bowie and Neu!. They have also significantly influenced electro, freestyle and house. New Order's Kraftwerk influence was acknowledged by their single "Krafty", which had cover art referencing "Autobahn".
Drummer Stephen Morris plays a mixture of acoustic and electronic drums, and in many cases plays along seamlessly with sequenced parts. All the band members could and did switch instruments throughout gigs, as evidenced on Jonathan Demme's video for "The Perfect Kiss" and the concert videos Taras Shevchenko (recorded in New York, November 1981) and Pumped Full of Drugs (Tokyo, May 1985). During such live gigs, Sumner alternated between guitar, keyboards, melodica and (on the track "Confusion") bass; Gilbert switched between keyboards and guitar, Morris between drums and keyboards, and Hook played both bass and electronic drums. Taras Shevchenko is also notable for the fact all four members of the group have left the stage before the final song, "Temptation", comes to a complete end.
Reputation
Both New Order and Joy Division were among the most successful artists on the Factory Records label, run by Granada television personality Tony Wilson, and partnered with Factory in the financing of the Manchester club The Haçienda. Speaking in 2009, fellow synthpop musician Phil Oakey described New Order's slow-burn career as cult musicians as being unusually prolonged and effective: "If you want to make a lot of money out of pop, be number 3 a lot. Like New Order did."
Cover artwork
Almost all New Order recordings bear minimalist packaging, art directed by Peter Saville. The group's record sleeves bucked the 1980s trend by rarely showing the band members (with the exception of the Low-Life album) or even providing basic information such as the band name or title of the release. Song names were often hidden within the shrink wrapped package, either on the disc itself (such as the "Blue Monday" single), on an inconspicuous part of an inner sleeve ("The Perfect Kiss" single), or written in a cryptic colour code invented by Saville (Power, Corruption & Lies). Saville said his intention was to sell the band as a "mass-produced secret" of sorts, and that the minimalist style was enough to allow fans to identify the band's products without explicit labelling. Saville frequently sent the artwork straight to the printer, unreviewed by either the band or the label.
Awards and nominations
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1983
| rowspan="3" | NME Awards
| Power, Corruption & Lies
| Best Dressed Sleeve
|
|-
| "Blue Monday"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Themselves
| Best Group
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1988
| Brit Awards
| "True Faith"
| Best British Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Pollstar Concert Industry Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| rowspan=2|Most Creative Stage Production
|
|-
| 1990
|
|-
| 1991
| Ivor Novello Awards
| "World in Motion"
| Best Selling A Side
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1993
| Mercury Prize
| Republic
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Billboard Music Awards
| Themselves
| Top Modern Rock Tracks Artist
|
|-
| "Regret"
| Top Modern Rock Track
|
|-
|1994
| D&AD Awards
| "World (The Price of Love)"
| Pop Promo Video
| style="background:#BF8040"| Wood Pencil
|-
| 1999
| rowspan=1|Q Awards
| Themselves
| Q Inspiration Award
|
|-
| 2000
| ASCAP Pop Music Awards
| "Blue Monday"
| Most Performed Song
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2001
|Q Awards
| "Crystal"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Žebřík Music Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Surprise
|
|-
| 2005
| NME Awards
| Godlike Genius Award
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Grammy Awards
| "Guilt is a Useless Emotion"
| Best Dance Recording
|
|-
| MTV VMAJ
| "Krafty"
| Best Dance Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2012
| UK Festival Awards
| rowspan="3" | Themselves
| Headliner of the Year
|
|-
| Artrocker Awards
| Legend Award
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2015
| rowspan="2" | Q Awards
| Q Outstanding Contribution To Music
|
|-
| "Restless"
| Best Track
|
|-
|Best Art Vinyl
|Music Complete
| Best Art Vinyl
|
|-
| 2016
| International Dance Music Awards
| "Plastic"
| Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track
|
|-
| 2019
| Silver Clef Awards
| Bernard Sumner
| Outstanding Achievement Award
|
Band members
Current
Bernard Sumner – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, melodica (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Gillian Gilbert – keyboards, guitars, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2001, 2011–present)
Phil Cunningham – guitars, keyboards, electronic percussion (2001–2007, 2011–present)
Tom Chapman – bass, keyboards (2011–present)
Former
Peter Hook – bass, electronic percussion, vocals, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007)
Timeline
Discography
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Lost Sirens (2013)
Music Complete (2015)
References
Further reading
Hickey, Dec. From Heaven to Heaven. New Order Live. The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters. London: Dec Hickey, 2012.
Edge, Brian. New Order + Joy Division: Pleasures and Wayward Distractions. London: Omnibus Press, 1988.
Flowers, Claude. New Order + Joy Division: Dreams Never End. London: Omnibus Press, 1995.
Johnson, Mark. An Ideal For Living: An History Of Joy Division. London: Bobcat Books, 1984.
Middles, Mick. From Joy Division to New Order: The Factory Story. London: Virgin Books, 1996.
External links
New Order Online – band-endorsed fansite
English new wave musical groups
English post-punk music groups
British synth-pop new wave groups
English synth-pop groups
Alternative dance musical groups
Dance-rock musical groups
Brit Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
1980 establishments in England
1993 disestablishments in England
1998 establishments in England
2007 disestablishments in England
2011 establishments in England
Musical groups established in 1980
Musical groups disestablished in 1993
Musical groups reestablished in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2007
Musical groups reestablished in 2011
Qwest Records artists
Reprise Records artists
Mute Records artists
Factory Records artists
Factory Benelux artists
Musical quintets
Musical groups from Manchester | true | [
"Said Ramadan (; April 12, 1926 in Shibin Al Kawm, Al Minufiyah – August 4, 1995 in Geneva) was an Egyptian political activist and humanitarian, and one of the preeminent leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.\n\nHe was the son-in-law of Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood's founder, and emerged as one of the brotherhood's main leaders in the 1950s. Ramadan was often accused by the Egyptian government of Gamal Abdul Nasser of being in the CIA's pay. After being expelled from Egypt for his activities, Ramadan moved to Saudi Arabia where he was one of the original members of the constituent council of the Muslim World League, a charity and missionary group funded by the Saudi government. From the 1950s, he was considered the Muslim Brotherhood's unofficial \"foreign minister.\"\n\nHe also had a pivotal role in Pakistan-- where he met Mawdudi, was endorsed by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, who prefaced one of his books--and wore a Jinnah cap to better integrate, that \"made people forget he was Egyptian\" : moving there in 1948, after the creation of Israel, in order to attend the World Muslim Congress held in Karachi as the representative of the Muslim Brotherhood, he wasn't chosen as the WIC's secretary-general because of his extremism. He still would have an influence on by hosting weekly radio programs and publishing booklets discussing Islamic affairs, influencing young Pakistani intellectuals. His work as an ideologue is said to have contributed in making Pakistan an Islamic Republic in 1956, as \"he was omnipresent in the media - arguing, on every occasion, for legislation based on the sharia.\"\n\nFrom the 1950s, Ramadan enjoyed extensive support from the CIA, which saw him as an ally in the battle against communism; by the end of the 1950s, \"the CIA was overtly backing Ramadan. While it's too simple to call him a US agent, in the 1950s and 1960s the United States supported him as he took over a mosque in Munich, kicking out local Muslims to build what would become one of the Brotherhood's most important centers – a refuge for the beleaguered group during its decades in the wilderness. In the end, the US didn't reap much for its efforts, as Ramadan was more interested in spreading his Islamist agenda than fighting communism.\"\n\nSaid Ramadan was the father of Hani Ramadan and Tariq Ramadan. On 9 August 1995 Ramadan was interred next to his father-in-law Hassan al-Banna. The Said Ramadan Peace Prize is named in his honour.\n\nBooks and booklets\nIslamic law; its scope and equity\nIslam and nationalism\nThree major problems confronting the world of Islam\nIslam, doctrine and way of life\nWhat we stand for\nWhat is an Islamic state?\n\nReferences\n\n1995 deaths\nMuslim Brotherhood founders\nEgyptian Muslim Brotherhood members\n1926 births\nPeople of the Central Intelligence Agency\nCIA and Islamism",
"Al Nadhir (Arabic: The Warner) was an Arabic language weekly Islamic magazine which was published in Cairo, Egypt, for one year between 1938 and 1939. It is known for being one of the official organs of the Muslim Brotherhood for which it was banned in October 1939.\n\nHistory and profile\nAl Nadhir was first published on 30 May 1938. The magazine was an organ of the Muslim Brotherhood and was launched following the closure of other Brotherhood publication, the weekly newspaper Majallat al Ikhwan al Muslimin. The license holder was Mahmoud Abu Zeid who was a member of the Brotherhood until 1939 when he left it to form another Islamic group called the Society of Mohammad's Youth. The editor-in-chief of Al Nadhir which was published on a weekly basis was Salih Ashmawi.\n\nThe contributors included Hasan Al Banna and his brother-in-law Abdel Hakim Abdeen. In the first issue of Al Nadhir Al Banna declared in his article entitled the Second Step that the focus of the Brotherhood had shifted from the religious, cultural and educational activities to the political activities and that they would not only talk from now on, but they would both talk and struggle and carry out practical acts. The magazine frequently featured articles on the Palestine cause reflecting the views of the Muslim Brotherhood. It also covered anti-Semitic editorials and content written by Mahmoud Saleh. \n\nOn 16 October 1939 Al Nadhir was banned by the Egyptian government due to its close connections with the Muslim Brotherhood. Before its closure the relationships between Salih Ashmawi and the Brotherhood leader Hasan Al Banna became strained, and Ashmawi's Brotherhood membership was denied which led to the end of Al Nadhir's function as being the mouthpiece of the group.\n\nSpin offs\nA publication with the same name was published by the Syrian sector of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970s and 1980s.\n\nReferences\n\n1938 establishments in Egypt\n1939 disestablishments in Egypt\nAntisemitic publications\nArabic-language magazines\nCensorship in Egypt\nDefunct political magazines published in Egypt\nIslamic magazines\nMagazines established in 1938\nMagazines disestablished in 1939\nMagazines published in Cairo\nMuslim Brotherhood\nWeekly magazines published in Egypt"
]
|
[
"New Order (band)",
"Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985-1987",
"what happened in 1985?",
"Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing \"The Perfect Kiss\"--",
"was low-life an album?",
"I don't know.",
"what was brotherhood?",
"album"
]
| C_f4bea434299f44b4810b6d7037af7e7b_0 | was it successful? | 4 | Was Brotherhood successful? | New Order (band) | 1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing "The Perfect Kiss"--the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme--and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex. Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"--referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"--originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead--would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions. In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The single reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart, but would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The band formed after the demise of Joy Division, following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis; they were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
While the band's early years were overshadowed by the legacy of Joy Division, their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work. Their 1983 hit "Blue Monday" became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time and a popular club track. In the 1980s, they released successful albums such as Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Technique (1989), and the singles compilation Substance (1987). They disbanded in 1993 to work on individual projects before reuniting in 1998. In the years since, New Order has gone through various hiatuses and personnel changes, most prominently the departure of Hook in 2007. They released their tenth studio album, Music Complete, in 2015.
History
Origins and formation: 1977–1980
Between 1977 and 1980, Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner were members of the post-punk band Joy Division, often featuring heavy production input from producer Martin Hannett. Curtis took his own life on 18 May 1980, the day before Joy Division were scheduled to depart for their first American tour, and prior to the release of the band's second album, Closer. The rest of the band decided soon after Curtis's death that they would carry on. Prior to his death, the members of Joy Division had agreed not to continue under the Joy Division name should any one member leave. On 29 July 1980, the still unnamed trio debuted live at Manchester's Beach Club. Rob Gretton, the band's manager for over 20 years, is credited for having found the name New Order in an article in The Guardian titled "The People's New Order of Kampuchea". The band adopted this name, despite its previous use for former Stooge Ron Asheton's band The New Order. The group states that the name New Order (as was also the case with "Joy Division") does not draw a direct line to National Socialism or Fascism.
The band rehearsed with each member taking turns on vocals. Sumner ultimately took the role, as he could sing when he wasn't playing his guitar. They wanted to complete the line-up with someone they knew well and whose musical skill and style was compatible with their own. Gretton suggested Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert, and she was invited to join the band in early October 1980, as keyboardist and guitarist. Her first live performance with the band occurred at The Squat in Manchester on 25 October 1980.
Movement: 1981–1982
The initial release as New Order was the single "Ceremony", backed with "In a Lonely Place". These two songs were written in the weeks before Curtis took his own life. With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers. The band viewed the period as a low point, as they were still reeling from Curtis' death. Hook commented that the only positive thing to come out of the Movement sessions was that producer Martin Hannett had showed the band how to use a mixing board, which allowed them to produce records by themselves from then on. More recently, Hook indicated a change of heart: "I think Movement gets a raw deal in general really – for me, when you consider the circumstances in which it was written, it is a fantastic record."
New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where the band were introduced to post-disco, freestyle and electro. The band had taken to listening to Italian disco to cheer themselves up, while Morris taught himself drum programming. The singles that followed, "Everything's Gone Green" and "Temptation", saw a change in direction toward dance music.
The Haçienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester and was even issued a Factory catalogue number: FAC51. The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled "Prime 5 8 6", but released 15 years later as "Video 5 8 6". Composed primarily by Sumner and Morris, "Prime 5 8 6"/"Video 5 8 6" was an early version of "5 8 6" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on "Blue Monday" and "Ultraviolence".
Power, Corruption & Lies: 1983–1984
Power, Corruption & Lies, released in May 1983, was a synthesiser-based outing and a dramatic change in sound from Joy Division and the preceding album, although the band had been hinting at the increased use of technology during the music-making process for a number of years then, including their work as Joy Division. Starting from what earlier singles had hinted, this was where the band had found their footing, mixing early techno music with their earlier guitar-based sound and showing the strong influence of acts like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder. Even further in this direction was the electronically sequenced, four-on-the-floor single "Blue Monday". Inspired by Klein + M.B.O.'s "Dirty Talk" and Sylvester's disco classic, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "Blue Monday" became the best-selling independent 12" single of all time in the UK; however, (much to the chagrin of the buying public) it was not on the track list of Power, Corruption & Lies. The song was included however on the cassette format in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, and on the original North American CD release of the album, alongside its B-side, "The Beach". "Blue Monday" was also included on the 2008 collector's edition of Power, Corruption & Lies.
The 1983 single "Confusion" firmly established the group as a dance music force, inspiring many musicians in subsequent years. In 1984 they followed the largely synthesised single "Thieves Like Us" with the heavy guitar-drum-bass rumble of "Murder", a not-too-distant cousin of "Ecstasy" from the Power, Corruption & Lies album. KROQ Los Angeles DJ Jed the Fish claims New Order had more to do with the emergence of house music than the Warehouse music of Chicago and "Frankie Knuckles and the whole so-called House music scene. Unless you were actually from regional Chicago, had you ever heard of House music until New Order? Be real, now."
Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985–1987
1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, guitar-based and electronic, and included "The Perfect Kiss"—the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme—and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex.
Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" (a Top 20 hit in Australia and New Zealand) and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"—referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"—originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead—would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions.
In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The song was one of four new tracks recorded for the American comedy film Salvatation!, and reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart. However, it would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order.
Technique, Republic and first break-up: 1988–1993
By this time, the group was heavily influenced by the Balearic sounds of Ibiza, which were making their way into the Haçienda. Partly recorded at Mediterranean Sound studios on Ibiza, Technique was released in February 1989. The album entered the charts at number one in the UK and contained a mix of acid house influence (as on opening track "Fine Time") and a more traditional rock sound (as on the single "Run 2"). The album is a blend of upbeat, accessible music coupled with blunt, poignant lyrics. During the summer of 1989, New Order supported Technique by touring with Public Image Ltd, Throwing Muses and the Sugarcubes across the United States and Canada in what the press dubbed the "Monsters of Alternative Rock" tour. Around this time, band members also began side projects including Electronic (Sumner with Johnny Marr) and Revenge (Hook with Davyth Hicks). Morris and Gilbert began to work together on outside TV theme production work. In 1991, the band were sued by the publishing company of American singer John Denver, who alleged that the guitar break in "Run 2" was similar to his song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The case was settled out of court and the song has since been credited to both New Order and John Denver.
In 1990, New Order recorded the official song of the England national football team's 1990 World Cup campaign, "World in Motion", under the ad hoc band name EnglandNewOrder. The song, co-written with comedian Keith Allen, was the band's sole number one UK hit. The song was originally planned to be titled "E for England", however the Football Association vetoed the title upon realising that this was a reference to ecstasy; a drug heavily associated with the Haçienda. (Allen claimed that his original draft lyrics included "E is for England, England starts with E / We'll all be smiling when we're in Italy.") The song also featured chanting from members of the England team and Allen, and a guest rap from England player John Barnes. It was again produced by Stephen Hague, who the band chose to produce their next album.
The band's next album Republic was shadowed by the collapse of their longtime label Factory Records. The label had been ailing due to financial difficulties, and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1992. New Order never had a formal contract with Factory. Although unusual for a major group, this was Factory's standard practice until the mid-1980s. Because of this, the band, rather than Factory Records, legally owned all of their recordings. This has been cited by Wilson himself as the main reason London Records' 1992 offer to buy the ailing label fell through. Following Factory's collapse, New Order signed with London, as did Morris and Gilbert separately for their side project The Other Two, whose debut album was originally intended for release on Factory. Republic, released around the world in 1993, spawned the singles "Regret"—New Order's highest-charting single in the US—"Ruined in a Day", "World", and "Spooky".
Following the release and promotion of Republic, the band put New Order on hold while focusing on side projects; with The Other Two's debut album released in 1993. In 1994, a second singles collection was released, entitled The Best of New Order. It featured all of the band's singles since Substance as well as a few extra tracks: "Vanishing Point" (from 1989's Technique), "The Perfect Kiss", "Thieves Like Us", "Shellshock", and remixes of "True Faith", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "1963", and "Round & Round". The new versions of "True Faith" and "1963" (the latter as a more guitar-oriented version produced by Arthur Baker) were released as singles to promote the album. In the US, the track listing was altered to set it apart from Substance as well as the UK release of The Best of New Order which had been available months prior. This collection was followed by a remix album, The Rest of New Order, featuring a selection of existing and newly commissioned mixes of classic New Order tracks. Some versions contained an extra disc or cassette composed entirely of remixes of "Blue Monday". "Blue Monday" was released as a single for a third time to promote the collection.
Reformation and Get Ready: 1998–2003
The group reconvened in 1998 at the suggestion of Rob Gretton. Nearly five years had passed since they had last seen each other. Sumner said, "We decided before we agreed to doing any gig, to have a meeting, and if anyone had any grudges to bear, to iron them out." By the second meeting everyone agreed to continue playing, scheduling their reunion gig for the Phoenix Festival that same year. In addition to rarer songs, New Order also decided to begin playing Joy Division songs again. When the Phoenix Festival was cancelled due to low ticket sales, New Order instead played the last night of that year's Reading Festival.
Their 2001 release Get Ready largely departed from their more electronic style and focused on more guitar oriented music. According to Sumner, "Get Ready was guitar-heavy simply because we felt that we'd left that instrument alone for a long time." Longtime fan Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins played guitar and sang back-up on the track "Turn My Way," and in 2001 toured with the band on dates in the UK, US, and Japan for a short period of time. Phil Cunningham (formerly of Marion) joined the band in a live capacity, deputising for Gilbert who declined to tour in favour of caring for her and Morris' children. Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie provided vocals on the track "Rock the Shack". Singles from the album included "Crystal," "60 Miles an Hour" and Someone Like You."
In 2002, Q featured New Order on their list of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die", although this was as part of a sub-list of "5 Bands That Could Go Either Way". Both New Order and Joy Division were portrayed in the Michael Winterbottom film 24 Hour Party People, depicting the rise and fall of Factory Records as seen through the eyes of label founder Tony Wilson. Cameos by Wilson himself, along with Mark E. Smith of the Fall and former members of Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets, lent a degree of legitimacy to the proceedings. The film touched on some of Factory's other artists, including Happy Mondays and the Durutti Column. The soundtrack featured the new track "Here to Stay," produced by the Chemical Brothers, which was released as a single. The single's music video highlighted scenes taken from the film.
Waiting for the Sirens' Call, Singles and second break-up: 2004–2007
The band released a new album on 27 March 2005, titled Waiting for the Sirens' Call, their first with new member Phil Cunningham. Cunningham replaced Gilbert (now married to Morris) so she could look after their children. Singles from this album were "Krafty", "Jetstream" (which features guest vocals by Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters), and the title track. At the 2005 NME Awards, New Order and Joy Division received the award for "Godlike Geniuses" (for lifetime achievement). Previous winners include Ozzy Osbourne, the Clash, and Happy Mondays. In 2006 the album track "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Dance Recording.
In the autumn of 2005, the group released another greatest hits compilation, in the form of Singles. The two-disc release was an updated version of the Substance collection and contained every single released from their 1981 debut all the way through to "Waiting for the Sirens' Call". However, unlike Substance, which focused almost exclusively on the 12" versions of the group's singles, Singles collected the 7" versions, many of which (like "Ceremony", "Temptation" and "Confusion") had never been released on CD. The album was accompanied by a two-disc DVD set, titled Item, that collected the extended UK version of NewOrderStory with a DVD of all New Order music videos as well as two newly commissioned videos for "Temptation '87" and "Ceremony".
The New Order: Live in Glasgow DVD was recorded at the Glasgow Academy in 2006 and features 18 tracks, including 4 Joy Division songs. Next to that, the release also contains a bonus disc of footage from the band's personal archive including 1980s footage from Glastonbury (June 1981), Rome, Cork, Rotterdam and Toronto.
In 2006, the band played several one-off live dates as well as short tours in the UK, Brazil and Argentina. After their Buenos Aires show in November 2006, Peter Hook suggested that the band should stop touring. In early May 2007, Hook was interviewed by British radio station XFM – originally to talk about his contribution to the debut album of Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell's new band Satellite Party – and stated that "Me and Bernard aren't working together." Further complicating the news, NewOrderOnline, a website with support from New Order management, reported that according to "a source close to the band", "The news about the split is false... New Order still exists despite what [Hook] said ... Peter Hook can leave the band, but this doesn't mean the end of New Order." However, Sumner revealed in 2009 that he no longer wished to make music as New Order.
Reunion with new line-up, Lost Sirens and Music Complete: 2011–2016
In September 2011, the band announced that they would perform for the first time since 2006, at the Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 17 October and at the Bataclan, Paris on 18 October. The band's line-up included keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, who returned to the band after a ten-year break, and Bad Lieutenant bassist Tom Chapman in place of Peter Hook. They played subsequent shows in London and South America in December, and released Live at the London Troxy, a live album from their performance on 10 December 2011 at The Troxy in London.
They continued to tour throughout 2012, including a short tour of New Zealand and Australia in February/March, and several festival appearances in 2012. New Order performed at Hyde Park with Blur and the Specials to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Lost Sirens was released in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2013. Lost Sirens is an eight-track album of songs recorded during the sessions for Waiting for the Sirens' Call. The album was discussed by Gillian Gilbert in a Brazilian interview to promote the band's appearance in São Paulo. She acknowledged issues with former member Peter Hook, and stated there was "a lot going on behind the scenes on the copyright" delaying the release.
The band debuted their first new song since the Waiting for the Sirens' Call sessions, "Singularity", during Lollapalooza Chile in March 2014. In July, the group toured North America, where they debuted another song, "Plastic". On 2 September the band signed to Mute Records. The New Order back catalogue remains with Warner Music.
On 22 September 2015, the band released a new album, Music Complete, their first without Peter Hook. The album was produced mostly by the band themselves, except "Singularity" and "Unlearn This Hatred", both produced by Tom Rowlands, while "Superheated" features additional production by Stuart Price.
On 13 May 2016, New Order released a follow-up remix album Complete Music, which consists of extended and reworked mixes of each track from Music Complete.
In November 2015, Peter Hook sued Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. In an objection, it was revealed that Sumner, Morris and Gilbert had set up a new company behind Hook's back, that it has generated an income of £7.8 million in four years while Hook received only a fraction of that. The three members argued they had treated Hook fairly and that his stake in the band's royalties was reasonable, despite the fact that in four years, Hook had only received "1.25 per cent of the band's royalties and other income from merchandising and performances". The judge ruled that there was "at least a reasonable prospect" of Hook proving that he was not getting a fair share of royalties and other income and rejected Sumner and Morris's lawyer argument. The judge was willing to hear the case but urged the parties to come to an agreement rather than suffer legal costs of around £900,000. On 20 September 2017, the band announced that a full and final settlement had been reached in the dispute.
Touring and recent work: 2017–present
On 13 July 2017, New Order played a concert at Manchester International Festival with Liam Gillick. On 12 July 2019 the performance was released as a live album titled Σ(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.. (Live at MIF). The collaboration between Gillick and New Order was the subject of a documentary feature titled 'New Order: Decades', directed by Mike Christie and broadcast in the UK by Sky Arts and Showtime in the USA.
On 23 August 2018, the band played the first date of a North American tour at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul Minnesota, US. According to the band's official website, other stops on the tour included Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC; Toronto, Ontario; Long Beach, California; Kahului, Hawaii; and Honolulu, Hawaii. As of 24 August 2018, a single show in Santiago, Chile had been announced for 21 November 2018.
In January 2020, the band played a four night residency in Florida, and in February 2020, they announced a co-headlining tour in North America with the Pet Shop Boys, and that the only concert in the UK in 2020 would be at The O2 on 10 October. These tour dates were later rescheduled for 2021.
On 8 September 2020 the band released the single "Be a Rebel" 5 years after their previous release. A music video for the single, directed by NYSU, premiered on YouTube on 2 December.
On 11 February 2021, the band announced their plans to release a live album and concert film of their 2018 show at London's Alexandra Palace, directed by Mike Christie. Entitled Education Entertainment Recreation (Live at Alexandra Palace), it was released on 7 May.
Other projects
In 1988, Bernard Sumner teamed up with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to form the group Electronic, also enlisting the help of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. Electronic regrouped in 1996 for Raise the Pressure, which also featured Karl Bartos (formerly of Kraftwerk). The project's third album Twisted Tenderness was released in 1999 after which the band dissolved.
In June 2009, Sumner formed a new band called Bad Lieutenant with Phil Cunningham (guitar) and Jake Evans (guitar and vocals). Their album Never Cry Another Tear was released on 5 October 2009. In addition to Cunningham and Evans the album also features appearances by Stephen Morris (drums), Jack Mitchell (drums), Tom Chapman (bass) and Alex James (bass). The live band included Morris on drums and Tom Chapman on bass.
Peter Hook has been involved with several other projects. In the 1990s, Hook recorded with Killing Joke with a view to joining the band. However, original bassist Martin 'Youth' Glover instead returned to the band. In 1995 he toured with the Durutti Column. He has recorded one album with the band Revenge with Davyth Hicks and Chris Jones and two with Monaco (both as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist) with David Potts. Monaco scored a club and alternative radio hit with "What Do You Want From Me?" in 1997. Hook also formed a band called Freebass with fellow bass players Mani (the Stone Roses) and Andy Rourke (the Smiths) and vocalist Gary Briggs, which was active from 2007 to 2010. He also contributed to Perry Farrell's Satellite Party. Hook's current band Peter Hook and the Light is touring Joy Division and New Order albums in their entirety.
In 1990 Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris formed their own band, The Other Two. The Other Two released its first single "Tasty Fish" in 1991 and released two albums, The Other Two & You in 1993 and Super Highways in 1999. They have also been involved in scoring television soundtracks, like Making Out. In 2007, Gilbert and Morris remixed two tracks for the Nine Inch Nails remixes album Year Zero Remixed.
BeMusic
"BeMusic" was a name the band used for their publishing company (the LP label for Movement says "B Music" in large letters, though using an italic ß for the letter B). All four members of the band used the name for production work for other artists' recordings between 1982 and 1985.
The first BeMusic credit was for Peter Hook producing Stockholm Monsters in 1982. Other artists with producer or musician credit for "BeMusic" were 52nd Street, Section 25, Marcel King, Quando Quango, Paul Haig, Thick Pigeon, Nyam Nyam and Life.
Their production work as BeMusic was collected on two LTM Recordings compilation CDs, Cool As Ice: The BeMusic Productions and Twice As Nice (which also included production work by Donald Johnson, of A Certain Ratio, and Arthur Baker).
Influences, style and legacy
New Order's music mixes rock with dance music, as can be seen on signature tracks such as 1982's "Temptation", 1983's "Blue Monday" and 1987's "True Faith". Founding member Hook stated that the band's shift from playing cold dark tracks from 1981 to producing electro/rock tracks from 1982 was inspired by the music of German electronic group Kraftwerk, US rock band Sparks who had produced disco/electro-rock music with producer Giorgio Moroder on their No. 1 in Heaven album, and also the Moroder/Donna Summer collaboration on "I Feel Love". Along with Kraftwerk, the English bands Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) educated singer Bernard Sumner that one "could make music without guitars". New Order's collaboration with New York DJ Arthur Baker was inspired by the records' sounds of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force.
According to a staff-written "Allmusic" history, the band are also regarded as "the first alternative dance" music group with their fusion of "used icy, gloomy post-punk with Kraftwerk-style synth-pop" and were also labeled as synth-pop, post-punk, new wave, dance-rock and electronica.
They have heavily influenced techno, rock, and pop musicians including Moby, and were themselves influenced by the likes of David Bowie and Neu!. They have also significantly influenced electro, freestyle and house. New Order's Kraftwerk influence was acknowledged by their single "Krafty", which had cover art referencing "Autobahn".
Drummer Stephen Morris plays a mixture of acoustic and electronic drums, and in many cases plays along seamlessly with sequenced parts. All the band members could and did switch instruments throughout gigs, as evidenced on Jonathan Demme's video for "The Perfect Kiss" and the concert videos Taras Shevchenko (recorded in New York, November 1981) and Pumped Full of Drugs (Tokyo, May 1985). During such live gigs, Sumner alternated between guitar, keyboards, melodica and (on the track "Confusion") bass; Gilbert switched between keyboards and guitar, Morris between drums and keyboards, and Hook played both bass and electronic drums. Taras Shevchenko is also notable for the fact all four members of the group have left the stage before the final song, "Temptation", comes to a complete end.
Reputation
Both New Order and Joy Division were among the most successful artists on the Factory Records label, run by Granada television personality Tony Wilson, and partnered with Factory in the financing of the Manchester club The Haçienda. Speaking in 2009, fellow synthpop musician Phil Oakey described New Order's slow-burn career as cult musicians as being unusually prolonged and effective: "If you want to make a lot of money out of pop, be number 3 a lot. Like New Order did."
Cover artwork
Almost all New Order recordings bear minimalist packaging, art directed by Peter Saville. The group's record sleeves bucked the 1980s trend by rarely showing the band members (with the exception of the Low-Life album) or even providing basic information such as the band name or title of the release. Song names were often hidden within the shrink wrapped package, either on the disc itself (such as the "Blue Monday" single), on an inconspicuous part of an inner sleeve ("The Perfect Kiss" single), or written in a cryptic colour code invented by Saville (Power, Corruption & Lies). Saville said his intention was to sell the band as a "mass-produced secret" of sorts, and that the minimalist style was enough to allow fans to identify the band's products without explicit labelling. Saville frequently sent the artwork straight to the printer, unreviewed by either the band or the label.
Awards and nominations
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1983
| rowspan="3" | NME Awards
| Power, Corruption & Lies
| Best Dressed Sleeve
|
|-
| "Blue Monday"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Themselves
| Best Group
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1988
| Brit Awards
| "True Faith"
| Best British Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Pollstar Concert Industry Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| rowspan=2|Most Creative Stage Production
|
|-
| 1990
|
|-
| 1991
| Ivor Novello Awards
| "World in Motion"
| Best Selling A Side
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1993
| Mercury Prize
| Republic
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Billboard Music Awards
| Themselves
| Top Modern Rock Tracks Artist
|
|-
| "Regret"
| Top Modern Rock Track
|
|-
|1994
| D&AD Awards
| "World (The Price of Love)"
| Pop Promo Video
| style="background:#BF8040"| Wood Pencil
|-
| 1999
| rowspan=1|Q Awards
| Themselves
| Q Inspiration Award
|
|-
| 2000
| ASCAP Pop Music Awards
| "Blue Monday"
| Most Performed Song
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2001
|Q Awards
| "Crystal"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Žebřík Music Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Surprise
|
|-
| 2005
| NME Awards
| Godlike Genius Award
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Grammy Awards
| "Guilt is a Useless Emotion"
| Best Dance Recording
|
|-
| MTV VMAJ
| "Krafty"
| Best Dance Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2012
| UK Festival Awards
| rowspan="3" | Themselves
| Headliner of the Year
|
|-
| Artrocker Awards
| Legend Award
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2015
| rowspan="2" | Q Awards
| Q Outstanding Contribution To Music
|
|-
| "Restless"
| Best Track
|
|-
|Best Art Vinyl
|Music Complete
| Best Art Vinyl
|
|-
| 2016
| International Dance Music Awards
| "Plastic"
| Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track
|
|-
| 2019
| Silver Clef Awards
| Bernard Sumner
| Outstanding Achievement Award
|
Band members
Current
Bernard Sumner – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, melodica (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Gillian Gilbert – keyboards, guitars, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2001, 2011–present)
Phil Cunningham – guitars, keyboards, electronic percussion (2001–2007, 2011–present)
Tom Chapman – bass, keyboards (2011–present)
Former
Peter Hook – bass, electronic percussion, vocals, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007)
Timeline
Discography
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Lost Sirens (2013)
Music Complete (2015)
References
Further reading
Hickey, Dec. From Heaven to Heaven. New Order Live. The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters. London: Dec Hickey, 2012.
Edge, Brian. New Order + Joy Division: Pleasures and Wayward Distractions. London: Omnibus Press, 1988.
Flowers, Claude. New Order + Joy Division: Dreams Never End. London: Omnibus Press, 1995.
Johnson, Mark. An Ideal For Living: An History Of Joy Division. London: Bobcat Books, 1984.
Middles, Mick. From Joy Division to New Order: The Factory Story. London: Virgin Books, 1996.
External links
New Order Online – band-endorsed fansite
English new wave musical groups
English post-punk music groups
British synth-pop new wave groups
English synth-pop groups
Alternative dance musical groups
Dance-rock musical groups
Brit Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
1980 establishments in England
1993 disestablishments in England
1998 establishments in England
2007 disestablishments in England
2011 establishments in England
Musical groups established in 1980
Musical groups disestablished in 1993
Musical groups reestablished in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2007
Musical groups reestablished in 2011
Qwest Records artists
Reprise Records artists
Mute Records artists
Factory Records artists
Factory Benelux artists
Musical quintets
Musical groups from Manchester | false | [
"Merry Legs (1911-1932) was a Tennessee Walking Horse mare who was given foundation registration for her influence as a broodmare. She was also a successful show horse.\n\nLife\nMerry Legs was foaled in April 1911. She was a bay with sabino markings. She was sired by the foundation stallion Black Allan F-1, out of the American Saddlebred mare Nell Dement, registration number F-3, and bred by the early breeder Albert Dement. She was a large mare at maturity, standing high and weighing . Merry Legs was a successful show horse; as a three-year-old, she won the stake class at the Tennessee State Fair. She was also successful as a broodmare, giving birth to 13 foals, among them the well-known Bud Allen, Last Chance, Major Allen, and Merry Boy. For her influence on the breed, she was given the foundation number F-4 when the TWHBEA was formed in 1935. She died in 1932.\n\nReferences\n\nIndividual Tennessee Walking Horses\n1911 animal births\n1932 animal deaths",
"The UCI Road World Championships – Men's team time trial was a world championship for road bicycle racing in the discipline of team time trial (TTT). It is organized by the world governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).\n\nNational teams (1962–1994)\nA championship for national teams was introduced in 1962 and held until 1994. It was held annually, except that from 1972 onward, the TTT was not held in Olympic years. There were 4 riders per team on a route around 100 kilometres long. Italy is the most successful nation with seven victories.\n\nMedal winners\n\nMedals by nation\n\nMost successful riders\n\nUCI teams (2012–2018)\nThere was a long break until a championship for trade teams was introduced in 2012. There were 6 riders per team. The championship was held up to 2018.\n\nMedal winners\n\nMost successful teams\n\nMost successful riders\n\nReferences \n \n \n\n \nMen's Team Time Trial\nRecurring sporting events established in 1962\nUCI World Tour races\nMen's road bicycle races\nLists of UCI Road World Championships medalists\nRecurring sporting events disestablished in 2018"
]
|
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"New Order (band)",
"Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985-1987",
"what happened in 1985?",
"Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing \"The Perfect Kiss\"--",
"was low-life an album?",
"I don't know.",
"what was brotherhood?",
"album",
"was it successful?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_f4bea434299f44b4810b6d7037af7e7b_0 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 5 | In addition to Brotherhood, any other interesting aspects about Low-Life? | New Order (band) | 1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing "The Perfect Kiss"--the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme--and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex. Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"--referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"--originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead--would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions. In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The single reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart, but would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order. CANNOTANSWER | Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time | New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The band formed after the demise of Joy Division, following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis; they were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
While the band's early years were overshadowed by the legacy of Joy Division, their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work. Their 1983 hit "Blue Monday" became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time and a popular club track. In the 1980s, they released successful albums such as Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Technique (1989), and the singles compilation Substance (1987). They disbanded in 1993 to work on individual projects before reuniting in 1998. In the years since, New Order has gone through various hiatuses and personnel changes, most prominently the departure of Hook in 2007. They released their tenth studio album, Music Complete, in 2015.
History
Origins and formation: 1977–1980
Between 1977 and 1980, Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner were members of the post-punk band Joy Division, often featuring heavy production input from producer Martin Hannett. Curtis took his own life on 18 May 1980, the day before Joy Division were scheduled to depart for their first American tour, and prior to the release of the band's second album, Closer. The rest of the band decided soon after Curtis's death that they would carry on. Prior to his death, the members of Joy Division had agreed not to continue under the Joy Division name should any one member leave. On 29 July 1980, the still unnamed trio debuted live at Manchester's Beach Club. Rob Gretton, the band's manager for over 20 years, is credited for having found the name New Order in an article in The Guardian titled "The People's New Order of Kampuchea". The band adopted this name, despite its previous use for former Stooge Ron Asheton's band The New Order. The group states that the name New Order (as was also the case with "Joy Division") does not draw a direct line to National Socialism or Fascism.
The band rehearsed with each member taking turns on vocals. Sumner ultimately took the role, as he could sing when he wasn't playing his guitar. They wanted to complete the line-up with someone they knew well and whose musical skill and style was compatible with their own. Gretton suggested Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert, and she was invited to join the band in early October 1980, as keyboardist and guitarist. Her first live performance with the band occurred at The Squat in Manchester on 25 October 1980.
Movement: 1981–1982
The initial release as New Order was the single "Ceremony", backed with "In a Lonely Place". These two songs were written in the weeks before Curtis took his own life. With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers. The band viewed the period as a low point, as they were still reeling from Curtis' death. Hook commented that the only positive thing to come out of the Movement sessions was that producer Martin Hannett had showed the band how to use a mixing board, which allowed them to produce records by themselves from then on. More recently, Hook indicated a change of heart: "I think Movement gets a raw deal in general really – for me, when you consider the circumstances in which it was written, it is a fantastic record."
New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where the band were introduced to post-disco, freestyle and electro. The band had taken to listening to Italian disco to cheer themselves up, while Morris taught himself drum programming. The singles that followed, "Everything's Gone Green" and "Temptation", saw a change in direction toward dance music.
The Haçienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester and was even issued a Factory catalogue number: FAC51. The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled "Prime 5 8 6", but released 15 years later as "Video 5 8 6". Composed primarily by Sumner and Morris, "Prime 5 8 6"/"Video 5 8 6" was an early version of "5 8 6" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on "Blue Monday" and "Ultraviolence".
Power, Corruption & Lies: 1983–1984
Power, Corruption & Lies, released in May 1983, was a synthesiser-based outing and a dramatic change in sound from Joy Division and the preceding album, although the band had been hinting at the increased use of technology during the music-making process for a number of years then, including their work as Joy Division. Starting from what earlier singles had hinted, this was where the band had found their footing, mixing early techno music with their earlier guitar-based sound and showing the strong influence of acts like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder. Even further in this direction was the electronically sequenced, four-on-the-floor single "Blue Monday". Inspired by Klein + M.B.O.'s "Dirty Talk" and Sylvester's disco classic, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "Blue Monday" became the best-selling independent 12" single of all time in the UK; however, (much to the chagrin of the buying public) it was not on the track list of Power, Corruption & Lies. The song was included however on the cassette format in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, and on the original North American CD release of the album, alongside its B-side, "The Beach". "Blue Monday" was also included on the 2008 collector's edition of Power, Corruption & Lies.
The 1983 single "Confusion" firmly established the group as a dance music force, inspiring many musicians in subsequent years. In 1984 they followed the largely synthesised single "Thieves Like Us" with the heavy guitar-drum-bass rumble of "Murder", a not-too-distant cousin of "Ecstasy" from the Power, Corruption & Lies album. KROQ Los Angeles DJ Jed the Fish claims New Order had more to do with the emergence of house music than the Warehouse music of Chicago and "Frankie Knuckles and the whole so-called House music scene. Unless you were actually from regional Chicago, had you ever heard of House music until New Order? Be real, now."
Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985–1987
1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, guitar-based and electronic, and included "The Perfect Kiss"—the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme—and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex.
Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" (a Top 20 hit in Australia and New Zealand) and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"—referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"—originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead—would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions.
In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The song was one of four new tracks recorded for the American comedy film Salvatation!, and reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart. However, it would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order.
Technique, Republic and first break-up: 1988–1993
By this time, the group was heavily influenced by the Balearic sounds of Ibiza, which were making their way into the Haçienda. Partly recorded at Mediterranean Sound studios on Ibiza, Technique was released in February 1989. The album entered the charts at number one in the UK and contained a mix of acid house influence (as on opening track "Fine Time") and a more traditional rock sound (as on the single "Run 2"). The album is a blend of upbeat, accessible music coupled with blunt, poignant lyrics. During the summer of 1989, New Order supported Technique by touring with Public Image Ltd, Throwing Muses and the Sugarcubes across the United States and Canada in what the press dubbed the "Monsters of Alternative Rock" tour. Around this time, band members also began side projects including Electronic (Sumner with Johnny Marr) and Revenge (Hook with Davyth Hicks). Morris and Gilbert began to work together on outside TV theme production work. In 1991, the band were sued by the publishing company of American singer John Denver, who alleged that the guitar break in "Run 2" was similar to his song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The case was settled out of court and the song has since been credited to both New Order and John Denver.
In 1990, New Order recorded the official song of the England national football team's 1990 World Cup campaign, "World in Motion", under the ad hoc band name EnglandNewOrder. The song, co-written with comedian Keith Allen, was the band's sole number one UK hit. The song was originally planned to be titled "E for England", however the Football Association vetoed the title upon realising that this was a reference to ecstasy; a drug heavily associated with the Haçienda. (Allen claimed that his original draft lyrics included "E is for England, England starts with E / We'll all be smiling when we're in Italy.") The song also featured chanting from members of the England team and Allen, and a guest rap from England player John Barnes. It was again produced by Stephen Hague, who the band chose to produce their next album.
The band's next album Republic was shadowed by the collapse of their longtime label Factory Records. The label had been ailing due to financial difficulties, and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1992. New Order never had a formal contract with Factory. Although unusual for a major group, this was Factory's standard practice until the mid-1980s. Because of this, the band, rather than Factory Records, legally owned all of their recordings. This has been cited by Wilson himself as the main reason London Records' 1992 offer to buy the ailing label fell through. Following Factory's collapse, New Order signed with London, as did Morris and Gilbert separately for their side project The Other Two, whose debut album was originally intended for release on Factory. Republic, released around the world in 1993, spawned the singles "Regret"—New Order's highest-charting single in the US—"Ruined in a Day", "World", and "Spooky".
Following the release and promotion of Republic, the band put New Order on hold while focusing on side projects; with The Other Two's debut album released in 1993. In 1994, a second singles collection was released, entitled The Best of New Order. It featured all of the band's singles since Substance as well as a few extra tracks: "Vanishing Point" (from 1989's Technique), "The Perfect Kiss", "Thieves Like Us", "Shellshock", and remixes of "True Faith", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "1963", and "Round & Round". The new versions of "True Faith" and "1963" (the latter as a more guitar-oriented version produced by Arthur Baker) were released as singles to promote the album. In the US, the track listing was altered to set it apart from Substance as well as the UK release of The Best of New Order which had been available months prior. This collection was followed by a remix album, The Rest of New Order, featuring a selection of existing and newly commissioned mixes of classic New Order tracks. Some versions contained an extra disc or cassette composed entirely of remixes of "Blue Monday". "Blue Monday" was released as a single for a third time to promote the collection.
Reformation and Get Ready: 1998–2003
The group reconvened in 1998 at the suggestion of Rob Gretton. Nearly five years had passed since they had last seen each other. Sumner said, "We decided before we agreed to doing any gig, to have a meeting, and if anyone had any grudges to bear, to iron them out." By the second meeting everyone agreed to continue playing, scheduling their reunion gig for the Phoenix Festival that same year. In addition to rarer songs, New Order also decided to begin playing Joy Division songs again. When the Phoenix Festival was cancelled due to low ticket sales, New Order instead played the last night of that year's Reading Festival.
Their 2001 release Get Ready largely departed from their more electronic style and focused on more guitar oriented music. According to Sumner, "Get Ready was guitar-heavy simply because we felt that we'd left that instrument alone for a long time." Longtime fan Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins played guitar and sang back-up on the track "Turn My Way," and in 2001 toured with the band on dates in the UK, US, and Japan for a short period of time. Phil Cunningham (formerly of Marion) joined the band in a live capacity, deputising for Gilbert who declined to tour in favour of caring for her and Morris' children. Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie provided vocals on the track "Rock the Shack". Singles from the album included "Crystal," "60 Miles an Hour" and Someone Like You."
In 2002, Q featured New Order on their list of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die", although this was as part of a sub-list of "5 Bands That Could Go Either Way". Both New Order and Joy Division were portrayed in the Michael Winterbottom film 24 Hour Party People, depicting the rise and fall of Factory Records as seen through the eyes of label founder Tony Wilson. Cameos by Wilson himself, along with Mark E. Smith of the Fall and former members of Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets, lent a degree of legitimacy to the proceedings. The film touched on some of Factory's other artists, including Happy Mondays and the Durutti Column. The soundtrack featured the new track "Here to Stay," produced by the Chemical Brothers, which was released as a single. The single's music video highlighted scenes taken from the film.
Waiting for the Sirens' Call, Singles and second break-up: 2004–2007
The band released a new album on 27 March 2005, titled Waiting for the Sirens' Call, their first with new member Phil Cunningham. Cunningham replaced Gilbert (now married to Morris) so she could look after their children. Singles from this album were "Krafty", "Jetstream" (which features guest vocals by Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters), and the title track. At the 2005 NME Awards, New Order and Joy Division received the award for "Godlike Geniuses" (for lifetime achievement). Previous winners include Ozzy Osbourne, the Clash, and Happy Mondays. In 2006 the album track "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Dance Recording.
In the autumn of 2005, the group released another greatest hits compilation, in the form of Singles. The two-disc release was an updated version of the Substance collection and contained every single released from their 1981 debut all the way through to "Waiting for the Sirens' Call". However, unlike Substance, which focused almost exclusively on the 12" versions of the group's singles, Singles collected the 7" versions, many of which (like "Ceremony", "Temptation" and "Confusion") had never been released on CD. The album was accompanied by a two-disc DVD set, titled Item, that collected the extended UK version of NewOrderStory with a DVD of all New Order music videos as well as two newly commissioned videos for "Temptation '87" and "Ceremony".
The New Order: Live in Glasgow DVD was recorded at the Glasgow Academy in 2006 and features 18 tracks, including 4 Joy Division songs. Next to that, the release also contains a bonus disc of footage from the band's personal archive including 1980s footage from Glastonbury (June 1981), Rome, Cork, Rotterdam and Toronto.
In 2006, the band played several one-off live dates as well as short tours in the UK, Brazil and Argentina. After their Buenos Aires show in November 2006, Peter Hook suggested that the band should stop touring. In early May 2007, Hook was interviewed by British radio station XFM – originally to talk about his contribution to the debut album of Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell's new band Satellite Party – and stated that "Me and Bernard aren't working together." Further complicating the news, NewOrderOnline, a website with support from New Order management, reported that according to "a source close to the band", "The news about the split is false... New Order still exists despite what [Hook] said ... Peter Hook can leave the band, but this doesn't mean the end of New Order." However, Sumner revealed in 2009 that he no longer wished to make music as New Order.
Reunion with new line-up, Lost Sirens and Music Complete: 2011–2016
In September 2011, the band announced that they would perform for the first time since 2006, at the Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 17 October and at the Bataclan, Paris on 18 October. The band's line-up included keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, who returned to the band after a ten-year break, and Bad Lieutenant bassist Tom Chapman in place of Peter Hook. They played subsequent shows in London and South America in December, and released Live at the London Troxy, a live album from their performance on 10 December 2011 at The Troxy in London.
They continued to tour throughout 2012, including a short tour of New Zealand and Australia in February/March, and several festival appearances in 2012. New Order performed at Hyde Park with Blur and the Specials to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Lost Sirens was released in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2013. Lost Sirens is an eight-track album of songs recorded during the sessions for Waiting for the Sirens' Call. The album was discussed by Gillian Gilbert in a Brazilian interview to promote the band's appearance in São Paulo. She acknowledged issues with former member Peter Hook, and stated there was "a lot going on behind the scenes on the copyright" delaying the release.
The band debuted their first new song since the Waiting for the Sirens' Call sessions, "Singularity", during Lollapalooza Chile in March 2014. In July, the group toured North America, where they debuted another song, "Plastic". On 2 September the band signed to Mute Records. The New Order back catalogue remains with Warner Music.
On 22 September 2015, the band released a new album, Music Complete, their first without Peter Hook. The album was produced mostly by the band themselves, except "Singularity" and "Unlearn This Hatred", both produced by Tom Rowlands, while "Superheated" features additional production by Stuart Price.
On 13 May 2016, New Order released a follow-up remix album Complete Music, which consists of extended and reworked mixes of each track from Music Complete.
In November 2015, Peter Hook sued Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. In an objection, it was revealed that Sumner, Morris and Gilbert had set up a new company behind Hook's back, that it has generated an income of £7.8 million in four years while Hook received only a fraction of that. The three members argued they had treated Hook fairly and that his stake in the band's royalties was reasonable, despite the fact that in four years, Hook had only received "1.25 per cent of the band's royalties and other income from merchandising and performances". The judge ruled that there was "at least a reasonable prospect" of Hook proving that he was not getting a fair share of royalties and other income and rejected Sumner and Morris's lawyer argument. The judge was willing to hear the case but urged the parties to come to an agreement rather than suffer legal costs of around £900,000. On 20 September 2017, the band announced that a full and final settlement had been reached in the dispute.
Touring and recent work: 2017–present
On 13 July 2017, New Order played a concert at Manchester International Festival with Liam Gillick. On 12 July 2019 the performance was released as a live album titled Σ(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.. (Live at MIF). The collaboration between Gillick and New Order was the subject of a documentary feature titled 'New Order: Decades', directed by Mike Christie and broadcast in the UK by Sky Arts and Showtime in the USA.
On 23 August 2018, the band played the first date of a North American tour at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul Minnesota, US. According to the band's official website, other stops on the tour included Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC; Toronto, Ontario; Long Beach, California; Kahului, Hawaii; and Honolulu, Hawaii. As of 24 August 2018, a single show in Santiago, Chile had been announced for 21 November 2018.
In January 2020, the band played a four night residency in Florida, and in February 2020, they announced a co-headlining tour in North America with the Pet Shop Boys, and that the only concert in the UK in 2020 would be at The O2 on 10 October. These tour dates were later rescheduled for 2021.
On 8 September 2020 the band released the single "Be a Rebel" 5 years after their previous release. A music video for the single, directed by NYSU, premiered on YouTube on 2 December.
On 11 February 2021, the band announced their plans to release a live album and concert film of their 2018 show at London's Alexandra Palace, directed by Mike Christie. Entitled Education Entertainment Recreation (Live at Alexandra Palace), it was released on 7 May.
Other projects
In 1988, Bernard Sumner teamed up with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to form the group Electronic, also enlisting the help of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. Electronic regrouped in 1996 for Raise the Pressure, which also featured Karl Bartos (formerly of Kraftwerk). The project's third album Twisted Tenderness was released in 1999 after which the band dissolved.
In June 2009, Sumner formed a new band called Bad Lieutenant with Phil Cunningham (guitar) and Jake Evans (guitar and vocals). Their album Never Cry Another Tear was released on 5 October 2009. In addition to Cunningham and Evans the album also features appearances by Stephen Morris (drums), Jack Mitchell (drums), Tom Chapman (bass) and Alex James (bass). The live band included Morris on drums and Tom Chapman on bass.
Peter Hook has been involved with several other projects. In the 1990s, Hook recorded with Killing Joke with a view to joining the band. However, original bassist Martin 'Youth' Glover instead returned to the band. In 1995 he toured with the Durutti Column. He has recorded one album with the band Revenge with Davyth Hicks and Chris Jones and two with Monaco (both as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist) with David Potts. Monaco scored a club and alternative radio hit with "What Do You Want From Me?" in 1997. Hook also formed a band called Freebass with fellow bass players Mani (the Stone Roses) and Andy Rourke (the Smiths) and vocalist Gary Briggs, which was active from 2007 to 2010. He also contributed to Perry Farrell's Satellite Party. Hook's current band Peter Hook and the Light is touring Joy Division and New Order albums in their entirety.
In 1990 Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris formed their own band, The Other Two. The Other Two released its first single "Tasty Fish" in 1991 and released two albums, The Other Two & You in 1993 and Super Highways in 1999. They have also been involved in scoring television soundtracks, like Making Out. In 2007, Gilbert and Morris remixed two tracks for the Nine Inch Nails remixes album Year Zero Remixed.
BeMusic
"BeMusic" was a name the band used for their publishing company (the LP label for Movement says "B Music" in large letters, though using an italic ß for the letter B). All four members of the band used the name for production work for other artists' recordings between 1982 and 1985.
The first BeMusic credit was for Peter Hook producing Stockholm Monsters in 1982. Other artists with producer or musician credit for "BeMusic" were 52nd Street, Section 25, Marcel King, Quando Quango, Paul Haig, Thick Pigeon, Nyam Nyam and Life.
Their production work as BeMusic was collected on two LTM Recordings compilation CDs, Cool As Ice: The BeMusic Productions and Twice As Nice (which also included production work by Donald Johnson, of A Certain Ratio, and Arthur Baker).
Influences, style and legacy
New Order's music mixes rock with dance music, as can be seen on signature tracks such as 1982's "Temptation", 1983's "Blue Monday" and 1987's "True Faith". Founding member Hook stated that the band's shift from playing cold dark tracks from 1981 to producing electro/rock tracks from 1982 was inspired by the music of German electronic group Kraftwerk, US rock band Sparks who had produced disco/electro-rock music with producer Giorgio Moroder on their No. 1 in Heaven album, and also the Moroder/Donna Summer collaboration on "I Feel Love". Along with Kraftwerk, the English bands Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) educated singer Bernard Sumner that one "could make music without guitars". New Order's collaboration with New York DJ Arthur Baker was inspired by the records' sounds of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force.
According to a staff-written "Allmusic" history, the band are also regarded as "the first alternative dance" music group with their fusion of "used icy, gloomy post-punk with Kraftwerk-style synth-pop" and were also labeled as synth-pop, post-punk, new wave, dance-rock and electronica.
They have heavily influenced techno, rock, and pop musicians including Moby, and were themselves influenced by the likes of David Bowie and Neu!. They have also significantly influenced electro, freestyle and house. New Order's Kraftwerk influence was acknowledged by their single "Krafty", which had cover art referencing "Autobahn".
Drummer Stephen Morris plays a mixture of acoustic and electronic drums, and in many cases plays along seamlessly with sequenced parts. All the band members could and did switch instruments throughout gigs, as evidenced on Jonathan Demme's video for "The Perfect Kiss" and the concert videos Taras Shevchenko (recorded in New York, November 1981) and Pumped Full of Drugs (Tokyo, May 1985). During such live gigs, Sumner alternated between guitar, keyboards, melodica and (on the track "Confusion") bass; Gilbert switched between keyboards and guitar, Morris between drums and keyboards, and Hook played both bass and electronic drums. Taras Shevchenko is also notable for the fact all four members of the group have left the stage before the final song, "Temptation", comes to a complete end.
Reputation
Both New Order and Joy Division were among the most successful artists on the Factory Records label, run by Granada television personality Tony Wilson, and partnered with Factory in the financing of the Manchester club The Haçienda. Speaking in 2009, fellow synthpop musician Phil Oakey described New Order's slow-burn career as cult musicians as being unusually prolonged and effective: "If you want to make a lot of money out of pop, be number 3 a lot. Like New Order did."
Cover artwork
Almost all New Order recordings bear minimalist packaging, art directed by Peter Saville. The group's record sleeves bucked the 1980s trend by rarely showing the band members (with the exception of the Low-Life album) or even providing basic information such as the band name or title of the release. Song names were often hidden within the shrink wrapped package, either on the disc itself (such as the "Blue Monday" single), on an inconspicuous part of an inner sleeve ("The Perfect Kiss" single), or written in a cryptic colour code invented by Saville (Power, Corruption & Lies). Saville said his intention was to sell the band as a "mass-produced secret" of sorts, and that the minimalist style was enough to allow fans to identify the band's products without explicit labelling. Saville frequently sent the artwork straight to the printer, unreviewed by either the band or the label.
Awards and nominations
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1983
| rowspan="3" | NME Awards
| Power, Corruption & Lies
| Best Dressed Sleeve
|
|-
| "Blue Monday"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Themselves
| Best Group
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1988
| Brit Awards
| "True Faith"
| Best British Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Pollstar Concert Industry Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| rowspan=2|Most Creative Stage Production
|
|-
| 1990
|
|-
| 1991
| Ivor Novello Awards
| "World in Motion"
| Best Selling A Side
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1993
| Mercury Prize
| Republic
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Billboard Music Awards
| Themselves
| Top Modern Rock Tracks Artist
|
|-
| "Regret"
| Top Modern Rock Track
|
|-
|1994
| D&AD Awards
| "World (The Price of Love)"
| Pop Promo Video
| style="background:#BF8040"| Wood Pencil
|-
| 1999
| rowspan=1|Q Awards
| Themselves
| Q Inspiration Award
|
|-
| 2000
| ASCAP Pop Music Awards
| "Blue Monday"
| Most Performed Song
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2001
|Q Awards
| "Crystal"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Žebřík Music Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Surprise
|
|-
| 2005
| NME Awards
| Godlike Genius Award
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Grammy Awards
| "Guilt is a Useless Emotion"
| Best Dance Recording
|
|-
| MTV VMAJ
| "Krafty"
| Best Dance Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2012
| UK Festival Awards
| rowspan="3" | Themselves
| Headliner of the Year
|
|-
| Artrocker Awards
| Legend Award
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2015
| rowspan="2" | Q Awards
| Q Outstanding Contribution To Music
|
|-
| "Restless"
| Best Track
|
|-
|Best Art Vinyl
|Music Complete
| Best Art Vinyl
|
|-
| 2016
| International Dance Music Awards
| "Plastic"
| Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track
|
|-
| 2019
| Silver Clef Awards
| Bernard Sumner
| Outstanding Achievement Award
|
Band members
Current
Bernard Sumner – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, melodica (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Gillian Gilbert – keyboards, guitars, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2001, 2011–present)
Phil Cunningham – guitars, keyboards, electronic percussion (2001–2007, 2011–present)
Tom Chapman – bass, keyboards (2011–present)
Former
Peter Hook – bass, electronic percussion, vocals, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007)
Timeline
Discography
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Lost Sirens (2013)
Music Complete (2015)
References
Further reading
Hickey, Dec. From Heaven to Heaven. New Order Live. The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters. London: Dec Hickey, 2012.
Edge, Brian. New Order + Joy Division: Pleasures and Wayward Distractions. London: Omnibus Press, 1988.
Flowers, Claude. New Order + Joy Division: Dreams Never End. London: Omnibus Press, 1995.
Johnson, Mark. An Ideal For Living: An History Of Joy Division. London: Bobcat Books, 1984.
Middles, Mick. From Joy Division to New Order: The Factory Story. London: Virgin Books, 1996.
External links
New Order Online – band-endorsed fansite
English new wave musical groups
English post-punk music groups
British synth-pop new wave groups
English synth-pop groups
Alternative dance musical groups
Dance-rock musical groups
Brit Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
1980 establishments in England
1993 disestablishments in England
1998 establishments in England
2007 disestablishments in England
2011 establishments in England
Musical groups established in 1980
Musical groups disestablished in 1993
Musical groups reestablished in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2007
Musical groups reestablished in 2011
Qwest Records artists
Reprise Records artists
Mute Records artists
Factory Records artists
Factory Benelux artists
Musical quintets
Musical groups from Manchester | 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"
]
|
[
"Mandaeism",
"Priests and laymen"
]
| C_13e7bbff26bb47448571798c59997346_0 | What role do priests play in Mandaeism? | 1 | What role do priests play in Mandaeism? | Mandaeism | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E.S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix): [T]hose amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia--Nasoreans (or, if the emphatic <s> is written as <z>, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans', Mandaiia--'gnostics.' When a man becomes a priest he leaves 'Mandaeanism' and enters tarmiduta, 'priesthood.' Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called 'Nasiruta', is reserved for a very few. Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoreans, and 'Nasorean' today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine. There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people." This last office, the highest level of the Mandaean priesthood, has lain vacant for many years. At the moment, the highest office currently occupied is that of the ganzebra, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE) and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-is-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzebra who baptizes seven or more ganzebrana may qualify for the office of risamma, though the Mandaean community has yet to rally as a whole behind any single candidate. The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. CANNOTANSWER | There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: | Mandaeism (; , ), also known as Sabianism (, ), is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet. The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ) or Sabians. The term is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is . In the Quran, the Sabians (, ) are mentioned three times, alongside Jews and Christians. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
According to Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism, Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution. Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin. However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times. Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith. Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
The religion has been practised primarily around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan Province in Iran. There are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology
The term Mandaic or Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. mandaʻ in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. maddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from Late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Other scholars derive the term mandaiia () from Mandā d-Heyyi () 'Knowledge of Life', in reference to Hayyi Rabbi ( 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God') or from the word Beth Manda, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life).
History
According to the Mandaean text the Haran Gawaita, the Nasoraean Mandaeans, who were disciples of John the Baptist, left Judea/Palestine and migrated to Media in the 1st century CE. The reason given for this was their persecution in Jerusalem. The emigrants went first to Haran (probably Harran in modern-day Turkey), or Hauran and then the Median hills in Iran, before finally settling in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection did not last with the Sassanid Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir persecuting all non-Zoroastrian religions.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush Bar-Danqa, appeared before Muslim authorities showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya Bin Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans with the Sabians who are mentioned in the Quran as being counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book). This provided Mandaeans a status as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. The importance of baptism in their rituals is particularly marked. Like the Mandaeans, the Sabians were also said to be gnostics and descendants of Noah. Mandaeans continue to be identified with Sabians to the present day.
Around 1290, a Dominican Catholic from Tuscany, Ricoldo da Montecroce, or Ricoldo Pennini, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century, based upon their preliminary reports. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman Turkish army in Bahrain.
Beliefs
Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large, and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
Principal beliefs
Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is therefore necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe.
Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light.
Immortality of the soul; the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets
According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects:
A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape.
Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form.
As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) that exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta).
The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive; his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns.
Planets and stars influence fate and human beings, and are also the places of detention after death.
A savior spirit or savior spirits which assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'.
A cult-language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified.
'Mysteries', i.e. sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest.
Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).
Ptahil (), the 'Fourth Life', alone does not constitute the demiurge, but only fills that role insofar as he is seen as the creator of the material world with the help of the evil spirit Ruha. Therefore, the material world is a mixture of 'light' and 'dark'. Ptahil is the lowest of a group of three emanations, the other two being Yushamin (, the 'Second Life' (also spelled Joshamin) and Abatur (), the 'Third Life'. Abatur's demiurgic role consists of weighing the souls of the dead to determine their fate. The role of Yushamin, the first emanation, is more obscure; wanting to create a world of his own, he was punished for opposing the King of Light ('The First Life'), but was ultimately forgiven.
While Mandaeans agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one. Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.
Chief prophets
Mandaeans recognize several prophets. Yahia-Yohanna or Yuhana Maṣbana (), known in Christianity as John the Baptist, is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.
Mandaeans do not believe in the sanctity of Abraham, Moses or Jesus, however they consider Jesus and Abraham to have been originally Mandaean. They recognize other prophetic figures from the Abrahamic religions, such as Adam, his sons Hibil (Abel) and Sheetil (Seth), and his grandson Anush (Enosh), as well as Nuh (Noah), Sam (Shem), and Ram (Aram), whom they consider to be their direct ancestors. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet.
Mandaeans also do not recognize the Holy Spirit in the Talmud and Bible in the same way. Epithets of Ruha include Ruha d-Qudsha (Holy Spirit) and Ruha Masṭanita (Ruha the seductress). She is viewed negatively as the personification of the lower, emotional, and feminine elements of the human psyche.
Scriptures
The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rabba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.
The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
Another important text is the Haran Gawaita, which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire.
Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John, which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša d-Yahya, there is the Diwan Abatur, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Book of the Zodiac (Asfar Malwāshē). Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
Mandaean ritual commentaries (esoteric exegetical literature), which are typically written in scrolls rather than codices, include:
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia)
The Coronation of the Great Šišlam
The Great "First World"
The Lesser "First World"
The Scroll of Exalted Kingship
The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, a member of the Aramaic group of dialects. It is written in the Mandaic script, a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellery script. Many Mandaean laypeople do not speak this language, although some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
Worship and rituals
The two most important ceremonies in Mandaean worship are baptism (Masbuta), and 'the ascent' (Masiqta - a mass for the dead or ascent of the soul ceremony). Unlike in Christianity, baptism is not a one-off event but is performed every Sunday, the Mandaean holy day, as a ritual of purification. Baptism usually involves full immersion in flowing water, and all rivers considered fit for baptism are called Yardena (after the River Jordan). After emerging from the water, the worshipper is anointed with holy sesame oil and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread and water. The ascent of the soul ceremony, called the masiqta, can take various forms, but usually involves a ritual meal in memory of the dead. The ceremony is believed to help the souls of the departed on their journey through purgatory to the World of Light.
Other rituals for purification include the Rishama and the Tamasha which, unlike Masbuta, can be performed without a priest. The Rishama (signing) is performed before prayers and involves washing the face and limbs while reciting specific prayers. It is performed daily, before sunrise, with hair covered and after evacuation of bowels or before religious ceremonies (see wudu). The Tamasha is a triple immersion in the river without a requirement for a priest. It is performed by women after menstruation or childbirth, men and women after sexual activity or nocturnal emission, touching a dead corpse or any other type of defilement (see tevilah). Ritual purification also applies to fruits, vegetables, pots, pans, utensils, animals for consumption and ceremonial garments (rasta). Purification for a dying person is also performed. It includes bathing involving a threefold sprinkling of river water over the person from head to feet.
A Mandaean's grave must be in the north-south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north. Similarly, Essene graves are also oriented north-south. Mandaeans must face north during prayers, which are performed three times a day. Daily prayer in Mandaeism is called brakha.
Zidqa (almsgiving) is also practiced in Mandaeism with Mandaean laypeople regularly offering alms to priests.
A Mandī () (Beth Manda) or Mashkhanna is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A must be built beside a river in order to perform Maṣbuta (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith. Modern s sometimes have a bath inside a building instead. Each Mandi is adorned with a Drabsha, which is a banner in the shape of a cross, made of olive wood half covered with a piece of white pure silk cloth and seven branches of myrtle. The drabsha is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God. The seven branches of myrtle represent the seven days of creation.
Mandaeans believe in marriage (qabin) and procreation, placing a high priority upon family life and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle. They are pacifist and egalitarian, with the earliest attested Mandaean scribe being a woman, Shlama Beth Qidra, who copied the Left Ginza sometime in the 2nd century CE. There is evidence for women priests, especially in the pre-Islamic era. God created the human body complete, so no part of it should be removed or cut off, hence circumcision is considered bodily mutilation for Mandaeans and therefore forbidden. Mandaeans abstain from strong drink and most red meat, however meat consumed by Mandaeans must be slaughtered according to the proper rituals. The approach to the slaughter of animals for consumption is always apologetic. On some days, they refrain from eating meat.
Priests
There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E. S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix):
There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia () "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā), the ganzibria () "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.", Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā) and the rišama () "leader of the people". Ganzeḇrā, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE), and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-iš-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzeḇrā who baptizes seven or more ganzeḇrānā may qualify for the office of rišama. The current rišama of the Mandaean community in Iraq is Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony. In Australia, the Mandaean rišama is Salah Chohaili.
The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera in Shushtar, Iran devastated the region and eliminated most, if not all, of the Mandaean religious authorities there. Two of the surviving acolytes (šgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood in Suq al-Shuyukh on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them.
In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, according to the Mandaean Society in America, the number of priests has been growing in recent years.
Scholarship
According to Edmondo Lupieri, as stated in his article in Encyclopædia Iranica, "The possible historical connection with John the Baptist, as seen in the newly translated Mandaean texts, convinced many (notably R. Bultmann) that it was possible, through the Mandaean traditions, to shed some new light on the history of John and on the origins of Christianity. This brought around a revival of the otherwise almost fully abandoned idea of their Palestinian origins. As the archeological discovery of Mandaean incantation bowls and lead amulets proved a pre-Islamic Mandaean presence in the southern Mesopotamia, scholars were obliged to hypothesize otherwise unknown persecutions by Jews or by Christians to explain the reason for Mandaeans' departure from Palestine." Lupieri believes Mandaeism is a post-Christian southern Mesopotamian Gnostic off-shoot and claims that Zazai d-Gawazta to be the founder of Mandaeism in the 2nd Century. Jorunn J. Buckley refutes this by confirming scribes that predate Zazai who copied the Ginza Rabba. In addition to Edmondo Lupieri, Christa Müller-Kessler argues against the Palestinian origin theory of the Mandaeans claiming that the Mandaeans are Mesopotamian. Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan, where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin Van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, however Mandaean lead amulets have been dated to as early as the 3rd Century.
Scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Eric Segelberg, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Andrew Phillip Smith, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, G. Quispel and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy." Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins and adds:
Other names
Sabians
The Quran makes several references to the Sabians, who are identified with the Mandaeans. Sabians are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book), and several hadith feature them. Arab sources of early Quranic times (7th century) also make some references to Sabians. The word Sabian is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism with the cognate in Neo-Mandaic being 'to baptize'. In the Middle East, they are more commonly known as the , i.e. 'the Sabians', or colloquially as the . The Sabians believed they "belong to the prophet Noah"; Similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah.
The Syrian Christian writer Nicolas Siouffi wrote in 1880 that the true 'Sabians' or Subba lived in the marshes of lower Iraq. The Nestorian writer Theodore Bar Konai (in the Scholion, 792) described a "sect" of "Sabians", who were located in southern Mesopotamia.
Al-Biruni (writing at the beginning of the 11th century) said that the 'real Sabians' were "the remnants of the Jewish tribes who remained in Babylonia when the other tribes left it for Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These remaining tribes... adopted a system mixed-up of Magism and Judaism."
Nasoraeans
The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot. Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.
Relations with other groups
Dositheans
The Mandaeans are connected with the Samaritan group, the Dositheans, by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion.
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.
According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans."Part 19 Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following:
Hemerobaptists
Hemerobaptists (Heb. Tovelei Shaḥarit; 'Morning Bathers') were an ancient religious sect that practiced daily baptism. They were likely a division of the Essenes. In the Clementine Homilies (ii. 23), John the Baptist and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists. The Mandaeans have been associated with the Hemerobaptists on account of both practicing frequent baptism and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John.
Kabbalah
Nathaniel Deutsch writes:
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky suggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than with Merkabah mysticism such as cosmogony and sexual imagery. The Thousand and Twelve Questions, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and Alma Rišaia Rba link the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found in Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir.
Mandaean names for uthras have been found in Jewish magical texts. Abatur appears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur". Ptahil is found in Sefer HaRazim listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
Manichaeans
According to the Fihrist of ibn al-Nadim, the Mesopotamian prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was brought up within the Elkesaite (Elcesaite or Elchasaite) sect, this being confirmed more recently by the Cologne Mani Codex. None of the Manichaean scriptures has survived in its entirety, and it seems that the remaining fragments have not been compared to the Ginza Rabba. Mani later left the Elkasaites to found his own religion. In a comparative analysis, the Swedish Egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh indicated that Mani's Psalms of Thomas was closely related to Mandaean texts. According to E. S. Drower, "some of the most ancient Manichaean psalms, the Coptic Psalms of Thomas, were paraphrases and even word-for-word translations of Mandaic originals; prosody and phrase offering proof that the Manichaean was the borrower and not vice-versa."
An extensive discussion of the relationships between Mandaeism and Manichaeism can be found in Băncilă (2018).
Valentinians
A Mandaean baptismal formula was adopted by Valentinian Gnostics in Rome and Alexandria in the 2nd century CE.
Demographics
It is estimated that there are 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Their proportion in their native lands has collapsed because of the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria, and Jordan. There are approximately 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan.
In 2011, Al Arabiya put the number of hidden and unaccounted for Iranian Mandaeans in Iran as high as 60,000. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 and at most 10,000 people.
Many Mandaeans have formed diaspora communities outside the Middle East in Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK and especially Australia, where around 10,000 now reside, mainly around Sydney, representing 15% of the total world Mandaean population.
Approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans have emigrated to the United States, since the US State Department in 2002 granted them protective refugee status, which was also later accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans in 2007. A community estimated at 2,500 members live in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they began settling in 2008. Most emigrated from Iraq.
Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.
See also
Aramaic language
Christianity in the 1st century
Second Temple Judaism
Yazidism
Notes
References
Bibliography
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buckley. J.J. "Mandaeans" in Encyclopædia Iranica
Drower, Ethel Stefana. 2002. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Lupieri, Edmondo. (Charles Hindley, trans.) 2002. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
"A Brief Note on the Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology", Mandaean Society in America.
Newmarker, Chris, Associated Press article, "Faith under fire: Iraq war threatens extinction for ancient religious group" (headline in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, page A12, 10 February 2007)
Petermann, J. Heinrich. 2007 The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans (reprint of Thesaurus s. Liber Magni). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Segelberg, Eric, 1958, Maşbūtā. Studies in the Ritual of the Mandæan Baptism. Uppsala
Segelberg, Eric, 1970, "The Ordination of the Mandæan tarmida and its Relation to Jewish and Early Christian Ordination Rites", in Studia patristica 10.
Segelberg, Eric, Trāşa d-Tāga d-Śiślām Rabba. Studies in the rite called the Coronation of Śiślām Rabba. i: Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer (Studia Mandaica 1.) Berlin & New York 1976.
Segelberg, Eric, 1977, "Zidqa Brika and the Mandæan Problem. In Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Gnosticism. Ed. Geo Widengren and David Hellholm. Stockholm.
Segelberg, Eric, 1978, "The pihta and mambuha Prayers. To the Question of the Liturgical Development amnong the Mandæans" in Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen.
Segelberg, Eric, 1990, "Mandæan – Jewish – Christian. How does the Mandæan tradition relate to Jewish and Christian tradition? in: Segelberg, Gnostica Madaica Liturgica. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia Religionum 11.) Uppsala 1990.
Yamauchi, Edwin. 2004. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
External links
Mandaean Association Union – The Mandaean Association Union is an international federation which strives for unification of Mandaeans around the globe. Information in English and Arabic.
BBC: Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith
BBC: Mandaeans – a threatened religion
Shahāb Mirzā'i, Ablution of Mandaeans (Ghosl-e Sābe'in – غسل صابئين), in Persian, Jadid Online, 18 December 2008
Audio slideshow (showing Iranian Mandaeans performing ablution on the banks of the Karun river in Ahvaz): (4 min 25 sec)
The Worlds of Mandaean Priests, University of Exeter
Mandaean scriptures
Mandaean scriptures: Qolastā and Haran Gawaitha texts and fragments (note that the book titled Ginza Rabba is not the Ginza Rabba but is instead Qolastā, "The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans" as translated by E.S Drower).
Gnostic John the Baptist: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book: This is the complete 1924 edition of G.R.S. Mead's classic study of the Mandæan John-Book, containing excerpts from the scripture itself (in The Gnosis Archive collection – www.gnosis.org).
The Ginza Rabba (1925 German translation by Mark Lidzbarski) at the Internet Archive
The John-Book (Draša D-Iahia) – complete text in Mandaic and German translation (1905) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaic liturgies – Mandaic text (in Hebrew transliteration) and German translation (1925) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaean scriptures at the Mandaean Network's site
Books about Mandaeism available online
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead a complete version (with old and new errors), contains information on Mani, Manichaeism, Elkasaites, Nasoraeans, Sabians and other "gnostic" groups. Published in 1901.
Extracts from E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran by Lady Drower, 1937 – the entire book
Esotericism
Gnosticism
Monotheistic religions
Religion in Iran
Religion in Iraq
Ethnic religion
Mandaeans
Ancient Semitic religions | true | [
"In Mandaeism, zidqa () refers to alms or almsgiving. Mandaean priests receive regular financial contributions from laypeople, since priesthood is typically a full-time occupation.\n\nOther uses\nThe Mandaic term zidqa brika (literally \"blessed oblation\") refers to a ritual meal blessed by priests. An early self-appellation for Mandaeans is bhiri zidqa, meaning 'elect of righteousness'.\n\nSee also\nCharity (Christian virtue)\nZakat in Islam\nSadaqah in Islam (Arabic cognate)\nTzedakah in Judaism (Hebrew cognate)\nDāna in Hinduism\n\nReferences\n\nAlms\nMandaeism\nMandaic words and phrases",
"In Mandaeism, a shganda (šganda; ) or ashganda (ašganda) is a ritual assistant who helps priests with ritual duties.\n\nTarmida initiations\nTarmida initiates or novices (šualia) have often been trained as shgandas when they were children. Initiates may or may not be married, although typically they are not yet married.\n\nDuring tarmida initiation ceremonies, shgandas, who represent emissaries from the World of Light, also help perform the rituals, many of which are held in a specially constructed priest initiation hut (škinta) and also a nearby temporary reed hut (andiruna).\n\nSee also\nAcolyte\nAltar server\n\nReferences\n\nMandaeism\nMandaic words and phrases\nMandaean rituals\nMandaean titles\nReligious occupations"
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"There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism:"
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| C_13e7bbff26bb47448571798c59997346_0 | What are the three grades of priesthood? | 2 | What are the three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism? | Mandaeism | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E.S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix): [T]hose amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia--Nasoreans (or, if the emphatic <s> is written as <z>, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans', Mandaiia--'gnostics.' When a man becomes a priest he leaves 'Mandaeanism' and enters tarmiduta, 'priesthood.' Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called 'Nasiruta', is reserved for a very few. Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoreans, and 'Nasorean' today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine. There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people." This last office, the highest level of the Mandaean priesthood, has lain vacant for many years. At the moment, the highest office currently occupied is that of the ganzebra, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE) and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-is-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzebra who baptizes seven or more ganzebrana may qualify for the office of risamma, though the Mandaean community has yet to rally as a whole behind any single candidate. The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. CANNOTANSWER | the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people. | Mandaeism (; , ), also known as Sabianism (, ), is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet. The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ) or Sabians. The term is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is . In the Quran, the Sabians (, ) are mentioned three times, alongside Jews and Christians. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
According to Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism, Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution. Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin. However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times. Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith. Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
The religion has been practised primarily around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan Province in Iran. There are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology
The term Mandaic or Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. mandaʻ in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. maddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from Late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Other scholars derive the term mandaiia () from Mandā d-Heyyi () 'Knowledge of Life', in reference to Hayyi Rabbi ( 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God') or from the word Beth Manda, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life).
History
According to the Mandaean text the Haran Gawaita, the Nasoraean Mandaeans, who were disciples of John the Baptist, left Judea/Palestine and migrated to Media in the 1st century CE. The reason given for this was their persecution in Jerusalem. The emigrants went first to Haran (probably Harran in modern-day Turkey), or Hauran and then the Median hills in Iran, before finally settling in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection did not last with the Sassanid Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir persecuting all non-Zoroastrian religions.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush Bar-Danqa, appeared before Muslim authorities showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya Bin Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans with the Sabians who are mentioned in the Quran as being counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book). This provided Mandaeans a status as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. The importance of baptism in their rituals is particularly marked. Like the Mandaeans, the Sabians were also said to be gnostics and descendants of Noah. Mandaeans continue to be identified with Sabians to the present day.
Around 1290, a Dominican Catholic from Tuscany, Ricoldo da Montecroce, or Ricoldo Pennini, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century, based upon their preliminary reports. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman Turkish army in Bahrain.
Beliefs
Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large, and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
Principal beliefs
Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is therefore necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe.
Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light.
Immortality of the soul; the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets
According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects:
A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape.
Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form.
As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) that exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta).
The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive; his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns.
Planets and stars influence fate and human beings, and are also the places of detention after death.
A savior spirit or savior spirits which assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'.
A cult-language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified.
'Mysteries', i.e. sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest.
Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).
Ptahil (), the 'Fourth Life', alone does not constitute the demiurge, but only fills that role insofar as he is seen as the creator of the material world with the help of the evil spirit Ruha. Therefore, the material world is a mixture of 'light' and 'dark'. Ptahil is the lowest of a group of three emanations, the other two being Yushamin (, the 'Second Life' (also spelled Joshamin) and Abatur (), the 'Third Life'. Abatur's demiurgic role consists of weighing the souls of the dead to determine their fate. The role of Yushamin, the first emanation, is more obscure; wanting to create a world of his own, he was punished for opposing the King of Light ('The First Life'), but was ultimately forgiven.
While Mandaeans agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one. Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.
Chief prophets
Mandaeans recognize several prophets. Yahia-Yohanna or Yuhana Maṣbana (), known in Christianity as John the Baptist, is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.
Mandaeans do not believe in the sanctity of Abraham, Moses or Jesus, however they consider Jesus and Abraham to have been originally Mandaean. They recognize other prophetic figures from the Abrahamic religions, such as Adam, his sons Hibil (Abel) and Sheetil (Seth), and his grandson Anush (Enosh), as well as Nuh (Noah), Sam (Shem), and Ram (Aram), whom they consider to be their direct ancestors. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet.
Mandaeans also do not recognize the Holy Spirit in the Talmud and Bible in the same way. Epithets of Ruha include Ruha d-Qudsha (Holy Spirit) and Ruha Masṭanita (Ruha the seductress). She is viewed negatively as the personification of the lower, emotional, and feminine elements of the human psyche.
Scriptures
The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rabba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.
The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
Another important text is the Haran Gawaita, which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire.
Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John, which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša d-Yahya, there is the Diwan Abatur, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Book of the Zodiac (Asfar Malwāshē). Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
Mandaean ritual commentaries (esoteric exegetical literature), which are typically written in scrolls rather than codices, include:
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia)
The Coronation of the Great Šišlam
The Great "First World"
The Lesser "First World"
The Scroll of Exalted Kingship
The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, a member of the Aramaic group of dialects. It is written in the Mandaic script, a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellery script. Many Mandaean laypeople do not speak this language, although some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
Worship and rituals
The two most important ceremonies in Mandaean worship are baptism (Masbuta), and 'the ascent' (Masiqta - a mass for the dead or ascent of the soul ceremony). Unlike in Christianity, baptism is not a one-off event but is performed every Sunday, the Mandaean holy day, as a ritual of purification. Baptism usually involves full immersion in flowing water, and all rivers considered fit for baptism are called Yardena (after the River Jordan). After emerging from the water, the worshipper is anointed with holy sesame oil and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread and water. The ascent of the soul ceremony, called the masiqta, can take various forms, but usually involves a ritual meal in memory of the dead. The ceremony is believed to help the souls of the departed on their journey through purgatory to the World of Light.
Other rituals for purification include the Rishama and the Tamasha which, unlike Masbuta, can be performed without a priest. The Rishama (signing) is performed before prayers and involves washing the face and limbs while reciting specific prayers. It is performed daily, before sunrise, with hair covered and after evacuation of bowels or before religious ceremonies (see wudu). The Tamasha is a triple immersion in the river without a requirement for a priest. It is performed by women after menstruation or childbirth, men and women after sexual activity or nocturnal emission, touching a dead corpse or any other type of defilement (see tevilah). Ritual purification also applies to fruits, vegetables, pots, pans, utensils, animals for consumption and ceremonial garments (rasta). Purification for a dying person is also performed. It includes bathing involving a threefold sprinkling of river water over the person from head to feet.
A Mandaean's grave must be in the north-south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north. Similarly, Essene graves are also oriented north-south. Mandaeans must face north during prayers, which are performed three times a day. Daily prayer in Mandaeism is called brakha.
Zidqa (almsgiving) is also practiced in Mandaeism with Mandaean laypeople regularly offering alms to priests.
A Mandī () (Beth Manda) or Mashkhanna is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A must be built beside a river in order to perform Maṣbuta (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith. Modern s sometimes have a bath inside a building instead. Each Mandi is adorned with a Drabsha, which is a banner in the shape of a cross, made of olive wood half covered with a piece of white pure silk cloth and seven branches of myrtle. The drabsha is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God. The seven branches of myrtle represent the seven days of creation.
Mandaeans believe in marriage (qabin) and procreation, placing a high priority upon family life and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle. They are pacifist and egalitarian, with the earliest attested Mandaean scribe being a woman, Shlama Beth Qidra, who copied the Left Ginza sometime in the 2nd century CE. There is evidence for women priests, especially in the pre-Islamic era. God created the human body complete, so no part of it should be removed or cut off, hence circumcision is considered bodily mutilation for Mandaeans and therefore forbidden. Mandaeans abstain from strong drink and most red meat, however meat consumed by Mandaeans must be slaughtered according to the proper rituals. The approach to the slaughter of animals for consumption is always apologetic. On some days, they refrain from eating meat.
Priests
There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E. S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix):
There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia () "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā), the ganzibria () "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.", Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā) and the rišama () "leader of the people". Ganzeḇrā, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE), and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-iš-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzeḇrā who baptizes seven or more ganzeḇrānā may qualify for the office of rišama. The current rišama of the Mandaean community in Iraq is Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony. In Australia, the Mandaean rišama is Salah Chohaili.
The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera in Shushtar, Iran devastated the region and eliminated most, if not all, of the Mandaean religious authorities there. Two of the surviving acolytes (šgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood in Suq al-Shuyukh on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them.
In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, according to the Mandaean Society in America, the number of priests has been growing in recent years.
Scholarship
According to Edmondo Lupieri, as stated in his article in Encyclopædia Iranica, "The possible historical connection with John the Baptist, as seen in the newly translated Mandaean texts, convinced many (notably R. Bultmann) that it was possible, through the Mandaean traditions, to shed some new light on the history of John and on the origins of Christianity. This brought around a revival of the otherwise almost fully abandoned idea of their Palestinian origins. As the archeological discovery of Mandaean incantation bowls and lead amulets proved a pre-Islamic Mandaean presence in the southern Mesopotamia, scholars were obliged to hypothesize otherwise unknown persecutions by Jews or by Christians to explain the reason for Mandaeans' departure from Palestine." Lupieri believes Mandaeism is a post-Christian southern Mesopotamian Gnostic off-shoot and claims that Zazai d-Gawazta to be the founder of Mandaeism in the 2nd Century. Jorunn J. Buckley refutes this by confirming scribes that predate Zazai who copied the Ginza Rabba. In addition to Edmondo Lupieri, Christa Müller-Kessler argues against the Palestinian origin theory of the Mandaeans claiming that the Mandaeans are Mesopotamian. Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan, where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin Van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, however Mandaean lead amulets have been dated to as early as the 3rd Century.
Scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Eric Segelberg, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Andrew Phillip Smith, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, G. Quispel and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy." Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins and adds:
Other names
Sabians
The Quran makes several references to the Sabians, who are identified with the Mandaeans. Sabians are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book), and several hadith feature them. Arab sources of early Quranic times (7th century) also make some references to Sabians. The word Sabian is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism with the cognate in Neo-Mandaic being 'to baptize'. In the Middle East, they are more commonly known as the , i.e. 'the Sabians', or colloquially as the . The Sabians believed they "belong to the prophet Noah"; Similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah.
The Syrian Christian writer Nicolas Siouffi wrote in 1880 that the true 'Sabians' or Subba lived in the marshes of lower Iraq. The Nestorian writer Theodore Bar Konai (in the Scholion, 792) described a "sect" of "Sabians", who were located in southern Mesopotamia.
Al-Biruni (writing at the beginning of the 11th century) said that the 'real Sabians' were "the remnants of the Jewish tribes who remained in Babylonia when the other tribes left it for Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These remaining tribes... adopted a system mixed-up of Magism and Judaism."
Nasoraeans
The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot. Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.
Relations with other groups
Dositheans
The Mandaeans are connected with the Samaritan group, the Dositheans, by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion.
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.
According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans."Part 19 Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following:
Hemerobaptists
Hemerobaptists (Heb. Tovelei Shaḥarit; 'Morning Bathers') were an ancient religious sect that practiced daily baptism. They were likely a division of the Essenes. In the Clementine Homilies (ii. 23), John the Baptist and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists. The Mandaeans have been associated with the Hemerobaptists on account of both practicing frequent baptism and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John.
Kabbalah
Nathaniel Deutsch writes:
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky suggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than with Merkabah mysticism such as cosmogony and sexual imagery. The Thousand and Twelve Questions, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and Alma Rišaia Rba link the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found in Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir.
Mandaean names for uthras have been found in Jewish magical texts. Abatur appears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur". Ptahil is found in Sefer HaRazim listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
Manichaeans
According to the Fihrist of ibn al-Nadim, the Mesopotamian prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was brought up within the Elkesaite (Elcesaite or Elchasaite) sect, this being confirmed more recently by the Cologne Mani Codex. None of the Manichaean scriptures has survived in its entirety, and it seems that the remaining fragments have not been compared to the Ginza Rabba. Mani later left the Elkasaites to found his own religion. In a comparative analysis, the Swedish Egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh indicated that Mani's Psalms of Thomas was closely related to Mandaean texts. According to E. S. Drower, "some of the most ancient Manichaean psalms, the Coptic Psalms of Thomas, were paraphrases and even word-for-word translations of Mandaic originals; prosody and phrase offering proof that the Manichaean was the borrower and not vice-versa."
An extensive discussion of the relationships between Mandaeism and Manichaeism can be found in Băncilă (2018).
Valentinians
A Mandaean baptismal formula was adopted by Valentinian Gnostics in Rome and Alexandria in the 2nd century CE.
Demographics
It is estimated that there are 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Their proportion in their native lands has collapsed because of the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria, and Jordan. There are approximately 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan.
In 2011, Al Arabiya put the number of hidden and unaccounted for Iranian Mandaeans in Iran as high as 60,000. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 and at most 10,000 people.
Many Mandaeans have formed diaspora communities outside the Middle East in Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK and especially Australia, where around 10,000 now reside, mainly around Sydney, representing 15% of the total world Mandaean population.
Approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans have emigrated to the United States, since the US State Department in 2002 granted them protective refugee status, which was also later accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans in 2007. A community estimated at 2,500 members live in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they began settling in 2008. Most emigrated from Iraq.
Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.
See also
Aramaic language
Christianity in the 1st century
Second Temple Judaism
Yazidism
Notes
References
Bibliography
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buckley. J.J. "Mandaeans" in Encyclopædia Iranica
Drower, Ethel Stefana. 2002. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Lupieri, Edmondo. (Charles Hindley, trans.) 2002. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
"A Brief Note on the Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology", Mandaean Society in America.
Newmarker, Chris, Associated Press article, "Faith under fire: Iraq war threatens extinction for ancient religious group" (headline in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, page A12, 10 February 2007)
Petermann, J. Heinrich. 2007 The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans (reprint of Thesaurus s. Liber Magni). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Segelberg, Eric, 1958, Maşbūtā. Studies in the Ritual of the Mandæan Baptism. Uppsala
Segelberg, Eric, 1970, "The Ordination of the Mandæan tarmida and its Relation to Jewish and Early Christian Ordination Rites", in Studia patristica 10.
Segelberg, Eric, Trāşa d-Tāga d-Śiślām Rabba. Studies in the rite called the Coronation of Śiślām Rabba. i: Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer (Studia Mandaica 1.) Berlin & New York 1976.
Segelberg, Eric, 1977, "Zidqa Brika and the Mandæan Problem. In Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Gnosticism. Ed. Geo Widengren and David Hellholm. Stockholm.
Segelberg, Eric, 1978, "The pihta and mambuha Prayers. To the Question of the Liturgical Development amnong the Mandæans" in Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen.
Segelberg, Eric, 1990, "Mandæan – Jewish – Christian. How does the Mandæan tradition relate to Jewish and Christian tradition? in: Segelberg, Gnostica Madaica Liturgica. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia Religionum 11.) Uppsala 1990.
Yamauchi, Edwin. 2004. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
External links
Mandaean Association Union – The Mandaean Association Union is an international federation which strives for unification of Mandaeans around the globe. Information in English and Arabic.
BBC: Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith
BBC: Mandaeans – a threatened religion
Shahāb Mirzā'i, Ablution of Mandaeans (Ghosl-e Sābe'in – غسل صابئين), in Persian, Jadid Online, 18 December 2008
Audio slideshow (showing Iranian Mandaeans performing ablution on the banks of the Karun river in Ahvaz): (4 min 25 sec)
The Worlds of Mandaean Priests, University of Exeter
Mandaean scriptures
Mandaean scriptures: Qolastā and Haran Gawaitha texts and fragments (note that the book titled Ginza Rabba is not the Ginza Rabba but is instead Qolastā, "The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans" as translated by E.S Drower).
Gnostic John the Baptist: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book: This is the complete 1924 edition of G.R.S. Mead's classic study of the Mandæan John-Book, containing excerpts from the scripture itself (in The Gnosis Archive collection – www.gnosis.org).
The Ginza Rabba (1925 German translation by Mark Lidzbarski) at the Internet Archive
The John-Book (Draša D-Iahia) – complete text in Mandaic and German translation (1905) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaic liturgies – Mandaic text (in Hebrew transliteration) and German translation (1925) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaean scriptures at the Mandaean Network's site
Books about Mandaeism available online
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead a complete version (with old and new errors), contains information on Mani, Manichaeism, Elkasaites, Nasoraeans, Sabians and other "gnostic" groups. Published in 1901.
Extracts from E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran by Lady Drower, 1937 – the entire book
Esotericism
Gnosticism
Monotheistic religions
Religion in Iran
Religion in Iraq
Ethnic religion
Mandaeans
Ancient Semitic religions | false | [
"In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the patriarchal priesthood (or Abrahamic priesthood) is sometimes understood as one of types or \"orders\" of priesthood. The two commonly known orders are the Aaronic priesthood and the Melchizedek priesthood. The patriarchal priesthood should not be confused with the calling of the patriarch. The patriarchal priesthood is associated with the patriarchal order found in Mormonism and is especially connected with celestial marriage.\n\nBoyd K. Packer, an LDS Church apostle, has explained that the patriarchal priesthood is included in the Melchizedek priesthood: \"There are references to a patriarchal priesthood. The patriarchal order is not a third, separate priesthood. Whatever relates to the patriarchal order is embraced in the Melchizedek Priesthood. 'All other authorities or offices in the church are appendages to [the Melchizedek] priesthood.' [D&C 107:5] The patriarchal order is a part of the Melchizedek Priesthood which enables endowed and worthy men to preside over their posterity in time and eternity.\"\n\nHistory\nIn Nauvoo, Illinois on August 27, 1843, while the Nauvoo Temple was being constructed, Joseph Smith, the first president of the restored Church of Christ, taught, using Hebrews as background material, the \"Three Grand Orders\" of priesthood:\n\nThere are three grand orders of priesthood referred to here.\n\n1st. The King of Shiloam (Salem) had power and authority over that of Abraham, holding the key and the power of endless life .... The Melchizedek Priesthood holds the right from the eternal God, and not by descent from father and mother; and that priesthood is as eternal as God Himself, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.\n\nThe 2nd Priesthood is Patriarchal authority. Go to and finish the temple, and God will fill it with power, and you will then receive more knowledge concerning this priesthood.\n\nThe 3rd is what is called the Levitical Priesthood, consisting of priests to administer in outward ordinances, made without an oath; but the Priesthood of Melchizedek is by an oath and covenant.\n\nThe Holy Ghost is God's messenger to administer in all those priesthoods.\n\nEight years earlier, Smith had dictated a revelation that declared, \"There are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood\". At the time of the 1843 Nauvoo discourse, the temple was under construction and Smith declared that knowledge of the \"patriarchal authority\" would be revealed in the temple. \n\nThe Nauvoo Temple was constructed by 1844 and dedicated in 1846 by Orson Hyde. It was the first Latter Day Saint temple where the ordinance of celestial marriage was practiced. \n\nThe oath of the priesthood referenced in , was revealed to Smith in a revelation in Kirtland, Ohio on September 22 and 23, 1832. This revelation is contained in the section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants and is referred to as the oath and covenant of the priesthood. It includes the following promise that has relation to the doctrine of exaltation. \n\n\"They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God.\n\"And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord;\n\"For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me;\n\"And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;\n\"And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.\n\"And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood.\"\n\nBruce R. McConkie wrote regarding the subject: \n\n\"Those who shall hereafter rule and reign in eternity as exalted beings will form a patriarchal chain which will begin with Father Adam and spread out until every exalted person is linked in. Exaltation consists in the continuation of the family unit in eternity, and every family which so continues will find its proper place in the eternal organizational framework which the Almighty has ordained. None will be forgotten. Unworthy mortal links will be dropped in eternity, for there is no family in which all generations will attain exaltation; later generations of worthy families will be welded into the links formed by their ancestors who became worthy of a like exaltation with them. All those after the day of Abraham (of whatever literal lineage they may be) who so live as to be worthy of a place in this great patriarchal chain will be welded into Abraham's lineage and shall rise up and bless him as their father.\"\n\nThe word \"patriarch\" means \"Father-Ruler\" and part of the doctrine of the LDS Church is that there cannot be a patriarch without a matriarch. Latter-day Saints believe that a man and a woman can be joined in marriage for all eternity if done with the proper authority and in the temple. This celestial marriage is at the heart of the patriarchal order of the priesthood.\n\nSee also\nLineal succession (Mormonism)\n\nReferences \n\nLatter Day Saint hierarchy\nLatter Day Saint ordinances, rituals, and symbolism\n \nLatter Day Saint terms",
"In Mormonism, the Melchizedek priesthood () is the greater of the two orders of priesthood, the other being the Aaronic priesthood. The Patriarchal priesthood which is sometimes confused as a separate priesthood was explained by Boyd K. Packer, an apostle in the largest denomination in Mormonism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), as:\n\nThe Melchizedek priesthood is also referred to as the high priesthood of the holy order of God and the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God, or simply as the high priesthood.\n\nIn Mormonism, unlike most other Christian denominations, the Melchizedek priesthood is thought to be held by common mortals and not solely by either pre-Aaronic priests such as Melchizedek, or Jesus alone, as most Christians interpret the Epistle to the Hebrews. According to Joseph Smith, the name of this priesthood became Melchizedek \"because Melchizedek was such a great high priest\" and \"to avoid the too frequent repetition\" of the \"name of the Supreme Being\". Smith taught that this priesthood was on the earth since Adam received it and conferred it upon his sons Abel and Seth, and it was conferred successively upon the early biblical patriarchs. Through it Enoch led his people to become so righteous and obedient that they qualified to be translated as the City of Enoch. Noah held this priesthood, as did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It remained on earth until the time of Moses, who received it \"under the hand of his father-in-law, Jethro\" and it would have been given to the Israelites if they had been worthy of it and had not \"hardened their hearts\".\n\nRestoration account\nJoseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery said they were visited by John the Baptist, who laid his hands on their head and gave them the Aaronic priesthood; Smith described the event in detail and gave an exact date when it happened. In contrast, he never gave a description of any vision in which he saw an angel separately confer the Melchizedek priesthood. However, by the turn of the 20th century, Latter Day Saint theologians believed that such a separate ordination by angels had occurred prior to the organization of the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830. This was largely because the early church organization contained the office of elder, which at least by 1835 was considered an office of the Melchizedek priesthood. As evidence for such a pre-organization angelic conferral, writers referred to a revelation in which Smith said he heard \"The voice of Peter, James, and John in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville, Broome county, on the Susquehanna river, declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fulness of times!\" Smith and Cowdery were visited by the three angels in 1829 and that they conferred the Melchizedek priesthood in the same way John the Baptist had conferred the Aaronic priesthood. However, the official church history, supervised or written by Smith, states that \"the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the Elders\" during a General Conference in early June 1831. When Smith's official history was first published in 1902, the compiler B.H. Roberts thought that this was a mistake, because it would not be consistent with the common Mormon belief that the priesthood had been conferred prior to the church's founding in 1830.\n\nOn the other hand, some recent Mormon historians accept Smith's history as correct and consistent with other historical records showing that other Mormons present at the conference dated the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood to 1831. This conference had been a very significant event in the early church history, coming soon after the conversion of Sidney Rigdon, who believed that Mormon missionaries lacked the necessary power to adequately preach the gospel. Thus, in January 1831, Smith issued a revelation where he wrote that after Mormons relocated to Kirtland, Ohio, they would \"be endowed with power from on high\" and \"sent forth\". In a revelation given to an individual, Smith assured the man that \"at the conference meeting he [would] be ordained unto power from on high\". One of Smith's associates that was present at the conference expressed the view that this ordination \"consisted [of] the endowment--it being a new order--and bestowed authority\", and later that year, an early convert who had left the church claimed that many of the Saints \"have been ordained to the High Priesthood, or the order of Melchizedek; and profess to be endowed with the same power as the ancient apostles were\". In 1835, the historical record was muddled a bit when the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants altered pre-1831 revelations to make a distinction between the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, and to classify the offices of elder and apostle as part of the Melchizedek priesthood.\n\nIn the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\nIn the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest Latter Day Saint denomination, the Melchizedek priesthood is one of two governing priesthoods, which is typically given as a matter of course to worthy male members 18 years and older. No exact rule exists about how much time a man must be a member first; he may receive this priesthood as soon as local church leaders feel he is prepared. Ordination is based on the recipient's age and worthiness and does not require any specific training or aptitude. A candidate for this ordination is interviewed and often counseled to study the 84th, 107th, and 121st sections of the Doctrine and Covenants to begin to understand the oath and covenant of the priesthood, the covenant a person makes with God when he receives the Melchizedek priesthood. The candidate is also usually asked to stand in a gathering of the members of the church to be publicly accepted as being worthy of ordination. For male Latter-day Saints, receiving the Melchizedek priesthood is considered to be a saving ordinance of the gospel.\n\nShortly after the establishment of the church, the ordination of blacks to the priesthood was prohibited. Following a revelation to then-Church president Spencer W. Kimball, the church lifted the prohibition in 1978.\n\nAn important purpose of giving the Melchizedek priesthood to every adult Latter-day Saint man is to allow fathers and husbands to be able to give priesthood blessings of healing, comfort, counsel, and strength to their children and wife, and to preside over the family unit in a righteous manner. Many LDS fathers give a priesthood blessing to their children before the start of each new school year or before an important life event such as marriage. Each Melchizedek priesthood bearer, regardless of priesthood office, is encouraged to give priesthood blessings when called upon by others.\n\nOffices\nIn the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there are five offices within the Melchizedek priesthood. Although the holders of the different priesthood offices hold the same Melchizedek priesthood, their assigned rights and responsibilities vary according to their priesthood office.\n\nQuorums\nHolders of priesthood offices are organized into quorums. The quorums are a brotherhood where members of the quorum assist each other, teach one another, and delegate particular responsibilities to individuals or committees. Members of the church who do not maintain the standards and people who are not members of the church are invited to participate in the quorum to enjoy the brotherhood and support, although they may not be given certain quorum responsibilities.\n\nIn order to be called to the Aaronic priesthood office of bishop, a man must either be a literal descendant of Aaron or, more commonly, be \"a high priest of the Melchizedek Priesthood\".\n\nPresidencies\nEach quorum and organizational unit in the church has a presidency attached to it. A presidency is usually composed of three members: the president and two counselors. Typically, a president is selected and he chooses the two counselors whom he would like to serve with him. On very rare occasions there may be only one counselor or three counselors. Usually, a secretary is also called by the president to serve, but he is not considered a part of the presidency. Each of the counselors is given a precedence, for instance, \"first counselor\" and \"second counselor\".\n\nThe two exceptions to these general rules are the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which is presided by a single president; and the Presidency of the Seventy, which consists of seven presidents equal in authority.\n\nThe counselors serve under the direction of the president and share in his responsibilities. The president may assign each counselor to handle certain areas of responsibility. The president bears the sole burden of being the final arbiter of decisions, but he is advised to receive advice from his counselors and pay close attention to their opinions and insights.\n\nWhen the president is released, the counselors are also released.\n\nPriesthood leadership callings\nIn addition to the regular offices of the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood, there are other leadership callings within the priesthood. The table below lists these other priesthood leadership callings, with the table below it showing the organization of various callings within the church's hierarchy.\n\nHierarchy summary\n\nReferences\n\n.\n.\n.\n\nLatter Day Saint hierarchy\n Mel\n1829 establishments in the United States\n1829 in Christianity\nLatter Day Saint terms\nMelchizedek"
]
|
[
"Mandaeism",
"Priests and laymen",
"What role do priests play in Mandaeism?",
"There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism:",
"What are the three grades of priesthood?",
"the tarmidia \"disciples\" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria \"treasurers\" (from Old Persian ganza-bara \"id.,\" Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma \"leader of the people."
]
| C_13e7bbff26bb47448571798c59997346_0 | How does one become a priest? | 3 | How does one become a priest in Mandaeism? | Mandaeism | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E.S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix): [T]hose amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia--Nasoreans (or, if the emphatic <s> is written as <z>, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans', Mandaiia--'gnostics.' When a man becomes a priest he leaves 'Mandaeanism' and enters tarmiduta, 'priesthood.' Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called 'Nasiruta', is reserved for a very few. Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoreans, and 'Nasorean' today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine. There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people." This last office, the highest level of the Mandaean priesthood, has lain vacant for many years. At the moment, the highest office currently occupied is that of the ganzebra, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE) and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-is-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzebra who baptizes seven or more ganzebrana may qualify for the office of risamma, though the Mandaean community has yet to rally as a whole behind any single candidate. The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Mandaeism (; , ), also known as Sabianism (, ), is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet. The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ) or Sabians. The term is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is . In the Quran, the Sabians (, ) are mentioned three times, alongside Jews and Christians. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
According to Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism, Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution. Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin. However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times. Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith. Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
The religion has been practised primarily around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan Province in Iran. There are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology
The term Mandaic or Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. mandaʻ in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. maddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from Late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Other scholars derive the term mandaiia () from Mandā d-Heyyi () 'Knowledge of Life', in reference to Hayyi Rabbi ( 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God') or from the word Beth Manda, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life).
History
According to the Mandaean text the Haran Gawaita, the Nasoraean Mandaeans, who were disciples of John the Baptist, left Judea/Palestine and migrated to Media in the 1st century CE. The reason given for this was their persecution in Jerusalem. The emigrants went first to Haran (probably Harran in modern-day Turkey), or Hauran and then the Median hills in Iran, before finally settling in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection did not last with the Sassanid Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir persecuting all non-Zoroastrian religions.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush Bar-Danqa, appeared before Muslim authorities showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya Bin Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans with the Sabians who are mentioned in the Quran as being counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book). This provided Mandaeans a status as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. The importance of baptism in their rituals is particularly marked. Like the Mandaeans, the Sabians were also said to be gnostics and descendants of Noah. Mandaeans continue to be identified with Sabians to the present day.
Around 1290, a Dominican Catholic from Tuscany, Ricoldo da Montecroce, or Ricoldo Pennini, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century, based upon their preliminary reports. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman Turkish army in Bahrain.
Beliefs
Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large, and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
Principal beliefs
Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is therefore necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe.
Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light.
Immortality of the soul; the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets
According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects:
A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape.
Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form.
As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) that exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta).
The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive; his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns.
Planets and stars influence fate and human beings, and are also the places of detention after death.
A savior spirit or savior spirits which assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'.
A cult-language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified.
'Mysteries', i.e. sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest.
Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).
Ptahil (), the 'Fourth Life', alone does not constitute the demiurge, but only fills that role insofar as he is seen as the creator of the material world with the help of the evil spirit Ruha. Therefore, the material world is a mixture of 'light' and 'dark'. Ptahil is the lowest of a group of three emanations, the other two being Yushamin (, the 'Second Life' (also spelled Joshamin) and Abatur (), the 'Third Life'. Abatur's demiurgic role consists of weighing the souls of the dead to determine their fate. The role of Yushamin, the first emanation, is more obscure; wanting to create a world of his own, he was punished for opposing the King of Light ('The First Life'), but was ultimately forgiven.
While Mandaeans agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one. Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.
Chief prophets
Mandaeans recognize several prophets. Yahia-Yohanna or Yuhana Maṣbana (), known in Christianity as John the Baptist, is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.
Mandaeans do not believe in the sanctity of Abraham, Moses or Jesus, however they consider Jesus and Abraham to have been originally Mandaean. They recognize other prophetic figures from the Abrahamic religions, such as Adam, his sons Hibil (Abel) and Sheetil (Seth), and his grandson Anush (Enosh), as well as Nuh (Noah), Sam (Shem), and Ram (Aram), whom they consider to be their direct ancestors. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet.
Mandaeans also do not recognize the Holy Spirit in the Talmud and Bible in the same way. Epithets of Ruha include Ruha d-Qudsha (Holy Spirit) and Ruha Masṭanita (Ruha the seductress). She is viewed negatively as the personification of the lower, emotional, and feminine elements of the human psyche.
Scriptures
The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rabba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.
The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
Another important text is the Haran Gawaita, which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire.
Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John, which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša d-Yahya, there is the Diwan Abatur, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Book of the Zodiac (Asfar Malwāshē). Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
Mandaean ritual commentaries (esoteric exegetical literature), which are typically written in scrolls rather than codices, include:
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia)
The Coronation of the Great Šišlam
The Great "First World"
The Lesser "First World"
The Scroll of Exalted Kingship
The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, a member of the Aramaic group of dialects. It is written in the Mandaic script, a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellery script. Many Mandaean laypeople do not speak this language, although some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
Worship and rituals
The two most important ceremonies in Mandaean worship are baptism (Masbuta), and 'the ascent' (Masiqta - a mass for the dead or ascent of the soul ceremony). Unlike in Christianity, baptism is not a one-off event but is performed every Sunday, the Mandaean holy day, as a ritual of purification. Baptism usually involves full immersion in flowing water, and all rivers considered fit for baptism are called Yardena (after the River Jordan). After emerging from the water, the worshipper is anointed with holy sesame oil and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread and water. The ascent of the soul ceremony, called the masiqta, can take various forms, but usually involves a ritual meal in memory of the dead. The ceremony is believed to help the souls of the departed on their journey through purgatory to the World of Light.
Other rituals for purification include the Rishama and the Tamasha which, unlike Masbuta, can be performed without a priest. The Rishama (signing) is performed before prayers and involves washing the face and limbs while reciting specific prayers. It is performed daily, before sunrise, with hair covered and after evacuation of bowels or before religious ceremonies (see wudu). The Tamasha is a triple immersion in the river without a requirement for a priest. It is performed by women after menstruation or childbirth, men and women after sexual activity or nocturnal emission, touching a dead corpse or any other type of defilement (see tevilah). Ritual purification also applies to fruits, vegetables, pots, pans, utensils, animals for consumption and ceremonial garments (rasta). Purification for a dying person is also performed. It includes bathing involving a threefold sprinkling of river water over the person from head to feet.
A Mandaean's grave must be in the north-south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north. Similarly, Essene graves are also oriented north-south. Mandaeans must face north during prayers, which are performed three times a day. Daily prayer in Mandaeism is called brakha.
Zidqa (almsgiving) is also practiced in Mandaeism with Mandaean laypeople regularly offering alms to priests.
A Mandī () (Beth Manda) or Mashkhanna is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A must be built beside a river in order to perform Maṣbuta (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith. Modern s sometimes have a bath inside a building instead. Each Mandi is adorned with a Drabsha, which is a banner in the shape of a cross, made of olive wood half covered with a piece of white pure silk cloth and seven branches of myrtle. The drabsha is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God. The seven branches of myrtle represent the seven days of creation.
Mandaeans believe in marriage (qabin) and procreation, placing a high priority upon family life and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle. They are pacifist and egalitarian, with the earliest attested Mandaean scribe being a woman, Shlama Beth Qidra, who copied the Left Ginza sometime in the 2nd century CE. There is evidence for women priests, especially in the pre-Islamic era. God created the human body complete, so no part of it should be removed or cut off, hence circumcision is considered bodily mutilation for Mandaeans and therefore forbidden. Mandaeans abstain from strong drink and most red meat, however meat consumed by Mandaeans must be slaughtered according to the proper rituals. The approach to the slaughter of animals for consumption is always apologetic. On some days, they refrain from eating meat.
Priests
There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E. S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix):
There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia () "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā), the ganzibria () "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.", Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā) and the rišama () "leader of the people". Ganzeḇrā, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE), and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-iš-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzeḇrā who baptizes seven or more ganzeḇrānā may qualify for the office of rišama. The current rišama of the Mandaean community in Iraq is Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony. In Australia, the Mandaean rišama is Salah Chohaili.
The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera in Shushtar, Iran devastated the region and eliminated most, if not all, of the Mandaean religious authorities there. Two of the surviving acolytes (šgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood in Suq al-Shuyukh on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them.
In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, according to the Mandaean Society in America, the number of priests has been growing in recent years.
Scholarship
According to Edmondo Lupieri, as stated in his article in Encyclopædia Iranica, "The possible historical connection with John the Baptist, as seen in the newly translated Mandaean texts, convinced many (notably R. Bultmann) that it was possible, through the Mandaean traditions, to shed some new light on the history of John and on the origins of Christianity. This brought around a revival of the otherwise almost fully abandoned idea of their Palestinian origins. As the archeological discovery of Mandaean incantation bowls and lead amulets proved a pre-Islamic Mandaean presence in the southern Mesopotamia, scholars were obliged to hypothesize otherwise unknown persecutions by Jews or by Christians to explain the reason for Mandaeans' departure from Palestine." Lupieri believes Mandaeism is a post-Christian southern Mesopotamian Gnostic off-shoot and claims that Zazai d-Gawazta to be the founder of Mandaeism in the 2nd Century. Jorunn J. Buckley refutes this by confirming scribes that predate Zazai who copied the Ginza Rabba. In addition to Edmondo Lupieri, Christa Müller-Kessler argues against the Palestinian origin theory of the Mandaeans claiming that the Mandaeans are Mesopotamian. Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan, where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin Van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, however Mandaean lead amulets have been dated to as early as the 3rd Century.
Scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Eric Segelberg, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Andrew Phillip Smith, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, G. Quispel and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy." Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins and adds:
Other names
Sabians
The Quran makes several references to the Sabians, who are identified with the Mandaeans. Sabians are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book), and several hadith feature them. Arab sources of early Quranic times (7th century) also make some references to Sabians. The word Sabian is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism with the cognate in Neo-Mandaic being 'to baptize'. In the Middle East, they are more commonly known as the , i.e. 'the Sabians', or colloquially as the . The Sabians believed they "belong to the prophet Noah"; Similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah.
The Syrian Christian writer Nicolas Siouffi wrote in 1880 that the true 'Sabians' or Subba lived in the marshes of lower Iraq. The Nestorian writer Theodore Bar Konai (in the Scholion, 792) described a "sect" of "Sabians", who were located in southern Mesopotamia.
Al-Biruni (writing at the beginning of the 11th century) said that the 'real Sabians' were "the remnants of the Jewish tribes who remained in Babylonia when the other tribes left it for Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These remaining tribes... adopted a system mixed-up of Magism and Judaism."
Nasoraeans
The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot. Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.
Relations with other groups
Dositheans
The Mandaeans are connected with the Samaritan group, the Dositheans, by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion.
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.
According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans."Part 19 Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following:
Hemerobaptists
Hemerobaptists (Heb. Tovelei Shaḥarit; 'Morning Bathers') were an ancient religious sect that practiced daily baptism. They were likely a division of the Essenes. In the Clementine Homilies (ii. 23), John the Baptist and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists. The Mandaeans have been associated with the Hemerobaptists on account of both practicing frequent baptism and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John.
Kabbalah
Nathaniel Deutsch writes:
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky suggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than with Merkabah mysticism such as cosmogony and sexual imagery. The Thousand and Twelve Questions, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and Alma Rišaia Rba link the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found in Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir.
Mandaean names for uthras have been found in Jewish magical texts. Abatur appears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur". Ptahil is found in Sefer HaRazim listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
Manichaeans
According to the Fihrist of ibn al-Nadim, the Mesopotamian prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was brought up within the Elkesaite (Elcesaite or Elchasaite) sect, this being confirmed more recently by the Cologne Mani Codex. None of the Manichaean scriptures has survived in its entirety, and it seems that the remaining fragments have not been compared to the Ginza Rabba. Mani later left the Elkasaites to found his own religion. In a comparative analysis, the Swedish Egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh indicated that Mani's Psalms of Thomas was closely related to Mandaean texts. According to E. S. Drower, "some of the most ancient Manichaean psalms, the Coptic Psalms of Thomas, were paraphrases and even word-for-word translations of Mandaic originals; prosody and phrase offering proof that the Manichaean was the borrower and not vice-versa."
An extensive discussion of the relationships between Mandaeism and Manichaeism can be found in Băncilă (2018).
Valentinians
A Mandaean baptismal formula was adopted by Valentinian Gnostics in Rome and Alexandria in the 2nd century CE.
Demographics
It is estimated that there are 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Their proportion in their native lands has collapsed because of the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria, and Jordan. There are approximately 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan.
In 2011, Al Arabiya put the number of hidden and unaccounted for Iranian Mandaeans in Iran as high as 60,000. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 and at most 10,000 people.
Many Mandaeans have formed diaspora communities outside the Middle East in Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK and especially Australia, where around 10,000 now reside, mainly around Sydney, representing 15% of the total world Mandaean population.
Approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans have emigrated to the United States, since the US State Department in 2002 granted them protective refugee status, which was also later accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans in 2007. A community estimated at 2,500 members live in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they began settling in 2008. Most emigrated from Iraq.
Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.
See also
Aramaic language
Christianity in the 1st century
Second Temple Judaism
Yazidism
Notes
References
Bibliography
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buckley. J.J. "Mandaeans" in Encyclopædia Iranica
Drower, Ethel Stefana. 2002. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Lupieri, Edmondo. (Charles Hindley, trans.) 2002. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
"A Brief Note on the Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology", Mandaean Society in America.
Newmarker, Chris, Associated Press article, "Faith under fire: Iraq war threatens extinction for ancient religious group" (headline in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, page A12, 10 February 2007)
Petermann, J. Heinrich. 2007 The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans (reprint of Thesaurus s. Liber Magni). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Segelberg, Eric, 1958, Maşbūtā. Studies in the Ritual of the Mandæan Baptism. Uppsala
Segelberg, Eric, 1970, "The Ordination of the Mandæan tarmida and its Relation to Jewish and Early Christian Ordination Rites", in Studia patristica 10.
Segelberg, Eric, Trāşa d-Tāga d-Śiślām Rabba. Studies in the rite called the Coronation of Śiślām Rabba. i: Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer (Studia Mandaica 1.) Berlin & New York 1976.
Segelberg, Eric, 1977, "Zidqa Brika and the Mandæan Problem. In Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Gnosticism. Ed. Geo Widengren and David Hellholm. Stockholm.
Segelberg, Eric, 1978, "The pihta and mambuha Prayers. To the Question of the Liturgical Development amnong the Mandæans" in Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen.
Segelberg, Eric, 1990, "Mandæan – Jewish – Christian. How does the Mandæan tradition relate to Jewish and Christian tradition? in: Segelberg, Gnostica Madaica Liturgica. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia Religionum 11.) Uppsala 1990.
Yamauchi, Edwin. 2004. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
External links
Mandaean Association Union – The Mandaean Association Union is an international federation which strives for unification of Mandaeans around the globe. Information in English and Arabic.
BBC: Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith
BBC: Mandaeans – a threatened religion
Shahāb Mirzā'i, Ablution of Mandaeans (Ghosl-e Sābe'in – غسل صابئين), in Persian, Jadid Online, 18 December 2008
Audio slideshow (showing Iranian Mandaeans performing ablution on the banks of the Karun river in Ahvaz): (4 min 25 sec)
The Worlds of Mandaean Priests, University of Exeter
Mandaean scriptures
Mandaean scriptures: Qolastā and Haran Gawaitha texts and fragments (note that the book titled Ginza Rabba is not the Ginza Rabba but is instead Qolastā, "The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans" as translated by E.S Drower).
Gnostic John the Baptist: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book: This is the complete 1924 edition of G.R.S. Mead's classic study of the Mandæan John-Book, containing excerpts from the scripture itself (in The Gnosis Archive collection – www.gnosis.org).
The Ginza Rabba (1925 German translation by Mark Lidzbarski) at the Internet Archive
The John-Book (Draša D-Iahia) – complete text in Mandaic and German translation (1905) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaic liturgies – Mandaic text (in Hebrew transliteration) and German translation (1925) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaean scriptures at the Mandaean Network's site
Books about Mandaeism available online
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead a complete version (with old and new errors), contains information on Mani, Manichaeism, Elkasaites, Nasoraeans, Sabians and other "gnostic" groups. Published in 1901.
Extracts from E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran by Lady Drower, 1937 – the entire book
Esotericism
Gnosticism
Monotheistic religions
Religion in Iran
Religion in Iraq
Ethnic religion
Mandaeans
Ancient Semitic religions | false | [
"is a Buddhist priest (in charge of a temple); honorific title of preceptor or high priest (especially in Zen or Pure Land Buddhism). The same kanji are also pronounced kashō as an honorific title of preceptor or high priest in Tendai or Kegon Buddhism and wajō as an honorific title of preceptor or high priest in Shingon, Hossō, Ritsu, or Shin Buddhism.\n\nEtymology\nOshō is the Japanese reading of the Chinese hé shang (和尚), meaning a high-ranking Buddhist monk or highly virtuous Buddhist monk. It is also a respectful designation for Buddhist monks in general and may be used with the suffix -san.\n\nAccording to the Kōjien Japanese dictionary and the Kanjigen dictionary of Chinese character source meanings, it is originally derived from the Sanskrit upadhyaya, meaning \"master\" in the sense of \"teacher\".\n\nThe literal meaning is \"self-taught Buddhist monk/teacher\" The Chinese term \"he-shang\" is derived from the Sanskrit word upadhyaya or acharya:\n\nThe standard English translation of oshō has become priest, it has a somewhat different connotation in Zen:\n\nAccording to the Kōjien, the two characters making up the word are actually pronounced oshō only in the Zen and Pure Land sects. For example, they are read kashō in the Tendai sect and wajō in the Shingon sect.\n\nHistory\nOshō became an honorific title for Zen-masters\", meaning \"harmonious respect\":\n\nAn example of its use is in Rinzai's teachings:\n\nSōtō Zen\nIn Sōtō Zen, to become an oshō, teacher, two more steps are to be taken after dharma transmission, namely ten-e and zuise.\n\nTen-e means \"to turn the robe\":\n\nAfter zuise one becomes an oshō, whereafter one may become the resident priest in one's own temple. Hereby one can gain the highest rank:\n\nTo supervise the training of monks, further qualifications are necessary:\n\nBhagwan Shree Rajneesh\nThe term became well known in the West when Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh started to call himself Osho.\n\nSee also\n Osho (disambiguation)\n Dharma transmission\n Zen ranks and hierarchy\n\nReferences\n\nWeb references\n\nSources\n\nExternal links\n Muho Noelke: What does it take to become a full-fledged Soto-shu priest and is it really worth the whole deal? Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9\n Online Zen-priest ordination\n The Formation of Soto Zen Priests in the West, A Dialogue\n\nZen\nJapanese Buddhist titles",
"A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent. Such priests are not legally responsible for the churches and glebe, but simply hold a licence rather than the freehold and are not appointed by advowson.\n\nThe appointment of priests in charge rather than incumbents (one who does receive the temporalities of an incumbent) is sometimes done when parish reorganisation is taking place or to give the bishop greater control over the deployment of clergy.\n\nLegally, priests in charge are temporary curates, as they have only spiritual responsibilities. Even though they lead the ministry in their parishes, their legal status is little different from assistant curates. However, the term priest in charge has come to be used because the term curate often refers to an assistant curate, who is usually a priest recently ordained who is not in charge of a parish — although it is quite possible for a priest previously beneficed to return to a curacy, sometimes as a matter of choice. The stipend of a priest in charge is often the equivalent to that of an incumbent, and so they are sometimes referred to as having incumbent status.\n\nIncumbents include vicars and rectors.\n\nIn the Church of Ireland, priests in charge are referred to as bishop's curates.\n\nSee also\n How the Church of England is organised\n\nExternal links\n Church Terminology\n\nEcclesiastical titles\nAnglican ecclesiastical offices\nChurch of England"
]
|
[
"Mandaeism",
"Priests and laymen",
"What role do priests play in Mandaeism?",
"There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism:",
"What are the three grades of priesthood?",
"the tarmidia \"disciples\" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria \"treasurers\" (from Old Persian ganza-bara \"id.,\" Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma \"leader of the people.",
"How does one become a priest?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_13e7bbff26bb47448571798c59997346_0 | What are some differences between priests and laymen? | 4 | What are some differences between priests and laymen in Mandaeism? | Mandaeism | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E.S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix): [T]hose amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia--Nasoreans (or, if the emphatic <s> is written as <z>, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans', Mandaiia--'gnostics.' When a man becomes a priest he leaves 'Mandaeanism' and enters tarmiduta, 'priesthood.' Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called 'Nasiruta', is reserved for a very few. Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoreans, and 'Nasorean' today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine. There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people." This last office, the highest level of the Mandaean priesthood, has lain vacant for many years. At the moment, the highest office currently occupied is that of the ganzebra, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE) and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-is-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzebra who baptizes seven or more ganzebrana may qualify for the office of risamma, though the Mandaean community has yet to rally as a whole behind any single candidate. The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. CANNOTANSWER | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. | Mandaeism (; , ), also known as Sabianism (, ), is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet. The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ) or Sabians. The term is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is . In the Quran, the Sabians (, ) are mentioned three times, alongside Jews and Christians. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
According to Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism, Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution. Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin. However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times. Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith. Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
The religion has been practised primarily around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan Province in Iran. There are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology
The term Mandaic or Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. mandaʻ in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. maddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from Late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Other scholars derive the term mandaiia () from Mandā d-Heyyi () 'Knowledge of Life', in reference to Hayyi Rabbi ( 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God') or from the word Beth Manda, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life).
History
According to the Mandaean text the Haran Gawaita, the Nasoraean Mandaeans, who were disciples of John the Baptist, left Judea/Palestine and migrated to Media in the 1st century CE. The reason given for this was their persecution in Jerusalem. The emigrants went first to Haran (probably Harran in modern-day Turkey), or Hauran and then the Median hills in Iran, before finally settling in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection did not last with the Sassanid Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir persecuting all non-Zoroastrian religions.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush Bar-Danqa, appeared before Muslim authorities showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya Bin Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans with the Sabians who are mentioned in the Quran as being counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book). This provided Mandaeans a status as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. The importance of baptism in their rituals is particularly marked. Like the Mandaeans, the Sabians were also said to be gnostics and descendants of Noah. Mandaeans continue to be identified with Sabians to the present day.
Around 1290, a Dominican Catholic from Tuscany, Ricoldo da Montecroce, or Ricoldo Pennini, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century, based upon their preliminary reports. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman Turkish army in Bahrain.
Beliefs
Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large, and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
Principal beliefs
Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is therefore necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe.
Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light.
Immortality of the soul; the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets
According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects:
A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape.
Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form.
As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) that exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta).
The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive; his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns.
Planets and stars influence fate and human beings, and are also the places of detention after death.
A savior spirit or savior spirits which assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'.
A cult-language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified.
'Mysteries', i.e. sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest.
Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).
Ptahil (), the 'Fourth Life', alone does not constitute the demiurge, but only fills that role insofar as he is seen as the creator of the material world with the help of the evil spirit Ruha. Therefore, the material world is a mixture of 'light' and 'dark'. Ptahil is the lowest of a group of three emanations, the other two being Yushamin (, the 'Second Life' (also spelled Joshamin) and Abatur (), the 'Third Life'. Abatur's demiurgic role consists of weighing the souls of the dead to determine their fate. The role of Yushamin, the first emanation, is more obscure; wanting to create a world of his own, he was punished for opposing the King of Light ('The First Life'), but was ultimately forgiven.
While Mandaeans agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one. Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.
Chief prophets
Mandaeans recognize several prophets. Yahia-Yohanna or Yuhana Maṣbana (), known in Christianity as John the Baptist, is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.
Mandaeans do not believe in the sanctity of Abraham, Moses or Jesus, however they consider Jesus and Abraham to have been originally Mandaean. They recognize other prophetic figures from the Abrahamic religions, such as Adam, his sons Hibil (Abel) and Sheetil (Seth), and his grandson Anush (Enosh), as well as Nuh (Noah), Sam (Shem), and Ram (Aram), whom they consider to be their direct ancestors. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet.
Mandaeans also do not recognize the Holy Spirit in the Talmud and Bible in the same way. Epithets of Ruha include Ruha d-Qudsha (Holy Spirit) and Ruha Masṭanita (Ruha the seductress). She is viewed negatively as the personification of the lower, emotional, and feminine elements of the human psyche.
Scriptures
The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rabba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.
The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
Another important text is the Haran Gawaita, which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire.
Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John, which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša d-Yahya, there is the Diwan Abatur, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Book of the Zodiac (Asfar Malwāshē). Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
Mandaean ritual commentaries (esoteric exegetical literature), which are typically written in scrolls rather than codices, include:
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia)
The Coronation of the Great Šišlam
The Great "First World"
The Lesser "First World"
The Scroll of Exalted Kingship
The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, a member of the Aramaic group of dialects. It is written in the Mandaic script, a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellery script. Many Mandaean laypeople do not speak this language, although some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
Worship and rituals
The two most important ceremonies in Mandaean worship are baptism (Masbuta), and 'the ascent' (Masiqta - a mass for the dead or ascent of the soul ceremony). Unlike in Christianity, baptism is not a one-off event but is performed every Sunday, the Mandaean holy day, as a ritual of purification. Baptism usually involves full immersion in flowing water, and all rivers considered fit for baptism are called Yardena (after the River Jordan). After emerging from the water, the worshipper is anointed with holy sesame oil and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread and water. The ascent of the soul ceremony, called the masiqta, can take various forms, but usually involves a ritual meal in memory of the dead. The ceremony is believed to help the souls of the departed on their journey through purgatory to the World of Light.
Other rituals for purification include the Rishama and the Tamasha which, unlike Masbuta, can be performed without a priest. The Rishama (signing) is performed before prayers and involves washing the face and limbs while reciting specific prayers. It is performed daily, before sunrise, with hair covered and after evacuation of bowels or before religious ceremonies (see wudu). The Tamasha is a triple immersion in the river without a requirement for a priest. It is performed by women after menstruation or childbirth, men and women after sexual activity or nocturnal emission, touching a dead corpse or any other type of defilement (see tevilah). Ritual purification also applies to fruits, vegetables, pots, pans, utensils, animals for consumption and ceremonial garments (rasta). Purification for a dying person is also performed. It includes bathing involving a threefold sprinkling of river water over the person from head to feet.
A Mandaean's grave must be in the north-south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north. Similarly, Essene graves are also oriented north-south. Mandaeans must face north during prayers, which are performed three times a day. Daily prayer in Mandaeism is called brakha.
Zidqa (almsgiving) is also practiced in Mandaeism with Mandaean laypeople regularly offering alms to priests.
A Mandī () (Beth Manda) or Mashkhanna is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A must be built beside a river in order to perform Maṣbuta (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith. Modern s sometimes have a bath inside a building instead. Each Mandi is adorned with a Drabsha, which is a banner in the shape of a cross, made of olive wood half covered with a piece of white pure silk cloth and seven branches of myrtle. The drabsha is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God. The seven branches of myrtle represent the seven days of creation.
Mandaeans believe in marriage (qabin) and procreation, placing a high priority upon family life and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle. They are pacifist and egalitarian, with the earliest attested Mandaean scribe being a woman, Shlama Beth Qidra, who copied the Left Ginza sometime in the 2nd century CE. There is evidence for women priests, especially in the pre-Islamic era. God created the human body complete, so no part of it should be removed or cut off, hence circumcision is considered bodily mutilation for Mandaeans and therefore forbidden. Mandaeans abstain from strong drink and most red meat, however meat consumed by Mandaeans must be slaughtered according to the proper rituals. The approach to the slaughter of animals for consumption is always apologetic. On some days, they refrain from eating meat.
Priests
There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E. S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix):
There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia () "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā), the ganzibria () "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.", Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā) and the rišama () "leader of the people". Ganzeḇrā, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE), and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-iš-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzeḇrā who baptizes seven or more ganzeḇrānā may qualify for the office of rišama. The current rišama of the Mandaean community in Iraq is Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony. In Australia, the Mandaean rišama is Salah Chohaili.
The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera in Shushtar, Iran devastated the region and eliminated most, if not all, of the Mandaean religious authorities there. Two of the surviving acolytes (šgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood in Suq al-Shuyukh on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them.
In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, according to the Mandaean Society in America, the number of priests has been growing in recent years.
Scholarship
According to Edmondo Lupieri, as stated in his article in Encyclopædia Iranica, "The possible historical connection with John the Baptist, as seen in the newly translated Mandaean texts, convinced many (notably R. Bultmann) that it was possible, through the Mandaean traditions, to shed some new light on the history of John and on the origins of Christianity. This brought around a revival of the otherwise almost fully abandoned idea of their Palestinian origins. As the archeological discovery of Mandaean incantation bowls and lead amulets proved a pre-Islamic Mandaean presence in the southern Mesopotamia, scholars were obliged to hypothesize otherwise unknown persecutions by Jews or by Christians to explain the reason for Mandaeans' departure from Palestine." Lupieri believes Mandaeism is a post-Christian southern Mesopotamian Gnostic off-shoot and claims that Zazai d-Gawazta to be the founder of Mandaeism in the 2nd Century. Jorunn J. Buckley refutes this by confirming scribes that predate Zazai who copied the Ginza Rabba. In addition to Edmondo Lupieri, Christa Müller-Kessler argues against the Palestinian origin theory of the Mandaeans claiming that the Mandaeans are Mesopotamian. Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan, where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin Van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, however Mandaean lead amulets have been dated to as early as the 3rd Century.
Scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Eric Segelberg, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Andrew Phillip Smith, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, G. Quispel and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy." Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins and adds:
Other names
Sabians
The Quran makes several references to the Sabians, who are identified with the Mandaeans. Sabians are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book), and several hadith feature them. Arab sources of early Quranic times (7th century) also make some references to Sabians. The word Sabian is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism with the cognate in Neo-Mandaic being 'to baptize'. In the Middle East, they are more commonly known as the , i.e. 'the Sabians', or colloquially as the . The Sabians believed they "belong to the prophet Noah"; Similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah.
The Syrian Christian writer Nicolas Siouffi wrote in 1880 that the true 'Sabians' or Subba lived in the marshes of lower Iraq. The Nestorian writer Theodore Bar Konai (in the Scholion, 792) described a "sect" of "Sabians", who were located in southern Mesopotamia.
Al-Biruni (writing at the beginning of the 11th century) said that the 'real Sabians' were "the remnants of the Jewish tribes who remained in Babylonia when the other tribes left it for Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These remaining tribes... adopted a system mixed-up of Magism and Judaism."
Nasoraeans
The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot. Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.
Relations with other groups
Dositheans
The Mandaeans are connected with the Samaritan group, the Dositheans, by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion.
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.
According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans."Part 19 Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following:
Hemerobaptists
Hemerobaptists (Heb. Tovelei Shaḥarit; 'Morning Bathers') were an ancient religious sect that practiced daily baptism. They were likely a division of the Essenes. In the Clementine Homilies (ii. 23), John the Baptist and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists. The Mandaeans have been associated with the Hemerobaptists on account of both practicing frequent baptism and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John.
Kabbalah
Nathaniel Deutsch writes:
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky suggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than with Merkabah mysticism such as cosmogony and sexual imagery. The Thousand and Twelve Questions, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and Alma Rišaia Rba link the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found in Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir.
Mandaean names for uthras have been found in Jewish magical texts. Abatur appears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur". Ptahil is found in Sefer HaRazim listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
Manichaeans
According to the Fihrist of ibn al-Nadim, the Mesopotamian prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was brought up within the Elkesaite (Elcesaite or Elchasaite) sect, this being confirmed more recently by the Cologne Mani Codex. None of the Manichaean scriptures has survived in its entirety, and it seems that the remaining fragments have not been compared to the Ginza Rabba. Mani later left the Elkasaites to found his own religion. In a comparative analysis, the Swedish Egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh indicated that Mani's Psalms of Thomas was closely related to Mandaean texts. According to E. S. Drower, "some of the most ancient Manichaean psalms, the Coptic Psalms of Thomas, were paraphrases and even word-for-word translations of Mandaic originals; prosody and phrase offering proof that the Manichaean was the borrower and not vice-versa."
An extensive discussion of the relationships between Mandaeism and Manichaeism can be found in Băncilă (2018).
Valentinians
A Mandaean baptismal formula was adopted by Valentinian Gnostics in Rome and Alexandria in the 2nd century CE.
Demographics
It is estimated that there are 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Their proportion in their native lands has collapsed because of the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria, and Jordan. There are approximately 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan.
In 2011, Al Arabiya put the number of hidden and unaccounted for Iranian Mandaeans in Iran as high as 60,000. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 and at most 10,000 people.
Many Mandaeans have formed diaspora communities outside the Middle East in Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK and especially Australia, where around 10,000 now reside, mainly around Sydney, representing 15% of the total world Mandaean population.
Approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans have emigrated to the United States, since the US State Department in 2002 granted them protective refugee status, which was also later accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans in 2007. A community estimated at 2,500 members live in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they began settling in 2008. Most emigrated from Iraq.
Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.
See also
Aramaic language
Christianity in the 1st century
Second Temple Judaism
Yazidism
Notes
References
Bibliography
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buckley. J.J. "Mandaeans" in Encyclopædia Iranica
Drower, Ethel Stefana. 2002. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Lupieri, Edmondo. (Charles Hindley, trans.) 2002. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
"A Brief Note on the Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology", Mandaean Society in America.
Newmarker, Chris, Associated Press article, "Faith under fire: Iraq war threatens extinction for ancient religious group" (headline in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, page A12, 10 February 2007)
Petermann, J. Heinrich. 2007 The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans (reprint of Thesaurus s. Liber Magni). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Segelberg, Eric, 1958, Maşbūtā. Studies in the Ritual of the Mandæan Baptism. Uppsala
Segelberg, Eric, 1970, "The Ordination of the Mandæan tarmida and its Relation to Jewish and Early Christian Ordination Rites", in Studia patristica 10.
Segelberg, Eric, Trāşa d-Tāga d-Śiślām Rabba. Studies in the rite called the Coronation of Śiślām Rabba. i: Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer (Studia Mandaica 1.) Berlin & New York 1976.
Segelberg, Eric, 1977, "Zidqa Brika and the Mandæan Problem. In Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Gnosticism. Ed. Geo Widengren and David Hellholm. Stockholm.
Segelberg, Eric, 1978, "The pihta and mambuha Prayers. To the Question of the Liturgical Development amnong the Mandæans" in Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen.
Segelberg, Eric, 1990, "Mandæan – Jewish – Christian. How does the Mandæan tradition relate to Jewish and Christian tradition? in: Segelberg, Gnostica Madaica Liturgica. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia Religionum 11.) Uppsala 1990.
Yamauchi, Edwin. 2004. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
External links
Mandaean Association Union – The Mandaean Association Union is an international federation which strives for unification of Mandaeans around the globe. Information in English and Arabic.
BBC: Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith
BBC: Mandaeans – a threatened religion
Shahāb Mirzā'i, Ablution of Mandaeans (Ghosl-e Sābe'in – غسل صابئين), in Persian, Jadid Online, 18 December 2008
Audio slideshow (showing Iranian Mandaeans performing ablution on the banks of the Karun river in Ahvaz): (4 min 25 sec)
The Worlds of Mandaean Priests, University of Exeter
Mandaean scriptures
Mandaean scriptures: Qolastā and Haran Gawaitha texts and fragments (note that the book titled Ginza Rabba is not the Ginza Rabba but is instead Qolastā, "The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans" as translated by E.S Drower).
Gnostic John the Baptist: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book: This is the complete 1924 edition of G.R.S. Mead's classic study of the Mandæan John-Book, containing excerpts from the scripture itself (in The Gnosis Archive collection – www.gnosis.org).
The Ginza Rabba (1925 German translation by Mark Lidzbarski) at the Internet Archive
The John-Book (Draša D-Iahia) – complete text in Mandaic and German translation (1905) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaic liturgies – Mandaic text (in Hebrew transliteration) and German translation (1925) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaean scriptures at the Mandaean Network's site
Books about Mandaeism available online
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead a complete version (with old and new errors), contains information on Mani, Manichaeism, Elkasaites, Nasoraeans, Sabians and other "gnostic" groups. Published in 1901.
Extracts from E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran by Lady Drower, 1937 – the entire book
Esotericism
Gnosticism
Monotheistic religions
Religion in Iran
Religion in Iraq
Ethnic religion
Mandaeans
Ancient Semitic religions | true | [
"Archimandrite John (Ioann, , secular name Ivan Mikhailovich Krestiankin, ; 1910–2006) was an archimandrite of the Pskov Caves Monastery of Russian Orthodox Church.\n\nHe was born in 1910 in the city of Oryol as an eighth child in the family of Mikhail and Elizaveta Krestiankin. The name Ivan was given to the boy in honour of Saint John of the Desert. His letters and theological works are well known and widely published in Russia and some other countries. Many cases of Fr. John's clairvoyance and wonderworking were recorded.\n\nIn 1950 John was arrested by the Soviet authorities for his pastoral service and sentenced for seven years of labour camps. He was freed in 1955.\n\nFather John was a spiritual father and confessor for many Orthodox parishioners, providing religious instructions and guidance on various aspects of the faith and Christian life within the Orthodox Church. Among his notable spiritual children was Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), the author of the best-selling spiritual memoir Everyday Saints, and Archimandrite Ilarion (Prikhodko), a highly regarded spiritual father in his own right who ministered in the Novgorod region.\n\nAmong his most famous books are \"The Experience of Preparing a Confession\", \"Sermons, Thoughts and Congratulations\", \"Reference Book for Monastics and Laymen\", the compilation \"Letters of Archimandrite John (Krestiankin)\".\n\nJohn Krestiankin died in 2006 at the age of 95 years.\n\nOn February 8, 2021, the Pskov Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church announced that it is currently in the process of canonizing him.\n\nBibliography\n The Experience of Preparing a Confession (Опыт построения исповеди)\n Sermons, Thoughts and Congratulations\n Reference Book for Monastics and Laymen\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n1910 births\n2006 deaths\nEastern Orthodox monks\nRussian Eastern Orthodox priests\nRussian Christian mystics\n20th-century Eastern Orthodox priests\n20th-century Christian mystics\n21st-century Eastern Orthodox priests\n21st-century Christian mystics\nEastern Orthodox mystics\nInmates of Lefortovo Prison\nArchimandrites",
"A lector priest was a priest in ancient Egypt who recited spells and hymns during temple rituals and official ceremonies. Such priests also sold their services to laymen, reciting texts during private apotropaic rituals or at funerals. As such, they were some of the most prominent practitioners of \"magic\" (heku) in ancient Egypt. In ancient Egyptian literature, lector priests are often portrayed as the keepers of secret knowledge and the performers of amazing magical feats.\n\nThe highest-ranking lector priest in a temple, the chief lector priest, managed the temple's archives of ritual texts.\n\nThe term lector priest\" is usually used to translate the Egyptian title, ẖry-ḥb.t, which literally means \"the carrier of the book of ritual\". The term for a chief lector priest, ẖry-ḥb.t ḥry-tp, was so closely associated with magic that, in Late Egyptian language, the shortened form hry-tp became a general term for \"magician\".\n\nLector priests wore a sash across the chest that indicated their position.\n\nReferences\n\nAncient Egyptian titles"
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[
"Mandaeism",
"Priests and laymen",
"What role do priests play in Mandaeism?",
"There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism:",
"What are the three grades of priesthood?",
"the tarmidia \"disciples\" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria \"treasurers\" (from Old Persian ganza-bara \"id.,\" Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma \"leader of the people.",
"How does one become a priest?",
"I don't know.",
"What are some differences between priests and laymen?",
"There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests."
]
| C_13e7bbff26bb47448571798c59997346_0 | Why is there division? | 5 | Why is there division between Mandaean laity and the priests? | Mandaeism | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E.S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix): [T]hose amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia--Nasoreans (or, if the emphatic <s> is written as <z>, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans', Mandaiia--'gnostics.' When a man becomes a priest he leaves 'Mandaeanism' and enters tarmiduta, 'priesthood.' Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called 'Nasiruta', is reserved for a very few. Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoreans, and 'Nasorean' today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine. There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people." This last office, the highest level of the Mandaean priesthood, has lain vacant for many years. At the moment, the highest office currently occupied is that of the ganzebra, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE) and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-is-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzebra who baptizes seven or more ganzebrana may qualify for the office of risamma, though the Mandaean community has yet to rally as a whole behind any single candidate. The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. CANNOTANSWER | the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans | Mandaeism (; , ), also known as Sabianism (, ), is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet. The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ) or Sabians. The term is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is . In the Quran, the Sabians (, ) are mentioned three times, alongside Jews and Christians. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
According to Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism, Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution. Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin. However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times. Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith. Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
The religion has been practised primarily around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan Province in Iran. There are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology
The term Mandaic or Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. mandaʻ in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. maddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from Late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Other scholars derive the term mandaiia () from Mandā d-Heyyi () 'Knowledge of Life', in reference to Hayyi Rabbi ( 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God') or from the word Beth Manda, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life).
History
According to the Mandaean text the Haran Gawaita, the Nasoraean Mandaeans, who were disciples of John the Baptist, left Judea/Palestine and migrated to Media in the 1st century CE. The reason given for this was their persecution in Jerusalem. The emigrants went first to Haran (probably Harran in modern-day Turkey), or Hauran and then the Median hills in Iran, before finally settling in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection did not last with the Sassanid Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir persecuting all non-Zoroastrian religions.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush Bar-Danqa, appeared before Muslim authorities showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya Bin Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans with the Sabians who are mentioned in the Quran as being counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book). This provided Mandaeans a status as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. The importance of baptism in their rituals is particularly marked. Like the Mandaeans, the Sabians were also said to be gnostics and descendants of Noah. Mandaeans continue to be identified with Sabians to the present day.
Around 1290, a Dominican Catholic from Tuscany, Ricoldo da Montecroce, or Ricoldo Pennini, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century, based upon their preliminary reports. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman Turkish army in Bahrain.
Beliefs
Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large, and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
Principal beliefs
Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is therefore necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe.
Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light.
Immortality of the soul; the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets
According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects:
A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape.
Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form.
As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) that exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta).
The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive; his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns.
Planets and stars influence fate and human beings, and are also the places of detention after death.
A savior spirit or savior spirits which assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'.
A cult-language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified.
'Mysteries', i.e. sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest.
Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).
Ptahil (), the 'Fourth Life', alone does not constitute the demiurge, but only fills that role insofar as he is seen as the creator of the material world with the help of the evil spirit Ruha. Therefore, the material world is a mixture of 'light' and 'dark'. Ptahil is the lowest of a group of three emanations, the other two being Yushamin (, the 'Second Life' (also spelled Joshamin) and Abatur (), the 'Third Life'. Abatur's demiurgic role consists of weighing the souls of the dead to determine their fate. The role of Yushamin, the first emanation, is more obscure; wanting to create a world of his own, he was punished for opposing the King of Light ('The First Life'), but was ultimately forgiven.
While Mandaeans agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one. Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.
Chief prophets
Mandaeans recognize several prophets. Yahia-Yohanna or Yuhana Maṣbana (), known in Christianity as John the Baptist, is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.
Mandaeans do not believe in the sanctity of Abraham, Moses or Jesus, however they consider Jesus and Abraham to have been originally Mandaean. They recognize other prophetic figures from the Abrahamic religions, such as Adam, his sons Hibil (Abel) and Sheetil (Seth), and his grandson Anush (Enosh), as well as Nuh (Noah), Sam (Shem), and Ram (Aram), whom they consider to be their direct ancestors. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet.
Mandaeans also do not recognize the Holy Spirit in the Talmud and Bible in the same way. Epithets of Ruha include Ruha d-Qudsha (Holy Spirit) and Ruha Masṭanita (Ruha the seductress). She is viewed negatively as the personification of the lower, emotional, and feminine elements of the human psyche.
Scriptures
The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rabba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.
The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
Another important text is the Haran Gawaita, which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire.
Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John, which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša d-Yahya, there is the Diwan Abatur, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Book of the Zodiac (Asfar Malwāshē). Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
Mandaean ritual commentaries (esoteric exegetical literature), which are typically written in scrolls rather than codices, include:
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia)
The Coronation of the Great Šišlam
The Great "First World"
The Lesser "First World"
The Scroll of Exalted Kingship
The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, a member of the Aramaic group of dialects. It is written in the Mandaic script, a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellery script. Many Mandaean laypeople do not speak this language, although some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
Worship and rituals
The two most important ceremonies in Mandaean worship are baptism (Masbuta), and 'the ascent' (Masiqta - a mass for the dead or ascent of the soul ceremony). Unlike in Christianity, baptism is not a one-off event but is performed every Sunday, the Mandaean holy day, as a ritual of purification. Baptism usually involves full immersion in flowing water, and all rivers considered fit for baptism are called Yardena (after the River Jordan). After emerging from the water, the worshipper is anointed with holy sesame oil and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread and water. The ascent of the soul ceremony, called the masiqta, can take various forms, but usually involves a ritual meal in memory of the dead. The ceremony is believed to help the souls of the departed on their journey through purgatory to the World of Light.
Other rituals for purification include the Rishama and the Tamasha which, unlike Masbuta, can be performed without a priest. The Rishama (signing) is performed before prayers and involves washing the face and limbs while reciting specific prayers. It is performed daily, before sunrise, with hair covered and after evacuation of bowels or before religious ceremonies (see wudu). The Tamasha is a triple immersion in the river without a requirement for a priest. It is performed by women after menstruation or childbirth, men and women after sexual activity or nocturnal emission, touching a dead corpse or any other type of defilement (see tevilah). Ritual purification also applies to fruits, vegetables, pots, pans, utensils, animals for consumption and ceremonial garments (rasta). Purification for a dying person is also performed. It includes bathing involving a threefold sprinkling of river water over the person from head to feet.
A Mandaean's grave must be in the north-south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north. Similarly, Essene graves are also oriented north-south. Mandaeans must face north during prayers, which are performed three times a day. Daily prayer in Mandaeism is called brakha.
Zidqa (almsgiving) is also practiced in Mandaeism with Mandaean laypeople regularly offering alms to priests.
A Mandī () (Beth Manda) or Mashkhanna is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A must be built beside a river in order to perform Maṣbuta (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith. Modern s sometimes have a bath inside a building instead. Each Mandi is adorned with a Drabsha, which is a banner in the shape of a cross, made of olive wood half covered with a piece of white pure silk cloth and seven branches of myrtle. The drabsha is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God. The seven branches of myrtle represent the seven days of creation.
Mandaeans believe in marriage (qabin) and procreation, placing a high priority upon family life and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle. They are pacifist and egalitarian, with the earliest attested Mandaean scribe being a woman, Shlama Beth Qidra, who copied the Left Ginza sometime in the 2nd century CE. There is evidence for women priests, especially in the pre-Islamic era. God created the human body complete, so no part of it should be removed or cut off, hence circumcision is considered bodily mutilation for Mandaeans and therefore forbidden. Mandaeans abstain from strong drink and most red meat, however meat consumed by Mandaeans must be slaughtered according to the proper rituals. The approach to the slaughter of animals for consumption is always apologetic. On some days, they refrain from eating meat.
Priests
There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E. S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix):
There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia () "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā), the ganzibria () "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.", Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā) and the rišama () "leader of the people". Ganzeḇrā, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE), and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-iš-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzeḇrā who baptizes seven or more ganzeḇrānā may qualify for the office of rišama. The current rišama of the Mandaean community in Iraq is Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony. In Australia, the Mandaean rišama is Salah Chohaili.
The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera in Shushtar, Iran devastated the region and eliminated most, if not all, of the Mandaean religious authorities there. Two of the surviving acolytes (šgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood in Suq al-Shuyukh on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them.
In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, according to the Mandaean Society in America, the number of priests has been growing in recent years.
Scholarship
According to Edmondo Lupieri, as stated in his article in Encyclopædia Iranica, "The possible historical connection with John the Baptist, as seen in the newly translated Mandaean texts, convinced many (notably R. Bultmann) that it was possible, through the Mandaean traditions, to shed some new light on the history of John and on the origins of Christianity. This brought around a revival of the otherwise almost fully abandoned idea of their Palestinian origins. As the archeological discovery of Mandaean incantation bowls and lead amulets proved a pre-Islamic Mandaean presence in the southern Mesopotamia, scholars were obliged to hypothesize otherwise unknown persecutions by Jews or by Christians to explain the reason for Mandaeans' departure from Palestine." Lupieri believes Mandaeism is a post-Christian southern Mesopotamian Gnostic off-shoot and claims that Zazai d-Gawazta to be the founder of Mandaeism in the 2nd Century. Jorunn J. Buckley refutes this by confirming scribes that predate Zazai who copied the Ginza Rabba. In addition to Edmondo Lupieri, Christa Müller-Kessler argues against the Palestinian origin theory of the Mandaeans claiming that the Mandaeans are Mesopotamian. Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan, where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin Van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, however Mandaean lead amulets have been dated to as early as the 3rd Century.
Scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Eric Segelberg, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Andrew Phillip Smith, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, G. Quispel and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy." Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins and adds:
Other names
Sabians
The Quran makes several references to the Sabians, who are identified with the Mandaeans. Sabians are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book), and several hadith feature them. Arab sources of early Quranic times (7th century) also make some references to Sabians. The word Sabian is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism with the cognate in Neo-Mandaic being 'to baptize'. In the Middle East, they are more commonly known as the , i.e. 'the Sabians', or colloquially as the . The Sabians believed they "belong to the prophet Noah"; Similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah.
The Syrian Christian writer Nicolas Siouffi wrote in 1880 that the true 'Sabians' or Subba lived in the marshes of lower Iraq. The Nestorian writer Theodore Bar Konai (in the Scholion, 792) described a "sect" of "Sabians", who were located in southern Mesopotamia.
Al-Biruni (writing at the beginning of the 11th century) said that the 'real Sabians' were "the remnants of the Jewish tribes who remained in Babylonia when the other tribes left it for Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These remaining tribes... adopted a system mixed-up of Magism and Judaism."
Nasoraeans
The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot. Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.
Relations with other groups
Dositheans
The Mandaeans are connected with the Samaritan group, the Dositheans, by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion.
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.
According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans."Part 19 Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following:
Hemerobaptists
Hemerobaptists (Heb. Tovelei Shaḥarit; 'Morning Bathers') were an ancient religious sect that practiced daily baptism. They were likely a division of the Essenes. In the Clementine Homilies (ii. 23), John the Baptist and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists. The Mandaeans have been associated with the Hemerobaptists on account of both practicing frequent baptism and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John.
Kabbalah
Nathaniel Deutsch writes:
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky suggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than with Merkabah mysticism such as cosmogony and sexual imagery. The Thousand and Twelve Questions, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and Alma Rišaia Rba link the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found in Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir.
Mandaean names for uthras have been found in Jewish magical texts. Abatur appears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur". Ptahil is found in Sefer HaRazim listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
Manichaeans
According to the Fihrist of ibn al-Nadim, the Mesopotamian prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was brought up within the Elkesaite (Elcesaite or Elchasaite) sect, this being confirmed more recently by the Cologne Mani Codex. None of the Manichaean scriptures has survived in its entirety, and it seems that the remaining fragments have not been compared to the Ginza Rabba. Mani later left the Elkasaites to found his own religion. In a comparative analysis, the Swedish Egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh indicated that Mani's Psalms of Thomas was closely related to Mandaean texts. According to E. S. Drower, "some of the most ancient Manichaean psalms, the Coptic Psalms of Thomas, were paraphrases and even word-for-word translations of Mandaic originals; prosody and phrase offering proof that the Manichaean was the borrower and not vice-versa."
An extensive discussion of the relationships between Mandaeism and Manichaeism can be found in Băncilă (2018).
Valentinians
A Mandaean baptismal formula was adopted by Valentinian Gnostics in Rome and Alexandria in the 2nd century CE.
Demographics
It is estimated that there are 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Their proportion in their native lands has collapsed because of the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria, and Jordan. There are approximately 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan.
In 2011, Al Arabiya put the number of hidden and unaccounted for Iranian Mandaeans in Iran as high as 60,000. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 and at most 10,000 people.
Many Mandaeans have formed diaspora communities outside the Middle East in Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK and especially Australia, where around 10,000 now reside, mainly around Sydney, representing 15% of the total world Mandaean population.
Approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans have emigrated to the United States, since the US State Department in 2002 granted them protective refugee status, which was also later accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans in 2007. A community estimated at 2,500 members live in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they began settling in 2008. Most emigrated from Iraq.
Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.
See also
Aramaic language
Christianity in the 1st century
Second Temple Judaism
Yazidism
Notes
References
Bibliography
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buckley. J.J. "Mandaeans" in Encyclopædia Iranica
Drower, Ethel Stefana. 2002. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Lupieri, Edmondo. (Charles Hindley, trans.) 2002. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
"A Brief Note on the Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology", Mandaean Society in America.
Newmarker, Chris, Associated Press article, "Faith under fire: Iraq war threatens extinction for ancient religious group" (headline in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, page A12, 10 February 2007)
Petermann, J. Heinrich. 2007 The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans (reprint of Thesaurus s. Liber Magni). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Segelberg, Eric, 1958, Maşbūtā. Studies in the Ritual of the Mandæan Baptism. Uppsala
Segelberg, Eric, 1970, "The Ordination of the Mandæan tarmida and its Relation to Jewish and Early Christian Ordination Rites", in Studia patristica 10.
Segelberg, Eric, Trāşa d-Tāga d-Śiślām Rabba. Studies in the rite called the Coronation of Śiślām Rabba. i: Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer (Studia Mandaica 1.) Berlin & New York 1976.
Segelberg, Eric, 1977, "Zidqa Brika and the Mandæan Problem. In Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Gnosticism. Ed. Geo Widengren and David Hellholm. Stockholm.
Segelberg, Eric, 1978, "The pihta and mambuha Prayers. To the Question of the Liturgical Development amnong the Mandæans" in Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen.
Segelberg, Eric, 1990, "Mandæan – Jewish – Christian. How does the Mandæan tradition relate to Jewish and Christian tradition? in: Segelberg, Gnostica Madaica Liturgica. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia Religionum 11.) Uppsala 1990.
Yamauchi, Edwin. 2004. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
External links
Mandaean Association Union – The Mandaean Association Union is an international federation which strives for unification of Mandaeans around the globe. Information in English and Arabic.
BBC: Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith
BBC: Mandaeans – a threatened religion
Shahāb Mirzā'i, Ablution of Mandaeans (Ghosl-e Sābe'in – غسل صابئين), in Persian, Jadid Online, 18 December 2008
Audio slideshow (showing Iranian Mandaeans performing ablution on the banks of the Karun river in Ahvaz): (4 min 25 sec)
The Worlds of Mandaean Priests, University of Exeter
Mandaean scriptures
Mandaean scriptures: Qolastā and Haran Gawaitha texts and fragments (note that the book titled Ginza Rabba is not the Ginza Rabba but is instead Qolastā, "The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans" as translated by E.S Drower).
Gnostic John the Baptist: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book: This is the complete 1924 edition of G.R.S. Mead's classic study of the Mandæan John-Book, containing excerpts from the scripture itself (in The Gnosis Archive collection – www.gnosis.org).
The Ginza Rabba (1925 German translation by Mark Lidzbarski) at the Internet Archive
The John-Book (Draša D-Iahia) – complete text in Mandaic and German translation (1905) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaic liturgies – Mandaic text (in Hebrew transliteration) and German translation (1925) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaean scriptures at the Mandaean Network's site
Books about Mandaeism available online
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead a complete version (with old and new errors), contains information on Mani, Manichaeism, Elkasaites, Nasoraeans, Sabians and other "gnostic" groups. Published in 1901.
Extracts from E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran by Lady Drower, 1937 – the entire book
Esotericism
Gnosticism
Monotheistic religions
Religion in Iran
Religion in Iraq
Ethnic religion
Mandaeans
Ancient Semitic religions | false | [
"Haidarabad () is a village and large market place in Bangladesh. It is situated in Andicot Union, Muradnagar Upazila, Comilla District of the Chittagong Division. Approximately 4463 people live in Haidarabad.\n\nEducation \n\nThere are six educational institutions in Haidarabad. They are Haidarabad Hazi E. A. B. High School,\n\nPublic offices \n\nThe economical importance and convenient communication with comilla city make Haidarabad one of the significant place in the region. This is why it has several important public offices like Andicot Union council office and Regional agricultural center is situated in the southern part of the Haidarabad Bazar. Because of the commercial importance and for the easier access to the local business man, a branch of government bank Bangladesh Krishi Bank is situated here. is also located in the southern part of the Haidarabad Bazar.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nMuradnagar Upzilla\nBangladesh Janta Review\n\nPopulated places in Cumilla District\nVillages in Comilla District\nVillages in Chittagong Division",
"Space Songs is an album in the \"Ballads For The Age of Science\" or \"Singing Science\" series of scientific music for children from the late 1950s and early 1960s. Songs were written by Hy Zaret (lyrics) and Lou Singer (music). \"Space Songs\" was released in 1959 by Hy Zaret's label \"Motivation Records\" (a division of Argosy Music Corp.) and was performed by Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans.\n\nOther albums in the \"Ballads for the Age of Science\" series were: \"Energy and Motion Songs,\" performed by Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans; \"Weather Songs,\" performed by Tom Glazer and The Weathervanes; \"Experiment Songs,\" performed by Dorothy Collins; \"Nature Songs,\" and \"More Nature Songs,\" both performed by Marais and Miranda.\n\nTrack listing\n\"Zoom A Little Zoom\"\n\"What Is The Milky Way?\"\n\"Constellation Jig\"\n\"Beep, Beep\"\n\"Why Does The Sun Shine?\"\n\"What Is A Shooting Star?\"\n\"Longitude And Latitude\"\n\"It's A Scientific Fact\"\n\"Ballad Of Sir Isaac Newton\"\n\"Friction\"\n\"Why Are Stars Of Different Colors?\"\n\"Why Do Stars Twinkle?\"\n\"What Is Gravity?\"\n\"Planet Minuet\"\n\"Why Go Up There?\"\n\nSpace Songs in popular media\n\nIsaac Asimov wrote an essay called \"Catskills in the Sky\" which appeared in the August 1960 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. He tells an anecdote about his children receiving this album as a present. He liked the music so much, especially the song \"Why Go Up There,\" that he appropriated the album for his own record collection. (And in the essay, gives reasons as why mankind should \"go up there.\")\n\nJapanese electronic music producer and DJ Yoshinori Sunahara sampled \"Zoom a Little Zoom\" in his song \"Journey Beyond the Stars\", which featured on his 1998 album Take Off and Landing.\n\nThe song \"Zoom a Little Zoom\" has notably been used in the popular online vlog Rocketboom as its theme song.\n\nOn September 27, 2005 episode of Rocketboom featured the songs \"Why Do Stars Twinkle?\" and \"Beep,Beep\".\n\nThe band They Might Be Giants has recorded cover versions of two Space Songs, \"Why Does The Sun Shine?\", and \"What Is A Shooting Star? (A Shooting Star Is Not A Star)\", as well as a reply to the former called \"Why Does the Sun Really Shine?\" which corrects scientific errors in the original.\n\nIn 2008 Chloé Leloup, Miss LaLaVox und Achim Treu reworked the album under the title \"The Space Songs - Ballads for the Age of Science\". The album was released on the label Sopot Records.\n\nThe lyrics of the first stanza of \"Why Does the Sun Shine?\" also appear verbatim in the book Stars: A Golden Guide, apart from the omission of \"its core is\" before \"a gigantic nuclear furnace\".\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nInformation about the Singing Science series\nThey Might Be Giants\nMen From Earth authors of new songs about space.\nRocketboom\nBallads for the Age of Science\n\n1959 albums\nChildren's music albums"
]
|
[
"Mandaeism",
"Priests and laymen",
"What role do priests play in Mandaeism?",
"There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism:",
"What are the three grades of priesthood?",
"the tarmidia \"disciples\" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria \"treasurers\" (from Old Persian ganza-bara \"id.,\" Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma \"leader of the people.",
"How does one become a priest?",
"I don't know.",
"What are some differences between priests and laymen?",
"There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests.",
"Why is there division?",
"the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans"
]
| C_13e7bbff26bb47448571798c59997346_0 | Is there any other interesting information regarding this topic? | 6 | Other than calling the laity Mandaeans, is there any other interesting information regarding the topic of Mandaeism? | Mandaeism | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E.S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix): [T]hose amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia--Nasoreans (or, if the emphatic <s> is written as <z>, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans', Mandaiia--'gnostics.' When a man becomes a priest he leaves 'Mandaeanism' and enters tarmiduta, 'priesthood.' Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called 'Nasiruta', is reserved for a very few. Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoreans, and 'Nasorean' today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine. There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people." This last office, the highest level of the Mandaean priesthood, has lain vacant for many years. At the moment, the highest office currently occupied is that of the ganzebra, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE) and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-is-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzebra who baptizes seven or more ganzebrana may qualify for the office of risamma, though the Mandaean community has yet to rally as a whole behind any single candidate. The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. CANNOTANSWER | The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. | Mandaeism (; , ), also known as Sabianism (, ), is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet. The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ) or Sabians. The term is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is . In the Quran, the Sabians (, ) are mentioned three times, alongside Jews and Christians. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
According to Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism, Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution. Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin. However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times. Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith. Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
The religion has been practised primarily around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan Province in Iran. There are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology
The term Mandaic or Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. mandaʻ in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. maddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from Late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Other scholars derive the term mandaiia () from Mandā d-Heyyi () 'Knowledge of Life', in reference to Hayyi Rabbi ( 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God') or from the word Beth Manda, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life).
History
According to the Mandaean text the Haran Gawaita, the Nasoraean Mandaeans, who were disciples of John the Baptist, left Judea/Palestine and migrated to Media in the 1st century CE. The reason given for this was their persecution in Jerusalem. The emigrants went first to Haran (probably Harran in modern-day Turkey), or Hauran and then the Median hills in Iran, before finally settling in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection did not last with the Sassanid Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir persecuting all non-Zoroastrian religions.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush Bar-Danqa, appeared before Muslim authorities showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya Bin Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans with the Sabians who are mentioned in the Quran as being counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book). This provided Mandaeans a status as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. The importance of baptism in their rituals is particularly marked. Like the Mandaeans, the Sabians were also said to be gnostics and descendants of Noah. Mandaeans continue to be identified with Sabians to the present day.
Around 1290, a Dominican Catholic from Tuscany, Ricoldo da Montecroce, or Ricoldo Pennini, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century, based upon their preliminary reports. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman Turkish army in Bahrain.
Beliefs
Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large, and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
Principal beliefs
Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is therefore necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe.
Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light.
Immortality of the soul; the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets
According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects:
A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape.
Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form.
As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) that exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta).
The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive; his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns.
Planets and stars influence fate and human beings, and are also the places of detention after death.
A savior spirit or savior spirits which assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'.
A cult-language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified.
'Mysteries', i.e. sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest.
Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).
Ptahil (), the 'Fourth Life', alone does not constitute the demiurge, but only fills that role insofar as he is seen as the creator of the material world with the help of the evil spirit Ruha. Therefore, the material world is a mixture of 'light' and 'dark'. Ptahil is the lowest of a group of three emanations, the other two being Yushamin (, the 'Second Life' (also spelled Joshamin) and Abatur (), the 'Third Life'. Abatur's demiurgic role consists of weighing the souls of the dead to determine their fate. The role of Yushamin, the first emanation, is more obscure; wanting to create a world of his own, he was punished for opposing the King of Light ('The First Life'), but was ultimately forgiven.
While Mandaeans agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one. Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.
Chief prophets
Mandaeans recognize several prophets. Yahia-Yohanna or Yuhana Maṣbana (), known in Christianity as John the Baptist, is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.
Mandaeans do not believe in the sanctity of Abraham, Moses or Jesus, however they consider Jesus and Abraham to have been originally Mandaean. They recognize other prophetic figures from the Abrahamic religions, such as Adam, his sons Hibil (Abel) and Sheetil (Seth), and his grandson Anush (Enosh), as well as Nuh (Noah), Sam (Shem), and Ram (Aram), whom they consider to be their direct ancestors. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet.
Mandaeans also do not recognize the Holy Spirit in the Talmud and Bible in the same way. Epithets of Ruha include Ruha d-Qudsha (Holy Spirit) and Ruha Masṭanita (Ruha the seductress). She is viewed negatively as the personification of the lower, emotional, and feminine elements of the human psyche.
Scriptures
The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rabba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.
The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
Another important text is the Haran Gawaita, which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire.
Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John, which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša d-Yahya, there is the Diwan Abatur, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Book of the Zodiac (Asfar Malwāshē). Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
Mandaean ritual commentaries (esoteric exegetical literature), which are typically written in scrolls rather than codices, include:
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia)
The Coronation of the Great Šišlam
The Great "First World"
The Lesser "First World"
The Scroll of Exalted Kingship
The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, a member of the Aramaic group of dialects. It is written in the Mandaic script, a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellery script. Many Mandaean laypeople do not speak this language, although some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
Worship and rituals
The two most important ceremonies in Mandaean worship are baptism (Masbuta), and 'the ascent' (Masiqta - a mass for the dead or ascent of the soul ceremony). Unlike in Christianity, baptism is not a one-off event but is performed every Sunday, the Mandaean holy day, as a ritual of purification. Baptism usually involves full immersion in flowing water, and all rivers considered fit for baptism are called Yardena (after the River Jordan). After emerging from the water, the worshipper is anointed with holy sesame oil and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread and water. The ascent of the soul ceremony, called the masiqta, can take various forms, but usually involves a ritual meal in memory of the dead. The ceremony is believed to help the souls of the departed on their journey through purgatory to the World of Light.
Other rituals for purification include the Rishama and the Tamasha which, unlike Masbuta, can be performed without a priest. The Rishama (signing) is performed before prayers and involves washing the face and limbs while reciting specific prayers. It is performed daily, before sunrise, with hair covered and after evacuation of bowels or before religious ceremonies (see wudu). The Tamasha is a triple immersion in the river without a requirement for a priest. It is performed by women after menstruation or childbirth, men and women after sexual activity or nocturnal emission, touching a dead corpse or any other type of defilement (see tevilah). Ritual purification also applies to fruits, vegetables, pots, pans, utensils, animals for consumption and ceremonial garments (rasta). Purification for a dying person is also performed. It includes bathing involving a threefold sprinkling of river water over the person from head to feet.
A Mandaean's grave must be in the north-south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north. Similarly, Essene graves are also oriented north-south. Mandaeans must face north during prayers, which are performed three times a day. Daily prayer in Mandaeism is called brakha.
Zidqa (almsgiving) is also practiced in Mandaeism with Mandaean laypeople regularly offering alms to priests.
A Mandī () (Beth Manda) or Mashkhanna is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A must be built beside a river in order to perform Maṣbuta (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith. Modern s sometimes have a bath inside a building instead. Each Mandi is adorned with a Drabsha, which is a banner in the shape of a cross, made of olive wood half covered with a piece of white pure silk cloth and seven branches of myrtle. The drabsha is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God. The seven branches of myrtle represent the seven days of creation.
Mandaeans believe in marriage (qabin) and procreation, placing a high priority upon family life and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle. They are pacifist and egalitarian, with the earliest attested Mandaean scribe being a woman, Shlama Beth Qidra, who copied the Left Ginza sometime in the 2nd century CE. There is evidence for women priests, especially in the pre-Islamic era. God created the human body complete, so no part of it should be removed or cut off, hence circumcision is considered bodily mutilation for Mandaeans and therefore forbidden. Mandaeans abstain from strong drink and most red meat, however meat consumed by Mandaeans must be slaughtered according to the proper rituals. The approach to the slaughter of animals for consumption is always apologetic. On some days, they refrain from eating meat.
Priests
There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E. S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix):
There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia () "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā), the ganzibria () "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.", Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā) and the rišama () "leader of the people". Ganzeḇrā, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE), and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-iš-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzeḇrā who baptizes seven or more ganzeḇrānā may qualify for the office of rišama. The current rišama of the Mandaean community in Iraq is Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony. In Australia, the Mandaean rišama is Salah Chohaili.
The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera in Shushtar, Iran devastated the region and eliminated most, if not all, of the Mandaean religious authorities there. Two of the surviving acolytes (šgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood in Suq al-Shuyukh on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them.
In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, according to the Mandaean Society in America, the number of priests has been growing in recent years.
Scholarship
According to Edmondo Lupieri, as stated in his article in Encyclopædia Iranica, "The possible historical connection with John the Baptist, as seen in the newly translated Mandaean texts, convinced many (notably R. Bultmann) that it was possible, through the Mandaean traditions, to shed some new light on the history of John and on the origins of Christianity. This brought around a revival of the otherwise almost fully abandoned idea of their Palestinian origins. As the archeological discovery of Mandaean incantation bowls and lead amulets proved a pre-Islamic Mandaean presence in the southern Mesopotamia, scholars were obliged to hypothesize otherwise unknown persecutions by Jews or by Christians to explain the reason for Mandaeans' departure from Palestine." Lupieri believes Mandaeism is a post-Christian southern Mesopotamian Gnostic off-shoot and claims that Zazai d-Gawazta to be the founder of Mandaeism in the 2nd Century. Jorunn J. Buckley refutes this by confirming scribes that predate Zazai who copied the Ginza Rabba. In addition to Edmondo Lupieri, Christa Müller-Kessler argues against the Palestinian origin theory of the Mandaeans claiming that the Mandaeans are Mesopotamian. Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan, where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin Van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, however Mandaean lead amulets have been dated to as early as the 3rd Century.
Scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Eric Segelberg, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Andrew Phillip Smith, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, G. Quispel and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy." Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins and adds:
Other names
Sabians
The Quran makes several references to the Sabians, who are identified with the Mandaeans. Sabians are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book), and several hadith feature them. Arab sources of early Quranic times (7th century) also make some references to Sabians. The word Sabian is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism with the cognate in Neo-Mandaic being 'to baptize'. In the Middle East, they are more commonly known as the , i.e. 'the Sabians', or colloquially as the . The Sabians believed they "belong to the prophet Noah"; Similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah.
The Syrian Christian writer Nicolas Siouffi wrote in 1880 that the true 'Sabians' or Subba lived in the marshes of lower Iraq. The Nestorian writer Theodore Bar Konai (in the Scholion, 792) described a "sect" of "Sabians", who were located in southern Mesopotamia.
Al-Biruni (writing at the beginning of the 11th century) said that the 'real Sabians' were "the remnants of the Jewish tribes who remained in Babylonia when the other tribes left it for Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These remaining tribes... adopted a system mixed-up of Magism and Judaism."
Nasoraeans
The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot. Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.
Relations with other groups
Dositheans
The Mandaeans are connected with the Samaritan group, the Dositheans, by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion.
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.
According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans."Part 19 Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following:
Hemerobaptists
Hemerobaptists (Heb. Tovelei Shaḥarit; 'Morning Bathers') were an ancient religious sect that practiced daily baptism. They were likely a division of the Essenes. In the Clementine Homilies (ii. 23), John the Baptist and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists. The Mandaeans have been associated with the Hemerobaptists on account of both practicing frequent baptism and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John.
Kabbalah
Nathaniel Deutsch writes:
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky suggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than with Merkabah mysticism such as cosmogony and sexual imagery. The Thousand and Twelve Questions, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and Alma Rišaia Rba link the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found in Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir.
Mandaean names for uthras have been found in Jewish magical texts. Abatur appears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur". Ptahil is found in Sefer HaRazim listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
Manichaeans
According to the Fihrist of ibn al-Nadim, the Mesopotamian prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was brought up within the Elkesaite (Elcesaite or Elchasaite) sect, this being confirmed more recently by the Cologne Mani Codex. None of the Manichaean scriptures has survived in its entirety, and it seems that the remaining fragments have not been compared to the Ginza Rabba. Mani later left the Elkasaites to found his own religion. In a comparative analysis, the Swedish Egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh indicated that Mani's Psalms of Thomas was closely related to Mandaean texts. According to E. S. Drower, "some of the most ancient Manichaean psalms, the Coptic Psalms of Thomas, were paraphrases and even word-for-word translations of Mandaic originals; prosody and phrase offering proof that the Manichaean was the borrower and not vice-versa."
An extensive discussion of the relationships between Mandaeism and Manichaeism can be found in Băncilă (2018).
Valentinians
A Mandaean baptismal formula was adopted by Valentinian Gnostics in Rome and Alexandria in the 2nd century CE.
Demographics
It is estimated that there are 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Their proportion in their native lands has collapsed because of the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria, and Jordan. There are approximately 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan.
In 2011, Al Arabiya put the number of hidden and unaccounted for Iranian Mandaeans in Iran as high as 60,000. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 and at most 10,000 people.
Many Mandaeans have formed diaspora communities outside the Middle East in Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK and especially Australia, where around 10,000 now reside, mainly around Sydney, representing 15% of the total world Mandaean population.
Approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans have emigrated to the United States, since the US State Department in 2002 granted them protective refugee status, which was also later accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans in 2007. A community estimated at 2,500 members live in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they began settling in 2008. Most emigrated from Iraq.
Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.
See also
Aramaic language
Christianity in the 1st century
Second Temple Judaism
Yazidism
Notes
References
Bibliography
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buckley. J.J. "Mandaeans" in Encyclopædia Iranica
Drower, Ethel Stefana. 2002. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Lupieri, Edmondo. (Charles Hindley, trans.) 2002. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
"A Brief Note on the Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology", Mandaean Society in America.
Newmarker, Chris, Associated Press article, "Faith under fire: Iraq war threatens extinction for ancient religious group" (headline in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, page A12, 10 February 2007)
Petermann, J. Heinrich. 2007 The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans (reprint of Thesaurus s. Liber Magni). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Segelberg, Eric, 1958, Maşbūtā. Studies in the Ritual of the Mandæan Baptism. Uppsala
Segelberg, Eric, 1970, "The Ordination of the Mandæan tarmida and its Relation to Jewish and Early Christian Ordination Rites", in Studia patristica 10.
Segelberg, Eric, Trāşa d-Tāga d-Śiślām Rabba. Studies in the rite called the Coronation of Śiślām Rabba. i: Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer (Studia Mandaica 1.) Berlin & New York 1976.
Segelberg, Eric, 1977, "Zidqa Brika and the Mandæan Problem. In Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Gnosticism. Ed. Geo Widengren and David Hellholm. Stockholm.
Segelberg, Eric, 1978, "The pihta and mambuha Prayers. To the Question of the Liturgical Development amnong the Mandæans" in Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen.
Segelberg, Eric, 1990, "Mandæan – Jewish – Christian. How does the Mandæan tradition relate to Jewish and Christian tradition? in: Segelberg, Gnostica Madaica Liturgica. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia Religionum 11.) Uppsala 1990.
Yamauchi, Edwin. 2004. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
External links
Mandaean Association Union – The Mandaean Association Union is an international federation which strives for unification of Mandaeans around the globe. Information in English and Arabic.
BBC: Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith
BBC: Mandaeans – a threatened religion
Shahāb Mirzā'i, Ablution of Mandaeans (Ghosl-e Sābe'in – غسل صابئين), in Persian, Jadid Online, 18 December 2008
Audio slideshow (showing Iranian Mandaeans performing ablution on the banks of the Karun river in Ahvaz): (4 min 25 sec)
The Worlds of Mandaean Priests, University of Exeter
Mandaean scriptures
Mandaean scriptures: Qolastā and Haran Gawaitha texts and fragments (note that the book titled Ginza Rabba is not the Ginza Rabba but is instead Qolastā, "The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans" as translated by E.S Drower).
Gnostic John the Baptist: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book: This is the complete 1924 edition of G.R.S. Mead's classic study of the Mandæan John-Book, containing excerpts from the scripture itself (in The Gnosis Archive collection – www.gnosis.org).
The Ginza Rabba (1925 German translation by Mark Lidzbarski) at the Internet Archive
The John-Book (Draša D-Iahia) – complete text in Mandaic and German translation (1905) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaic liturgies – Mandaic text (in Hebrew transliteration) and German translation (1925) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaean scriptures at the Mandaean Network's site
Books about Mandaeism available online
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead a complete version (with old and new errors), contains information on Mani, Manichaeism, Elkasaites, Nasoraeans, Sabians and other "gnostic" groups. Published in 1901.
Extracts from E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran by Lady Drower, 1937 – the entire book
Esotericism
Gnosticism
Monotheistic religions
Religion in Iran
Religion in Iraq
Ethnic religion
Mandaeans
Ancient Semitic religions | true | [
"Prewriting is the first stage of the writing process, typically followed by drafting, revision, editing and publishing. Prewriting can consist of a combination of outlining, diagramming, storyboarding, and clustering (for a technique similar to clustering, see mindmapping).\n\nMotivation and audience awareness\nPrewriting usually begins with motivation and audience awareness: what is the student or writer trying to communicate, why is it important to communicate it well and who is the audience for this communication. It helps you put your thought out onto the paper on what you want to write about. Writers usually begin with a clear idea of audience, content and the importance of their communication; sometimes, one of these needs to be clarified for the best communication. Student writers find motivation especially difficult because they are writing for a teacher or for a grade, instead of a real audience. Often teachers try to find a real audience for students by asking them to read to younger classes or to parents, by posting writing for others to read, by writing a blog, or by writing on real topics, such as a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.\n\nChoosing a topic\nOne important task in prewriting is choosing a topic and then narrowing it to a length that can be covered in the space allowed. Oral storytelling is an effective way to search for a good topic for a personal narrative. Writers can quickly tell a story and judge from the listeners' reactions whether it will be an interesting topic to write about.\n\nAnother way to find a topic is to freewrite, a method first popularized by Peter Elbow. When freewriting, you write any and every idea that comes to mind. This could also be a written exploration of your current knowledge of a broad topic, with the idea that you are looking for a narrow topic to write about. Often freewriting is timed. The writer is instructed to keep writing until the time period ends, which encourages him/her to keep writing past the pre-conceived ideas and hopefully find a more interesting topic.\n\nSeveral other methods of choosing a topic overlap with another broad concern of prewriting, that of researching or gathering information. Reading is effective in both choosing and narrowing a topic and in gathering information to include in the writing. As a writer reads other works, it expands ideas, opens possibilities and points toward options for topics and narrates specific content for the eventual writing. One traditional method of tracking the content read is to create annotated note cards with one chunk of information per card. Writers also need to document music, photos, web sites, interviews, and any other source used to prevent plagiarism.\n\nBesides reading what others also make original observations relating to a topic. This requires on-site visits, experimentation with something, or finding original or primary historical documents. Writers interact with the setting or materials and make observations about their experience. For strong writing, particular attention should be given to sensory details (what the writer hears, tastes, touches, smells and feels). While gathering material, often writers pay particular attention to the vocabulary used in discussing the topic. This would include slang, specific terminology, translations of terms, and typical phrases used. The writer often looks up definitions, synonyms and finds ways that different people use the terminology. Lists, journals, teacher-student conference, drawing illustrations, using imagination, restating a problem in multiple ways, watching videos, inventorying interests – these are some of the other methods for gathering information.\n\nDiscussing information\nAfter reading and observing, often writers need to discuss material. They might brainstorm with a group on topics or how to narrow a topic. Or, they might discuss events, ideas, and interpretations with just one other person. Oral storytelling might enter again, as the writer turns it into a narrative, or just tries out ways of using the new terminology. Sometimes writers draw or use information as basis for artwork as a way to understand the material better.\n\nNarrowing the topic\nNarrowing a topic is an important step of prewriting. For example, a personal narrative of five pages could be narrowed to an incident that occurred in a thirty-minute time period. This restricted time period means the writer must slow down and tell the event moment by moment with many details. By contrast, a five-page essay about a three-day trip would only skim the surface of the experience. The writer must consider again the goals of communication – content, audience, importance of information – but add to this a consideration of the format for the writing. He or she should consider how much space is allowed for the communication and how What can be effectively communicated within that space?\n\nOrganizing content\nAt this point, the writer needs to consider the organization of content. Outlining in a hierarchical structure is one of the typical strategies, and usually includes three or more levels in the hierarchy. Typical outlines are organized by chronology, spatial relationships, or by subtopics. Other outlines might include sequences along a continuum: big to little, old to new, etc. Clustering, a technique of creating a visual web that represents associations among ideas, is another help in creating structure, because it reveals relationships. Storyboarding is a method of drawing rough sketches to plan a picture book, a movie script, a graphic novel or other fiction.\n\nDevelopmental acquisition of organizing skills\nWhile information on the developmental sequence of organizing skills is sketchy, anecdotal information suggests that children follow this rough sequence: 1) sort into categories, 2) structure the categories into a specific order for best communication, using criteria such as which item will best work to catch readers attention in the opening, 3) within a category, sequence information into a specific order for best communication, using criteria such as what will best persuade an audience. At each level, it is important that student writers discuss their decisions; they should understand that categories for a certain topic could be structured in several different ways, all correct. A final skill acquired is the ability to omit information that is not needed in order to communicate effectively.\n\nEven sketchier is information on what types of organization are acquired first, but anecdotal information and research suggests that even young children understand chronological information, making narratives the easiest type of student writing. Persuasive writing usually requires logical thinking and studies in child development indicate that logical thinking is not present until a child is 10–12 years old, making it one of the later writing skills to acquire. Before this age, persuasive writing will rely mostly on emotional arguments.\n\nWriting trials\nWriters also use the prewriting phase to experiment with ways of expressing ideas. For oral storytelling, a writer could tell a story three times, but each time begin at a different time, include or exclude information, end at a different time or place. Writers often try writing the same information. but using different voices, in search of the best way to communicate this information or tell this story.\n\nRecursion\nPrewriting is recursive, that is, it can occur at any time in the writing process and can return several times. For example, after a first draft, a writer may need to return to an information gathering stage, or may need to discuss the material with someone, or may need to adjust the outline. While the writing process is discussed as having distinct stages, in reality, they often overlap and circle back on one another.\n\nVariables\nPrewriting varies depending on the writing task or rhetorical mode. Fiction requires more imaginative thinking while informational essays or expository writing require more organizational thinking. Persuasive writing must consider not just the information to be communicated, but how best to change the reader’s ideas or convictions. Folktales will require extensive reading of the genre to learn common conventions. Each writing task will require a different selection of prewriting strategies, used in a different order.\n\nTechnology\nTechnological tools are often used in prewriting tasks, including word processors, spreadsheets and publishing programs; however, technology appears to be more useful in the revision, editing and publishing phases of prewriting.\n\nWriting tests\nTeaching writing as a process is accepted pedagogical practice, but there is increasing concern that writing tests do not allow for the full writing process, especially cutting short the time needed for prewriting tasks.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Prewriting Lesson Plans\n Guide to Prewriting - Berkeley.edu\n\nWriting",
"In linguistics, the topic, or theme, of a sentence is what is being talked about, and the comment (rheme or focus) is what is being said about the topic. This division into old vs. new content is called information structure. It is generally agreed that clauses are divided into topic vs. comment, but in certain cases the boundary between them depends on which specific grammatical theory is being used to analyze the sentence.\n\nTopic, which is defined by pragmatic considerations, is a distinct concept from grammatical subject, which is defined by syntax. In any given sentence these may be the same, but they need not be. For example, in the sentence \"As for the little girl, the dog bit her\", the subject is \"the dog\" but the topic is \"the little girl\".\n\nTopic and subject are also distinct concepts from agent (or actor)—the \"doer\", which is defined by semantics. In English clauses with a verb in the passive voice, for instance, the topic is typically the subject, while the agent may be omitted or may follow the preposition by. For example, in the sentence \"The little girl was bitten by the dog\", \"the little girl\" is the subject and the topic, but \"the dog\" is the agent.\n\nIn some languages, word order and other syntactic phenomena are determined largely by the topic–comment (theme–rheme) structure. These languages are sometimes referred to as topic-prominent languages. Korean and Japanese are often given as examples of this.\n\nDefinitions and examples \n\nThe sentence- or clause-level \"topic\", or \"theme\", can be defined in a number of different ways. Among the most common are\nthe phrase in a clause that the rest of the clause is understood to be about,\na special position in a clause (often at the right or left-edge of the clause) where topics typically appear.\n\nIn an ordinary English clause, the subject is normally the same as the topic/theme (example 1), even in the passive voice (where the subject is a patient, not an agent: example 2):\nThe dog bit the little girl.\nThe little girl was bitten by the dog.\n\nThese clauses have different topics: the first is about the dog, and the second about the little girl.\n\nIn English it is also possible to use other sentence structures to show the topic of the sentence, as in the following:\nAs for the little girl, the dog bit her.\nIt was the little girl that the dog bit.\n\nThe case of expletives is sometimes rather complex. Consider sentences with expletives (meaningless subjects), like:\n\nIt is raining.\nThere is some room in this house.\nThere are two days in the year in which the day and the night are equal in length.\n\nIn these examples the syntactic subject position (to the left of the verb) is manned by the meaningless expletive (\"it\" or \"there\"), whose sole purpose is satisfying the extended projection principle, and is nevertheless necessary. In these sentences the topic is never the subject, but is determined pragmatically. In all these cases, the whole sentence refers to the comment part.\n\nThe relation between topic/theme and comment/rheme/focus should not be confused with the topic-comment relation in Rhetorical Structure Theory-Discourse Treebank (RST-DT corpus) where it is defined as \"a general statement or topic of discussion is introduced, after which a specific remark is made on the statement or topic\". For example: \"[As far as the pound goes,] [some traders say a slide toward support at 1.5500 may be a favorable development for the dollar this week.]\"\n\nRealization of topic–comment \nDifferent languages mark topics in different ways. Distinct intonation and word-order are the most common means. The tendency to place topicalized constituents sentence-initially (\"topic fronting\") is widespread. Topic fronting refers to placing the topic at the beginning\nof a clause regardless whether it is marked or not. Again, linguists disagree on many details.\n\nLanguages often show different kinds of grammar for sentences that introduce new topics and those that continue discussing previously established topics.\n\nWhen a sentence continues discussing a previously established topic, it is likely to use pronouns to refer to the topic. Such topics tend to be subjects. In many languages, pronouns referring to previously established topics will show pro-drop.\n\nIn English \nThe topic/theme comes first in the clause, and is typically marked out by intonation as well.\n\nIn other languages\n\n Japanese and Korean: the topic is normally marked with a postposition such as or 는/은, -(n)eun.\n In Ivorian French, the topic is marked by the postposition « là ». The topic can be a noun or a nominal group but not necessarily : « Voiture-là est jolie deh » ; « Aujourd'hui-là il fait chaud » ; « Pour toi-là n'est pas comme pour moi hein » ; « Nous qui sommes ici-là, on attend ça seulement ».\n So-called free-word order languages (e.g. Russian, Czech, to a certain extent Chinese and German) use word-order as the primary means. Usually the topic precedes focus. For example, in some Slavic languages such as Czech and Russian both orders are possible. The order with comment sentence-initial is referred as subjective (Vilém Mathesius invented the term and opposed it to objective) and expresses certain emotional involvement. The two orders are distinguished by intonation.\n In modern Hebrew, a topic may follow its comment. In this case, the syntactic subject of the sentence is an expletive זה (\"ze\", lit. \"this\"). For example, זה מאד מענין הספר הזה \"ze meʾod meʿanyen ha-sefer ha-ze\" (lit. \"This is very interesting this book\") means \"This book is very interesting\".\n In American Sign Language, a topic can be declared at the beginning of a sentence (indicated by raised eyebrows and head tilt) describing the object, then the rest of the sentence describes what happens to that object.\n\nPractical applications \nThe main application of the topic-comment structure is in the domain of speech technology, especially the design of embodied conversational agents (intonational focus assignment, relation between information structure and posture and gesture). There were some attempts to apply the theory of topic/comment for information retrieval and automatic summarization.\n\nHistory\nThe distinction between subject and topic was probably first suggested by Henri Weil in 1844. He established the\nconnection between information structure and word order. Georg von der Gabelentz distinguished psychological subject (roughly topic) and psychological object (roughly focus). In the Prague school, the dichotomy, termed topic–focus articulation, has been studied mainly by Vilém Mathesius, Jan Firbas, František Daneš, Petr Sgall and Eva Hajičová. They have been concerned mainly by its relation to intonation and word-order. Mathesius also pointed out that the topic does not provide new information but connects the sentence to the context. The work of Michael Halliday in the 1960s is responsible for developing linguistic science through his systemic functional linguistics model for English.\n\nSee also\nFocus (linguistics)\nPredicate (grammar)\nTextual function (systemic functional linguistics)\nThematic equative\nTopicalization\nTopic marker\nTopic-prominent language\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\n Givón, Talmy. 1983a. Topic continuity in discourse: A quantitative cross-language study. Amsterdam: Arshdeep Singh.\n Hajičová, Eva, Partee, Barbara H., Sgall, Petr. 1998. Topic–Focus Articulation, Tripartite Structures, and Semantic Content. Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy 71. Dordrecht: Kluwer. (ix + 216 pp.) review\n Halliday, Michael A. K. 1967–68. \"Notes on transitivity and theme in English\" (Part 1–3). Journal of Linguistics, 3 (1). 37–81; 3 (2). 199–244; 4(2). 179–215. \n Halliday, Michael A. K. (1970). \"Language structure and language function.\" In J. Lyons (Ed.), New Horizons in Linguistics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 140–65. \n Hockett, Charles F. 1958. A Course in Modern Linguistics. New York: The Macmillan Company. (pp. 191–208)\n Mathesius, Vilém. 1975. A Functional Analysis of Present Day English on a General Linguistic Basis. edited by Josef Vachek, translated by Libuše Dušková. The Hague – Paris: Mouton.\n Kadmon, Nirit. 2001. Pragmatics Blackwell Publishers. Blackwell Publishers.\n Lambrecht, Knud. 1994. Information structure and sentence form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.\n Li, Charles N., Thompson, Sandra A. 1976. Subject and Topic: A New Typology of Languages, in: Li, Charles N. (ed.) Subject and Topic, New York/San Francisco/London: Academic Press, 457–90.\n Payne, Thomas E. 1997. Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.\n Von der Gabelentz, Georg. 1891. Die Sprachwissenschaft, ihre Aufgaben, Methoden und bisherigen Ergebnisse. Leipzig: T.O. Weigel Nachfolger.\n Weil, Henri. 1887. De l'ordre des mots dans les langues anciennes comparées aux langues modernes: question de grammaire générale. 1844. Published in English as The order of words in the ancient languages compared with that of the modern languages.\n\nExternal links\n SFG page: theme – an explanation, for beginners, of theme in systemic functional grammar by Alvin Leong\n Iliev, Iv. The Russian Genitive of Negation and Its Japanese Counterpart. International Journal of Russian Studies. 1, 2018\n\nSystemic functional linguistics\nWord order\nLinguistics\nDichotomies\nSemantics"
]
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[
"Mandaeism",
"Priests and laymen",
"What role do priests play in Mandaeism?",
"There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism:",
"What are the three grades of priesthood?",
"the tarmidia \"disciples\" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria \"treasurers\" (from Old Persian ganza-bara \"id.,\" Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma \"leader of the people.",
"How does one become a priest?",
"I don't know.",
"What are some differences between priests and laymen?",
"There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests.",
"Why is there division?",
"the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans",
"Is there any other interesting information regarding this topic?",
"The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century."
]
| C_13e7bbff26bb47448571798c59997346_0 | Where do the origins trace back to? | 7 | Where do the origins of Mandaeism trace back to? | Mandaeism | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E.S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix): [T]hose amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia--Nasoreans (or, if the emphatic <s> is written as <z>, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans', Mandaiia--'gnostics.' When a man becomes a priest he leaves 'Mandaeanism' and enters tarmiduta, 'priesthood.' Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called 'Nasiruta', is reserved for a very few. Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoreans, and 'Nasorean' today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine. There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people." This last office, the highest level of the Mandaean priesthood, has lain vacant for many years. At the moment, the highest office currently occupied is that of the ganzebra, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE) and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-is-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzebra who baptizes seven or more ganzebrana may qualify for the office of risamma, though the Mandaean community has yet to rally as a whole behind any single candidate. The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. CANNOTANSWER | In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. | Mandaeism (; , ), also known as Sabianism (, ), is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet. The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ) or Sabians. The term is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is . In the Quran, the Sabians (, ) are mentioned three times, alongside Jews and Christians. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
According to Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism, Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution. Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin. However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times. Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith. Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
The religion has been practised primarily around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan Province in Iran. There are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology
The term Mandaic or Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. mandaʻ in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. maddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from Late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Other scholars derive the term mandaiia () from Mandā d-Heyyi () 'Knowledge of Life', in reference to Hayyi Rabbi ( 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God') or from the word Beth Manda, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life).
History
According to the Mandaean text the Haran Gawaita, the Nasoraean Mandaeans, who were disciples of John the Baptist, left Judea/Palestine and migrated to Media in the 1st century CE. The reason given for this was their persecution in Jerusalem. The emigrants went first to Haran (probably Harran in modern-day Turkey), or Hauran and then the Median hills in Iran, before finally settling in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection did not last with the Sassanid Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir persecuting all non-Zoroastrian religions.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush Bar-Danqa, appeared before Muslim authorities showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya Bin Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans with the Sabians who are mentioned in the Quran as being counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book). This provided Mandaeans a status as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. The importance of baptism in their rituals is particularly marked. Like the Mandaeans, the Sabians were also said to be gnostics and descendants of Noah. Mandaeans continue to be identified with Sabians to the present day.
Around 1290, a Dominican Catholic from Tuscany, Ricoldo da Montecroce, or Ricoldo Pennini, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century, based upon their preliminary reports. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman Turkish army in Bahrain.
Beliefs
Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large, and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
Principal beliefs
Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is therefore necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe.
Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light.
Immortality of the soul; the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets
According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects:
A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape.
Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form.
As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) that exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta).
The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive; his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns.
Planets and stars influence fate and human beings, and are also the places of detention after death.
A savior spirit or savior spirits which assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'.
A cult-language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified.
'Mysteries', i.e. sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest.
Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).
Ptahil (), the 'Fourth Life', alone does not constitute the demiurge, but only fills that role insofar as he is seen as the creator of the material world with the help of the evil spirit Ruha. Therefore, the material world is a mixture of 'light' and 'dark'. Ptahil is the lowest of a group of three emanations, the other two being Yushamin (, the 'Second Life' (also spelled Joshamin) and Abatur (), the 'Third Life'. Abatur's demiurgic role consists of weighing the souls of the dead to determine their fate. The role of Yushamin, the first emanation, is more obscure; wanting to create a world of his own, he was punished for opposing the King of Light ('The First Life'), but was ultimately forgiven.
While Mandaeans agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one. Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.
Chief prophets
Mandaeans recognize several prophets. Yahia-Yohanna or Yuhana Maṣbana (), known in Christianity as John the Baptist, is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.
Mandaeans do not believe in the sanctity of Abraham, Moses or Jesus, however they consider Jesus and Abraham to have been originally Mandaean. They recognize other prophetic figures from the Abrahamic religions, such as Adam, his sons Hibil (Abel) and Sheetil (Seth), and his grandson Anush (Enosh), as well as Nuh (Noah), Sam (Shem), and Ram (Aram), whom they consider to be their direct ancestors. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet.
Mandaeans also do not recognize the Holy Spirit in the Talmud and Bible in the same way. Epithets of Ruha include Ruha d-Qudsha (Holy Spirit) and Ruha Masṭanita (Ruha the seductress). She is viewed negatively as the personification of the lower, emotional, and feminine elements of the human psyche.
Scriptures
The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rabba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.
The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
Another important text is the Haran Gawaita, which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire.
Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John, which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša d-Yahya, there is the Diwan Abatur, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Book of the Zodiac (Asfar Malwāshē). Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
Mandaean ritual commentaries (esoteric exegetical literature), which are typically written in scrolls rather than codices, include:
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia)
The Coronation of the Great Šišlam
The Great "First World"
The Lesser "First World"
The Scroll of Exalted Kingship
The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, a member of the Aramaic group of dialects. It is written in the Mandaic script, a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellery script. Many Mandaean laypeople do not speak this language, although some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
Worship and rituals
The two most important ceremonies in Mandaean worship are baptism (Masbuta), and 'the ascent' (Masiqta - a mass for the dead or ascent of the soul ceremony). Unlike in Christianity, baptism is not a one-off event but is performed every Sunday, the Mandaean holy day, as a ritual of purification. Baptism usually involves full immersion in flowing water, and all rivers considered fit for baptism are called Yardena (after the River Jordan). After emerging from the water, the worshipper is anointed with holy sesame oil and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread and water. The ascent of the soul ceremony, called the masiqta, can take various forms, but usually involves a ritual meal in memory of the dead. The ceremony is believed to help the souls of the departed on their journey through purgatory to the World of Light.
Other rituals for purification include the Rishama and the Tamasha which, unlike Masbuta, can be performed without a priest. The Rishama (signing) is performed before prayers and involves washing the face and limbs while reciting specific prayers. It is performed daily, before sunrise, with hair covered and after evacuation of bowels or before religious ceremonies (see wudu). The Tamasha is a triple immersion in the river without a requirement for a priest. It is performed by women after menstruation or childbirth, men and women after sexual activity or nocturnal emission, touching a dead corpse or any other type of defilement (see tevilah). Ritual purification also applies to fruits, vegetables, pots, pans, utensils, animals for consumption and ceremonial garments (rasta). Purification for a dying person is also performed. It includes bathing involving a threefold sprinkling of river water over the person from head to feet.
A Mandaean's grave must be in the north-south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north. Similarly, Essene graves are also oriented north-south. Mandaeans must face north during prayers, which are performed three times a day. Daily prayer in Mandaeism is called brakha.
Zidqa (almsgiving) is also practiced in Mandaeism with Mandaean laypeople regularly offering alms to priests.
A Mandī () (Beth Manda) or Mashkhanna is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A must be built beside a river in order to perform Maṣbuta (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith. Modern s sometimes have a bath inside a building instead. Each Mandi is adorned with a Drabsha, which is a banner in the shape of a cross, made of olive wood half covered with a piece of white pure silk cloth and seven branches of myrtle. The drabsha is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God. The seven branches of myrtle represent the seven days of creation.
Mandaeans believe in marriage (qabin) and procreation, placing a high priority upon family life and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle. They are pacifist and egalitarian, with the earliest attested Mandaean scribe being a woman, Shlama Beth Qidra, who copied the Left Ginza sometime in the 2nd century CE. There is evidence for women priests, especially in the pre-Islamic era. God created the human body complete, so no part of it should be removed or cut off, hence circumcision is considered bodily mutilation for Mandaeans and therefore forbidden. Mandaeans abstain from strong drink and most red meat, however meat consumed by Mandaeans must be slaughtered according to the proper rituals. The approach to the slaughter of animals for consumption is always apologetic. On some days, they refrain from eating meat.
Priests
There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E. S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix):
There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia () "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā), the ganzibria () "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.", Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā) and the rišama () "leader of the people". Ganzeḇrā, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE), and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-iš-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzeḇrā who baptizes seven or more ganzeḇrānā may qualify for the office of rišama. The current rišama of the Mandaean community in Iraq is Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony. In Australia, the Mandaean rišama is Salah Chohaili.
The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera in Shushtar, Iran devastated the region and eliminated most, if not all, of the Mandaean religious authorities there. Two of the surviving acolytes (šgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood in Suq al-Shuyukh on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them.
In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, according to the Mandaean Society in America, the number of priests has been growing in recent years.
Scholarship
According to Edmondo Lupieri, as stated in his article in Encyclopædia Iranica, "The possible historical connection with John the Baptist, as seen in the newly translated Mandaean texts, convinced many (notably R. Bultmann) that it was possible, through the Mandaean traditions, to shed some new light on the history of John and on the origins of Christianity. This brought around a revival of the otherwise almost fully abandoned idea of their Palestinian origins. As the archeological discovery of Mandaean incantation bowls and lead amulets proved a pre-Islamic Mandaean presence in the southern Mesopotamia, scholars were obliged to hypothesize otherwise unknown persecutions by Jews or by Christians to explain the reason for Mandaeans' departure from Palestine." Lupieri believes Mandaeism is a post-Christian southern Mesopotamian Gnostic off-shoot and claims that Zazai d-Gawazta to be the founder of Mandaeism in the 2nd Century. Jorunn J. Buckley refutes this by confirming scribes that predate Zazai who copied the Ginza Rabba. In addition to Edmondo Lupieri, Christa Müller-Kessler argues against the Palestinian origin theory of the Mandaeans claiming that the Mandaeans are Mesopotamian. Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan, where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin Van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, however Mandaean lead amulets have been dated to as early as the 3rd Century.
Scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Eric Segelberg, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Andrew Phillip Smith, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, G. Quispel and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy." Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins and adds:
Other names
Sabians
The Quran makes several references to the Sabians, who are identified with the Mandaeans. Sabians are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book), and several hadith feature them. Arab sources of early Quranic times (7th century) also make some references to Sabians. The word Sabian is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism with the cognate in Neo-Mandaic being 'to baptize'. In the Middle East, they are more commonly known as the , i.e. 'the Sabians', or colloquially as the . The Sabians believed they "belong to the prophet Noah"; Similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah.
The Syrian Christian writer Nicolas Siouffi wrote in 1880 that the true 'Sabians' or Subba lived in the marshes of lower Iraq. The Nestorian writer Theodore Bar Konai (in the Scholion, 792) described a "sect" of "Sabians", who were located in southern Mesopotamia.
Al-Biruni (writing at the beginning of the 11th century) said that the 'real Sabians' were "the remnants of the Jewish tribes who remained in Babylonia when the other tribes left it for Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These remaining tribes... adopted a system mixed-up of Magism and Judaism."
Nasoraeans
The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot. Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.
Relations with other groups
Dositheans
The Mandaeans are connected with the Samaritan group, the Dositheans, by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion.
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.
According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans."Part 19 Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following:
Hemerobaptists
Hemerobaptists (Heb. Tovelei Shaḥarit; 'Morning Bathers') were an ancient religious sect that practiced daily baptism. They were likely a division of the Essenes. In the Clementine Homilies (ii. 23), John the Baptist and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists. The Mandaeans have been associated with the Hemerobaptists on account of both practicing frequent baptism and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John.
Kabbalah
Nathaniel Deutsch writes:
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky suggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than with Merkabah mysticism such as cosmogony and sexual imagery. The Thousand and Twelve Questions, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and Alma Rišaia Rba link the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found in Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir.
Mandaean names for uthras have been found in Jewish magical texts. Abatur appears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur". Ptahil is found in Sefer HaRazim listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
Manichaeans
According to the Fihrist of ibn al-Nadim, the Mesopotamian prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was brought up within the Elkesaite (Elcesaite or Elchasaite) sect, this being confirmed more recently by the Cologne Mani Codex. None of the Manichaean scriptures has survived in its entirety, and it seems that the remaining fragments have not been compared to the Ginza Rabba. Mani later left the Elkasaites to found his own religion. In a comparative analysis, the Swedish Egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh indicated that Mani's Psalms of Thomas was closely related to Mandaean texts. According to E. S. Drower, "some of the most ancient Manichaean psalms, the Coptic Psalms of Thomas, were paraphrases and even word-for-word translations of Mandaic originals; prosody and phrase offering proof that the Manichaean was the borrower and not vice-versa."
An extensive discussion of the relationships between Mandaeism and Manichaeism can be found in Băncilă (2018).
Valentinians
A Mandaean baptismal formula was adopted by Valentinian Gnostics in Rome and Alexandria in the 2nd century CE.
Demographics
It is estimated that there are 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Their proportion in their native lands has collapsed because of the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria, and Jordan. There are approximately 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan.
In 2011, Al Arabiya put the number of hidden and unaccounted for Iranian Mandaeans in Iran as high as 60,000. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 and at most 10,000 people.
Many Mandaeans have formed diaspora communities outside the Middle East in Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK and especially Australia, where around 10,000 now reside, mainly around Sydney, representing 15% of the total world Mandaean population.
Approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans have emigrated to the United States, since the US State Department in 2002 granted them protective refugee status, which was also later accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans in 2007. A community estimated at 2,500 members live in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they began settling in 2008. Most emigrated from Iraq.
Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.
See also
Aramaic language
Christianity in the 1st century
Second Temple Judaism
Yazidism
Notes
References
Bibliography
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buckley. J.J. "Mandaeans" in Encyclopædia Iranica
Drower, Ethel Stefana. 2002. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Lupieri, Edmondo. (Charles Hindley, trans.) 2002. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
"A Brief Note on the Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology", Mandaean Society in America.
Newmarker, Chris, Associated Press article, "Faith under fire: Iraq war threatens extinction for ancient religious group" (headline in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, page A12, 10 February 2007)
Petermann, J. Heinrich. 2007 The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans (reprint of Thesaurus s. Liber Magni). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Segelberg, Eric, 1958, Maşbūtā. Studies in the Ritual of the Mandæan Baptism. Uppsala
Segelberg, Eric, 1970, "The Ordination of the Mandæan tarmida and its Relation to Jewish and Early Christian Ordination Rites", in Studia patristica 10.
Segelberg, Eric, Trāşa d-Tāga d-Śiślām Rabba. Studies in the rite called the Coronation of Śiślām Rabba. i: Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer (Studia Mandaica 1.) Berlin & New York 1976.
Segelberg, Eric, 1977, "Zidqa Brika and the Mandæan Problem. In Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Gnosticism. Ed. Geo Widengren and David Hellholm. Stockholm.
Segelberg, Eric, 1978, "The pihta and mambuha Prayers. To the Question of the Liturgical Development amnong the Mandæans" in Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen.
Segelberg, Eric, 1990, "Mandæan – Jewish – Christian. How does the Mandæan tradition relate to Jewish and Christian tradition? in: Segelberg, Gnostica Madaica Liturgica. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia Religionum 11.) Uppsala 1990.
Yamauchi, Edwin. 2004. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
External links
Mandaean Association Union – The Mandaean Association Union is an international federation which strives for unification of Mandaeans around the globe. Information in English and Arabic.
BBC: Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith
BBC: Mandaeans – a threatened religion
Shahāb Mirzā'i, Ablution of Mandaeans (Ghosl-e Sābe'in – غسل صابئين), in Persian, Jadid Online, 18 December 2008
Audio slideshow (showing Iranian Mandaeans performing ablution on the banks of the Karun river in Ahvaz): (4 min 25 sec)
The Worlds of Mandaean Priests, University of Exeter
Mandaean scriptures
Mandaean scriptures: Qolastā and Haran Gawaitha texts and fragments (note that the book titled Ginza Rabba is not the Ginza Rabba but is instead Qolastā, "The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans" as translated by E.S Drower).
Gnostic John the Baptist: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book: This is the complete 1924 edition of G.R.S. Mead's classic study of the Mandæan John-Book, containing excerpts from the scripture itself (in The Gnosis Archive collection – www.gnosis.org).
The Ginza Rabba (1925 German translation by Mark Lidzbarski) at the Internet Archive
The John-Book (Draša D-Iahia) – complete text in Mandaic and German translation (1905) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaic liturgies – Mandaic text (in Hebrew transliteration) and German translation (1925) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaean scriptures at the Mandaean Network's site
Books about Mandaeism available online
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead a complete version (with old and new errors), contains information on Mani, Manichaeism, Elkasaites, Nasoraeans, Sabians and other "gnostic" groups. Published in 1901.
Extracts from E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran by Lady Drower, 1937 – the entire book
Esotericism
Gnosticism
Monotheistic religions
Religion in Iran
Religion in Iraq
Ethnic religion
Mandaeans
Ancient Semitic religions | false | [
"Cafres or Kafs, are people born in Réunion of Malagasy and/or African origins. They often have mixed origins.\n\nUse of the Term\nLike the Sri Lanka Kaffirs, the name Cafres is derived from the Arabic word for infidels, kafir, which in East Africa came to mean Black people specifically.\n\nIn Réunion, contrary to other countries or regions of the south-west of the Indian Ocean, the term is in common use. It means \"any individual whose phenotype goes back more or less to African and Malagasy origins, as described by the sociologist Paul Mayoka in his essay \"The image of the cafre\". The term is also used to mean ethnic groups of Southeast African origin from where slaves came.\n\nThe term is also used in the phrase 'fête des Cafres'. This is one of the names given to the annual celebration of the abolition of slavery on the island on 20 December 1848.\n\nOrigins\nThe ancestors of the Cafres were enslaved Africans. Brought from mainland Africa and Madagascar to work the sugar plantations; these were the first slaves to be introduced to the Mascarene Islands. The slaves came from Mozambique, Guinea, Senegal and Madagascar. Most trace their roots to Madagascar and East Africa (Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia) although some descended from runaways from European pirate ships.\n\nReligion\nThe Cafres are mostly Christian. Due to the loose definition of the term, the rising number of second generation Muslim Comorians and Mahorians are also considered Cafres.\n\nReferences\n\nEthnic groups in Réunion\nMultiracial affairs in Africa",
"Santa María de Benquerencia, also known as (el) Polígono, is a district (number 3) of Toledo, Spain.\n\nDetached from the city core, it lies to the east of the former, at the left-bank of the Tagus. Its origins trace back to 1964 when the earth moving works intending to built an industrial area started. However, not much after, the first neighbors installed in 1971, eventually also becoming a residential area.\n\nAs of 1 January 2018, it has a population of 22,110 inhabitants: 21,911 in the residential area neighborhood (the most populated neighborhood in the municipality) and 199 in the industrial area neighborhood.\n\nReferences \n\nToledo, Spain"
]
|
[
"Mandaeism",
"Priests and laymen",
"What role do priests play in Mandaeism?",
"There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism:",
"What are the three grades of priesthood?",
"the tarmidia \"disciples\" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria \"treasurers\" (from Old Persian ganza-bara \"id.,\" Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma \"leader of the people.",
"How does one become a priest?",
"I don't know.",
"What are some differences between priests and laymen?",
"There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests.",
"Why is there division?",
"the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans",
"Is there any other interesting information regarding this topic?",
"The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century.",
"Where do the origins trace back to?",
"In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities."
]
| C_13e7bbff26bb47448571798c59997346_0 | Did they replace the religious authorities? | 8 | Did the Mandaean religion replace the religious authorities eliminated by the cholera outbreak? | Mandaeism | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E.S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix): [T]hose amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia--Nasoreans (or, if the emphatic <s> is written as <z>, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans', Mandaiia--'gnostics.' When a man becomes a priest he leaves 'Mandaeanism' and enters tarmiduta, 'priesthood.' Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called 'Nasiruta', is reserved for a very few. Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoreans, and 'Nasorean' today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine. There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people." This last office, the highest level of the Mandaean priesthood, has lain vacant for many years. At the moment, the highest office currently occupied is that of the ganzebra, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE) and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-is-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzebra who baptizes seven or more ganzebrana may qualify for the office of risamma, though the Mandaean community has yet to rally as a whole behind any single candidate. The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. CANNOTANSWER | Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. | Mandaeism (; , ), also known as Sabianism (, ), is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet. The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ) or Sabians. The term is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is . In the Quran, the Sabians (, ) are mentioned three times, alongside Jews and Christians. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
According to Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism, Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution. Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin. However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times. Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith. Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
The religion has been practised primarily around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan Province in Iran. There are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology
The term Mandaic or Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. mandaʻ in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. maddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from Late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Other scholars derive the term mandaiia () from Mandā d-Heyyi () 'Knowledge of Life', in reference to Hayyi Rabbi ( 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God') or from the word Beth Manda, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life).
History
According to the Mandaean text the Haran Gawaita, the Nasoraean Mandaeans, who were disciples of John the Baptist, left Judea/Palestine and migrated to Media in the 1st century CE. The reason given for this was their persecution in Jerusalem. The emigrants went first to Haran (probably Harran in modern-day Turkey), or Hauran and then the Median hills in Iran, before finally settling in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection did not last with the Sassanid Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir persecuting all non-Zoroastrian religions.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush Bar-Danqa, appeared before Muslim authorities showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya Bin Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans with the Sabians who are mentioned in the Quran as being counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book). This provided Mandaeans a status as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. The importance of baptism in their rituals is particularly marked. Like the Mandaeans, the Sabians were also said to be gnostics and descendants of Noah. Mandaeans continue to be identified with Sabians to the present day.
Around 1290, a Dominican Catholic from Tuscany, Ricoldo da Montecroce, or Ricoldo Pennini, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century, based upon their preliminary reports. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman Turkish army in Bahrain.
Beliefs
Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large, and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
Principal beliefs
Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is therefore necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe.
Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light.
Immortality of the soul; the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets
According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects:
A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape.
Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form.
As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) that exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta).
The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive; his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns.
Planets and stars influence fate and human beings, and are also the places of detention after death.
A savior spirit or savior spirits which assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'.
A cult-language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified.
'Mysteries', i.e. sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest.
Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).
Ptahil (), the 'Fourth Life', alone does not constitute the demiurge, but only fills that role insofar as he is seen as the creator of the material world with the help of the evil spirit Ruha. Therefore, the material world is a mixture of 'light' and 'dark'. Ptahil is the lowest of a group of three emanations, the other two being Yushamin (, the 'Second Life' (also spelled Joshamin) and Abatur (), the 'Third Life'. Abatur's demiurgic role consists of weighing the souls of the dead to determine their fate. The role of Yushamin, the first emanation, is more obscure; wanting to create a world of his own, he was punished for opposing the King of Light ('The First Life'), but was ultimately forgiven.
While Mandaeans agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one. Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.
Chief prophets
Mandaeans recognize several prophets. Yahia-Yohanna or Yuhana Maṣbana (), known in Christianity as John the Baptist, is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.
Mandaeans do not believe in the sanctity of Abraham, Moses or Jesus, however they consider Jesus and Abraham to have been originally Mandaean. They recognize other prophetic figures from the Abrahamic religions, such as Adam, his sons Hibil (Abel) and Sheetil (Seth), and his grandson Anush (Enosh), as well as Nuh (Noah), Sam (Shem), and Ram (Aram), whom they consider to be their direct ancestors. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet.
Mandaeans also do not recognize the Holy Spirit in the Talmud and Bible in the same way. Epithets of Ruha include Ruha d-Qudsha (Holy Spirit) and Ruha Masṭanita (Ruha the seductress). She is viewed negatively as the personification of the lower, emotional, and feminine elements of the human psyche.
Scriptures
The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rabba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.
The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
Another important text is the Haran Gawaita, which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire.
Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John, which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša d-Yahya, there is the Diwan Abatur, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Book of the Zodiac (Asfar Malwāshē). Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
Mandaean ritual commentaries (esoteric exegetical literature), which are typically written in scrolls rather than codices, include:
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia)
The Coronation of the Great Šišlam
The Great "First World"
The Lesser "First World"
The Scroll of Exalted Kingship
The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, a member of the Aramaic group of dialects. It is written in the Mandaic script, a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellery script. Many Mandaean laypeople do not speak this language, although some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
Worship and rituals
The two most important ceremonies in Mandaean worship are baptism (Masbuta), and 'the ascent' (Masiqta - a mass for the dead or ascent of the soul ceremony). Unlike in Christianity, baptism is not a one-off event but is performed every Sunday, the Mandaean holy day, as a ritual of purification. Baptism usually involves full immersion in flowing water, and all rivers considered fit for baptism are called Yardena (after the River Jordan). After emerging from the water, the worshipper is anointed with holy sesame oil and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread and water. The ascent of the soul ceremony, called the masiqta, can take various forms, but usually involves a ritual meal in memory of the dead. The ceremony is believed to help the souls of the departed on their journey through purgatory to the World of Light.
Other rituals for purification include the Rishama and the Tamasha which, unlike Masbuta, can be performed without a priest. The Rishama (signing) is performed before prayers and involves washing the face and limbs while reciting specific prayers. It is performed daily, before sunrise, with hair covered and after evacuation of bowels or before religious ceremonies (see wudu). The Tamasha is a triple immersion in the river without a requirement for a priest. It is performed by women after menstruation or childbirth, men and women after sexual activity or nocturnal emission, touching a dead corpse or any other type of defilement (see tevilah). Ritual purification also applies to fruits, vegetables, pots, pans, utensils, animals for consumption and ceremonial garments (rasta). Purification for a dying person is also performed. It includes bathing involving a threefold sprinkling of river water over the person from head to feet.
A Mandaean's grave must be in the north-south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north. Similarly, Essene graves are also oriented north-south. Mandaeans must face north during prayers, which are performed three times a day. Daily prayer in Mandaeism is called brakha.
Zidqa (almsgiving) is also practiced in Mandaeism with Mandaean laypeople regularly offering alms to priests.
A Mandī () (Beth Manda) or Mashkhanna is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A must be built beside a river in order to perform Maṣbuta (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith. Modern s sometimes have a bath inside a building instead. Each Mandi is adorned with a Drabsha, which is a banner in the shape of a cross, made of olive wood half covered with a piece of white pure silk cloth and seven branches of myrtle. The drabsha is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God. The seven branches of myrtle represent the seven days of creation.
Mandaeans believe in marriage (qabin) and procreation, placing a high priority upon family life and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle. They are pacifist and egalitarian, with the earliest attested Mandaean scribe being a woman, Shlama Beth Qidra, who copied the Left Ginza sometime in the 2nd century CE. There is evidence for women priests, especially in the pre-Islamic era. God created the human body complete, so no part of it should be removed or cut off, hence circumcision is considered bodily mutilation for Mandaeans and therefore forbidden. Mandaeans abstain from strong drink and most red meat, however meat consumed by Mandaeans must be slaughtered according to the proper rituals. The approach to the slaughter of animals for consumption is always apologetic. On some days, they refrain from eating meat.
Priests
There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E. S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix):
There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia () "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā), the ganzibria () "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.", Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā) and the rišama () "leader of the people". Ganzeḇrā, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE), and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-iš-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzeḇrā who baptizes seven or more ganzeḇrānā may qualify for the office of rišama. The current rišama of the Mandaean community in Iraq is Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony. In Australia, the Mandaean rišama is Salah Chohaili.
The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera in Shushtar, Iran devastated the region and eliminated most, if not all, of the Mandaean religious authorities there. Two of the surviving acolytes (šgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood in Suq al-Shuyukh on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them.
In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, according to the Mandaean Society in America, the number of priests has been growing in recent years.
Scholarship
According to Edmondo Lupieri, as stated in his article in Encyclopædia Iranica, "The possible historical connection with John the Baptist, as seen in the newly translated Mandaean texts, convinced many (notably R. Bultmann) that it was possible, through the Mandaean traditions, to shed some new light on the history of John and on the origins of Christianity. This brought around a revival of the otherwise almost fully abandoned idea of their Palestinian origins. As the archeological discovery of Mandaean incantation bowls and lead amulets proved a pre-Islamic Mandaean presence in the southern Mesopotamia, scholars were obliged to hypothesize otherwise unknown persecutions by Jews or by Christians to explain the reason for Mandaeans' departure from Palestine." Lupieri believes Mandaeism is a post-Christian southern Mesopotamian Gnostic off-shoot and claims that Zazai d-Gawazta to be the founder of Mandaeism in the 2nd Century. Jorunn J. Buckley refutes this by confirming scribes that predate Zazai who copied the Ginza Rabba. In addition to Edmondo Lupieri, Christa Müller-Kessler argues against the Palestinian origin theory of the Mandaeans claiming that the Mandaeans are Mesopotamian. Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan, where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin Van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, however Mandaean lead amulets have been dated to as early as the 3rd Century.
Scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Eric Segelberg, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Andrew Phillip Smith, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, G. Quispel and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy." Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins and adds:
Other names
Sabians
The Quran makes several references to the Sabians, who are identified with the Mandaeans. Sabians are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book), and several hadith feature them. Arab sources of early Quranic times (7th century) also make some references to Sabians. The word Sabian is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism with the cognate in Neo-Mandaic being 'to baptize'. In the Middle East, they are more commonly known as the , i.e. 'the Sabians', or colloquially as the . The Sabians believed they "belong to the prophet Noah"; Similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah.
The Syrian Christian writer Nicolas Siouffi wrote in 1880 that the true 'Sabians' or Subba lived in the marshes of lower Iraq. The Nestorian writer Theodore Bar Konai (in the Scholion, 792) described a "sect" of "Sabians", who were located in southern Mesopotamia.
Al-Biruni (writing at the beginning of the 11th century) said that the 'real Sabians' were "the remnants of the Jewish tribes who remained in Babylonia when the other tribes left it for Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These remaining tribes... adopted a system mixed-up of Magism and Judaism."
Nasoraeans
The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot. Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.
Relations with other groups
Dositheans
The Mandaeans are connected with the Samaritan group, the Dositheans, by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion.
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.
According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans."Part 19 Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following:
Hemerobaptists
Hemerobaptists (Heb. Tovelei Shaḥarit; 'Morning Bathers') were an ancient religious sect that practiced daily baptism. They were likely a division of the Essenes. In the Clementine Homilies (ii. 23), John the Baptist and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists. The Mandaeans have been associated with the Hemerobaptists on account of both practicing frequent baptism and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John.
Kabbalah
Nathaniel Deutsch writes:
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky suggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than with Merkabah mysticism such as cosmogony and sexual imagery. The Thousand and Twelve Questions, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and Alma Rišaia Rba link the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found in Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir.
Mandaean names for uthras have been found in Jewish magical texts. Abatur appears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur". Ptahil is found in Sefer HaRazim listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
Manichaeans
According to the Fihrist of ibn al-Nadim, the Mesopotamian prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was brought up within the Elkesaite (Elcesaite or Elchasaite) sect, this being confirmed more recently by the Cologne Mani Codex. None of the Manichaean scriptures has survived in its entirety, and it seems that the remaining fragments have not been compared to the Ginza Rabba. Mani later left the Elkasaites to found his own religion. In a comparative analysis, the Swedish Egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh indicated that Mani's Psalms of Thomas was closely related to Mandaean texts. According to E. S. Drower, "some of the most ancient Manichaean psalms, the Coptic Psalms of Thomas, were paraphrases and even word-for-word translations of Mandaic originals; prosody and phrase offering proof that the Manichaean was the borrower and not vice-versa."
An extensive discussion of the relationships between Mandaeism and Manichaeism can be found in Băncilă (2018).
Valentinians
A Mandaean baptismal formula was adopted by Valentinian Gnostics in Rome and Alexandria in the 2nd century CE.
Demographics
It is estimated that there are 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Their proportion in their native lands has collapsed because of the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria, and Jordan. There are approximately 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan.
In 2011, Al Arabiya put the number of hidden and unaccounted for Iranian Mandaeans in Iran as high as 60,000. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 and at most 10,000 people.
Many Mandaeans have formed diaspora communities outside the Middle East in Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK and especially Australia, where around 10,000 now reside, mainly around Sydney, representing 15% of the total world Mandaean population.
Approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans have emigrated to the United States, since the US State Department in 2002 granted them protective refugee status, which was also later accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans in 2007. A community estimated at 2,500 members live in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they began settling in 2008. Most emigrated from Iraq.
Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.
See also
Aramaic language
Christianity in the 1st century
Second Temple Judaism
Yazidism
Notes
References
Bibliography
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buckley. J.J. "Mandaeans" in Encyclopædia Iranica
Drower, Ethel Stefana. 2002. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Lupieri, Edmondo. (Charles Hindley, trans.) 2002. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
"A Brief Note on the Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology", Mandaean Society in America.
Newmarker, Chris, Associated Press article, "Faith under fire: Iraq war threatens extinction for ancient religious group" (headline in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, page A12, 10 February 2007)
Petermann, J. Heinrich. 2007 The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans (reprint of Thesaurus s. Liber Magni). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Segelberg, Eric, 1958, Maşbūtā. Studies in the Ritual of the Mandæan Baptism. Uppsala
Segelberg, Eric, 1970, "The Ordination of the Mandæan tarmida and its Relation to Jewish and Early Christian Ordination Rites", in Studia patristica 10.
Segelberg, Eric, Trāşa d-Tāga d-Śiślām Rabba. Studies in the rite called the Coronation of Śiślām Rabba. i: Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer (Studia Mandaica 1.) Berlin & New York 1976.
Segelberg, Eric, 1977, "Zidqa Brika and the Mandæan Problem. In Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Gnosticism. Ed. Geo Widengren and David Hellholm. Stockholm.
Segelberg, Eric, 1978, "The pihta and mambuha Prayers. To the Question of the Liturgical Development amnong the Mandæans" in Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen.
Segelberg, Eric, 1990, "Mandæan – Jewish – Christian. How does the Mandæan tradition relate to Jewish and Christian tradition? in: Segelberg, Gnostica Madaica Liturgica. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia Religionum 11.) Uppsala 1990.
Yamauchi, Edwin. 2004. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
External links
Mandaean Association Union – The Mandaean Association Union is an international federation which strives for unification of Mandaeans around the globe. Information in English and Arabic.
BBC: Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith
BBC: Mandaeans – a threatened religion
Shahāb Mirzā'i, Ablution of Mandaeans (Ghosl-e Sābe'in – غسل صابئين), in Persian, Jadid Online, 18 December 2008
Audio slideshow (showing Iranian Mandaeans performing ablution on the banks of the Karun river in Ahvaz): (4 min 25 sec)
The Worlds of Mandaean Priests, University of Exeter
Mandaean scriptures
Mandaean scriptures: Qolastā and Haran Gawaitha texts and fragments (note that the book titled Ginza Rabba is not the Ginza Rabba but is instead Qolastā, "The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans" as translated by E.S Drower).
Gnostic John the Baptist: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book: This is the complete 1924 edition of G.R.S. Mead's classic study of the Mandæan John-Book, containing excerpts from the scripture itself (in The Gnosis Archive collection – www.gnosis.org).
The Ginza Rabba (1925 German translation by Mark Lidzbarski) at the Internet Archive
The John-Book (Draša D-Iahia) – complete text in Mandaic and German translation (1905) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaic liturgies – Mandaic text (in Hebrew transliteration) and German translation (1925) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaean scriptures at the Mandaean Network's site
Books about Mandaeism available online
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead a complete version (with old and new errors), contains information on Mani, Manichaeism, Elkasaites, Nasoraeans, Sabians and other "gnostic" groups. Published in 1901.
Extracts from E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran by Lady Drower, 1937 – the entire book
Esotericism
Gnosticism
Monotheistic religions
Religion in Iran
Religion in Iraq
Ethnic religion
Mandaeans
Ancient Semitic religions | false | [
"Clerical Discipline was an incentive by church authorities to regulate the behaviour of local clergy in early modern England.\n\nFollowing the sixteenth-century religious reformations, see Reformation, there was an increasing concern over the educational background and behaviour of local clergy in England. Many in authority held the view that the Catholic Church had left an inheritance of ministers that shared far too many cultural traits with their parishioners and were, therefore, unfit to provide pastoral care and spiritual instruction in a godly community.\n\nThe records of church courts document much litigation taken to reprimand drunken or sexually immoral priests. Depositions of many witnesses provide lurid detail of the alleged offences. These actions, which could be brought by church authorities or concerned parishioners provide an instructive window into the politics of Reformation at the level of the parish. Did these parishioners have genuine grievances over the quality of religious service provided by their priest or were these actions taken to damage the career of unpopular clergymen. Some were evidently unpopular because they didn't share the confessional faith of their parishioners, some because they had been sent from London, Cambridge and Oxford to replace local clergy and some appear, quite simply, to have been reprobate priests.\n\nReferences\n\nHistory of the Church of England",
"Myanmar has been under the rule of repressive authoritarian military regimes since 1962. After the 1974 Socialist constitution was suspended in 1988, constitutional protection of religious freedom has not existed, after the bloody suppression of the 8888 Uprising. The authorities generally permitted most adherents of registered religious groups to worship as they choose; however, the government imposed restrictions on certain religious activities and is accused of abusing the right to freedom of religion.\n\nBasic facts\n\nMyanmar has a population of 54 million (2009 est.), of which 90% profess Theravada Buddhism (49 million), 4% Christianity (1.65 million Baptists and 550,000 Roman Catholics), 4% Islam (2.2 million), 1% Hinduism (550,000), and the remaining 1% consists of Mahayana Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism and Animism.\n\nAccusations\n\nThe government is accused of actively promoting Theravada Buddhism (practised by 90% of the population) over other religions, particularly among members of ethnic minorities. Christian and Islamic groups continued to have trouble obtaining permission to repair existing places of worship or build new ones. Anti-Muslim violence continued, as did the close monitoring of Muslim activities. Although there were no new reports of forced conversions of non-Buddhists, the government applied pressure on students and poor youth to convert to Buddhism. Adherence or conversion to Buddhism is generally a prerequisite for promotion to senior government and military ranks.\n\nEvangelism is banned, although Sunday schools and church activities are not affected.\n\nReligious demography\n\nThe popular form of Buddhism in Myanmar is Theravada Buddhism with a mixture of astrology, numerology, fortune-telling, and veneration of indigenous pre-Buddhist era deities called \"nats\". Buddhist monks, including novices, number more than 400,000 and depend on the laity for their material needs, including clothing and daily donations of food. A small population of Buddhist nuns also exist. The principal minority religious groups include Christian groups (mostly Baptists (~70%) and Roman Catholics (~25%), and a small number of Anglicans, and an array of other Protestant denominations), Muslims (mostly Sunni), Hindus, and practitioners of traditional Chinese and indigenous religions. According to official statistics, almost 90 percent of the population practice Buddhism, 6 percent practice Christianity, and 4 percent practice Islam. The US government claims that the numbers might be distorted in favor of Buddhists, however, this cannot be verified. There is also a tiny Jewish community in Yangon, of about 25 adherents and a synagogue, but there is no resident rabbi to conduct services.\n\nThe country is ethnically diverse, with some correlation between ethnicity and religion. Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion among the majority Burman ethnic group and among the Shan, Arakanese, and Mon ethnic minorities of the eastern, western, and southern regions. Christianity is the dominant religion among the Chin ethnic group of the Western region and has some adherents amongst the Kachin and Naga ethnic groups, whom continue to practice traditional indigenous religions. Christianity is also practised widely among the Karen and Karenni ethnic groups of the southern and eastern regions, although many Karen and Karenni are Buddhist. In addition, some ethnic Indians are Christian. Hinduism is practised chiefly by Burmese of Indian origin, who are concentrated in major cities and in the south central region. Islam is practised widely in Rakhine State, where it is the dominant religion of the Rohingya minority, and in Rangoon, Ayeyarwady, Magway, and Mandalay Divisions. Some Burmans, Indians, and ethnic Bengalis also practice Islam. Chinese ethnic minorities generally practice traditional Chinese religions. Traditional indigenous beliefs are practised widely among smaller ethnic groups in the highland regions. Practices drawn from those indigenous beliefs persist widely in popular Buddhist rituals, especially in rural areas.\n\nStatus of religious freedom\n\nLegal and policy framework\n\nHighly authoritarian military regimes have ruled the country since 1962. The current military government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has governed without a constitution or legislature since 1988. Most adherents of religious groups that register with the authorities generally are allowed to worship as they choose; however, the Government imposes restrictions on certain religious activities and frequently abuses the right to religious freedom.\n\nAlthough about 90% of the populace adhere to Theravada Buddhism and another 1% to Mahayana Buddhism, there is no official state religion. However, since independence, successive governments, both civilian and military, have supported and associated themselves conspicuously with Buddhism.\nMost famous of all would be the first prime minister of independent Myanmar, U Nu. In 1961 the Government's push to make Buddhism the state religion failed due to protests by religious minorities. The Ministry of Religious Affairs includes a Department for the Promotion and Propagation of Sasana (Buddhist teaching).\n\nState-controlled news media frequently depict or describe government officials paying homage to Buddhist monks, making donations at pagodas throughout the country, officiating at ceremonies to open, improve, restore, or maintain pagodas, and organising ostensibly voluntary \"people's donations\" of money, food, and uncompensated labour to build or refurbish Buddhist religious shrines throughout the country. State-owned newspapers routinely feature front-page banner slogans quoting from Buddhist scriptures. The Government has published books of Buddhist religious instruction.\n\nThe Department for the Perpetuation and Propagation of the Sasana handles the Government's relations with Buddhist monks and Buddhist schools. The Government continues to fund two state Sangha universities in Yangon and Mandalay to train Buddhist monks under the control of the state-sponsored State Monk Coordination Committee (\"Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee\" or SMNC). The state-sponsored International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University (ITBMU) in Yangon, was opened in 1998 to \"share the country's knowledge of Buddhism with the people of the world.\" The main language of instruction is English. The University also teaches non-citizens about Theravada Buddhism.\n\nSince the 1960s Christian and Islamic groups have had difficulty importing religious literature into the country. All publications, religious and secular, remain subjected to control and censorship. It is illegal to import translations of the Bible in indigenous languages. Officials have occasionally allowed local printing or photocopying of limited copies of religious materials, including the Qur'an (with the notation that they were for internal use only) in indigenous languages without prior approval by government censors.\n\nVirtually all organisations, religious or otherwise, must register with the Government. A government directive exempts \"genuine\" religious organisations from official registration; however, in practice only registered organisations can buy or sell property or open bank accounts. These requirements lead most religious organisations to seek registration. Religious organisations register with the Ministry of Home Affairs with the endorsement of the Ministry for Religious Affairs. Leaders of registered religious groups have more freedom to travel than leaders of unrecognised organizations and members of their congregations.\n\nReligious affiliation is indicated on government-issued identification cards that citizens have. Citizens are also required to indicate their religion on official application forms, such as passports.\n\nMuslims in Rakhine State, on the western coast, and particularly those of the Rohingya minority group, continued to experience the severest forms of legal, economic, educational, and social discrimination. The Government denies citizenship status to Rohingyas because their ancestors allegedly did not reside in the country at the start of British colonial rule, as required by the country's citizenship law. The Muslims assert that their presence in the area predates the British arrival by several centuries. On 2 April 2007, five U.N. Special Rapporteurs and an Independent Expert called on the Government to repeal or amend its 1982 Citizenship Law to insure compliance with international human rights obligations. Without citizenship status, Rohingyas do not have access to secondary education in state-run schools because the Government reserves secondary education for citizens only,\n\nOfficial public holidays include numerous Buddhist holy days in accordance to the Buddhist majority, as well as some Christian, Hindu, and Islamic holy days.\n\nThe Government made some efforts to promote mutual understanding among practitioners of different religious groups.\n\nIn October 2006 Minister of Religious Affairs Brigadier General Thura Myint Maung, invited leaders from the four main religious groups (Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Hindu) to a meeting in which the Minister denounced the 2006 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. He told the religious leaders they knew there was freedom of religion in the country and claimed the Government always granted permits for religious gatherings and permitted renovations of mosques and churches. The Muslim leaders reportedly asked the Minister to unseal mosques in the central region that the Government closed following communal riots in earlier years and for permission to complete madrassahs that were under construction. The leaders reportedly were required to sign statements that they enjoyed religious freedom and were requested to write a letter stating that their religious communities were allowed to practice their faith freely in the country, which the ministry would display on its official website. During a discussion that followed, the representatives of the Islamic Religious Affairs Council (IRAC) stated that while there had been progress on some religious matters, there was room for further improvement. The Minister reportedly stopped further discussion and adjourned the meeting abruptly.\n\nRestrictions on religious freedom\n\nThe Government continued to show preference for Theravada Buddhism while controlling the organisation and restricting the activities and expression of the Buddhist clergy (Sangha), although some monks have resisted such control. Based on the 1990 Sangha Organization Law, the Government banned any organisation of Buddhist monks other than the nine state-recognized monastic orders. These nine orders submit to the authority of the SMNC, the members of which are indirectly elected by monks. Violations of this ban are punishable by immediate public defrocking, and often by criminal penalties.\n\nAccording to state-owned media reports, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a government-sponsored mass organisation in which participation often is compulsory, organised courses in Buddhist culture attended by millions of persons. It was not possible to verify this claim independently.\n\nThere are reports that the ITBMU, while in principle open to the public, accepted only candidates who were approved by government authorities or recommended by a senior, progovernment Buddhist abbot.\n\nThe Government infiltrated or monitored the meetings and activities of virtually all organisations, including religious organisations. The meetings and activities of religious groups were also subject to broad government restrictions on freedom of expression and association. The Government subjected all media, including religious publications, and on occasion sermons, to control and censorship.\n\nDuring the reporting period, the Government harassed a group of Buddhist worshippers who visited the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon every Tuesday, the day of the week that Aung San Suu Kyi was born, to pray at the Tuesday pillar for her release and the release of all political prisoners in the country. Authorities sometimes used the pro-regime USDA to block the group from entering the pagoda grounds and make them pray outside the entrance or to shout and clap loudly to drown out their prayers. After Naw Ohn Hla, the spokesperson for the worshippers, protested to the pagoda authorities and wrote letters to regime leaders, local authorities again allowed the group access to the pagoda to pray; however, authorities ordered the pagoda janitors to throw buckets of water on the platform around the Tuesday pillar so that the worshippers would have to kneel in water. They also played music through loudspeakers at full volume to drown out the sound of the group's prayers. Despite official harassment, including physical and verbal abuse by the pro-regime USDA and the People's Militia (Myanmar), the worshippers continued to pray every Tuesday during the reporting period. In May 2007 many more groups began praying at different pagodas on Tuesdays for Aung San Suu Kyi's release upon expiration of her detention order on 27 May.\n\nAuthorities frequently refused to approve requests for gatherings to celebrate traditional Christian and Islamic holidays and restricted the number of Muslims that could gather in one place. For instance, in satellite towns surrounding Rangoon, Muslims are only allowed to gather for worship and religious training during the major Muslim holidays. In late 2006 a prominent Muslim religious organisation planned to hold a golden jubilee in Mawlamyine, Mon State, to celebrate the founding of their organisation. After they requested permission to hold the event, the local Division Commander, Brigadier General Thet Naing Win, called representatives of all non-Buddhist religious organisations in the area to a meeting. He informed them that permission would not be granted to hold any religious functions or ceremonies due to security reasons. The Muslim organisation then altered its plans and held a low-profile ceremony to honour pilgrims who had been granted official permission by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to attend the Hajj.\n\nOn 22 March 2007, authorities detained Htin Kyaw, when he publicly protested the denial of his religious freedom to become a monk. Htin Kyaw had participated in earlier demonstrations against deteriorating economic and social conditions. Rangoon authorities then enforced a 1995 prohibition against any opposition political party member from being ordained as a monk or religious leader and forbade the abbot of a monastery in North Okkalapa in Rangoon to ordain Htin Kyaw.\n\nOn 23 January 2007, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) released a report that documented the Government's restrictions, discrimination, and persecution against Christians in the country for more than a decade. Subsequently, the Ministry of Religious Affairs pressured religious organisations in the country to publish statements in government-controlled media denying they had any connection with CSW or to condemn the report, and to reject the idea that religious discrimination existed in the country.\n\nThe Government continued to discriminate against members of minority religious groups, restricting their educational, proselytising, and church-building activities.\n\nGovernment authorities continued to prohibit Christian clergy from proselytising in some areas. Christian groups reported that several times during the period covered by this report, local authorities denied applications for residency permits of known Christian ministers attempting to move into a new township. The groups indicated this was not a widespread practice, but depended on the individual community and local council. In some instances, local authorities reportedly confiscated National Identity Cards of new converts to Christianity. Despite this, Christian groups reported that church membership grew, even in predominantly Buddhist regions of the country.\n\nDuring the reporting period, authorities in the Rangoon area closed several house churches because they did not have proper authorisation to hold religious meetings. Other Rangoon home churches remained operational only after paying bribes to local officials. At the same time, the authorities made it difficult, although not impossible, to obtain approval for the construction of \"authorized\" churches.\n\nOn 1 October 2006, the Agape Zomi Baptist Church, with more than 1,000 members, had to stop its weekly services at Asia Plaza Hotel in Rangoon after the hotel management refused to continue renting them a conference room. The hotel management claimed the township authorities had ordered them to stop renting its facility to the group, which had worshipped at the hotel for approximately one year.\n\nIn August 2006 NaSaKa, the Government's border security force, ordered eight Rohingya Muslim communities in Rathedaung Township, Rakhine State to close their religious centres, including 5 mosques, 4 madrassahs, 18 moqtobs (premadrassahs), and 3 hafez khanas (Qur'an reciting centres). Later, local authorities allowed two madrassahs to reopen. NaSaKa ordered the closures because it stated that the institutions were not officially registered. According to Muslim sources, government officials have not allowed any madrassahs to register officially. Muslim religious organisations are appealing the closures.\n\nOn 19 August 2006, government officials prohibited a Baptist church in Rangoon from conducting a literacy workshop for its youth. The authorities stated that the church must seek advance permission to hold such programs, although the church had held similar programs for the past four years without needing permission. Authorities also reportedly censored the same Baptist church's weekly order of service.\n\nIn February 2006 Insein Township authorities also ordered a Chin evangelist to stop holding worship services in his house church in Aung San ward. In November 2005 authorities in Insein Township, Rangoon, pressured evangelical Christians of the 20-year-old Phawkkan Evangelical Church to sign \"no worship\" agreements. Some signed the agreements out of fear, but others refused. In February 2006 the authorities issued an order banning worship at the church.\n\nThe Religious Affairs Ministry has stipulated in the past that permission to construct new religious buildings \"depends upon the population of the location;\" however, there appeared to be no correlation between the construction of pagodas and the demand for additional places of Buddhist worship. In most regions of the country, Christian and Islamic groups that sought to build small places of worship on side streets or other inconspicuous locations were able to do so only with informal approval from local authorities; however, informal approval from local authorities created a tenuous legal situation. When local authorities or conditions have changed, informal approvals for construction have been rescinded abruptly and construction halted. In some cases, authorities demolished existing church buildings.\n\nChristian groups continued to have trouble obtaining permission to buy land or build new churches in most regions. Sometimes the authorities refused because they claimed the churches did not possess proper property deeds, but access to official land titles was extremely difficult due to the country's complex land laws and government title to most land. In some areas, permission to repair existing places of worship was easier to acquire. Muslims reported that the authorities banned them from constructing new mosques anywhere in the country, and they had great difficulty obtaining permission to repair or expand their existing structures. Historical mosques in Mawlamyine, Mon State, Sittwe, Rakhine State, and other areas of the country continued to deteriorate because authorities would not allow routine maintenance. Some authorities reportedly destroyed informal houses of worship or unauthorised religious construction they discovered. In early 2007, Muslims in Northern Rakhine State, repaired a mosque that had been severely damaged in a storm. When the authorities discovered this, they destroyed the repairs that had been made to the mosque. Buddhist groups have not experienced similar difficulties in obtaining permission to build new pagodas, monasteries, or community religious halls.\n\nDuring the reporting period, the Catholic Church established new dioceses in Kachin and Shan states. The bishop of the new diocese in Pekon, Shan State, decided to build his residence on a plot of land long owned by the church. Brigadier General Myo Lwin, commander of Military Operation Command Seven at Pekon, ordered the partially built structure demolished, confiscated the land, and extended his own compound fence to enclose the church property. Despite appeals to higher authorities, the Church has not recovered its property.\n\nThe Myanmar Institute of Theology (MIT) in Insein Township, Rangoon is the premier seminary for Baptists throughout the country. To accommodate a rapidly increasing enrolment, MIT raised funds to build a new classroom building and purchase building supplies. At the last minute, government officials refused to grant a building permit. Four years later, piles of construction materials still litter the campus where they gather mildew and rust. In contrast, the Government openly supports Buddhist seminaries and permits them to build large campuses.\n\nSome Christians in Chin State claimed that the authorities have not authorised the construction of any new churches since 1997. However, newly built churches are evident in several parts of the state. A Christian leader in Chin State stated that to obtain permission to repair or build a church he first had to obtain permission from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs (NaTaLa), the Immigration Department and the Township Peace and Development Committee. In Rangoon, Mandalay, and elsewhere, authorities allowed construction of new community centres by various Christian groups only if they agreed not to hold services there or erect Christian signs.\n\nIt remained extremely difficult for Muslims to get permission to repair existing mosques, although internal renovations were allowed in some cases. In some parts of Rakhine State, authorities cordoned off mosques and forbade Muslims to worship in them.\n\nState censorship authorities continued to enforce special restrictions on local publication of the Bible, the Qur'an, and Christian and Islamic publications in general. The most onerous restriction was a list of more than 100 prohibited words that the censors would not allow in Christian or Islamic literature because they are \"indigenous terms\" or derived from the Pali language long used in Buddhist literature. Many of these words have been used and accepted by some of the country's Christian and Islamic groups since the colonial period. Organizations that translate and publish non-Buddhist religious texts were appealing these restrictions. In addition, censors have sometimes objected to passages of the Old Testament and the Qur'an that they believe approve the use of violence against nonbelievers. There have been no reports of arrests or prosecutions for possession of any traditional religious literature in recent years.\n\nAuthorities also restricted the quantity of bibles and Qur'ans brought into the country. During the reporting period, however, individuals continued to carry Bibles and Qur'ans into the country in small quantities for personal use. There were no reports that authorities intercepted or confiscated Qur'ans at border entry points, but religious leaders complained that postal workers steal them to sell on the black market.\n\nIn general, the Government has not allowed permanent foreign religious missions to operate in the country since the mid-1960s, when it expelled nearly all foreign missionaries and nationalised all private schools and hospitals, which were extensive and affiliated mostly with Christian religious organisations. The Government is not known to have paid any compensation in connection with these extensive confiscations. Christian groups, including Catholics and Protestants, have brought in foreign clergy and religious workers for visits as tourists, but they have been careful to ensure that the Government did not perceive their activities as proselytising. Some Christian theological seminaries also continued to operate, as did several Bible schools and madrassahs. The Government has allowed some members of foreign religious groups, such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), to enter the country to provide humanitarian assistance or English language training to government officials. Some of these groups did not register with the Myanmar Council of Churches, but were able to conduct religious services without government interference.\n\nThe Government allowed members of all religious groups to establish and maintain links with coreligionists in other countries and to travel abroad for religious purposes, subject to the country's restrictive passport and visa issuance practices, foreign exchange controls, and government monitoring, which extended to all international activities by all citizens regardless of religion. The Government sometimes expedited its burdensome passport issuance procedures for Muslims making the Hajj or Buddhists going on pilgrimage to Bodhgaya, India, although it limited the number of pilgrims. In 2006 government officials allowed approximately 3,000 Muslims to participate in the Hajj. The procedure reportedly became more cumbersome in 2006 due to the relocation of most government offices from Rangoon to Nay Pyi Taw. Observers speculate that had this not been the case, more Muslims would have gone. During the period covered by this report, immigration and passport officials continued to use the occasion of the Hajj to extort bribes from would-be travellers. Government and private travel agencies processed approximately 2,500 Buddhist pilgrims to travel to Bodhgaya in India.\n\nNon-Buddhists continued to experience employment discrimination at upper levels of the public sector. Few have ever been promoted to the level of Director General or higher. There were no non-Buddhists who held flag rank in the armed forces, although a few Christians reportedly achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Central Executive Committee of the largest opposition group—the National League for Democracy—also included no non-Buddhists, although individual members from most religious groups in the country supported the party. The Government discouraged Muslims from enlisting in the military, and Christian or Muslim military officers who aspired for promotion beyond the rank of major were encouraged by their superiors to convert to Buddhism. Some Muslims who wished to join the military reportedly had to list \"Buddhist\" as their religion on their application, though they were not required to convert.\n\nRohingya Muslims, although essentially treated as illegal foreigners, were not issued Foreigner Registration Cards. Instead, the Government gave some of them \"Temporary Registration Cards\" (TRC). UNHCR estimated that only 650,000 of the approximately 800,000 Rohingyas possessed TRCs. Authorities have insisted that Muslim men applying for TRCs submit photos without beards. The authorities did not allow government employees of the Islamic faith, including village headmen, to grow beards, and dismissed some who already had beards. The authorities also did not consider many non-Rohingya Muslims to be citizens. In order for these Muslims to receive National Registration Cards and passports, they must pay large bribes. Ethnic Burman Muslims pay less than Muslims from ethnic minority groups (primary those of Indian or Bengali descent).\n\nIn 2006 a prominent Muslim religious organisation asked the Rakhine State Peace and Development Council Chairman, the Regional Military Commander, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs to lift marriage restrictions for Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. At the end of the reporting period, they had yet to receive a response.\n\nIn Rangoon, Muslims can usually obtain birth certificates for newborns, but local authorities refused to allow them to place the names of the babies on their household registers.\n\nAuthorities generally did not grant permission to Rohingya or Muslim Arakanese to travel from their hometowns for any purpose; however, permission was sometimes obtainable through bribery. Non-Arakanese Muslims were given more freedom to travel; however, they were also required to seek permission, which was usually granted after a bribe is paid. Muslims residing in Rangoon could visit beach resort areas in Thandwe, Rakhine State, but could not return to Rangoon without the signature of the Regional Military Commander. Those with money were able to bribe local officials to return. Muslims residing outside of Rakhine State often were barred from return travel to their homes if they visit other parts of Rakhine State.\n\nRohingyas did not have access to state-run schools beyond primary education and were unable to obtain employment in any civil service positions. Muslim students from Rakhine State who completed high school were not granted permits to travel outside the state to attend college or university. In lieu of a diploma, Rohingya high school graduates received a sheet of paper that stated they would receive a diploma upon presentation of a citizenship card; however, Rohingyas can never obtain such a card.\n\nMany of the approximately 25,000 Rohingya Muslims remaining in refugee camps in Bangladesh refused to return because they feared human rights abuses, including religious persecution.\n\nAbuses of religious freedom\nAung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), has been in prison or house arrest since 2003, when forces allied with the Government attacked her and her convoy, which included several NLD-allied monks, while travelling in Sagaing Division in the northwestern region of the country. The Government reportedly used criminals dressed in monks' robes in the ambush. On 15 May, authorities detained more than 30 worshippers in Rangoon when they approached separate pagodas to pray for Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. At the end of the reporting period, the worshippers were still detained. The next day USDA members, claiming to represent \"the people,\" detained another 15 worshippers after they prayed at a pagoda in Mingladon Township, but the authorities let them go the same day. On 25 May 2007, the Government extended Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest for an additional year.\n\nIn February 2007 the Burmese Army arrested a monk who was allegedly trading Buddha images to Buddhists in Bangladesh illegally. The army forced the monk to disrobe in contravention to Buddhist precepts that require a monk to have his robes removed at a ceremony in a monastery. Laypersons, regardless of status, may not demote a monk to become a layperson.\n\nOn 2 July 2006, authorities from Thandwe, Rakhine State arrested Abbot Wila Tha and his assistant Than Kakesa from the Buddhist monastery of U Shwe Maw village, Taungup Township, closed the monastery, and forced 59 monks and novices to leave. Local sources claimed that the reason for the arrest was that the abbot refused to accept donations from or conduct religious ceremonies for the authorities. The authorities also claimed the abbot was endangering local stability by talking to the monks and novices about democracy, that he was a supporter of the NLD (National League for Democracy), and that he had supported the visit of Aung San Suu Kyi (pro-democracy activist and leader of the NLD) when she visited the area several years earlier. The exile-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) estimated there were 86 Buddhist monks in prison for various charges. It was not possible to verify the AAPP estimate. The number of non-Buddhists in prison for their religious beliefs was unknown. Authorities usually defrocked monks when they arrested them and treated them like ordinary prisoners, including using torture. The prison authorities disrespectfully addressed the monks by their given names, not their religious titles.\n\nLocal civilian and military authorities continued to take actions against Christian groups: arresting clergy, closing home churches, and prohibiting religious services.\n\nIn February 2006, police at Hpa-an, Karen State, arrested Yeh Zaw, a member of the Phawkkan Evangelical Church. Yeh Zaw had earlier written a letter to the regime leader urging him to end the persecution of his church that Rangoon authorities closed earlier in 2006, banning members from worshipping there. Police charged him with travelling without an identity card.\n\nIn 2005 local authorities in the Chin State capital of Hakha notified Baptist leaders that they would be forced to relocate an active, historic cemetery from church property to a remote location outside of town. Religious leaders reported that authorities continued to forcefully relocate cemeteries in many parts of the country.\n\nIn the past, pagodas or government buildings often have been built on confiscated Muslim land.\n\nIn Kachin State, authorities have constructed Buddhist shrines in Christian communities where few or no Buddhists reside and have tried to coerce Christians into forced labour to carry bricks and other supplies for the shrine's construction. In September 2006 government officials inaugurated a pagoda near the Kachin Independence Organization's headquarters at Laiza, Kachin State. Kachin sources reported there were no Buddhists living in the community. In northern Rakhine State, authorities frequently forced Rohingyas to help construct Buddhist shrines, even though Buddhists there account for approximately 2 percent of the population.\n\nIn January 2006 Muslim Rohingyas from at least ten surrounding villages claimed the military forced them to carry building supplies for three model villages at Padauk Myin, Mala Myin and Thaza Myin in Rathedaung Township. Certain townships in the Rakhine State, such as Thandwe, Gwa, and Taungup, were declared \"Muslim-free zones\" by government decree in 1983.\n\nAuthorities have attempted to prevent Chin Christians from practising their religion. In 2005 the military commander in Matupi Township, Chin State, ordered the destruction of a 30-foot cross erected on a hillside with government permission in 1999. A more senior military official subsequently told local church authorities that they could get permission to reconstruct the cross; however, the local pastors have thus far refused to ask for such authorisation. In the past, these crosses often have been replaced with pagodas, sometimes built with forced labour.\n\nSPDC authorities continued to \"dilute\" ethnic minority populations by encouraging, or even forcing, Buddhist Burmans to relocate to ethnic areas. In predominantly Muslim northern Rakhine State, authorities established \"model villages\" to relocate released ethnic Burman criminals from other parts of the country.\n\nThere continued to be credible reports from diverse regions of the country that government officials compelled persons, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, especially in rural areas, to contribute money, food, or materials to state-sponsored projects to build, renovate, or maintain Buddhist religious shrines or monuments. The Government denied that it used coercion and called these contributions \"voluntary donations\" consistent with Buddhist ideas of making merit. In April 2006 authorities in Lashio reportedly tried to coerce merchants to contribute large sums to construct a Buddhist shrine. Christian merchants refused to participate and the funds raised were well below the authorities' target.\n\nForced religious conversion\nMuslim and Christian community leaders reported that during the period covered by this report, authorities had moved away from a campaign of forced conversion to Buddhism and instead focused on enticing non-Buddhists to convert to Buddhism by offering charity or bribery. Conversion of non-Buddhists, coerced or otherwise, is part of a longstanding government campaign to \"Burmanize\" ethnic minority regions. This campaign has coincided with increased military presence and pressure. In 2005 there was a single, unverified report of forced conversion at gunpoint in Chin State; however, Christian groups reported that such violent cases were less frequent than in earlier years. In September 2006 Chin sources reported that 15 students withdrew from a government-operated hostel for girls in Matupi, Chin State, after formerly voluntary Buddhist evening prayers became compulsory for all the hostel residents. Although the girls received free school fees, food, and accommodation, they complained they felt pressured to become Buddhist. Also in many state schools of Burma, students are to pray in Buddhist every morning. In Kanpetlet, Chin State, NaTaLa operated a school exclusively for Buddhist students and guaranteed them government jobs after graduation. Christian children had to agree to convert to Buddhism if they wanted to attend this school.\n\nThere were no reports of forced religious conversion of minor US citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to return to the United States.\n\nSocietal abuses and discrimination\n\nPreferential treatment for Buddhists and widespread prejudice against ethnic Indians, particularly ethnic Rohingya Muslims, were key sources of social tensions between the Buddhist majority and Christian and Muslim minorities.\n\nIn February 2006, violent clashes broke out between Muslims and Buddhists in Magway Division in response to rumours that Muslim men had raped a Burman woman. Ethnic Burmans attacked and torched Muslim and ethnic Indian homes, shops, and mosques. Rioting and looting spread to surrounding towns, including Chauk and Salin. Local security forces did not intervene at first, but as violence spread authorities imposed a strict curfew in several towns. Reliable sources stated that the authorities arrested 17 people in Sinbyukyun and another 55 persons in Chauk, mostly Muslims. Unofficial sources claimed that 3 people died and another 10 were injured in the riots. Three mosques in Yenangyaung, Chauk, and Saku were reportedly destroyed in the violence. At the end of the reporting period, the mosques remained sealed and authorities would not permit Muslims to rebuild them, nor did authorities conduct inquiries into the attacks. Christians reported that an entire Muslim village fled to the monastery of a trusted Buddhist abbot near Shwe Settaw to seek refuge during the riots.\n\nThese attacks follow earlier communal violence in Kyauk Pyu, Rakhine State, in 2005. During several days of violence, two Muslims were killed and one Buddhist monk was severely injured. Some Islamic groups blamed the Government for trying to increase tensions between Buddhists and Muslims as part of a \"divide and rule\" strategy.\n\nSince 1994, when Buddhist members split away from the KNU (Karen National Union) to organise the pro-government Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), there have been armed conflicts between the DKBA and the predominantly Christian antigovernment KNU. Although the DKBA reportedly includes some Christians and there are some Buddhists in the KNU, the armed conflict between the two Karen groups has had strong religious overtones. There were also unverified reports that DKBA authorities continued to expel villagers who converted to Christianity.\n\nDuring the reporting period, a Burmese language document surfaced titled, \"Program to Eliminate Christianity.\" The document suggested 17 points for countering Christianity in the country; however, the source of the document was unknown and several grammatical errors raised questions about its authenticity. There was no definite evidence to link the document to the Government.\n\nSee also\n Religion in Burma\n Human rights in Burma\n\nReferences\n\n United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Burma: International Religious Freedom Report 2007. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.\n\nMyanmar\nHuman rights in Myanmar\nReligion in Myanmar"
]
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[
"Mandaeism",
"Priests and laymen",
"What role do priests play in Mandaeism?",
"There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism:",
"What are the three grades of priesthood?",
"the tarmidia \"disciples\" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria \"treasurers\" (from Old Persian ganza-bara \"id.,\" Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma \"leader of the people.",
"How does one become a priest?",
"I don't know.",
"What are some differences between priests and laymen?",
"There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests.",
"Why is there division?",
"the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans",
"Is there any other interesting information regarding this topic?",
"The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century.",
"Where do the origins trace back to?",
"In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities.",
"Did they replace the religious authorities?",
"Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them."
]
| C_13e7bbff26bb47448571798c59997346_0 | Did they go to another region? | 9 | Did surviving acolytes Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun go to another region besides Persia? | Mandaeism | There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E.S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix): [T]hose amongst the community who possess secret knowledge are called Nasuraiia--Nasoreans (or, if the emphatic <s> is written as <z>, Nazorenes). At the same time the ignorant or semi-ignorant laity are called 'Mandaeans', Mandaiia--'gnostics.' When a man becomes a priest he leaves 'Mandaeanism' and enters tarmiduta, 'priesthood.' Even then he has not attained to true enlightenment, for this, called 'Nasiruta', is reserved for a very few. Those possessed of its secrets may call themselves Nasoreans, and 'Nasorean' today indicates not only one who observes strictly all rules of ritual purity, but one who understands the secret doctrine. There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidana), the ganzibria "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.," Neo-Mandaic ganzebrana) and the risamma "leader of the people." This last office, the highest level of the Mandaean priesthood, has lain vacant for many years. At the moment, the highest office currently occupied is that of the ganzebra, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE) and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-is-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzebra who baptizes seven or more ganzebrana may qualify for the office of risamma, though the Mandaean community has yet to rally as a whole behind any single candidate. The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera devastated the region and eliminated most if not all of the Mandaean religious authorities. Two of the surviving acolytes (sgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them. In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Mandaeism (; , ), also known as Sabianism (, ), is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet. The Mandaeans speak an Eastern Aramaic language known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning knowledge. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the (singular: ) or Sabians. The term is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is . In the Quran, the Sabians (, ) are mentioned three times, alongside Jews and Christians. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
According to Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism, Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution. Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin. However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times. Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith. Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son, in Mesopotamia and also from John the Baptist's original Nasoraean Mandaean disciples in Jerusalem.
The religion has been practised primarily around the lower Karun, Euphrates and Tigris, and the rivers that surround the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq and Khuzestan Province in Iran. There are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the Iraq War, almost all of them lived in Iraq. Many Mandaean Iraqis have since fled their country because of the turmoil created by the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation by U.S. armed forces, and the related rise in sectarian violence by extremists. By 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000.
The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private. Reports of them and of their religion have come primarily from outsiders: particularly from Julius Heinrich Petermann, an Orientalist; as well as from Nicolas Siouffi, a Syrian Christian who was the French vice-consul in Mosul in 1887, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. There is an early if highly prejudiced account by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the 1650s.
Etymology
The term Mandaic or Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā. On the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as "knowledge" (cf. mandaʻ in Dan. 2:21, 4:31, 33, 5:12; cf. maddaʻ, with characteristic assimilation of /n/ to the following consonant, medial -nd- hence becoming -dd-). This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from Late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics.
Other scholars derive the term mandaiia () from Mandā d-Heyyi () 'Knowledge of Life', in reference to Hayyi Rabbi ( 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God') or from the word Beth Manda, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed (such as baptism, which is the central sacrament of Mandaean religious life).
History
According to the Mandaean text the Haran Gawaita, the Nasoraean Mandaeans, who were disciples of John the Baptist, left Judea/Palestine and migrated to Media in the 1st century CE. The reason given for this was their persecution in Jerusalem. The emigrants went first to Haran (probably Harran in modern-day Turkey), or Hauran and then the Median hills in Iran, before finally settling in the southern provinces of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). During Parthian rule, Mandaeans flourished under royal protection. This protection did not last with the Sassanid Bahram I ascending to the throne and his high priest Kartir persecuting all non-Zoroastrian religions.
At the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia, the leader of the Mandaeans, Anush Bar-Danqa, appeared before Muslim authorities showing them a copy of the Ginza Rabba, the Mandaean holy book, and proclaiming the chief Mandaean prophet to be John the Baptist, who is also mentioned in the Quran as Yahya Bin Zakariya. This identified Mandaeans with the Sabians who are mentioned in the Quran as being counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book). This provided Mandaeans a status as a legal minority religion within the Muslim Empire. The importance of baptism in their rituals is particularly marked. Like the Mandaeans, the Sabians were also said to be gnostics and descendants of Noah. Mandaeans continue to be identified with Sabians to the present day.
Around 1290, a Dominican Catholic from Tuscany, Ricoldo da Montecroce, or Ricoldo Pennini, was in Mesopotamia where he met the Mandaeans. He described them as believing in a secret law of God recorded in alluring texts, despising circumcision, venerating John the Baptist above all and washing repeatedly to avoid condemnation by God.
Mandaeans were called "Christians of Saint John" by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century, based upon their preliminary reports. Some Portuguese Jesuits had also met some "Saint John Christians" around the Strait of Hormuz in 1559, when the Portuguese fleet fought with the Ottoman Turkish army in Bahrain.
Beliefs
Mandaeism, as the religion of the Mandaean people, is based on a set of religious creeds and doctrines. The corpus of Mandaean literature is quite large, and covers topics such as eschatology, the knowledge of God, and the afterlife.
Principal beliefs
Recognition of one God known as Hayyi Rabbi, meaning The Great Life or The Great Living (God), whose symbol is Living Water (Yardena). It is therefore necessary for Mandaeans to live near rivers. God personifies the sustaining and creative force of the universe.
Power of Light, which is vivifying and personified by Malka d-Nhura ('King of Light'), another name for Hayyi Rabbi, and the uthras (angels or guardians) that provide health, strength, virtue and justice. The Drabsha is viewed as the symbol of Light.
Immortality of the soul; the fate of the soul is the main concern with the belief in the next life, where there is reward and punishment. There is no eternal punishment since God is merciful.
Fundamental tenets
According to E. S. Drower, the Mandaean Gnosis is characterized by nine features, which appear in various forms in other gnostic sects:
A supreme formless Entity, the expression of which in time and space is a creation of spiritual, etheric, and material worlds and beings. Production of these is delegated by It to a creator or creators who originated It. The cosmos is created by Archetypal Man, who produces it in similitude to his own shape.
Dualism: a cosmic Mother and Father, Light and Darkness, Left and Right, syzygy in cosmic and microcosmic form.
As a feature of this dualism, counter-types (dmuta) that exist in a world of ideas (Mshunia Kushta).
The soul is portrayed as an exile, a captive; his home and origin being the supreme Entity to which he eventually returns.
Planets and stars influence fate and human beings, and are also the places of detention after death.
A savior spirit or savior spirits which assist the soul on his journey through life and after it to 'worlds of light'.
A cult-language of symbol and metaphor. Ideas and qualities are personified.
'Mysteries', i.e. sacraments to aid and purify the soul, to ensure its rebirth into a spiritual body, and its ascent from the world of matter. These are often adaptations of existing seasonal and traditional rites to which an esoteric interpretation is attached. In the case of the Naṣoraeans, this interpretation is based on the Creation story (see 1 and 2), especially on the Divine Man, Adam, as crowned and anointed King-priest.
Great secrecy is enjoined upon initiates; full explanation of 1, 2, and 8 being reserved for those considered able to understand and preserve the gnosis.
Cosmology
The religion extolls an intricate, multifaceted, esoteric, mythological, ritualistic, and exegetical tradition with the emanation model of creation being the predominant interpretation.
The most common name for God in Mandaeism is Hayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'). Other names used are ('Lord of Greatness'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life'). Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.
There are numerous uthras (angels or guardians), manifested from the light, that surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. Prominent amongst them include Manda d-Hayyi, who brings manda (knowledge or gnosis) to Earth, and Hibil Ziwa, who conquers the World of Darkness. Some uthras are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to 'The First Life'; their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e. Yushamin, Abatur, and Ptahil).
Ptahil (), the 'Fourth Life', alone does not constitute the demiurge, but only fills that role insofar as he is seen as the creator of the material world with the help of the evil spirit Ruha. Therefore, the material world is a mixture of 'light' and 'dark'. Ptahil is the lowest of a group of three emanations, the other two being Yushamin (, the 'Second Life' (also spelled Joshamin) and Abatur (), the 'Third Life'. Abatur's demiurgic role consists of weighing the souls of the dead to determine their fate. The role of Yushamin, the first emanation, is more obscure; wanting to create a world of his own, he was punished for opposing the King of Light ('The First Life'), but was ultimately forgiven.
While Mandaeans agree with other gnostic sects that the world is a prison governed by the planetary archons, they do not view it as a cruel and inhospitable one. Similar to the Essenes, it is forbidden for a Mandaean to reveal the names of the angels to a gentile.
Chief prophets
Mandaeans recognize several prophets. Yahia-Yohanna or Yuhana Maṣbana (), known in Christianity as John the Baptist, is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.
Mandaeans do not believe in the sanctity of Abraham, Moses or Jesus, however they consider Jesus and Abraham to have been originally Mandaean. They recognize other prophetic figures from the Abrahamic religions, such as Adam, his sons Hibil (Abel) and Sheetil (Seth), and his grandson Anush (Enosh), as well as Nuh (Noah), Sam (Shem), and Ram (Aram), whom they consider to be their direct ancestors. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist to be prophets with John being the greatest and final prophet.
Mandaeans also do not recognize the Holy Spirit in the Talmud and Bible in the same way. Epithets of Ruha include Ruha d-Qudsha (Holy Spirit) and Ruha Masṭanita (Ruha the seductress). She is viewed negatively as the personification of the lower, emotional, and feminine elements of the human psyche.
Scriptures
The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rabba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.
The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
Another important text is the Haran Gawaita, which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire.
Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John, which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša d-Yahya, there is the Diwan Abatur, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Book of the Zodiac (Asfar Malwāshē). Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
Mandaean ritual commentaries (esoteric exegetical literature), which are typically written in scrolls rather than codices, include:
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia)
The Coronation of the Great Šišlam
The Great "First World"
The Lesser "First World"
The Scroll of Exalted Kingship
The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa
The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, a member of the Aramaic group of dialects. It is written in the Mandaic script, a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellery script. Many Mandaean laypeople do not speak this language, although some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
Worship and rituals
The two most important ceremonies in Mandaean worship are baptism (Masbuta), and 'the ascent' (Masiqta - a mass for the dead or ascent of the soul ceremony). Unlike in Christianity, baptism is not a one-off event but is performed every Sunday, the Mandaean holy day, as a ritual of purification. Baptism usually involves full immersion in flowing water, and all rivers considered fit for baptism are called Yardena (after the River Jordan). After emerging from the water, the worshipper is anointed with holy sesame oil and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread and water. The ascent of the soul ceremony, called the masiqta, can take various forms, but usually involves a ritual meal in memory of the dead. The ceremony is believed to help the souls of the departed on their journey through purgatory to the World of Light.
Other rituals for purification include the Rishama and the Tamasha which, unlike Masbuta, can be performed without a priest. The Rishama (signing) is performed before prayers and involves washing the face and limbs while reciting specific prayers. It is performed daily, before sunrise, with hair covered and after evacuation of bowels or before religious ceremonies (see wudu). The Tamasha is a triple immersion in the river without a requirement for a priest. It is performed by women after menstruation or childbirth, men and women after sexual activity or nocturnal emission, touching a dead corpse or any other type of defilement (see tevilah). Ritual purification also applies to fruits, vegetables, pots, pans, utensils, animals for consumption and ceremonial garments (rasta). Purification for a dying person is also performed. It includes bathing involving a threefold sprinkling of river water over the person from head to feet.
A Mandaean's grave must be in the north-south direction so that if the dead Mandaean were stood upright, they would face north. Similarly, Essene graves are also oriented north-south. Mandaeans must face north during prayers, which are performed three times a day. Daily prayer in Mandaeism is called brakha.
Zidqa (almsgiving) is also practiced in Mandaeism with Mandaean laypeople regularly offering alms to priests.
A Mandī () (Beth Manda) or Mashkhanna is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A must be built beside a river in order to perform Maṣbuta (baptism) because water is an essential element in the Mandaean faith. Modern s sometimes have a bath inside a building instead. Each Mandi is adorned with a Drabsha, which is a banner in the shape of a cross, made of olive wood half covered with a piece of white pure silk cloth and seven branches of myrtle. The drabsha is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God. The seven branches of myrtle represent the seven days of creation.
Mandaeans believe in marriage (qabin) and procreation, placing a high priority upon family life and in the importance of leading an ethical and moral lifestyle. They are pacifist and egalitarian, with the earliest attested Mandaean scribe being a woman, Shlama Beth Qidra, who copied the Left Ginza sometime in the 2nd century CE. There is evidence for women priests, especially in the pre-Islamic era. God created the human body complete, so no part of it should be removed or cut off, hence circumcision is considered bodily mutilation for Mandaeans and therefore forbidden. Mandaeans abstain from strong drink and most red meat, however meat consumed by Mandaeans must be slaughtered according to the proper rituals. The approach to the slaughter of animals for consumption is always apologetic. On some days, they refrain from eating meat.
Priests
There is a strict division between Mandaean laity and the priests. According to E. S. Drower (The Secret Adam, p. ix):
There are three grades of priesthood in Mandaeism: the tarmidia () "disciples" (Neo-Mandaic tarmidānā), the ganzibria () "treasurers" (from Old Persian ganza-bara "id.", Neo-Mandaic ganzeḇrānā) and the rišama () "leader of the people". Ganzeḇrā, a title which appears first in a religious context in the Aramaic ritual texts from Persepolis (c. 3rd century BCE), and which may be related to the kamnaskires (Elamite <qa-ap-nu-iš-ki-ra> kapnuskir "treasurer"), title of the rulers of Elymais (modern Khuzestan) during the Hellenistic age. Traditionally, any ganzeḇrā who baptizes seven or more ganzeḇrānā may qualify for the office of rišama. The current rišama of the Mandaean community in Iraq is Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony. In Australia, the Mandaean rišama is Salah Chohaili.
The contemporary priesthood can trace its immediate origins to the first half of the 19th century. In 1831, an outbreak of cholera in Shushtar, Iran devastated the region and eliminated most, if not all, of the Mandaean religious authorities there. Two of the surviving acolytes (šgandia), Yahia Bihram and Ram Zihrun, reestablished the priesthood in Suq al-Shuyukh on the basis of their own training and the texts that were available to them.
In 2009, there were two dozen Mandaean priests in the world, according to the Associated Press. However, according to the Mandaean Society in America, the number of priests has been growing in recent years.
Scholarship
According to Edmondo Lupieri, as stated in his article in Encyclopædia Iranica, "The possible historical connection with John the Baptist, as seen in the newly translated Mandaean texts, convinced many (notably R. Bultmann) that it was possible, through the Mandaean traditions, to shed some new light on the history of John and on the origins of Christianity. This brought around a revival of the otherwise almost fully abandoned idea of their Palestinian origins. As the archeological discovery of Mandaean incantation bowls and lead amulets proved a pre-Islamic Mandaean presence in the southern Mesopotamia, scholars were obliged to hypothesize otherwise unknown persecutions by Jews or by Christians to explain the reason for Mandaeans' departure from Palestine." Lupieri believes Mandaeism is a post-Christian southern Mesopotamian Gnostic off-shoot and claims that Zazai d-Gawazta to be the founder of Mandaeism in the 2nd Century. Jorunn J. Buckley refutes this by confirming scribes that predate Zazai who copied the Ginza Rabba. In addition to Edmondo Lupieri, Christa Müller-Kessler argues against the Palestinian origin theory of the Mandaeans claiming that the Mandaeans are Mesopotamian. Edwin Yamauchi believes Mandaeism's origin lies in the Transjordan, where a group of 'non-Jews' migrated to Mesopotamia and combined their Gnostic beliefs with indigenous Mesopotamian beliefs at the end of the 2nd century CE. Kevin Van Bladel claims that Mandaeism originated no earlier than 5th century Sassanid Mesopotamia, however Mandaean lead amulets have been dated to as early as the 3rd Century.
Scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Eric Segelberg, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In addition, scholars such as Richard August Reitzenstein, Rudolf Bultmann, G. R. S. Mead, Andrew Phillip Smith, Samuel Zinner, Richard Thomas, J. C. Reeves, G. Quispel and K. Beyer also argue for a Judea/Palestine or Jordan Valley origin for the Mandaeans. James McGrath and Richard Thomas believe there is a direct connection between Mandaeism and pre-exilic traditional Israelite religion. Lady Ethel S. Drower "sees early Christianity as a Mandaean heresy." Jorunn J. Buckley accepts Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins and adds:
Other names
Sabians
The Quran makes several references to the Sabians, who are identified with the Mandaeans. Sabians are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book), and several hadith feature them. Arab sources of early Quranic times (7th century) also make some references to Sabians. The word Sabian is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism with the cognate in Neo-Mandaic being 'to baptize'. In the Middle East, they are more commonly known as the , i.e. 'the Sabians', or colloquially as the . The Sabians believed they "belong to the prophet Noah"; Similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah.
The Syrian Christian writer Nicolas Siouffi wrote in 1880 that the true 'Sabians' or Subba lived in the marshes of lower Iraq. The Nestorian writer Theodore Bar Konai (in the Scholion, 792) described a "sect" of "Sabians", who were located in southern Mesopotamia.
Al-Biruni (writing at the beginning of the 11th century) said that the 'real Sabians' were "the remnants of the Jewish tribes who remained in Babylonia when the other tribes left it for Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These remaining tribes... adopted a system mixed-up of Magism and Judaism."
Nasoraeans
The Haran Gawaita uses the name Nasoraeans for the Mandaeans arriving from Jerusalem meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge. Scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Rudolf Macúch, Mark Lidzbarski and Ethel S. Drower connect the Mandaeans with the Nasaraeans described by Epiphanius, a group within the Essenes according to Joseph Lightfoot. Epiphanius says (29:6) that they existed before Christ. That is questioned by some, but others accept the pre-Christian origin of the Nasaraeans.
Relations with other groups
Dositheans
The Mandaeans are connected with the Samaritan group, the Dositheans, by Theodore Bar Kōnī in his Scholion.
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 to 400 CE. The members of this sect, like the Mandaeans, performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition. The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.
According to Joseph Lightfoot, the Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans."Part 19 Epiphanius describes the Ossaeans as following:
Hemerobaptists
Hemerobaptists (Heb. Tovelei Shaḥarit; 'Morning Bathers') were an ancient religious sect that practiced daily baptism. They were likely a division of the Essenes. In the Clementine Homilies (ii. 23), John the Baptist and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists. The Mandaeans have been associated with the Hemerobaptists on account of both practicing frequent baptism and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John.
Kabbalah
Nathaniel Deutsch writes:
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky suggests Mandaeism has more commonality with Kabbalah than with Merkabah mysticism such as cosmogony and sexual imagery. The Thousand and Twelve Questions, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, and Alma Rišaia Rba link the alphabet with the creation of the world, a concept found in Sefer Yetzirah and the Bahir.
Mandaean names for uthras have been found in Jewish magical texts. Abatur appears to be inscribed inside a Jewish magic bowl in a corrupted form as "Abiṭur". Ptahil is found in Sefer HaRazim listed among other angels who stand on the ninth step of the second firmament.
Manichaeans
According to the Fihrist of ibn al-Nadim, the Mesopotamian prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was brought up within the Elkesaite (Elcesaite or Elchasaite) sect, this being confirmed more recently by the Cologne Mani Codex. None of the Manichaean scriptures has survived in its entirety, and it seems that the remaining fragments have not been compared to the Ginza Rabba. Mani later left the Elkasaites to found his own religion. In a comparative analysis, the Swedish Egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh indicated that Mani's Psalms of Thomas was closely related to Mandaean texts. According to E. S. Drower, "some of the most ancient Manichaean psalms, the Coptic Psalms of Thomas, were paraphrases and even word-for-word translations of Mandaic originals; prosody and phrase offering proof that the Manichaean was the borrower and not vice-versa."
An extensive discussion of the relationships between Mandaeism and Manichaeism can be found in Băncilă (2018).
Valentinians
A Mandaean baptismal formula was adopted by Valentinian Gnostics in Rome and Alexandria in the 2nd century CE.
Demographics
It is estimated that there are 60,000–100,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Their proportion in their native lands has collapsed because of the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria, and Jordan. There are approximately 2,500 Mandaeans in Jordan.
In 2011, Al Arabiya put the number of hidden and unaccounted for Iranian Mandaeans in Iran as high as 60,000. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 and at most 10,000 people.
Many Mandaeans have formed diaspora communities outside the Middle East in Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK and especially Australia, where around 10,000 now reside, mainly around Sydney, representing 15% of the total world Mandaean population.
Approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans have emigrated to the United States, since the US State Department in 2002 granted them protective refugee status, which was also later accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans in 2007. A community estimated at 2,500 members live in Worcester, Massachusetts, where they began settling in 2008. Most emigrated from Iraq.
Mandaeism does not allow conversion, and the religious status of Mandaeans who marry outside the faith and their children is disputed.
See also
Aramaic language
Christianity in the 1st century
Second Temple Judaism
Yazidism
Notes
References
Bibliography
Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buckley. J.J. "Mandaeans" in Encyclopædia Iranica
Drower, Ethel Stefana. 2002. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Lupieri, Edmondo. (Charles Hindley, trans.) 2002. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
"A Brief Note on the Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology", Mandaean Society in America.
Newmarker, Chris, Associated Press article, "Faith under fire: Iraq war threatens extinction for ancient religious group" (headline in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, page A12, 10 February 2007)
Petermann, J. Heinrich. 2007 The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans (reprint of Thesaurus s. Liber Magni). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Segelberg, Eric, 1958, Maşbūtā. Studies in the Ritual of the Mandæan Baptism. Uppsala
Segelberg, Eric, 1970, "The Ordination of the Mandæan tarmida and its Relation to Jewish and Early Christian Ordination Rites", in Studia patristica 10.
Segelberg, Eric, Trāşa d-Tāga d-Śiślām Rabba. Studies in the rite called the Coronation of Śiślām Rabba. i: Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer (Studia Mandaica 1.) Berlin & New York 1976.
Segelberg, Eric, 1977, "Zidqa Brika and the Mandæan Problem. In Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Gnosticism. Ed. Geo Widengren and David Hellholm. Stockholm.
Segelberg, Eric, 1978, "The pihta and mambuha Prayers. To the Question of the Liturgical Development amnong the Mandæans" in Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Göttingen.
Segelberg, Eric, 1990, "Mandæan – Jewish – Christian. How does the Mandæan tradition relate to Jewish and Christian tradition? in: Segelberg, Gnostica Madaica Liturgica. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia Religionum 11.) Uppsala 1990.
Yamauchi, Edwin. 2004. Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins (reprint). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
External links
Mandaean Association Union – The Mandaean Association Union is an international federation which strives for unification of Mandaeans around the globe. Information in English and Arabic.
BBC: Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith
BBC: Mandaeans – a threatened religion
Shahāb Mirzā'i, Ablution of Mandaeans (Ghosl-e Sābe'in – غسل صابئين), in Persian, Jadid Online, 18 December 2008
Audio slideshow (showing Iranian Mandaeans performing ablution on the banks of the Karun river in Ahvaz): (4 min 25 sec)
The Worlds of Mandaean Priests, University of Exeter
Mandaean scriptures
Mandaean scriptures: Qolastā and Haran Gawaitha texts and fragments (note that the book titled Ginza Rabba is not the Ginza Rabba but is instead Qolastā, "The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans" as translated by E.S Drower).
Gnostic John the Baptist: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book: This is the complete 1924 edition of G.R.S. Mead's classic study of the Mandæan John-Book, containing excerpts from the scripture itself (in The Gnosis Archive collection – www.gnosis.org).
The Ginza Rabba (1925 German translation by Mark Lidzbarski) at the Internet Archive
The John-Book (Draša D-Iahia) – complete text in Mandaic and German translation (1905) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaic liturgies – Mandaic text (in Hebrew transliteration) and German translation (1925) by Mark Lidzbarski at the Internet Archive
Mandaean scriptures at the Mandaean Network's site
Books about Mandaeism available online
Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead a complete version (with old and new errors), contains information on Mani, Manichaeism, Elkasaites, Nasoraeans, Sabians and other "gnostic" groups. Published in 1901.
Extracts from E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran by Lady Drower, 1937 – the entire book
Esotericism
Gnosticism
Monotheistic religions
Religion in Iran
Religion in Iraq
Ethnic religion
Mandaeans
Ancient Semitic religions | false | [
"The vira is a traditional dance from Portugal. It is most popular in the Minho region but is performed in every region. It has a three-step rhythm which is very similar to a waltz, but it is faster and the couples dance front-to-front without holding hands.\n\nAnother way to dance the vira is as follows: matched pairs form a big circle that revolves inversely clockwise, while the dancers snap their fingers. At a certain point the boys leave their pairs in the circle and go to the center, where they hit the floor with their right feet, and return, backing into their respective pairs. The circle starts to rotate again, and the next time the circle stops it will be the girls who go to the center. They do this alternately.\n\nSome Portuguese composers have adapted the vira into their compositions. For example, Manuel Raposo Marques (1902-1966) incorporated it into a choral work recorded by the Orfeon Académico de Coimbra.\n\nReferences\n\nPortuguese folk dances",
"The Trichy Tollgate is a place on the outskirts of Trichy and traditionally used for collecting toll taxes from road users.\n\nJunctions\nThe road splits into four directions as mentioned below:\n one going towards Samayapuram and further towards Chennai\n one going towards Namakkal, Erode, Coimbatore, Salem, Bangalore\n one towards Trichy City\n one towards Lalgudi. Jeyamkondam\n\nThis is a major junction point in the region. As the location is near to the city, many apartments are built and being built. The place is growing rapidly.\n\nThose who want to go to Samayapuram Mariamman Temple, they get down at Tollgate and take another bus from there. Also Tollgate is very near to one of the famous Hindu temple: Utthamar Kovil, temple of Lord Shiva, Vishnu and Bhrama\n\nAll town buses which go to Samayapuram will pass through Tollgate.\n\nNeighbourhoods and suburbs of Tiruchirappalli"
]
|
[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars"
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | Did he play for the Dallas Stars? | 1 | Did Joe Nieuwendyk play for the Dallas Stars? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | true | [
"The 2011–12 Dallas Stars season is the 45th season (44th of play) for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on June 5, 1967, and 19th season (18th of play) since the franchise relocated to Dallas to start the 1993–94 season.\n\nThe team failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fourth year in a row. This was the second consecutive season that the Stars finished with a winning record but did not qualify for the playoffs.\n\nOff-Season\nOn June 17, 2011, the Stars officially announced the hiring of Glen Gulutzan to be their new head coach. Gulutzan had been the head coach of the Stars' American Hockey League affiliate, the Texas Stars.\n\nRegular season\nThe Stars' power play struggled during the regular season, as they finished 30th overall in power-play goals scored (33) and in power-play percentage (13.52%).\n\nPlayoffs\nThe Stars failed to qualify for the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.\n\nStandings\n\nSchedule and results\n\nPre-season\n\nRegular season\n\nPlayer statistics\n\nSkaters\n\nNote: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes\n\nGoaltenders\nNote: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Against; GAA= Goals Against Average; SA= Shots Against; SV= Saves; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO= Shutouts\n\n†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Stars. Stats reflect time spent with the Stars only.\n‡Traded mid-season\nBold/italics denotes franchise record\n\nAwards and records\n\nAwards\n\nRecords\n\nMilestones\n\nTransactions \nThe Stars have been involved in the following transactions during the 2011–12 season:\n\nTrades\n\nFree agents signed\n\nFree agents lost\n\nClaimed via waivers\n\nLost via waivers\n\nLost via retirement\n\nPlayer signings\n\nDraft picks \nThe Stars' picks at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minnesota.\n\nSee also \n 2011–12 NHL season\n\nReferences\n\nDallas Stars seasons\nD\nD\nDallas Stars\nDallas Stars\n2010s in Dallas\n2011 in Texas\n2012 in Texas",
"Jeff MacMillan (born March 30, 1979) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. At the height of his career he briefly played for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League.\n\nCareer\nMacMillan began his career in 1996, icing for the junior team the Oshawa Generals in the OHL. MacMillan stayed with the Generals for three years, making almost 170 appearances in that time. His solid defensive play combined with a reasonable offensive output for a defenceman meant that in the 1999 NHL entry draft, MacMillan was drafted in the seventh round by the Dallas Stars.\n\nMacMillan was sent to play for the Fort Wayne Komets in the UHL, where he played just seven games before being moved to the Michigan K-Wings, a Dallas Stars affiliate team playing in the IHL. In the K-Wings' last season as a Stars affiliate, MacMillan featured in 53 games.\n\nDue to the Stars ending their association with the K-Wings, MacMillan was then farmed to the Utah Grizzlies again in the IHL. He would stay in Salt Lake City for the next four seasons, and remained playing for the Grizzlies when they changed league to play at the higher AHL standard. MacMillan was a cornerstone of the Grizzlies team, and featured in over 300 games during his stay there.\n\nMacMillan's hard work and natural defensive qualities meant that during the 2003/04 season he also featured for the Dallas Stars themselves, and played four regular season NHL games. The following season, MacMillan was again relegated back down to the AHL, this time playing for the Hartford Wolf Pack. In his one season playing for Hartford he was again a key player, playing 71 times and clocking up 136 penalty minutes. MacMillan would play one more season in the AHL in 2005/06, for the Syracuse Crunch.\n\nFor the 2006/07 season, MacMillan decided to play in Europe and signed for the Vienna Capitals in the Austrian national league, but did not stay for the whole season, signing for the Phoenix RoadRunners of the ECHL back in North America, where he also featured in the ECHL playoffs. MacMillan again decided to play in Europe the following year, and in the summer of 2007, along with Capital team-mate Scott Fankhouser, agreed to sign for the Manchester Phoenix, a team playing in the EIHL, the top tier of British club ice hockey, where he was also appointed alternate captain by player/coach Tony Hand.\n\nMacMillan proved to be a solid, physical defender for the Phoenix but struggled to find form, suffering a number of injuries through the season. The Manchester defence was notably unreliable during the 2007/08 season and at the end of the season, head coach Hand made the decision to re-model the entire defence, releasing MacMillan. MacMillan and Fankhouser would again choose to sign for the same club, agreeing to play for the Bloomington Prairie Thunder of the United Hockey League, an announcement made in July 2008.\n\nSince his professional days, MacMillan has split his time between the Durham Thundercats of the WOAA Senior AA Hockey League and the Dundas Real McCoys of Allan Cup Hockey. He won the Allan Cup with Real McCoys in 2014.\n\nCareer statistics\n\nExternal links\n\n1979 births\nBloomington PrairieThunder players\nCanadian ice hockey defencemen\nDallas Stars draft picks\nDallas Stars players\nFort Wayne Komets players\nHartford Wolf Pack players\nKalamazoo Wings (1974–2000) players\nLiving people\nManchester Phoenix players\nOshawa Generals players\nPhoenix RoadRunners players\nSyracuse Crunch players\nUtah Grizzlies (AHL) players\nUtah Grizzlies (IHL) players\nCanadian expatriate ice hockey players in England\nCanadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States"
]
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[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars",
"Did he play for the Dallas Stars?",
"The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years."
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | How old was he at this time? | 2 | How old was Joe Nieuwendyk at the time was signed by the Stars? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | false | [
"Nico Blok (born 13 July 1981) is a retired Dutch para table tennis player who competed in international level events. He is a Paralympic bronze medalist, three-time World medalist and a double European silver medalist.\n\nPersonal life\nWhen Blok was born in a hospital in Gouda, South Holland, doctors suspected that there was something wrong with him after he was born, it was later revealed that he was born with an unknown muscular disease. Due to this unknown muscular disease, he was prominently thin as he only weighed 40kg at a height of 1.77m and has also had limited muscle strength and walking long distances were impossible for him.\n\nBlok was very fascinated in sports at a young age: his older brother played soccer and tennis but it was too hard for Nico. His parents tried to find an alternative sport for him to participate in and when he was nine years old, he tried out table tennis and this was how he got his motivation.\n\nReferences\n\n1981 births\nLiving people\nSportspeople from Gouda, South Holland\nSportspeople from Utrecht (city)\nParalympic table tennis players of the Netherlands\nTable tennis players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics\nTable tennis players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics\nTable tennis players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics\nMedalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics",
"Washington Mean Time was the time at the meridian through the center of the old dome atop the main building at the old US Naval Observatory at Washington, D.C. This Washington meridian was defined on 28 September 1850 by the United States Congress. The Old Naval Observatory is now on the grounds of the United States Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, southwest of the corner of E and 23rd Streets in Foggy Bottom (north of the Lincoln Memorial). Washington Mean Time was sometimes called Washington Meridian Time. It was never used as the basis of any time zone, although it was the local mean time of the city of Washington before the advent of American time zones on 18 November 1883. It was also used to time astronomical events by users of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, first published for the year 1855.\n\nIn 1897, well after the Old Naval Observatory closed in 1892, the Coast and Geodetic Survey reported that its meridian was 77°3′2.3″ west of Greenwich, which was quoted for the next 50 years in the list of observatories in the Almanac as . This old Washington meridian was repealed on 22 August 1912. A later version of Washington mean time based on the meridian of the clock room at the exact center of the New Naval Observatory (77°4′2.24″W or ) was still being used in 1950 on a few pages of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, even though most of its pages used Greenwich Civil Time, the American name for the midnight epoch Greenwich Mean Time. For astronomical purposes, before 1925 a day was considered to start at noon rather than the previous midnight. Thus to convert times of astronomical events before 1925 given in Washington mean time to modern Universal Time it is necessary to add an additional 12 hours beyond the meridian difference from Washington to Greenwich, totalling more than 17 hours.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Position of the Observatory in Observations made during the year 1889 at the United States Naval Observatory (Washington: 1893) page XXII\n The Washington Refractor describing the present condition of the Old Naval Observatory\nWashington meridian marker stone at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C.\n North Dakota's Boundaries Its western border is 27° west of the Washington meridian\n State lines and how they were surveyed\n\nTime zones\nTime in the United States"
]
|
[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars",
"Did he play for the Dallas Stars?",
"The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years.",
"How old was he at this time?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | How long did he play for them? | 3 | How long did signed Nieuwendyk play for The Stars? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | five years. | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | true | [
"Christopher Carrick (8 October 1882 – June 1927) was an English footballer who played for Middlesbrough, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Reading, Bradford Park Avenue and Glentoran as an outside-left. He was described as \"a sturdy little winger, quick off the mark with the rare gift of taking chances\".\n\nBorn in Stockton, Carrick played for Middlesbrough, scoring six goals in 26 Football League matches over three seasons. He was signed by West Ham United manager Syd King for the 1904–05 season, part of an influx of new players that also included Boro teammate Frank Piercy. He made his debut on 8 October 1904 in a 2–0 home win against Swindon Town. On 28 January 1905 he scored his first goals for West Ham with a hat-trick in a 6–2 home win against Luton Town. He played only 18 games, scoring six goals, before he came to the attention of Tottenham Hotspur, moving to them in the summer of 1905. Signed to replace John Kirwan who had moved to Chelsea, Carrick did not play regularly for Tottenham until the middle of the 1905–06 season. In March 1906 Tottenham travelled to play away games at Bristol Rovers and at Plymouth Argyle. On returning to London Carrick and a teammate were suspended by Tottenham for \"ignoring training rules\". He did not play for them again and was transferred to Reading before moving to Bradford Park Avenue for the 1907–08 season. In 1908 he moved to Ireland to play for Glentoran. \nHe died in Middlesbrough in June 1927, aged 44, following a long illness.\n\nReferences\n\n1882 births\n1927 deaths\nDate of death missing\nSportspeople from Stockton-on-Tees\nFootballers from County Durham\nEnglish footballers\nAssociation football outside forwards\nMiddlesbrough F.C. players\nWest Ham United F.C. players\nTottenham Hotspur F.C. players\nReading F.C. players\nBradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players\nGlentoran F.C. players\nEnglish Football League players\nSouthern Football League players\nLeague of Ireland players",
"Tom Amberry (November 13, 1922 – March 18, 2017) was an American podiatrist who is best known for holding the Guinness world record for most consecutive free throws made, having made 2,750 of them in a row in a span of 12 hours over the course of November 15, 1993 at the age of 71. Amberry held the record for two and a half years before it was surpassed in April 1996 by Ted St. Martin. After setting his record, he worked with several teams, including the Chicago Bulls to help the players with their free throw shooting.\n\nAfter graduating college he decided to forgo a two-year contract to play with the then-Minneapolis Lakers, choosing to attend podiatry school instead. His medical office was located on Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nArticle about Amberry\nAmberry's page at basketball's best\nAmberry's official website\nFeldman, Jay (1994). Routine Perfection: How did Tom Amberry set the world free throw record? Focus, focus, focus Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 22 April 2013\n\n1922 births\n2017 deaths\nChicago Bulls coaches\nPeople from Grand Forks, North Dakota\nAmerican podiatrists"
]
|
[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars",
"Did he play for the Dallas Stars?",
"The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years.",
"How old was he at this time?",
"I don't know.",
"How long did he play for them?",
"five years."
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | Did they go to the play offs? | 4 | Did Dallas Stars go to the play offs? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | true | [
"The 2019 Davis Cup was the 108th edition of the Davis Cup, a tournament between national teams in men's tennis. It was sponsored by Rakuten.\n\nFor this edition, the format of the cup was changed. The main modification is the World Group took place at one location and in one week, with eighteen teams divided in six round-robin groups of three teams each, with the winners of the groups and the two best second places advancing to quarterfinals. The series between the teams in this stage featured two singles matches and one doubles match, instead of the best-of-5 series, with the matches changing from best of 5 sets to best of 3. As the World Group was taking place as one single tournament, this event had been named the 2019 Davis Cup Finals. The lower zone groups I and II were composed of single ties deciding promotion or relegation.\n\nSpain won their sixth title (their first since 2011), defeating Canada in the final 2–0. Rafael Nadal received the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for his performance in the tournament, after he won 8 of the 8 matches he participated in.\n\nDavis Cup Finals\n\nDate: 18–24 November 2019 \nVenue: Caja Mágica in Madrid, Spain \nSurface: Hard court\n\n18 nations are taking in the finals, formerly known as World Group. The qualification is as follows:\n 4 semifinalists of the previous edition\n 2 wild card teams\n 12 winners of a qualifier round, in February 2019\n\nH = Host Nation, TH = Title-Holder, 2018SF = Semi-Finalists from the 2018 tournament, WC = Wild Card\n\nSeeds \nThe seedings are based on the Nations Ranking of 4 February.\n\nQualifying round \n\nDate: 1–2 February 2019\n\nTwenty-four teams played for twelve spots in the Finals, in series decided on a home and away basis.\n\nThese twenty-four teams are:\n 4 losing quarterfinalists of the previous edition,\n 8 winners of World Group Play-offs of previous edition, and\n 12 best teams not previously qualified with best ranking of their zone: \n 6 from Europe/Africa,\n 3 from Asia/Oceania, and\n 3 from Americas.\n\nThe 12 losing teams from the qualifying round then played at the Group I of the corresponding continental zone in September.\n\n#: Nations Ranking as of 29 October 2018. \n\nSeeded teams\n (2018 Quarterfinalist, #4)\n (2018 Play-off winner, #8)\n (best ranked for replacing wild cards, #9)\n (2018 Quarterfinalist, #10)\n (2018 Quarterfinalist, #11)\n (2nd best ranked for replacing wild cards, #12)\n (2018 Quarterfinalist, #13)\n (2018 Play-off winner, #14)\n (2018 Play-off winner, #15)\n (2018 Play-off winner, #16)\n (2018 Play-off winner, #17)\n (2018 Play-off winner, #18)\n\nUnseeded teams\n (Europe/Africa's best ranked, #21)\n (Europe/Africa's 2nd best ranked, #22)\n (Europe/Africa's 3rd best ranked, #23)\n (Europe/Africa's 4th best ranked, #26)\n (Europe/Africa's 5th best ranked, #27)\n (Europe/Africa's 6th best ranked, #29)\n (Asia/Oceania's best ranked, #20)\n (Asia/Oceania's 2nd best ranked, #24)\n (Asia/Oceania's 3rd best ranked, #30)\n (Americas' best ranked, #19)\n (Americas' 2nd best ranked, #25)\n (Americas' 3rd best ranked, #28)\n\nGroup stage \n\nT = Ties, M = Matches, S = Sets\n\nKnockout stage\n\nFinal\n\nAmericas Zone\n\nGroup I \n\nDates: 13–14 September and 14–15 September 2019\n\nThe losers go on and participate to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I Play-offs while the winners qualify to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I\n\n<onlyinclude>\n\nSeeds: \n\nRemaining nations:\n\n1Because of the Venezuelan financial crisis, the Venezuelan national team plays its \"home\" matches in the Miami metropolitan area in the United States.\n\nGroup II \n\nDates: 5–6 April, 13–14 September and 14–15 September 2019\n\nThe losers go on and participate to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs while the winners qualify to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I Play-offs\n\n<onlyinclude>\n\nSeeds: \n\nRemaining nations:\n\nGroup III \n\nDates: 17–22 June 2019\n\nLocation: Costa Rica Country Club, Escazú, Costa Rica (hard)\n\nThe first three nations qualify for the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs\n\nParticipating nations\n\nPool A\n\n (host)\n\nPool B\n\nPlay-offs \n\n , and qualified to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs\n\nAsia/Oceania Zone\n\nGroup I \n\nDates: 13–14 September, 14–15 September 2019 and 29–30 November 2019\n\nThe losers go on and participate to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I Play-offs while the winners qualify to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I\n\n<onlyinclude>\n\nSeeds: \n\nRemaining nations:\n\nGroup II \n\nDates: 5–6 April and 14–15 September 2019\n\nThe losers go on and participate to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs while the winners qualify to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I Play-offs\n\n<onlyinclude>\n\nSeeds: \n\nRemaining nations:\n\nGroup III \n\nDates: 26–29 June 2019\n\nLocation: Singapore Sports Hub, Singapore (indoor hard)\n\nThe first three nations qualify for the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs\n\nThe last nation is relegated to 2021 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV\nParticipating nations\n\nPool A\n\n (host)\n\nPool B\n\nPlay-offs \n\n , and qualified to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs\n\n relegated to 2021 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV\n\nGroup IV \n\nDates: 11–14 September 2019\n\nLocation: Jordan Tennis Federation, Amman, Jordan (hard)\n\nThe first two nations qualify for the 2021 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III\n\nParticipating nations\n\nPool A\n \n Pacific Oceania\n \n\nPool B\n \n \n \n\nPool C\n \n (host)\n \n \n\nPool D\n\nPlay-offs \n\n Pacific Oceania and were promoted to the 2021 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III\n\nEurope/Africa Zone\n\nGroup I \n\nDates: 13–14 September and 14–15 September 2019\n\nThe losers go on and participate to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I Play-offs while the winners qualify to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I\n\n<onlyinclude>\n\nSeeds: \n\nRemaining nations:\n\nGroup II \n\nDates: 5–6 April and 13–14 September 2019\n\nThe losers go on and participate to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs while the winners qualify to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group I Play-offs\n\n<onlyinclude>\n\nSeeds: \n\nRemaining nations:\n\nGroup III Europe \n\nDates: 11–14 September 2019\n\nLocation: Tatoi Club, Athens, Greece (clay)\n\nThe first four nations qualify for the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs\n\nThe last two nations are relegated to 2021 Davis Cup Europe Zone Group IV\n\nParticipating nations\n\nPool A\n (host)\n \n \n \n\nPool B\n\nPlay-offs \n\n , , and qualified to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs\n\n and relegated to 2021 Davis Cup Europe Zone Group IV\n\nGroup III Africa\n\nDates: 11–14 September 2019\n\nLocation: Nairobi Club Ground, Nairobi, Kenya (clay)\n\nThe first two nations qualify for the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs\n\nThe last two nations are relegated to 2021 Davis Cup Africa Zone Group IV\n\nParticipating nations\n\nPool A\n \n \n \n \n\nPool B\n \n \n (host)\n\nPlay-offs \n\n and qualified to the 2020 Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs.\n\n and relegated to 2021 Davis Cup Africa Zone Group IV\n\nGroup IV Europe \n\nDates: 15–20 July 2019\n\nLocation: Centro Tennis Cassa di Risparmio, San Marino, San Marino (clay)\n\nThe first five nations qualify for the 2021 Davis Cup Europe Zone Group III\nParticipating nations\n\nPool A\n \n \n \n \n \n\nPool B\n \n \n \n \n (host)\n\nPlay-offs \n\n , , , and were promoted to the 2021 Davis Cup Europe Zone Group III\n\nGroup IV Africa\n\nDates: 26–29 June 2019\n\nLocation: Kintélé Sports Complex, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo (hard)\n\nThe first two nations qualify for the 2021 Davis Cup Africa Zone Group III\nParticipating nations\n\nPool A\n \n \n \n\nPool B\n \n (host)\n\nPlay-offs \n\n and were promoted to the 2021 Davis Cup Europe Zone Group IV\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial website\nDavis Cup 2019 Live Stream Info \n\n \nDavis Cup\nDavis Cups by year",
"The Play-offs of the 2004 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I were the final stages of the Group I Zonal Competition involving teams from Europe and Africa. Those that qualified for this stage placed first and second in their respective pools, and also last in their pools.\n\nThe eight top teams were then randomly paired up the team from a different placing of another group for a play-off tie, with the winners being promoted to the World Group Play-offs. The four bottom teams were also randomly paired up in play-off ties with the losers being relegated down to Group II for 2005.\n\nPromotional Play-offs\n\nSerbia and Montenegro vs. Bulgaria\n\n advanced to the World Group Play-offs, where they were drawn against . They lost 2–3, and thus were relegated back to Group I for next year.\n\nUkraine vs. Hungary\n\n advanced to the World Group Play-offs, where they were drawn against . They lost 2–3, and thus were relegated back to Group I for next year.\n\nBelarus vs. Sweden\n\n advanced to the World Group Play-offs, where they were drawn against . They lost 0–4, and thus were relegated back to Group I for next year.\n\nEstonia vs. Israel\n\n advanced to the World Group Play-offs, where they were drawn against . They lost 2–3, and thus were relegated back to Group I for next year.\n\nRelegation Play-offs\n\nLithuania vs. Greece\n\n was relegated down to Group II for next year, where they placed fifth overall.\n\nDenmark vs. South Africa\n\n was relegated down to Group II for next year.\n\nSee also\nFed Cup structure\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Fed Cup website\n\n2004 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone"
]
|
[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars",
"Did he play for the Dallas Stars?",
"The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years.",
"How old was he at this time?",
"I don't know.",
"How long did he play for them?",
"five years.",
"Did they go to the play offs?",
"39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs."
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | How did he injury himself? | 5 | How did Joe Nieuwendyk injury himself? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | he suffered a torn ACL | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | true | [
"Steve Costanzo (born 22 January 1988 in Ingham, Queensland) is an Australian professional basketball player who currently plays for the Townsville Heat in the Queensland Basketball League. At 18 years old, he earned himself a position at the Australian Institute of Sport. During this time he was acknowledged as having the largest every recorded wingspan. Costanzo played one game for the Townsville Crocodiles in 2008 2008-09 NBL season., before a foot injury forced him out for the rest of his career. Despite this set back, Costanzo did earn himself a Maccas Gold Card, guaranteeing him 50% discount on anything in the menu for life. He is also a valuable member of SMC. \"Oh how the mighty have fallen\".\n\nReferences \n\n1988 births\nLiving people\nTownsville Crocodiles players\nAustralian men's basketball players",
"Bahasha (film) is a 2018 Tanzanian movie about a public official who seeks redemption after taking bribe. It battles the issue of corruption in our present society. \n\nThe film was nominated at Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Film In African Language in 2018.\n\nSynopsis \nKitasa had to give up on his dream to be a professional footballer due to an injury. He gets elected by his community as a public officer but soon engages in a corrupt activity disappointing himself and those around him. The movie shows how he deals with the consequences of his actions and his struggle to redeem himself. Can he?\n\nCast \n\n Ayoub Bombwe as Kitasa\n Cathryn Credo as Hidaya\n Godliver Gordian as Zawadi\n\nReferences \n\n2018 films\nSwahili-language films"
]
|
[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars",
"Did he play for the Dallas Stars?",
"The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years.",
"How old was he at this time?",
"I don't know.",
"How long did he play for them?",
"five years.",
"Did they go to the play offs?",
"39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs.",
"How did he injury himself?",
"he suffered a torn ACL"
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | Did he recover from this? | 6 | Did Joe Nieuwendyk recover from a torn ACL? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | false | [
"Never Recover may refer to:\n\nSongs\n \"Never Recover\", 1996 song by The Cardigans from their 1996 album First Band on the Moon\n \"Never Recover\", 2002 song by Dave Pirner from his 2002 album Faces & Names\n \"Never Recover\", 2018 song by Lil Baby and Gunna from their 2018 album Drip Harder\n\nSee also\n Recovery (disambiguation)",
"Structure from motion may refer to:\n Structure from motion in computer vision: How to create software that recover shape information from image sequences\n Structure from motion: Psychophysics: How humans recover shape information from rotating objects"
]
|
[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars",
"Did he play for the Dallas Stars?",
"The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years.",
"How old was he at this time?",
"I don't know.",
"How long did he play for them?",
"five years.",
"Did they go to the play offs?",
"39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs.",
"How did he injury himself?",
"he suffered a torn ACL",
"Did he recover from this?",
"The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season."
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | How long before he was able to play again? | 7 | How long before Joe Nieuwendyk was able to play again? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | 1998-99 | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | false | [
"Abbas Mohammadi (, born August 23, 1975) is a retired Iranian football goalkeeper who mostly played at Iran's Premier Football League.\n\nClub career\nAbbas Mohammadi played for Mes Kerman F.C. before moving to Sepahan F.C. in 2007. With Sepahan he was able to play in the AFC Champions League and his ability and effort was the reason Sepahan made it to Final match before losing to Urawa Red Diamonds. Mohammadi was also able to play in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup with Sepahan and was again one of their top players.\n\nClub career statistics\n\nInternational career\nHe made his debut for Iran in a friendly match against Costa Rica on January 30, 2008.\n\nReferences\n\nIranian footballers\nAssociation football goalkeepers\nSepahan S.C. footballers\nTractor S.C. players\n1975 births\nBargh Shiraz players\nLiving people\nSanat Mes Kerman F.C. players\nPersian Gulf Pro League players\nAzadegan League players",
"How to Play the Piano was a British television series which was aired in 1950 on BBC. In the programme, Sidney Harrison showed how to play the piano to a pupil, Edward Goodwin. Episode titles included \"how to practise\", \"how to play with expression\", and \"how do you play?\". It aired in a 30-minute time-slot.\n\nSee also\nPiano Lesson TV series\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nHow to Play the Piano on IMDb\nhow long does it take to learn piano\nHow to Learn How to Play Piano\n\n1950s British music television series\n1950 British television series debuts\n1950 British television series endings\nLost BBC episodes\nBBC Television shows\nBlack-and-white British television shows\nBritish live television series"
]
|
[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars",
"Did he play for the Dallas Stars?",
"The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years.",
"How old was he at this time?",
"I don't know.",
"How long did he play for them?",
"five years.",
"Did they go to the play offs?",
"39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs.",
"How did he injury himself?",
"he suffered a torn ACL",
"Did he recover from this?",
"The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season.",
"How long before he was able to play again?",
"1998-99"
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | When he started playing again was it with the same team? | 8 | When Joe Nieuwendyk started playing again was with the Dallas Stars? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | false | [
"Mateus Viveiros Andrade (born 17 January 1998) is a Brazilian football right side defender.\n\nClub career\nBorn in Brasilia, Viveiros started playing futsal when he was 6. When he was 11 he started playing football at São Paulo from Brasilia, but shortly after he moved to a more prestigious Brasilia Football Academy. It was playing in the academy that he earned a chance for trials at São Paulo FC and was successful at first. In 2013 he became Brazilian U15 champion with São Paulo. With youth teams of São Paulo he also won the Copa Ouro in 2016 and became Campeonato Paulista champion in U17 and U20 levels.\n\nOn February 13, 2017, Viveiros signed a two and a half-year contract with Serbian club Red Star Belgrade. After spending half a year training with senior squad and playing with youth team of Red Star, in summer 2017 he was loaned to FK Bežanija. He made 7 appearances with Bežanija in the 2017–18 Serbian First League.\n\nInternational career\nIn January 2014 Viveiros was called to the Brazilian U17 national team, having been called since then regularly such was in March, or May 2015.\n\nIn June 2016 he was called for the Brazilian U19 national team. Later that same month he was called to the Brazilian U20 national team.\n\nReferences\n\n1998 births\nLiving people\nFootballers from São Paulo\nBrazilian footballers\nBrazilian expatriate footballers\nAssociation football defenders\nSão Paulo FC players\nRed Star Belgrade footballers\nFK Bežanija players\nSerbian First League players\nExpatriate footballers in Serbia",
"Bryan Jurewicz is a former professional National Football League player who was briefly a member of both the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts.\n\nJurewicz was a star lineman at Deerfield High School in Illinois, a starter on the varsity team in 1990 and 1991. He was named as an all-conference player in 1990, and again in 1991, also being named all-area, all-state, and the Gatorade Player of the Year for Illinois football.\n\nHe was a starting defensive lineman for the University of Wisconsin Badgers, going directly from red shirt to a starting player in 1993 when his predecessor was injured. He started playing at 6'5\" and 240 pounds. In 1994, the sophomore started the season as a rushing linebacker, but was once again moved to defensive line, bulking up by 20 pounds in the process, and playing with the team in the Rose Bowl that year. He deflected 9 passes as a Badgers defensive lineman in 1996, a school record, and he was an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten Conference selection the same year. He made 9 tackles for a loss in his last five games with the Badgers, with UW assistant coach John Palermo calling him \"...as good of a defensive lineman as there is in the league\".\n\nAfter graduating from University of Wisconsin, he signed as a free agent with the Panthers in 1997. After being released in August of the same year, he was picked up in February 1998 by the Indianapolis Colts and spent some time on their practice squad; the latter team placed him on waivers after a few months. Most newspapers in 1998 incorrectly listed his position as offensive lineman.\n\nJurewicz was the President and CEO of GradeBeam, LLC, an online bidding and communication company in the construction industry. GradeBeam was one of Chicago's largest privately held companies before a sale to Textura Corporation and subsequent initial public offering.\n\nReferences\n\n1973 births\nLiving people\nPlayers of American football from Illinois\nPeople from Deerfield, Illinois\nAmerican football defensive linemen\nWisconsin Badgers football players\nCarolina Panthers players\nIndianapolis Colts players"
]
|
[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars",
"Did he play for the Dallas Stars?",
"The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years.",
"How old was he at this time?",
"I don't know.",
"How long did he play for them?",
"five years.",
"Did they go to the play offs?",
"39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs.",
"How did he injury himself?",
"he suffered a torn ACL",
"Did he recover from this?",
"The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season.",
"How long before he was able to play again?",
"1998-99",
"When he started playing again was it with the same team?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | What did he do after he recovered? | 9 | What did oe Nieuwendyk do after he recovered? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | 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)",
"Orlando L. Serrell (born 1968) is an American \"acquired savant\" — someone who exhibits savant skills after central nervous system (CNS) injury or disease, as distinguished from a person born with autistic disorder or other developmental disability.\n\nAcquisition and abilities\nSerrell did not possess any special skills until he was struck by a baseball on the left side of his head on August 17, 1979, when he was ten years old. Serrell fell to the ground, but eventually recovered and continued playing baseball. He did not seek any medical treatment because he did not tell his parents; for a long while, he suffered from a headache. Eventually, the headache ended, but Serrell soon noticed he had the ability to perform calendrical calculations of amazing complexity. He can also recall the weather, as well as (to a varying degree) where he was and what he has done for every day since the accident.\n\nPersonal life\nSerrell resides in Newport News, Virginia.\n\nReferences\n\nLiving people\n1968 births\nAcquired savants\nPeople from Virginia"
]
|
[
"Joe Nieuwendyk",
"Dallas Stars",
"Did he play for the Dallas Stars?",
"The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years.",
"How old was he at this time?",
"I don't know.",
"How long did he play for them?",
"five years.",
"Did they go to the play offs?",
"39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs.",
"How did he injury himself?",
"he suffered a torn ACL",
"Did he recover from this?",
"The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season.",
"How long before he was able to play again?",
"1998-99",
"When he started playing again was it with the same team?",
"I don't know.",
"What did he do after he recovered?",
"He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games,"
]
| C_96cf32367ed04f83b57408823d4d1cfd_1 | Did he win any championships? | 10 | Did oe Nieuwendyk win any championships? | Joe Nieuwendyk | The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995-96 season. Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996-97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998-99 NHL season. He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999-2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however. Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Joseph Nieuwendyk ( ; born September 10, 1966) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He was a second round selection of the Calgary Flames, 27th overall, at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 20 seasons for the Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams, winning titles with Calgary in 1989, Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003. A two-time Olympian, Nieuwendyk won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 winter games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014. Joe Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 Nieuwendyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as most valuable player of the postseason. Nieuwendyk played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. Nieuwendyk was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract April 30, 2018.
Early life
Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). His best friend growing up was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts.
He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 when he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk.
Playing career
College
Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, and so played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL Entry Draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall, with a pick obtained that day in a trade with the Minnesota North Stars for Kent Nilsson. The disappointment in Calgary over the trade of Nilsson resulted in some criticism of Nieuwendyk's selection, famously leading to a local newspaper to question the moves with the headline "Joe Who?"
Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award.
Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ECAC history.
Calgary Flames
Once his junior season at Cornell ended, Nieuwendyk joined the national team for five games before turning professional with the Flames. He made his NHL debut on March 10, 1987, against the Washington Capitals and scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Pete Peeters. He appeared in nine regular season games in the 1986–87 NHL season, scoring five goals and one assist, and appeared in six playoff games. Playing his first full season in 1987–88, Nieuwendyk captured the attention of the sports media by scoring 32 goals in his first 42 games to put him on a pace to surpass Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53 goals. Nieuwendyk finished two goals short of Bossy's record, but led the team with 51 goals and was the second first-year player to score at least 50 goals in one season. He played in his first NHL All-Star Game, was named to the All-Rookie Team and was voted the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Nieuwendyk again scored 51 goals in 1988–89 and marked the 100th of his career in his 144th career game. At the time, he was the third fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Bossy (129 games) and Maurice Richard (134 games), and was the third player in league history to score 50 goals in each of his first two seasons (Bossy and Wayne Gretzky). He led the league with 11 game-winning goals and set a Flames franchise record on January 11, 1989, when he scored five goals in one game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nieuwendyk appeared in his second of three-consecutive All-Star Games. In the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 10 goals and four assists to help the Flames win their first- and only -Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. In the clinching game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nieuwendyk set up Lanny McDonald's final NHL goal with a quick pass after receiving the puck from Håkan Loob.
A 45-goal season in 1989–90 was enough for Nieuwendyk to lead the team in goal scoring for the third consecutive season. He missed he first 11 games of the 1991–92 NHL season after suffering a knee injury during a summer evaluation camp for the 1991 Canada Cup. Nieuwendyk began the season as the 12th captain in the Flames franchise history. He was limited to 22 goals and 56 points on the season, but scored his 200th career goal on December 3, 1991, against the Detroit Red Wings. His 230th career goal, scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 13, 1992, established a Flames franchise record for career goals (since broken).
Nieuwendyk entered the 1995–96 season unhappy with his contract status. Unable to come to terms with the Flames, he had gone to arbitration, and was awarded a contract worth C$1.85 million, but insisted on renegotiating the deal into a long-term contract extension. He refused an offer of a three-year, $6 million contract from the Flames, and as the dispute dragged on, chose not to join the team when the season began. He remained a holdout until December 19, 1995, when the Flames traded him to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.
Dallas Stars
The Stars immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a new deal worth US$11.3 million over five years. Bob Gainey, the team's general manager, hoped that the acquisition of Nieuwendyk would help the franchise, which had relocated from Minnesota three years previous, establish its place in Dallas. Nieuwendyk scored 14 goals and 32 points in 52 games with the Stars to finish the 1995–96 season.
Nieuwendyk improved to 30 goals in 1996–97 despite missing the first month of the season with fractured rib cartilage. A 39-goal season followed, but he was again sidelined by injury after appearing in only one game of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the opening game of the Stars' first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, he suffered a torn ACL as a result of a check by Bryan Marchment. The injury required two knee surgeries to repair and six months to heal, which caused him to miss the beginning of the 1998–99 NHL season.
He finished the regular season with 28 goals and 55 points in 67 games, and added 11 goals and 10 assists in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs to help the Stars win the first Stanley Cup in their franchise history. Six of his playoff goals were game winners, and he was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs. Injuries again limited Nieuwendyk in 1999–2000. He missed ten games due to a bruised chest then suffered a separated shoulder a week after his return that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. He played only 47 regular season games, but added 23 more in the playoffs as the Stars reached the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. They lost the series in six games to the New Jersey Devils, however.
Nieuwendyk played in his 1,000th career game on January 20, 2002, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Two months later, on March 19, 2002, he was traded to the Devils, along with Jamie Langenbrunner, in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.
New Jersey, Toronto and Florida
New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002–03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003–04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played. After scoring two goals in the decisive Game 7 opening round series victory against the Ottawa Senators, a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004–05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.
When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006–07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.
International play
As a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Nieuwendyk scored five goals in seven games to help Canada win a silver medal. His 12 points in the tournament tied him for third in scoring for Team Canada and fourth overall in the tournament. One year later, Nieuwendyk joined the senior national team for the Calgary Cup, a four-team exhibition tournament that served as a preview event for the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored a goal in each of the first two games, losses to the United States and Czechoslovakia, for the Canadian team that won the bronze medal. He joined the senior team again for the 1990 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, but appeared in only one game after suffering a knee injury. He was invited to Team Canada's summer camp for the 1991 Canada Cup tournament but suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire tournament.
NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament in 1998. Nieuwendyk was among the players named to join Canada's "dream team". He scored two goals and three assists in six games, but was one of several Canadian players stopped by Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in a shootout loss in the semifinals. Canada then dropped a 3–2 decision to Finland to finish fourth. Nieuwendyk played alongside Brendan Shanahan and Theoren Fleury on Canada's checking line at the 2002 Olympic tournament. He scored one goal and helped Canada win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 50 years.
Playing style
Cliff Fletcher, who drafted him into the NHL, described Nieuwendyk as being a "pre-eminent two-way guy who had 50-goal seasons", adding that "he had a great stick around the net, he had a great shot, he saw the ice well, he could skate, he had the size – he had everything you needed to have. History has indicated that wherever he went, the team was competitive. The more that was on the line in big games, the better Joe played." He was an offensive centre in Calgary and power play specialist, able to withstand the physical punishment required to stand in front of the net and battle defencemen for the puck. He led the NHL in power play goals in 1987–88 with 31 and finished in the top ten on four other occasions. Wayne Gretzky, who also played box lacrosse in his youth, argued that the skills Nieuwendyk learned dodging opposing players in that sport aided his development as a hockey player. Nieuwendyk was regarded as a top faceoff man, a skill that Team Canada relied on during the Olympics. He was a checking-line centre at the 2002 Olympics, relied on for his defensive and faceoff abilities.
Nieuwendyk was regarded as a leader throughout his career. He was the captain of the Flames for four seasons, and his teammates in Dallas praised him as a player who would help guide the younger players as they began their careers. His presence was considered an important factor in New Jersey's 2003 Stanley Cup championship. Devils' general manager Lou Lamoriello praised his impact both on and off the ice: "Certainly (the tangibles were) the quality player he was even at that time, how good he was defensively as well as always finding a way to get big goals. It was also about how good he was on faceoffs. And the intangibles, which are really more tangible than anything, are what he brought in the locker room from leadership and unselfishness. It was obvious that when he didn't play he was still so active in his support. He's genuine in every sense of the word. He was a true team player." Nieuwendyk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and his uniform number 25 was honoured by the Calgary Flames on March 7, 2014, as he was named to the organization's "Forever a Flame" program.
Management career
Remaining in hockey following the end of his playing career, Nieuwendyk joined the Florida Panthers' front office as a consultant to general manager Jacques Martin in 2007. He left the Panthers after one year to join the Maple Leafs as special assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher in 2008. He served as assistant general manager for the silver-medal winning Canadian national team at the 2009 World Championships, and on June 1, 2009, was named general manager of the Dallas Stars. His ability to make moves was at times limited by the financial difficulty of team owner Tom Hicks. Among Nieuwendyk's decisions in his first two seasons as general manager was to allow popular former captain Mike Modano to leave the organization after 22 years with the franchise in 2010. Nieuwendyk stated such moves were difficult, as he played with Modano and considered him a friend. Nieuwendyk was released as Stars' general manager at the conclusion of the 2012–13 NHL season as team owner Tom Gaglardi stated that the team wanted to "take this organization in a different direction". On September 3, 2014, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they had hired him as a pro scout and advisor. He resigned from his position with Carolina on April 30, 2018.
Personal life
Nieuwendyk and his wife Tina have three children: daughters Tyra and Kaycee and son Jackson. In 1995, while a member of the Flames, Nieuwendyk won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy given annually to the player "who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community". He was honoured by the league for his contributions to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and was a spokesman and honorary chairman of the Foothills Hospital Foundation. He remained active with the SPCA after his trade to Dallas, and following the September 11 attacks, organized a charity softball game that raised $115,000 for charitable groups in the aftermath of the attack. While a member of the Maple Leafs during the lockout, he participated in a charity hockey game organized by cancer survivor and former NHL player Keith Acton that raised $30,000 for cancer and leukemia charities in southern Ontario.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
1966 births
Living people
Calder Trophy winners
Calgary Flames captains
Calgary Flames draft picks
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Canadian lacrosse players
Canadian people of Dutch descent
Carolina Hurricanes scouts
Conn Smythe Trophy winners
Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players
Dallas Stars executives
Dallas Stars players
Florida Panthers executives
Florida Panthers players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Oshawa
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
National Hockey League All-Stars
New Jersey Devils players
Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans | false | [
"South Africa competed at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, but did not win any medals.\n\nCompetitors\n\nReferences\n\nNations at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics\nWorld Championships in Athletics\nSouth Africa at the World Championships in Athletics",
"Romania competed at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland, from 27 June to 1 July 2012. It did not win any medals.\n\nResults\n\nMen\n\nTrack\n\nField\n\nWomen\n\nTrack\n\nField\n\nSources\n\nNations at the 2012 European Athletics Championships\nRomania at the European Athletics Championships\nEuropean Athletics Championships"
]
|
[
"Glenn Danzig",
"Misfits and Samhain (1977-1987)"
]
| C_dd9b8ea9bb574dbcbf222fd4aec2d09d_1 | When were the Misfits formed? | 1 | When were the Misfits and Samhain formed? | Glenn Danzig | In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits, releasing the band's records through his own label, (originally known as Blank, then later as Plan 9). Danzig had attempted to get the Misfits signed to several record labels, only to be told that he would never have a career in music. The impetus for the band's name comes from Marilyn Monroe's last film, combined with Danzig considering himself to be a "social misfit." In October 1983, after releasing several singles and three albums, and gaining a small underground following, Danzig disbanded the Misfits due to increasing animosity among the band members and his dissatisfaction with their musical abilities. Danzig explained his decision: "It was difficult for me to work with those guys, because they weren't prepared to put in the hours practicing. I wanted to move things forward, and they didn't seem to have the same outlook. So it was time for me to move on." After the Misfits, he began work on a new band project: Samhain. The origins of Samhain began when Danzig started rehearsing with Eerie Von, formerly of Rosemary's Babies. Danzig took the name of the band from the ancient Celtic New Year, which influenced the evolution of the modern Halloween. Initially Samhain was conceived as a punk rock "super group". The band briefly featured members of Minor Threat and Reagan Youth, who contributed to Samhain's 1984 debut, Initium. The band then settled with a lineup consisting of Eerie Von on bass, Damien on guitar, and Steve Zing on drums (later replaced by London May). In 1985 the Unholy Passion EP was released, followed by November-Coming-Fire in 1986. Samhain eventually began to attract the interest of major labels including Epic and Elektra. Rick Rubin, music producer and head of the Def American label, would see the band perform at the 1986 New Music Seminar, on the advice of then-Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Danzig has credited both Burton and Metallica frontman James Hetfield with helping to raise awareness about his music: "I first met them at a Black Flag gig, and then we became kinda friends. We'd often bump into each other on the road...James and Cliff helped to spread the word about me, and I was very grateful to them." CANNOTANSWER | In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits, | Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, film director, and record producer. He is the founder of the bands Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. He owns the Evilive record label as well as Verotik, an adult-oriented comic book publishing company.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, Danzig's musical career has encompassed a number of genres through the years, including punk rock, heavy metal, industrial, blues and classical music. He has also written songs for other musicians, most notably Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison.
As a singer, Danzig is noted for his baritone voice and tenor vocal range; his style has been compared to those of Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, and Howlin' Wolf. Danzig has also cited Bill Medley as a vocal influence.
Early life
Danzig was born Glenn Allen Anzalone, the third of four sons, to a Protestant family in Lodi, New Jersey. His father was a television repairman and a United States Marine Corps veteran of World War II and the Korean War. His mother worked at a record store. Danzig and his family also spent some time living in Revere, Massachusetts. Danzig began listening to heavy music at an early age, and has described Black Sabbath, the Ramones, Blue Cheer, and The Doors as being among his early musical influences.
At age 10, Danzig began to use drugs and alcohol, leading him into frequent fights and trouble with the law. He stopped using drugs at age 15.
While growing up, Danzig began reading the works of authors including Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe, developing his appreciation for horror. Danzig collected comic books and, frustrated by American comics, he started his own company to produce "crazy, violent, erotic comics".
Danzig graduated from Lodi High School in June 1973, aspiring to become a comic book creator and professional photographer. He attended the Tisch School of the Arts and later the New York Institute of Photography. Danzig formed an adult-oriented comic book company called Verotik in the mid-1990s.
Musical career
Early career
Glenn Danzig's introduction to performing music began when he took piano and clarinet lessons as a child. He later taught himself how to play the guitar. Danzig started in the music business at the age of 11, first as a drum roadie and then playing in local garage bands. He had never taken vocal lessons, but his self-taught vocal prowess gained him attention in the local scene. Throughout his teenage years he sang for several local bands, such as Talus and Koo-Dot-N-Boo-Jang, most of which played half original songs and half Black Sabbath songs.
Misfits and Samhain (1977–1987)
In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits, releasing the band's records through his own label, (originally known as Blank, then later as Plan 9). Danzig had attempted to get the Misfits signed to several record labels, only to be told that he would never have a career in music. The impetus for the band's name comes from Marilyn Monroe's last film, combined with Danzig considering himself to be a "social misfit". In October 1983, after releasing several singles and three albums, and gaining a small underground following, Danzig disbanded the Misfits due to his increasing animosity for the other band members and his dissatisfaction with their musical abilities. Danzig explained his decision: "It was difficult for me to work with those guys, because they weren't prepared to put in the hours practicing. I wanted to move things forward, and they didn't seem to have the same outlook. So it was time for me to move on."
After the Misfits, he began work on a new band project, Samhain. The origins of Samhain began when Danzig started rehearsing with Eerie Von, formerly of Rosemary's Babies. Danzig took the name of the band from the ancient Celtic New Year, which influenced the evolution of the modern Halloween. Initially Samhain was conceived as a punk rock "super group". The band briefly featured members of Minor Threat and Reagan Youth, who contributed to Samhain's 1984 debut, Initium. The band then settled with a lineup consisting of Eerie Von on bass, Damien on guitar, and Steve Zing on drums (later replaced by London May). In 1985 the Unholy Passion EP was released, followed by November-Coming-Fire in 1986.
Samhain eventually began to attract the interest of major labels including Epic and Elektra. Rick Rubin, music producer and head of the Def American label, would see the band perform at the 1986 New Music Seminar, on the advice of then-Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Danzig has credited both Burton and Metallica frontman James Hetfield with helping to raise awareness about his music: "I first met them at a Black Flag gig, and then we became kinda friends. We'd often bump into each other on the road...James and Cliff helped to spread the word about me, and I was very grateful to them."
Danzig
"Classic" era (1987–1994)
In 1987, after two albums and an EP, Samhain was signed to a major label by Rubin and the name of the band was changed to Danzig to allow the band to retain its name in the event of line-up changes. Danzig discussed the reasoning behind the name change: "Rick [Rubin] convinced me it was the way to go, and would also provide me with a lot more artistic freedom. After all, I was now in charge of where we were going musically, so if I didn't want to do something, it was a lot easier to say so." Danzig's intention at the time was for each album he recorded to consist of a different recording line-up, allowing him to keep working with different musicians. The original band consisted of guitarist John Christ, bassist Eerie Von, and former Circle Jerks–DOA–Black Flag drummer Chuck Biscuits.
In 1987, Danzig, owing to his association with Rubin, was asked to write a song for Roy Orbison. The result was "Life Fades Away", featured in the 1987 movie Less than Zero. Danzig also contributed to the film's soundtrack with "You and Me (Less than Zero)". Danzig had originally been asked to write the song for a female vocalist, but when Rubin could not find a suitable singer Danzig recorded the vocals himself. The song is credited to "Glenn Danzig and the Power Fury Orchestra", which featured the same membership as the initial lineup of Danzig, with the exception of Eerie Von. Since Von did not like the way producer Rubin wanted the bass played on the song, George Drakoulias played the bass instead.
In 1988, the newly formed band Danzig released their eponymous debut. Its sound showed a progression from the gothic–deathrock sound of Samhain, to a slower, heavier, more blues-based heavy metal sound.
In 1990, the band's sophomore effort Danzig II: Lucifuge marked an immediate change in musical direction. The album's overall bluesier tone and somewhat milder approach were departures from Danzig, featuring a 50s-style ballad ("Blood & Tears") and a full-on acoustic blues ("I'm the One").
Other projects in 1990 included the final Samhain album Final Descent. The album was started under the title Samhain Grim several years prior. The album contained previously unreleased studio recordings, at least some of which had been intended for the Samhain Grim album before it was aborted.
In 1992, Danzig once again changed musical direction, releasing the darker Danzig III: How the Gods Kill. Several songs would feature a more textured, slower sound in between fast, dominant guitar riffs.
Also in 1992, Danzig tried his hand at composing classical music with Black Aria. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard classical music chart.
In 1993, Danzig released Thrall: Demonsweatlive, an EP featuring both studio recordings and live tracks. Danzig broke into the mainstream when the live video of "Mother '93" became a hit on MTV and earned Buzz Bin rotation, six years after the original song was recorded. During this time the band reached its commercial peak, with both the debut album and Thrall: Demonsweatlive being certified Gold, and "Mother" becoming the band's highest charting single. Both Danzig and Thrall: Demonsweatlive have since been certified Platinum.
In 1994, the release of Danzig 4 saw the band going further into a darker and more experimental sound. The album also saw further development of his vocal style and range; most notable in songs like "Let It Be Captured" and a more blues based approach on songs like "Going Down to Die".
Also in 1994, Danzig wrote the song "Thirteen" for Johnny Cash, which appeared on the album American Recordings.
Later years (1995–2004)
In 1996, the band underwent a complete overhaul. The original lineup had fallen apart, as had Glenn Danzig's relationship with their record label, American Recordings, with label owner Rick Rubin's involvement as producer diminishing with each album. Danzig would later engage in a legal battle with Rubin over unpaid royalties and the rights to the band's unreleased songs. Danzig enlisted new bandmates, most notably Joey Castillo who would continue to be the band's drummer until 2002.
Once again, he explored a new musical direction and recorded Blackacidevil; this time infusing heavy metal with industrial rock. Danzig went on to sign a deal with Hollywood Records, which led to several religious groups boycotting its parent company Disney for signing a controversial "satanic" band. As a result, the label pulled support for Blackacidevil and the record deal was severed.
In September 1999, Danzig signed his band to E-Magine Records, becoming the first artist on the label. The deal also led to the release of a Samhain box set and the re-release of Blackacidevil.
Danzig's subsequent three albums, 6:66 Satan's Child (1999), I Luciferi (2002) and Circle of Snakes (2004), all musically and lyrically evolved to a more stripped down, heavier gothic metal sound. The Danzig lineup continued to change with each album, while Danzig's voice started to show change after years of touring.
In 1999, during the U.S. touring for the album 6:66 Satan's Child Danzig reunited Samhain along with drummers Steve Zing and London May. Then-Danzig guitarist Todd Youth was invited by Glenn Danzig to fill in the guitar position for the Samhain reunion tour, replacing Samhain's original guitarist, Pete "Damien" Marshall, who had opted out in order to tour with Iggy Pop. Eerie Von was not invited to rejoin Samhain due to personal issues within the band. Both Zing and May handled bass duties, switching from drums to bass in between the "Blood Show".
In 2003, Danzig founded the Blackest of the Black tour to provide a platform for dark and extreme bands of his choosing from around the world. Bands featured on the tour have included Dimmu Borgir, Superjoint Ritual, Nile, Opeth, Lacuna Coil, Behemoth, Skeletonwitch, Mortiis and Marduk.
Recent activity (2005–2011)
In 2005, Danzig's tours to support the Circle of Snakes album and the Blackest of the Black Tour were highlighted by the special guest appearance of Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. Doyle joined Danzig on stage for a 20-minute set of classic Misfits songs: "To do this right, I invited Doyle to join Danzig on stage at 'Blackest of the Black' for a special guest set. This is the first time we will be performing on stage together in 20 years. It's the closest thing to a Misfits reunion anyone is ever going to see."
On October 17, 2006, he released his second solo album Black Aria II. The album reached the top ten on the Billboard classical music chart.
In November 2006, Danzig toured the west coast with former Samhain drummer Steve Zing on bass. They played three Samhain songs including "All Murder All Guts All Fun". In Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Doyle joined the band onstage for the encore and played two Misfits songs, "Skulls" and "Astro Zombies".
In 2007 Danzig produced the debut album by ex-Misfits guitarist Doyle's metal-influenced band, Gorgeous Frankenstein.
In July 2007, Danzig released The Lost Tracks of Danzig, a compilation of previously unreleased songs. The project took nine months to complete with Glenn Danzig having to add extra vocal and instrument tracks to songs that had been unfinished. The album included the controversial "White Devil Rise", recorded during the sessions for Danzig 4 in response to inflammatory comments by Louis Farrakhan and his use of the term "The White Devil". The song is Danzig's conjecture as to what would happen if Farrakhan incited the passive white race to rise up and start a race war: "No one wants to see a race war. It would be terrible, so the song's saying, 'Be careful what you wish for.'" Danzig himself has bluntly denied any accusations of racism: "As far as me being an Aryan or a racist, anyone who knows me knows that's bullshit."
In October and November 2007, Danzig toured the western United States, along with Gorgeous Frankenstein, Horrorpops, and Suicide City. This "3 Weeks of Halloween" tour was in support of his most recent album, The Lost Tracks of Danzig, as well as the newest graphic novel release from Verotik, Drukija: Countessa of Blood. On October 23, 2007, Danzig was performing the song "How the Gods Kill" in Baltimore and fell off the stage, injuring his left arm. He did not perform the Misfits set that night, but he continued the tour and played classic Misfits tunes with Doyle onstage as an encore with a sling on his left arm after the injury.
In 2008, Danzig confirmed he had recorded the first duet of his career, with Melissa Auf der Maur. The song, titled "Father's Grave", features Danzig singing from the perspective of a gravedigger and appears on Auf der Maur's 2010 album Out of Our Minds. Auf der Maur has spoken highly about the experience of meeting and working with Danzig.
Danzig's ninth album, Deth Red Sabaoth, was released on June 22, 2010.
In a July 2010 interview with Metal Injection, Glenn Danzig was asked if he was going to make another Danzig record after Deth Red Sabaoth. His response was, "I don't know, we'll see. With the way record sales are now...I won't do some stupid pro-tool record in someone's living room where all the drum beats are stolen from somebody and just mashed together...and I'm not going to do that if I can't do a record how I want to do it, and if it's not financially feasible, I'm just not going to do one."
During the later quarter of 2011 Danzig performed a string of one-off reunion shows called the "Danzig Legacy" tour. The shows consisted of a Danzig set, followed by a Samhain set, then closing off with Danzig and Doyle performing Misfits songs.
During the third date of Metallica's 30-year anniversary shows at the Fillmore Theater in San Francisco; Danzig went on stage with Metallica to perform the Misfits songs "Die, Die My Darling", "Last Caress", and "Green Hell".
Current activity (2012–present)
Danzig has said he wishes to avoid extensive and exhaustive touring in the future, preferring instead to focus on his various music, film and comic book projects: "I don't really want to tour. My reason for not doing it is because I'm bored of it. I like being onstage, but I don't like sitting around all day doing nothing. I could be home, working." Danzig has started work on a third Black Aria album, and a covers album is set for release by the end of 2013. Danzig hopes to record a dark blues album involving Jerry Cantrell and Hank III. He is currently working on new Danzig material with Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly.
In 2014, Danzig filed a lawsuit against Misfits bassist Jerry Only claiming Only registered trademarks for everything Misfits-related in 2000 behind Danzig's back, misappropriating exclusive ownership over the trademarks for himself, including the band's iconic "Fiend Skull" logo, violating a 1994 contract the two had. Danzig claims that after registering the trademarks, Only secretly entered into deals with various merchandisers and cut him out of any potential profits in the process. On August 6, 2014, a U.S. district judge in California dismissed Danzig's lawsuit.
On October 21, 2015, during an interview with Loudwire, Danzig stated his current tour with Superjoint could be his last.
On May 12, 2016, Danzig, Only, and Frankenstein announced they would perform together as the Misfits for the first time in 33 years in two headlining shows at the September 2016 Riot Fest in Chicago and Denver. He later noted that he would be "open to possibly doing some more shows". The reunited Misfits did more shows and Danzig enforced a "no cell phone" policy at the reunion shows. The reunited "Original Misfits" sold out a succession of arenas, a singular accomplishment for a classic punk band, providing evidence that they are among the most popular punk bands ever.
Danzig returned to Riot Fest in 2017 with his band, Danzig.
The newest Danzig album Black Laden Crown was released on May 26, 2017.
Musical style
Danzig's musical career has encompassed a number of genres, from punk rock and heavy metal to classical music. He is noted for his baritone voice and tenor vocal range; his style has been compared to those of Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, Roy Orbison and Howlin' Wolf. Critic Mark Deming of Allmusic described Danzig as "one of the very best singers to emerge from hardcore punk, though in a genre where an angry, sneering bark was the order of the day, that only says so much. Still, the guy could carry a tune far better than his peers".
The Misfits combined Danzig's harmonic vocals with camp-horror imagery and lyrics. The Misfits sound was a faster, heavier derivation of Ramones-style punk with rockabilly influences. Glenn Danzig's Misfits songs dealt almost exclusively with themes derived from B-grade horror and science fiction movies (e.g. "Night of the Living Dead") as well as comic books (e.g. "Wasp Women", "I Turned into a Martian"). Unlike the later incarnation of the Misfits, Danzig also dealt with Atomic Era scandals in songs like "Bullet" (about the assassination of John F. Kennedy), "Who Killed Marilyn" (which alluded to alternate theories about Marilyn Monroe's death), and "Hollywood Babylon" (inspired by the Kenneth Anger book on scandals associated with the early, formative years of Hollywood). In later years the Misfits style was noticeably heavier and faster than during their earlier releases, introducing elements of hardcore punk.
Samhain's musical and lyrical style was much darker in tone than Misfits material, fusing an experimental combination of horror punk, gothic–death rock, and heavy metal. With Samhain, Glenn Danzig began to introduce more complicated drum patterns. Samhain songs often combined tribal drum beats and distorted guitars. Samhain's lyrical themes were rooted in paganism and the occult, pain and violence, and the horrors of reality.
The band Danzig showed a progression to a slower, heavier, more blues-based and doom-driven heavy metal sound primarily influenced by the early sound of Black Sabbath. Other musical influences include The Doors, and the ballads of Roy Orbison. Danzig opted for a thicker and heavier-sounding guitar tone than with his previous bands, retaining his preference for a single lead guitarist and short guitar solos. After replacing the band's original line-up, Danzig began to experiment with a more industrial sound, before merging into gothic metal. Later, Danzig albums have returned to the band's original sound.
Glenn Danzig's lyrics, which had already evolved from those of the Misfits to the more serious style of Samhain, progressed even further with Danzig to become "frighteningly intense images of doom" which "convey their bleak messages with an eerie grace and intelligence". His lyrics are typically dark in subject matter, bearing "a heavily romanticized, brooding, gothic sensibility, more quietly sinister and darkly seductive than obviously threatening or satanic". Lyrical themes include love, sex, evil, death, religion, and occult imagery. Danzig's songs about love often deal with the pain of loss and loneliness using gothic romanticism. Sex is another common theme, with songs frequently alluding to various sexual practices and depicting powerful, seductive and sometimes supernatural female figures. Glenn Danzig has tackled Biblical subjects and has offered his criticisms of organised religion. He often promotes rebellion and anti-authoritarianism, whilst embracing independence and the left hand path. In other lyrics, Danzig deals with the subject of death and questions the concepts of evil and sin.
Glenn Danzig has served as the sole songwriter for every band he has fronted, and described his writing process: "Sometimes I get the guitar lines, sometimes I write on the piano, sometimes I'll write the lyrics first and then figure out the chord patterns on guitar, and sometimes I write the drum pattern first. It's all different". Danzig also records basic song ideas when away from his home: "I usually hum it into a microcassette recorder and then I transpose it when I get home and work it out on guitar or piano".
Television and film
Danzig had a minor role as a fallen angel in the 1998 film The Prophecy II, starring Christopher Walken.
He was invited by 20th Century Fox to audition for the role of Wolverine in X-Men, as his height and build closely resemble that of the film's protagonist, as described in the original comic books. However, he declined due to scheduling conflicts. He later admitted that he was glad to turn the role down as he thought the final product was "terrible" and further insulted Hugh Jackman's performance, calling it "gay".
Danzig guest-appeared as himself in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future", where he purchased the house of the character Carl.
In February 2016, Danzig appeared in the Portlandia episode "Weirdo Beach".
Directing
Danzig plays a personal role in the production of the band's music videos, suggesting ideas and sometimes directing them himself. He is currently working on a film version of the Verotik comic Ge Rouge. The possibility of an animated film version of the Satanika comic has also been discussed.
In 2019, Danzig made his feature film directorial debut with Verotika, an anthology horror film that premiered at Chicago's Cinepocalypse Film Festival that year. The film was directed, written and scored by Danzig.
In September 2019, at the Los Angeles red carpet premiere of the Rob Zombie film 3 from Hell, Danzig told interviewers that production for a new film would begin in October. He described the project as "a vampire Spaghetti western", after revealing there would not be any more Misfits tours.
In 2020, Danzig announced his next film is Death Rider in the House of Vampires, which blends elements of the Spaghetti western with vampire horror. Danzig stated there would be several prominent actors in the film, including: Devon Sawa, Danny Trejo, Julian Sands, and Kim Director.
In multiple interviews, Danzig cites Italian horror director Mario Bava among his directorial inspirations, along with Sergio Leone and Jean Cocteau.
Personal life
In January 1992, Danzig became a student of Jerry Poteet, a martial artist in Jeet Kune Do. Danzig has since earned a teaching degree in the discipline. Danzig has also studied Muay Thai.
Danzig also developed an interest in bodybuilding:
"I've always been attracted to the Nietzschean idea of perfection, and so I began trying to perfect my body. I bought Arnold Schwarzenegger's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MODERN BODYBUILDING and started studying. Lifting weights is just lifting weights, but bodybuilding is about sculpting the body. Nutrition is essential, and though I'd like to be eating candy and cake, it immediately settles on my hips. Unfortunately, when I'm on the road I only get to work out a few times weekly, but when I'm at home with my weights and machines I work out four or five times a week."
Danzig has several distinctive tattoos, all by tattoo artist Rick Spellman, which incorporate artwork based upon his music. These include a Danzig/Samhain skull symbol designed by Michael Golden, a bat with a Misfits Crimson Ghost skull, a wolf's head with the text "Wolfs Blood" (the title of a Misfits song), a skeleton as found on the cover art for the album November-Coming-Fire, and a demon woman as found on the cover art for Unholy Passion. His lower back features the logo for the Devilman manga.
Danzig is a fan of horror movies and Japanese anime/manga, and has expressed his appreciation for the works of filmmaker David Cronenberg and manga artist Go Nagai.
Danzig's favorite composers include Richard Wagner, Sergei Prokofiev, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carl Orff, and film score composer Jerry Goldsmith.
Danzig is an avid reader and owns a large book collection on subjects including the occult, religious history and true murder cases. He commented about the book The Occult Roots of Nazism that "every school kid should have this book", though he later stated that the comment was satirical. Danzig also has a long-standing interest in New World Order related conspiracies: "Not only have I always been interested in the families that run the world forever, that people know now as the Bilderberg Group. But there's an older book called Committee of 300 which tells you all about it. I mean, I got in trouble for this back in the 90s, talking about this kind of stuff – how the United States is based on a Freemason thing, and I got so many government files on me from that one".
Regarding his political views, Danzig has described himself as being "conservative on some issues, and some issues I'm really liberal". He defended former President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban from selected countries, arguing "It's really not a travel ban. When you walk into the country, we want to see who you are and what you're doing." Danzig has voiced his dissatisfaction with the United States' two-party system; stating "the bottom line is that both parties are in agreement about one thing: They don't want a third, a fourth, or a fifth party in there. They want it Democratic and Republican. Both sides are corrupt."
Though sometimes portrayed as a Satanist by the media, Danzig has denied this in several interviews, elaborating that "I embrace both my light and dark side... I definitely believe in a yin and yang, good and evil. My religion is a patchwork of whatever is real to me. If I can draw the strength to get through the day from something, that's religion... I'm not trying to be preachy or tell people what to think." Danzig has voiced his approval of certain aspects of Satanic ideologies, including the quest for knowledge and individual freedom. He has stated that religion does not play a role in how he perceives other bands and musicians.
Discography
Danzig
Studio albums
Danzig (1988)
Danzig II: Lucifuge (1990)
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill (1992)
Danzig 4 (1994) – LP
Blackacidevil (1996; reissued in 2000 with extra tracks)
6:66 Satan's Child (1999)
I Luciferi (2002)
Circle of Snakes (2004)
Deth Red Sabaoth (2010)
Skeletons (2015)
Black Laden Crown (2017)
Danzig Sings Elvis (2020)
EPs
Thrall/Demonsweatlive (1993)
Sacrifice (1996; reissued in 2000 with extra tracks)
Singles
"Mother" (1988) – promotional CD single
"Her Black Wings" (1990) – promotional CD single
"Killer Wolf" (1990) – promotional CD single
"A Taste of Danzig III" (1992) – promotional CD single
"Dirty Black Summer" (1992) – CD single
"How the Gods Kill" (1992) – promotional CD single
"It's Coming Down" (1993) – promotional CD single
"Mother '93" (1993) – promotional and wide-release CD singles
"Until You Call on the Dark" – (1994) – promotional CD single
"Brand New God" (1994) – promotional CD single
"Cantspeak" (1994) – CD single
"I Don't Mind the Pain" (1995) – CD single
"7th House" (1996) – promotional CD single
"Sacrifice" (1996) – CD single
"Unspeakable" (1999) – promotional CD single
"Wicked Pussycat" (2001) – promotional CD single
"On a Wicked Night" (2010) – CD single
"Ju Ju Bone" (2011) – CD single
Compilations
The Lost Tracks of Danzig (2007) – double LP
Live albums
Live on the Black Hand Side (2001) – double LP
Soundtracks
"Deep" Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files (1996)
"UnderBelly of the Beast" The Crow: Salvation Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2000)
"Mother" Guitar Hero II (2006)
"Thirteen" The Hangover Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2009)
"Mother" Guitar Hero Smash Hits (2009)
"Black Hell" The Hangover Part II Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2011)
"Mother '93" The Hangover Part III Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2013)
Official videography
Danzig (1990) – VHS
Lucifuge: The Video (1991) – VHS
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill: Special Limited Edition Box Set (1992) – CD/VHS
Archive de la Morte (2004) – DVD
Il Demonio Nera (2005) – DVD
Misfits
Studio albums
Walk Among Us (1982)
Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983)
Static Age (recorded 1978, released 1996)
12 Hits from Hell (recorded 1980, released 2001) (deleted prior to official release)
EPs
Beware (1980)
3 Hits from Hell (1981)
Evilive (1982)
Singles
"Cough/Cool" (1977)
"Bullet" (1978)
"Horror Business" (1979)
"Night of the Living Dead" (1979)
"Halloween" (1981)
"Die, Die My Darling" (1984)
Compilations
Legacy of Brutality (1985)
Misfits (1986)
Collection II (1995)
Misfits Box Set (1996)
Live albums
Evilive (1987)
Soundtracks
"Hybrid Moments" Jackass: The Movie Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2002)
"Last Caress" True Crime: New York City (2005)
"Halloween II" Halloween Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2007)
Samhain
Studio albums
Initium (1984)
Samhain III: November-Coming-Fire (1986)
Final Descent (1990)
Other releases
Unholy Passion (EP, 1985)
Box Set (compilation, 2000)
Samhain Live '85-'86 (live album, 2001)
"Mother of Mercy" Guitar Hero: Metallica (soundtrack, 2009)
Live 1984 at the Stardust Ballroom (DVD, 2005)
Glenn Danzig and the Power Fury Orchestra
"You and Me (Less Than Zero)" Less Than Zero Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack, 1987)
Solo
Studio albums
Black Aria (1992)
Black Aria II (2006)
Singles
"Who Killed Marilyn?" (1981) – 7" single
Other
Less Than Zero Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987) (Danzig and Orbison wrote the song "Life Fades Away", performed by Roy Orbison)
Kinghorse (1990) (Eponymous debut album produced by Danzig)
American Recordings by Johnny Cash (1994) (Danzig wrote the song "Thirteen")
Songs from the Earth by Son of Sam (2001) (Extra guitar and keyboards on "Songs from the Earth", and extra guitar on "Stray")
Gorgeous Frankenstein (2007) (Eponymous debut album produced by Danzig)
Out of Our Minds by Melissa Auf der Maur (2010) (Guest vocals on "Father's Grave")
References
External links
Glenn Danzig audio interview from Synthesis magazine
1955 births
American cartoonists
American crooners
American heavy metal singers
American Jeet Kune Do practitioners
American male singer-songwriters
American baritones
American people of Scottish descent
American people of German descent
American people of Italian descent
American punk rock singers
Danzig (band) members
Horror punk musicians
Living people
Misfits (band) members
People from Lodi, New Jersey
People from Revere, Massachusetts
Samhain (band) members
Singer-songwriters from New Jersey
Tisch School of the Arts alumni | true | [
"Misfits or The Misfits may refer to:\n\nFilm and television\n The Misfits (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift\n The Misfits (2011 film), a Mexican film\n The Misfits (2021 film), an American film\n Misfits (TV series), a British television series\n\nMusic\n\nAlbums\n Misfits (Blanco & The Jacka album)\n Misfits (Sara Hickman album)\n Misfits (The Kinks album)\n Misfits (Misfits album)\n The Misfits (album), a box set by the Misfits\n\nSongs\n \"Misfits\" (Cold Chisel song)\n \"Misfits\" (The Kinks song)\n \"Misfits\" (Neil Young song)\n\nOther uses in music\n Misfits (band), an American punk rock band from New Jersey\n Misfits (quartet), a barbershop quartet\n Misfits, a British rock band formed in 1979 by Rusty Egan and Midge Ure\n The Misfits, a fictional musical group in the television series Jem\n Misfits Records\n\nOther uses\n MISFITS, the Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy\n The Misfits: A Study of Sexual Outsiders, by Colin Henry Wilson\n The Misfits, a novel by James Howe\n Misfits, a documentary play by Alex Finlayson about the making of the 1961 film\n Misfits Gaming, a professional e-sports team in Europe\n\nSee also\n Misfit (disambiguation)",
"The Misfits are an American rock band often recognized as the progenitors of the horror punk subgenre, blending punk rock and other musical influences with horror film themes and imagery. Since the band's formation in 1977 numerous cover versions of their songs have been recorded and released by artists who cite the Misfits as an influence.\n\nAfter the band's initial breakup in 1983 singer Glenn Danzig formed Samhain, re-recording several songs he had written and performed with the Misfits. These included \"Horror Business\", re-recorded as \"Horror Biz\" for Initium (1984), \"All Hell Breaks Loose\", re-recorded as \"All Hell\" for Unholy Passion (1985), and \"Halloween II\" which was re-recorded for November-Coming-Fire (1986). Live recordings of all three songs, as well as of \"Death Comes Ripping\" and \"London Dungeon\", were released on Live '85–'86 in 2001.\n\nFive compilation tribute albums to the Misfits have been released over the years, made up of various artists covering Misfits songs. Louisville Babylon (1994) featured bands from Louisville, Kentucky and was released by the Analog Distillery label. In 2007 a sequel was released, Louisville Babylon 2. In 1997 Caroline Records released Violent World, featuring primarily punk rock bands. Hell on Earth was released in 2000 by Cleopatra Records and featured industrial rock, death metal, and garage punk acts. In 2008 Acoustic Fury released Acoustic A.D.: An Acoustic Tribute to The Misfits. \n\nIn 2005 The Nutley Brass released Fiend Club Lounge, an album of Misfits songs performed in an instrumental lounge and space age pop style. Another band to record albums of instrumental Misfits covers are The Crimson Ghosts, who released surf rock-style covers on Some Kinda Hits (2005) and Earth E.P. (2008).\n\nIn 2007 former Misfits guitarist Bobby Steele recorded covers of all of the songs from the unreleased Misfits album 12 Hits from Hell with his band The Undead and posted them as streaming audio through the band's website on Halloween.\n\nNearly all of the Misfits covers that have been officially released have been versions of songs written by Glenn Danzig and recorded during his tenure with the band from 1977-1983. Balzac are one of two bands to have released cover versions of songs from the later eras of the band's career, as they signed to Misfits bassist/singer Jerry Only's Misfits Records label in 2002. They covered \"The Haunting\" and \"Don't Open 'Til Doomsday\", both songs by the 1990s incarnation of the Misfits which included singer Michale Graves. These were released on a split single with the Misfits (who by then consisted of Jerry Only, Dez Cadena, and Marky Ramone) on which the Misfits covered Balzac's \"The Day the Earth Caught Fire\". The single was released under the title \"Day the Earth Caught Fire\" in North America and as \"Don't Open 'Til Doomsday\" in Japan. The Computers covered seven Misfits songs for a Halloween/Black Friday release, including a cover of Scream, a post-Danzig era Misfits song.\n\nCover versions\n\nReferences\n\nMisfits (band)\nHorror punk songs\nMisfits"
]
|
[
"Glenn Danzig",
"Misfits and Samhain (1977-1987)",
"When were the Misfits formed?",
"In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits,"
]
| C_dd9b8ea9bb574dbcbf222fd4aec2d09d_1 | Where did this happen? | 2 | Where did the Misfits start? | Glenn Danzig | In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits, releasing the band's records through his own label, (originally known as Blank, then later as Plan 9). Danzig had attempted to get the Misfits signed to several record labels, only to be told that he would never have a career in music. The impetus for the band's name comes from Marilyn Monroe's last film, combined with Danzig considering himself to be a "social misfit." In October 1983, after releasing several singles and three albums, and gaining a small underground following, Danzig disbanded the Misfits due to increasing animosity among the band members and his dissatisfaction with their musical abilities. Danzig explained his decision: "It was difficult for me to work with those guys, because they weren't prepared to put in the hours practicing. I wanted to move things forward, and they didn't seem to have the same outlook. So it was time for me to move on." After the Misfits, he began work on a new band project: Samhain. The origins of Samhain began when Danzig started rehearsing with Eerie Von, formerly of Rosemary's Babies. Danzig took the name of the band from the ancient Celtic New Year, which influenced the evolution of the modern Halloween. Initially Samhain was conceived as a punk rock "super group". The band briefly featured members of Minor Threat and Reagan Youth, who contributed to Samhain's 1984 debut, Initium. The band then settled with a lineup consisting of Eerie Von on bass, Damien on guitar, and Steve Zing on drums (later replaced by London May). In 1985 the Unholy Passion EP was released, followed by November-Coming-Fire in 1986. Samhain eventually began to attract the interest of major labels including Epic and Elektra. Rick Rubin, music producer and head of the Def American label, would see the band perform at the 1986 New Music Seminar, on the advice of then-Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Danzig has credited both Burton and Metallica frontman James Hetfield with helping to raise awareness about his music: "I first met them at a Black Flag gig, and then we became kinda friends. We'd often bump into each other on the road...James and Cliff helped to spread the word about me, and I was very grateful to them." CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, film director, and record producer. He is the founder of the bands Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. He owns the Evilive record label as well as Verotik, an adult-oriented comic book publishing company.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, Danzig's musical career has encompassed a number of genres through the years, including punk rock, heavy metal, industrial, blues and classical music. He has also written songs for other musicians, most notably Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison.
As a singer, Danzig is noted for his baritone voice and tenor vocal range; his style has been compared to those of Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, and Howlin' Wolf. Danzig has also cited Bill Medley as a vocal influence.
Early life
Danzig was born Glenn Allen Anzalone, the third of four sons, to a Protestant family in Lodi, New Jersey. His father was a television repairman and a United States Marine Corps veteran of World War II and the Korean War. His mother worked at a record store. Danzig and his family also spent some time living in Revere, Massachusetts. Danzig began listening to heavy music at an early age, and has described Black Sabbath, the Ramones, Blue Cheer, and The Doors as being among his early musical influences.
At age 10, Danzig began to use drugs and alcohol, leading him into frequent fights and trouble with the law. He stopped using drugs at age 15.
While growing up, Danzig began reading the works of authors including Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe, developing his appreciation for horror. Danzig collected comic books and, frustrated by American comics, he started his own company to produce "crazy, violent, erotic comics".
Danzig graduated from Lodi High School in June 1973, aspiring to become a comic book creator and professional photographer. He attended the Tisch School of the Arts and later the New York Institute of Photography. Danzig formed an adult-oriented comic book company called Verotik in the mid-1990s.
Musical career
Early career
Glenn Danzig's introduction to performing music began when he took piano and clarinet lessons as a child. He later taught himself how to play the guitar. Danzig started in the music business at the age of 11, first as a drum roadie and then playing in local garage bands. He had never taken vocal lessons, but his self-taught vocal prowess gained him attention in the local scene. Throughout his teenage years he sang for several local bands, such as Talus and Koo-Dot-N-Boo-Jang, most of which played half original songs and half Black Sabbath songs.
Misfits and Samhain (1977–1987)
In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits, releasing the band's records through his own label, (originally known as Blank, then later as Plan 9). Danzig had attempted to get the Misfits signed to several record labels, only to be told that he would never have a career in music. The impetus for the band's name comes from Marilyn Monroe's last film, combined with Danzig considering himself to be a "social misfit". In October 1983, after releasing several singles and three albums, and gaining a small underground following, Danzig disbanded the Misfits due to his increasing animosity for the other band members and his dissatisfaction with their musical abilities. Danzig explained his decision: "It was difficult for me to work with those guys, because they weren't prepared to put in the hours practicing. I wanted to move things forward, and they didn't seem to have the same outlook. So it was time for me to move on."
After the Misfits, he began work on a new band project, Samhain. The origins of Samhain began when Danzig started rehearsing with Eerie Von, formerly of Rosemary's Babies. Danzig took the name of the band from the ancient Celtic New Year, which influenced the evolution of the modern Halloween. Initially Samhain was conceived as a punk rock "super group". The band briefly featured members of Minor Threat and Reagan Youth, who contributed to Samhain's 1984 debut, Initium. The band then settled with a lineup consisting of Eerie Von on bass, Damien on guitar, and Steve Zing on drums (later replaced by London May). In 1985 the Unholy Passion EP was released, followed by November-Coming-Fire in 1986.
Samhain eventually began to attract the interest of major labels including Epic and Elektra. Rick Rubin, music producer and head of the Def American label, would see the band perform at the 1986 New Music Seminar, on the advice of then-Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Danzig has credited both Burton and Metallica frontman James Hetfield with helping to raise awareness about his music: "I first met them at a Black Flag gig, and then we became kinda friends. We'd often bump into each other on the road...James and Cliff helped to spread the word about me, and I was very grateful to them."
Danzig
"Classic" era (1987–1994)
In 1987, after two albums and an EP, Samhain was signed to a major label by Rubin and the name of the band was changed to Danzig to allow the band to retain its name in the event of line-up changes. Danzig discussed the reasoning behind the name change: "Rick [Rubin] convinced me it was the way to go, and would also provide me with a lot more artistic freedom. After all, I was now in charge of where we were going musically, so if I didn't want to do something, it was a lot easier to say so." Danzig's intention at the time was for each album he recorded to consist of a different recording line-up, allowing him to keep working with different musicians. The original band consisted of guitarist John Christ, bassist Eerie Von, and former Circle Jerks–DOA–Black Flag drummer Chuck Biscuits.
In 1987, Danzig, owing to his association with Rubin, was asked to write a song for Roy Orbison. The result was "Life Fades Away", featured in the 1987 movie Less than Zero. Danzig also contributed to the film's soundtrack with "You and Me (Less than Zero)". Danzig had originally been asked to write the song for a female vocalist, but when Rubin could not find a suitable singer Danzig recorded the vocals himself. The song is credited to "Glenn Danzig and the Power Fury Orchestra", which featured the same membership as the initial lineup of Danzig, with the exception of Eerie Von. Since Von did not like the way producer Rubin wanted the bass played on the song, George Drakoulias played the bass instead.
In 1988, the newly formed band Danzig released their eponymous debut. Its sound showed a progression from the gothic–deathrock sound of Samhain, to a slower, heavier, more blues-based heavy metal sound.
In 1990, the band's sophomore effort Danzig II: Lucifuge marked an immediate change in musical direction. The album's overall bluesier tone and somewhat milder approach were departures from Danzig, featuring a 50s-style ballad ("Blood & Tears") and a full-on acoustic blues ("I'm the One").
Other projects in 1990 included the final Samhain album Final Descent. The album was started under the title Samhain Grim several years prior. The album contained previously unreleased studio recordings, at least some of which had been intended for the Samhain Grim album before it was aborted.
In 1992, Danzig once again changed musical direction, releasing the darker Danzig III: How the Gods Kill. Several songs would feature a more textured, slower sound in between fast, dominant guitar riffs.
Also in 1992, Danzig tried his hand at composing classical music with Black Aria. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard classical music chart.
In 1993, Danzig released Thrall: Demonsweatlive, an EP featuring both studio recordings and live tracks. Danzig broke into the mainstream when the live video of "Mother '93" became a hit on MTV and earned Buzz Bin rotation, six years after the original song was recorded. During this time the band reached its commercial peak, with both the debut album and Thrall: Demonsweatlive being certified Gold, and "Mother" becoming the band's highest charting single. Both Danzig and Thrall: Demonsweatlive have since been certified Platinum.
In 1994, the release of Danzig 4 saw the band going further into a darker and more experimental sound. The album also saw further development of his vocal style and range; most notable in songs like "Let It Be Captured" and a more blues based approach on songs like "Going Down to Die".
Also in 1994, Danzig wrote the song "Thirteen" for Johnny Cash, which appeared on the album American Recordings.
Later years (1995–2004)
In 1996, the band underwent a complete overhaul. The original lineup had fallen apart, as had Glenn Danzig's relationship with their record label, American Recordings, with label owner Rick Rubin's involvement as producer diminishing with each album. Danzig would later engage in a legal battle with Rubin over unpaid royalties and the rights to the band's unreleased songs. Danzig enlisted new bandmates, most notably Joey Castillo who would continue to be the band's drummer until 2002.
Once again, he explored a new musical direction and recorded Blackacidevil; this time infusing heavy metal with industrial rock. Danzig went on to sign a deal with Hollywood Records, which led to several religious groups boycotting its parent company Disney for signing a controversial "satanic" band. As a result, the label pulled support for Blackacidevil and the record deal was severed.
In September 1999, Danzig signed his band to E-Magine Records, becoming the first artist on the label. The deal also led to the release of a Samhain box set and the re-release of Blackacidevil.
Danzig's subsequent three albums, 6:66 Satan's Child (1999), I Luciferi (2002) and Circle of Snakes (2004), all musically and lyrically evolved to a more stripped down, heavier gothic metal sound. The Danzig lineup continued to change with each album, while Danzig's voice started to show change after years of touring.
In 1999, during the U.S. touring for the album 6:66 Satan's Child Danzig reunited Samhain along with drummers Steve Zing and London May. Then-Danzig guitarist Todd Youth was invited by Glenn Danzig to fill in the guitar position for the Samhain reunion tour, replacing Samhain's original guitarist, Pete "Damien" Marshall, who had opted out in order to tour with Iggy Pop. Eerie Von was not invited to rejoin Samhain due to personal issues within the band. Both Zing and May handled bass duties, switching from drums to bass in between the "Blood Show".
In 2003, Danzig founded the Blackest of the Black tour to provide a platform for dark and extreme bands of his choosing from around the world. Bands featured on the tour have included Dimmu Borgir, Superjoint Ritual, Nile, Opeth, Lacuna Coil, Behemoth, Skeletonwitch, Mortiis and Marduk.
Recent activity (2005–2011)
In 2005, Danzig's tours to support the Circle of Snakes album and the Blackest of the Black Tour were highlighted by the special guest appearance of Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. Doyle joined Danzig on stage for a 20-minute set of classic Misfits songs: "To do this right, I invited Doyle to join Danzig on stage at 'Blackest of the Black' for a special guest set. This is the first time we will be performing on stage together in 20 years. It's the closest thing to a Misfits reunion anyone is ever going to see."
On October 17, 2006, he released his second solo album Black Aria II. The album reached the top ten on the Billboard classical music chart.
In November 2006, Danzig toured the west coast with former Samhain drummer Steve Zing on bass. They played three Samhain songs including "All Murder All Guts All Fun". In Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Doyle joined the band onstage for the encore and played two Misfits songs, "Skulls" and "Astro Zombies".
In 2007 Danzig produced the debut album by ex-Misfits guitarist Doyle's metal-influenced band, Gorgeous Frankenstein.
In July 2007, Danzig released The Lost Tracks of Danzig, a compilation of previously unreleased songs. The project took nine months to complete with Glenn Danzig having to add extra vocal and instrument tracks to songs that had been unfinished. The album included the controversial "White Devil Rise", recorded during the sessions for Danzig 4 in response to inflammatory comments by Louis Farrakhan and his use of the term "The White Devil". The song is Danzig's conjecture as to what would happen if Farrakhan incited the passive white race to rise up and start a race war: "No one wants to see a race war. It would be terrible, so the song's saying, 'Be careful what you wish for.'" Danzig himself has bluntly denied any accusations of racism: "As far as me being an Aryan or a racist, anyone who knows me knows that's bullshit."
In October and November 2007, Danzig toured the western United States, along with Gorgeous Frankenstein, Horrorpops, and Suicide City. This "3 Weeks of Halloween" tour was in support of his most recent album, The Lost Tracks of Danzig, as well as the newest graphic novel release from Verotik, Drukija: Countessa of Blood. On October 23, 2007, Danzig was performing the song "How the Gods Kill" in Baltimore and fell off the stage, injuring his left arm. He did not perform the Misfits set that night, but he continued the tour and played classic Misfits tunes with Doyle onstage as an encore with a sling on his left arm after the injury.
In 2008, Danzig confirmed he had recorded the first duet of his career, with Melissa Auf der Maur. The song, titled "Father's Grave", features Danzig singing from the perspective of a gravedigger and appears on Auf der Maur's 2010 album Out of Our Minds. Auf der Maur has spoken highly about the experience of meeting and working with Danzig.
Danzig's ninth album, Deth Red Sabaoth, was released on June 22, 2010.
In a July 2010 interview with Metal Injection, Glenn Danzig was asked if he was going to make another Danzig record after Deth Red Sabaoth. His response was, "I don't know, we'll see. With the way record sales are now...I won't do some stupid pro-tool record in someone's living room where all the drum beats are stolen from somebody and just mashed together...and I'm not going to do that if I can't do a record how I want to do it, and if it's not financially feasible, I'm just not going to do one."
During the later quarter of 2011 Danzig performed a string of one-off reunion shows called the "Danzig Legacy" tour. The shows consisted of a Danzig set, followed by a Samhain set, then closing off with Danzig and Doyle performing Misfits songs.
During the third date of Metallica's 30-year anniversary shows at the Fillmore Theater in San Francisco; Danzig went on stage with Metallica to perform the Misfits songs "Die, Die My Darling", "Last Caress", and "Green Hell".
Current activity (2012–present)
Danzig has said he wishes to avoid extensive and exhaustive touring in the future, preferring instead to focus on his various music, film and comic book projects: "I don't really want to tour. My reason for not doing it is because I'm bored of it. I like being onstage, but I don't like sitting around all day doing nothing. I could be home, working." Danzig has started work on a third Black Aria album, and a covers album is set for release by the end of 2013. Danzig hopes to record a dark blues album involving Jerry Cantrell and Hank III. He is currently working on new Danzig material with Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly.
In 2014, Danzig filed a lawsuit against Misfits bassist Jerry Only claiming Only registered trademarks for everything Misfits-related in 2000 behind Danzig's back, misappropriating exclusive ownership over the trademarks for himself, including the band's iconic "Fiend Skull" logo, violating a 1994 contract the two had. Danzig claims that after registering the trademarks, Only secretly entered into deals with various merchandisers and cut him out of any potential profits in the process. On August 6, 2014, a U.S. district judge in California dismissed Danzig's lawsuit.
On October 21, 2015, during an interview with Loudwire, Danzig stated his current tour with Superjoint could be his last.
On May 12, 2016, Danzig, Only, and Frankenstein announced they would perform together as the Misfits for the first time in 33 years in two headlining shows at the September 2016 Riot Fest in Chicago and Denver. He later noted that he would be "open to possibly doing some more shows". The reunited Misfits did more shows and Danzig enforced a "no cell phone" policy at the reunion shows. The reunited "Original Misfits" sold out a succession of arenas, a singular accomplishment for a classic punk band, providing evidence that they are among the most popular punk bands ever.
Danzig returned to Riot Fest in 2017 with his band, Danzig.
The newest Danzig album Black Laden Crown was released on May 26, 2017.
Musical style
Danzig's musical career has encompassed a number of genres, from punk rock and heavy metal to classical music. He is noted for his baritone voice and tenor vocal range; his style has been compared to those of Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, Roy Orbison and Howlin' Wolf. Critic Mark Deming of Allmusic described Danzig as "one of the very best singers to emerge from hardcore punk, though in a genre where an angry, sneering bark was the order of the day, that only says so much. Still, the guy could carry a tune far better than his peers".
The Misfits combined Danzig's harmonic vocals with camp-horror imagery and lyrics. The Misfits sound was a faster, heavier derivation of Ramones-style punk with rockabilly influences. Glenn Danzig's Misfits songs dealt almost exclusively with themes derived from B-grade horror and science fiction movies (e.g. "Night of the Living Dead") as well as comic books (e.g. "Wasp Women", "I Turned into a Martian"). Unlike the later incarnation of the Misfits, Danzig also dealt with Atomic Era scandals in songs like "Bullet" (about the assassination of John F. Kennedy), "Who Killed Marilyn" (which alluded to alternate theories about Marilyn Monroe's death), and "Hollywood Babylon" (inspired by the Kenneth Anger book on scandals associated with the early, formative years of Hollywood). In later years the Misfits style was noticeably heavier and faster than during their earlier releases, introducing elements of hardcore punk.
Samhain's musical and lyrical style was much darker in tone than Misfits material, fusing an experimental combination of horror punk, gothic–death rock, and heavy metal. With Samhain, Glenn Danzig began to introduce more complicated drum patterns. Samhain songs often combined tribal drum beats and distorted guitars. Samhain's lyrical themes were rooted in paganism and the occult, pain and violence, and the horrors of reality.
The band Danzig showed a progression to a slower, heavier, more blues-based and doom-driven heavy metal sound primarily influenced by the early sound of Black Sabbath. Other musical influences include The Doors, and the ballads of Roy Orbison. Danzig opted for a thicker and heavier-sounding guitar tone than with his previous bands, retaining his preference for a single lead guitarist and short guitar solos. After replacing the band's original line-up, Danzig began to experiment with a more industrial sound, before merging into gothic metal. Later, Danzig albums have returned to the band's original sound.
Glenn Danzig's lyrics, which had already evolved from those of the Misfits to the more serious style of Samhain, progressed even further with Danzig to become "frighteningly intense images of doom" which "convey their bleak messages with an eerie grace and intelligence". His lyrics are typically dark in subject matter, bearing "a heavily romanticized, brooding, gothic sensibility, more quietly sinister and darkly seductive than obviously threatening or satanic". Lyrical themes include love, sex, evil, death, religion, and occult imagery. Danzig's songs about love often deal with the pain of loss and loneliness using gothic romanticism. Sex is another common theme, with songs frequently alluding to various sexual practices and depicting powerful, seductive and sometimes supernatural female figures. Glenn Danzig has tackled Biblical subjects and has offered his criticisms of organised religion. He often promotes rebellion and anti-authoritarianism, whilst embracing independence and the left hand path. In other lyrics, Danzig deals with the subject of death and questions the concepts of evil and sin.
Glenn Danzig has served as the sole songwriter for every band he has fronted, and described his writing process: "Sometimes I get the guitar lines, sometimes I write on the piano, sometimes I'll write the lyrics first and then figure out the chord patterns on guitar, and sometimes I write the drum pattern first. It's all different". Danzig also records basic song ideas when away from his home: "I usually hum it into a microcassette recorder and then I transpose it when I get home and work it out on guitar or piano".
Television and film
Danzig had a minor role as a fallen angel in the 1998 film The Prophecy II, starring Christopher Walken.
He was invited by 20th Century Fox to audition for the role of Wolverine in X-Men, as his height and build closely resemble that of the film's protagonist, as described in the original comic books. However, he declined due to scheduling conflicts. He later admitted that he was glad to turn the role down as he thought the final product was "terrible" and further insulted Hugh Jackman's performance, calling it "gay".
Danzig guest-appeared as himself in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future", where he purchased the house of the character Carl.
In February 2016, Danzig appeared in the Portlandia episode "Weirdo Beach".
Directing
Danzig plays a personal role in the production of the band's music videos, suggesting ideas and sometimes directing them himself. He is currently working on a film version of the Verotik comic Ge Rouge. The possibility of an animated film version of the Satanika comic has also been discussed.
In 2019, Danzig made his feature film directorial debut with Verotika, an anthology horror film that premiered at Chicago's Cinepocalypse Film Festival that year. The film was directed, written and scored by Danzig.
In September 2019, at the Los Angeles red carpet premiere of the Rob Zombie film 3 from Hell, Danzig told interviewers that production for a new film would begin in October. He described the project as "a vampire Spaghetti western", after revealing there would not be any more Misfits tours.
In 2020, Danzig announced his next film is Death Rider in the House of Vampires, which blends elements of the Spaghetti western with vampire horror. Danzig stated there would be several prominent actors in the film, including: Devon Sawa, Danny Trejo, Julian Sands, and Kim Director.
In multiple interviews, Danzig cites Italian horror director Mario Bava among his directorial inspirations, along with Sergio Leone and Jean Cocteau.
Personal life
In January 1992, Danzig became a student of Jerry Poteet, a martial artist in Jeet Kune Do. Danzig has since earned a teaching degree in the discipline. Danzig has also studied Muay Thai.
Danzig also developed an interest in bodybuilding:
"I've always been attracted to the Nietzschean idea of perfection, and so I began trying to perfect my body. I bought Arnold Schwarzenegger's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MODERN BODYBUILDING and started studying. Lifting weights is just lifting weights, but bodybuilding is about sculpting the body. Nutrition is essential, and though I'd like to be eating candy and cake, it immediately settles on my hips. Unfortunately, when I'm on the road I only get to work out a few times weekly, but when I'm at home with my weights and machines I work out four or five times a week."
Danzig has several distinctive tattoos, all by tattoo artist Rick Spellman, which incorporate artwork based upon his music. These include a Danzig/Samhain skull symbol designed by Michael Golden, a bat with a Misfits Crimson Ghost skull, a wolf's head with the text "Wolfs Blood" (the title of a Misfits song), a skeleton as found on the cover art for the album November-Coming-Fire, and a demon woman as found on the cover art for Unholy Passion. His lower back features the logo for the Devilman manga.
Danzig is a fan of horror movies and Japanese anime/manga, and has expressed his appreciation for the works of filmmaker David Cronenberg and manga artist Go Nagai.
Danzig's favorite composers include Richard Wagner, Sergei Prokofiev, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carl Orff, and film score composer Jerry Goldsmith.
Danzig is an avid reader and owns a large book collection on subjects including the occult, religious history and true murder cases. He commented about the book The Occult Roots of Nazism that "every school kid should have this book", though he later stated that the comment was satirical. Danzig also has a long-standing interest in New World Order related conspiracies: "Not only have I always been interested in the families that run the world forever, that people know now as the Bilderberg Group. But there's an older book called Committee of 300 which tells you all about it. I mean, I got in trouble for this back in the 90s, talking about this kind of stuff – how the United States is based on a Freemason thing, and I got so many government files on me from that one".
Regarding his political views, Danzig has described himself as being "conservative on some issues, and some issues I'm really liberal". He defended former President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban from selected countries, arguing "It's really not a travel ban. When you walk into the country, we want to see who you are and what you're doing." Danzig has voiced his dissatisfaction with the United States' two-party system; stating "the bottom line is that both parties are in agreement about one thing: They don't want a third, a fourth, or a fifth party in there. They want it Democratic and Republican. Both sides are corrupt."
Though sometimes portrayed as a Satanist by the media, Danzig has denied this in several interviews, elaborating that "I embrace both my light and dark side... I definitely believe in a yin and yang, good and evil. My religion is a patchwork of whatever is real to me. If I can draw the strength to get through the day from something, that's religion... I'm not trying to be preachy or tell people what to think." Danzig has voiced his approval of certain aspects of Satanic ideologies, including the quest for knowledge and individual freedom. He has stated that religion does not play a role in how he perceives other bands and musicians.
Discography
Danzig
Studio albums
Danzig (1988)
Danzig II: Lucifuge (1990)
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill (1992)
Danzig 4 (1994) – LP
Blackacidevil (1996; reissued in 2000 with extra tracks)
6:66 Satan's Child (1999)
I Luciferi (2002)
Circle of Snakes (2004)
Deth Red Sabaoth (2010)
Skeletons (2015)
Black Laden Crown (2017)
Danzig Sings Elvis (2020)
EPs
Thrall/Demonsweatlive (1993)
Sacrifice (1996; reissued in 2000 with extra tracks)
Singles
"Mother" (1988) – promotional CD single
"Her Black Wings" (1990) – promotional CD single
"Killer Wolf" (1990) – promotional CD single
"A Taste of Danzig III" (1992) – promotional CD single
"Dirty Black Summer" (1992) – CD single
"How the Gods Kill" (1992) – promotional CD single
"It's Coming Down" (1993) – promotional CD single
"Mother '93" (1993) – promotional and wide-release CD singles
"Until You Call on the Dark" – (1994) – promotional CD single
"Brand New God" (1994) – promotional CD single
"Cantspeak" (1994) – CD single
"I Don't Mind the Pain" (1995) – CD single
"7th House" (1996) – promotional CD single
"Sacrifice" (1996) – CD single
"Unspeakable" (1999) – promotional CD single
"Wicked Pussycat" (2001) – promotional CD single
"On a Wicked Night" (2010) – CD single
"Ju Ju Bone" (2011) – CD single
Compilations
The Lost Tracks of Danzig (2007) – double LP
Live albums
Live on the Black Hand Side (2001) – double LP
Soundtracks
"Deep" Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files (1996)
"UnderBelly of the Beast" The Crow: Salvation Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2000)
"Mother" Guitar Hero II (2006)
"Thirteen" The Hangover Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2009)
"Mother" Guitar Hero Smash Hits (2009)
"Black Hell" The Hangover Part II Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2011)
"Mother '93" The Hangover Part III Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2013)
Official videography
Danzig (1990) – VHS
Lucifuge: The Video (1991) – VHS
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill: Special Limited Edition Box Set (1992) – CD/VHS
Archive de la Morte (2004) – DVD
Il Demonio Nera (2005) – DVD
Misfits
Studio albums
Walk Among Us (1982)
Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983)
Static Age (recorded 1978, released 1996)
12 Hits from Hell (recorded 1980, released 2001) (deleted prior to official release)
EPs
Beware (1980)
3 Hits from Hell (1981)
Evilive (1982)
Singles
"Cough/Cool" (1977)
"Bullet" (1978)
"Horror Business" (1979)
"Night of the Living Dead" (1979)
"Halloween" (1981)
"Die, Die My Darling" (1984)
Compilations
Legacy of Brutality (1985)
Misfits (1986)
Collection II (1995)
Misfits Box Set (1996)
Live albums
Evilive (1987)
Soundtracks
"Hybrid Moments" Jackass: The Movie Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2002)
"Last Caress" True Crime: New York City (2005)
"Halloween II" Halloween Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2007)
Samhain
Studio albums
Initium (1984)
Samhain III: November-Coming-Fire (1986)
Final Descent (1990)
Other releases
Unholy Passion (EP, 1985)
Box Set (compilation, 2000)
Samhain Live '85-'86 (live album, 2001)
"Mother of Mercy" Guitar Hero: Metallica (soundtrack, 2009)
Live 1984 at the Stardust Ballroom (DVD, 2005)
Glenn Danzig and the Power Fury Orchestra
"You and Me (Less Than Zero)" Less Than Zero Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack, 1987)
Solo
Studio albums
Black Aria (1992)
Black Aria II (2006)
Singles
"Who Killed Marilyn?" (1981) – 7" single
Other
Less Than Zero Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987) (Danzig and Orbison wrote the song "Life Fades Away", performed by Roy Orbison)
Kinghorse (1990) (Eponymous debut album produced by Danzig)
American Recordings by Johnny Cash (1994) (Danzig wrote the song "Thirteen")
Songs from the Earth by Son of Sam (2001) (Extra guitar and keyboards on "Songs from the Earth", and extra guitar on "Stray")
Gorgeous Frankenstein (2007) (Eponymous debut album produced by Danzig)
Out of Our Minds by Melissa Auf der Maur (2010) (Guest vocals on "Father's Grave")
References
External links
Glenn Danzig audio interview from Synthesis magazine
1955 births
American cartoonists
American crooners
American heavy metal singers
American Jeet Kune Do practitioners
American male singer-songwriters
American baritones
American people of Scottish descent
American people of German descent
American people of Italian descent
American punk rock singers
Danzig (band) members
Horror punk musicians
Living people
Misfits (band) members
People from Lodi, New Jersey
People from Revere, Massachusetts
Samhain (band) members
Singer-songwriters from New Jersey
Tisch School of the Arts alumni | false | [
"What Did You Think Was Going to Happen? is the debut studio album from Los Angeles band 2AM Club. It was released September 14, 2010 by RCA Records.\n\nCritical reception\n\nMatt Collar of AllMusic stated that with this album \"2AM Club reveal themselves as the best and brightest of the nu-eyed-soul set\".\n\nTrack listing\n\nOn May 31, the band released a song named \"Baseline\" that was a bonus track on What Did You Think Was Going to Happen? (sold on iTunes). It was advertised by them via Twitter, and was available for free download through a file sharing website, Hulk Share.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2010 albums\nPop rock albums by American artists",
"\"Accidents Happen\" is the fourth single to be taken from Australian singer Zoë Badwi's debut album Zoë.\n\nTrack listing\nDigital single\n Accidents Happen - 3:08\n Freefallin (Acoustic) - 2:43\n\nRemix EP\n Accidents Happen (Liam Keegan Remix) - 6:00\n Accidents Happen (I Am Sam Remix) - 7:10\n Accidents Happen (Walden Remix - 6:02\n Accidents Happen (Fabian Gray & Emanuele Remix) - 7:00\n\nMusic video\nDuring filming for the video, Badwi and the crew were \"fired upon by catapult\" by someone who lived in the street where it was filmed\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2011 singles\nZoë Badwi songs\n2011 songs"
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"Glenn Danzig",
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"When were the Misfits formed?",
"In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits,",
"Where did this happen?",
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| C_dd9b8ea9bb574dbcbf222fd4aec2d09d_1 | What songs were in their early repertoire? | 3 | What songs were in the Misfits early repertoire? | Glenn Danzig | In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits, releasing the band's records through his own label, (originally known as Blank, then later as Plan 9). Danzig had attempted to get the Misfits signed to several record labels, only to be told that he would never have a career in music. The impetus for the band's name comes from Marilyn Monroe's last film, combined with Danzig considering himself to be a "social misfit." In October 1983, after releasing several singles and three albums, and gaining a small underground following, Danzig disbanded the Misfits due to increasing animosity among the band members and his dissatisfaction with their musical abilities. Danzig explained his decision: "It was difficult for me to work with those guys, because they weren't prepared to put in the hours practicing. I wanted to move things forward, and they didn't seem to have the same outlook. So it was time for me to move on." After the Misfits, he began work on a new band project: Samhain. The origins of Samhain began when Danzig started rehearsing with Eerie Von, formerly of Rosemary's Babies. Danzig took the name of the band from the ancient Celtic New Year, which influenced the evolution of the modern Halloween. Initially Samhain was conceived as a punk rock "super group". The band briefly featured members of Minor Threat and Reagan Youth, who contributed to Samhain's 1984 debut, Initium. The band then settled with a lineup consisting of Eerie Von on bass, Damien on guitar, and Steve Zing on drums (later replaced by London May). In 1985 the Unholy Passion EP was released, followed by November-Coming-Fire in 1986. Samhain eventually began to attract the interest of major labels including Epic and Elektra. Rick Rubin, music producer and head of the Def American label, would see the band perform at the 1986 New Music Seminar, on the advice of then-Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Danzig has credited both Burton and Metallica frontman James Hetfield with helping to raise awareness about his music: "I first met them at a Black Flag gig, and then we became kinda friends. We'd often bump into each other on the road...James and Cliff helped to spread the word about me, and I was very grateful to them." CANNOTANSWER | several singles and three albums, | Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, film director, and record producer. He is the founder of the bands Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. He owns the Evilive record label as well as Verotik, an adult-oriented comic book publishing company.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, Danzig's musical career has encompassed a number of genres through the years, including punk rock, heavy metal, industrial, blues and classical music. He has also written songs for other musicians, most notably Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison.
As a singer, Danzig is noted for his baritone voice and tenor vocal range; his style has been compared to those of Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, and Howlin' Wolf. Danzig has also cited Bill Medley as a vocal influence.
Early life
Danzig was born Glenn Allen Anzalone, the third of four sons, to a Protestant family in Lodi, New Jersey. His father was a television repairman and a United States Marine Corps veteran of World War II and the Korean War. His mother worked at a record store. Danzig and his family also spent some time living in Revere, Massachusetts. Danzig began listening to heavy music at an early age, and has described Black Sabbath, the Ramones, Blue Cheer, and The Doors as being among his early musical influences.
At age 10, Danzig began to use drugs and alcohol, leading him into frequent fights and trouble with the law. He stopped using drugs at age 15.
While growing up, Danzig began reading the works of authors including Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe, developing his appreciation for horror. Danzig collected comic books and, frustrated by American comics, he started his own company to produce "crazy, violent, erotic comics".
Danzig graduated from Lodi High School in June 1973, aspiring to become a comic book creator and professional photographer. He attended the Tisch School of the Arts and later the New York Institute of Photography. Danzig formed an adult-oriented comic book company called Verotik in the mid-1990s.
Musical career
Early career
Glenn Danzig's introduction to performing music began when he took piano and clarinet lessons as a child. He later taught himself how to play the guitar. Danzig started in the music business at the age of 11, first as a drum roadie and then playing in local garage bands. He had never taken vocal lessons, but his self-taught vocal prowess gained him attention in the local scene. Throughout his teenage years he sang for several local bands, such as Talus and Koo-Dot-N-Boo-Jang, most of which played half original songs and half Black Sabbath songs.
Misfits and Samhain (1977–1987)
In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits, releasing the band's records through his own label, (originally known as Blank, then later as Plan 9). Danzig had attempted to get the Misfits signed to several record labels, only to be told that he would never have a career in music. The impetus for the band's name comes from Marilyn Monroe's last film, combined with Danzig considering himself to be a "social misfit". In October 1983, after releasing several singles and three albums, and gaining a small underground following, Danzig disbanded the Misfits due to his increasing animosity for the other band members and his dissatisfaction with their musical abilities. Danzig explained his decision: "It was difficult for me to work with those guys, because they weren't prepared to put in the hours practicing. I wanted to move things forward, and they didn't seem to have the same outlook. So it was time for me to move on."
After the Misfits, he began work on a new band project, Samhain. The origins of Samhain began when Danzig started rehearsing with Eerie Von, formerly of Rosemary's Babies. Danzig took the name of the band from the ancient Celtic New Year, which influenced the evolution of the modern Halloween. Initially Samhain was conceived as a punk rock "super group". The band briefly featured members of Minor Threat and Reagan Youth, who contributed to Samhain's 1984 debut, Initium. The band then settled with a lineup consisting of Eerie Von on bass, Damien on guitar, and Steve Zing on drums (later replaced by London May). In 1985 the Unholy Passion EP was released, followed by November-Coming-Fire in 1986.
Samhain eventually began to attract the interest of major labels including Epic and Elektra. Rick Rubin, music producer and head of the Def American label, would see the band perform at the 1986 New Music Seminar, on the advice of then-Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Danzig has credited both Burton and Metallica frontman James Hetfield with helping to raise awareness about his music: "I first met them at a Black Flag gig, and then we became kinda friends. We'd often bump into each other on the road...James and Cliff helped to spread the word about me, and I was very grateful to them."
Danzig
"Classic" era (1987–1994)
In 1987, after two albums and an EP, Samhain was signed to a major label by Rubin and the name of the band was changed to Danzig to allow the band to retain its name in the event of line-up changes. Danzig discussed the reasoning behind the name change: "Rick [Rubin] convinced me it was the way to go, and would also provide me with a lot more artistic freedom. After all, I was now in charge of where we were going musically, so if I didn't want to do something, it was a lot easier to say so." Danzig's intention at the time was for each album he recorded to consist of a different recording line-up, allowing him to keep working with different musicians. The original band consisted of guitarist John Christ, bassist Eerie Von, and former Circle Jerks–DOA–Black Flag drummer Chuck Biscuits.
In 1987, Danzig, owing to his association with Rubin, was asked to write a song for Roy Orbison. The result was "Life Fades Away", featured in the 1987 movie Less than Zero. Danzig also contributed to the film's soundtrack with "You and Me (Less than Zero)". Danzig had originally been asked to write the song for a female vocalist, but when Rubin could not find a suitable singer Danzig recorded the vocals himself. The song is credited to "Glenn Danzig and the Power Fury Orchestra", which featured the same membership as the initial lineup of Danzig, with the exception of Eerie Von. Since Von did not like the way producer Rubin wanted the bass played on the song, George Drakoulias played the bass instead.
In 1988, the newly formed band Danzig released their eponymous debut. Its sound showed a progression from the gothic–deathrock sound of Samhain, to a slower, heavier, more blues-based heavy metal sound.
In 1990, the band's sophomore effort Danzig II: Lucifuge marked an immediate change in musical direction. The album's overall bluesier tone and somewhat milder approach were departures from Danzig, featuring a 50s-style ballad ("Blood & Tears") and a full-on acoustic blues ("I'm the One").
Other projects in 1990 included the final Samhain album Final Descent. The album was started under the title Samhain Grim several years prior. The album contained previously unreleased studio recordings, at least some of which had been intended for the Samhain Grim album before it was aborted.
In 1992, Danzig once again changed musical direction, releasing the darker Danzig III: How the Gods Kill. Several songs would feature a more textured, slower sound in between fast, dominant guitar riffs.
Also in 1992, Danzig tried his hand at composing classical music with Black Aria. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard classical music chart.
In 1993, Danzig released Thrall: Demonsweatlive, an EP featuring both studio recordings and live tracks. Danzig broke into the mainstream when the live video of "Mother '93" became a hit on MTV and earned Buzz Bin rotation, six years after the original song was recorded. During this time the band reached its commercial peak, with both the debut album and Thrall: Demonsweatlive being certified Gold, and "Mother" becoming the band's highest charting single. Both Danzig and Thrall: Demonsweatlive have since been certified Platinum.
In 1994, the release of Danzig 4 saw the band going further into a darker and more experimental sound. The album also saw further development of his vocal style and range; most notable in songs like "Let It Be Captured" and a more blues based approach on songs like "Going Down to Die".
Also in 1994, Danzig wrote the song "Thirteen" for Johnny Cash, which appeared on the album American Recordings.
Later years (1995–2004)
In 1996, the band underwent a complete overhaul. The original lineup had fallen apart, as had Glenn Danzig's relationship with their record label, American Recordings, with label owner Rick Rubin's involvement as producer diminishing with each album. Danzig would later engage in a legal battle with Rubin over unpaid royalties and the rights to the band's unreleased songs. Danzig enlisted new bandmates, most notably Joey Castillo who would continue to be the band's drummer until 2002.
Once again, he explored a new musical direction and recorded Blackacidevil; this time infusing heavy metal with industrial rock. Danzig went on to sign a deal with Hollywood Records, which led to several religious groups boycotting its parent company Disney for signing a controversial "satanic" band. As a result, the label pulled support for Blackacidevil and the record deal was severed.
In September 1999, Danzig signed his band to E-Magine Records, becoming the first artist on the label. The deal also led to the release of a Samhain box set and the re-release of Blackacidevil.
Danzig's subsequent three albums, 6:66 Satan's Child (1999), I Luciferi (2002) and Circle of Snakes (2004), all musically and lyrically evolved to a more stripped down, heavier gothic metal sound. The Danzig lineup continued to change with each album, while Danzig's voice started to show change after years of touring.
In 1999, during the U.S. touring for the album 6:66 Satan's Child Danzig reunited Samhain along with drummers Steve Zing and London May. Then-Danzig guitarist Todd Youth was invited by Glenn Danzig to fill in the guitar position for the Samhain reunion tour, replacing Samhain's original guitarist, Pete "Damien" Marshall, who had opted out in order to tour with Iggy Pop. Eerie Von was not invited to rejoin Samhain due to personal issues within the band. Both Zing and May handled bass duties, switching from drums to bass in between the "Blood Show".
In 2003, Danzig founded the Blackest of the Black tour to provide a platform for dark and extreme bands of his choosing from around the world. Bands featured on the tour have included Dimmu Borgir, Superjoint Ritual, Nile, Opeth, Lacuna Coil, Behemoth, Skeletonwitch, Mortiis and Marduk.
Recent activity (2005–2011)
In 2005, Danzig's tours to support the Circle of Snakes album and the Blackest of the Black Tour were highlighted by the special guest appearance of Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. Doyle joined Danzig on stage for a 20-minute set of classic Misfits songs: "To do this right, I invited Doyle to join Danzig on stage at 'Blackest of the Black' for a special guest set. This is the first time we will be performing on stage together in 20 years. It's the closest thing to a Misfits reunion anyone is ever going to see."
On October 17, 2006, he released his second solo album Black Aria II. The album reached the top ten on the Billboard classical music chart.
In November 2006, Danzig toured the west coast with former Samhain drummer Steve Zing on bass. They played three Samhain songs including "All Murder All Guts All Fun". In Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Doyle joined the band onstage for the encore and played two Misfits songs, "Skulls" and "Astro Zombies".
In 2007 Danzig produced the debut album by ex-Misfits guitarist Doyle's metal-influenced band, Gorgeous Frankenstein.
In July 2007, Danzig released The Lost Tracks of Danzig, a compilation of previously unreleased songs. The project took nine months to complete with Glenn Danzig having to add extra vocal and instrument tracks to songs that had been unfinished. The album included the controversial "White Devil Rise", recorded during the sessions for Danzig 4 in response to inflammatory comments by Louis Farrakhan and his use of the term "The White Devil". The song is Danzig's conjecture as to what would happen if Farrakhan incited the passive white race to rise up and start a race war: "No one wants to see a race war. It would be terrible, so the song's saying, 'Be careful what you wish for.'" Danzig himself has bluntly denied any accusations of racism: "As far as me being an Aryan or a racist, anyone who knows me knows that's bullshit."
In October and November 2007, Danzig toured the western United States, along with Gorgeous Frankenstein, Horrorpops, and Suicide City. This "3 Weeks of Halloween" tour was in support of his most recent album, The Lost Tracks of Danzig, as well as the newest graphic novel release from Verotik, Drukija: Countessa of Blood. On October 23, 2007, Danzig was performing the song "How the Gods Kill" in Baltimore and fell off the stage, injuring his left arm. He did not perform the Misfits set that night, but he continued the tour and played classic Misfits tunes with Doyle onstage as an encore with a sling on his left arm after the injury.
In 2008, Danzig confirmed he had recorded the first duet of his career, with Melissa Auf der Maur. The song, titled "Father's Grave", features Danzig singing from the perspective of a gravedigger and appears on Auf der Maur's 2010 album Out of Our Minds. Auf der Maur has spoken highly about the experience of meeting and working with Danzig.
Danzig's ninth album, Deth Red Sabaoth, was released on June 22, 2010.
In a July 2010 interview with Metal Injection, Glenn Danzig was asked if he was going to make another Danzig record after Deth Red Sabaoth. His response was, "I don't know, we'll see. With the way record sales are now...I won't do some stupid pro-tool record in someone's living room where all the drum beats are stolen from somebody and just mashed together...and I'm not going to do that if I can't do a record how I want to do it, and if it's not financially feasible, I'm just not going to do one."
During the later quarter of 2011 Danzig performed a string of one-off reunion shows called the "Danzig Legacy" tour. The shows consisted of a Danzig set, followed by a Samhain set, then closing off with Danzig and Doyle performing Misfits songs.
During the third date of Metallica's 30-year anniversary shows at the Fillmore Theater in San Francisco; Danzig went on stage with Metallica to perform the Misfits songs "Die, Die My Darling", "Last Caress", and "Green Hell".
Current activity (2012–present)
Danzig has said he wishes to avoid extensive and exhaustive touring in the future, preferring instead to focus on his various music, film and comic book projects: "I don't really want to tour. My reason for not doing it is because I'm bored of it. I like being onstage, but I don't like sitting around all day doing nothing. I could be home, working." Danzig has started work on a third Black Aria album, and a covers album is set for release by the end of 2013. Danzig hopes to record a dark blues album involving Jerry Cantrell and Hank III. He is currently working on new Danzig material with Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly.
In 2014, Danzig filed a lawsuit against Misfits bassist Jerry Only claiming Only registered trademarks for everything Misfits-related in 2000 behind Danzig's back, misappropriating exclusive ownership over the trademarks for himself, including the band's iconic "Fiend Skull" logo, violating a 1994 contract the two had. Danzig claims that after registering the trademarks, Only secretly entered into deals with various merchandisers and cut him out of any potential profits in the process. On August 6, 2014, a U.S. district judge in California dismissed Danzig's lawsuit.
On October 21, 2015, during an interview with Loudwire, Danzig stated his current tour with Superjoint could be his last.
On May 12, 2016, Danzig, Only, and Frankenstein announced they would perform together as the Misfits for the first time in 33 years in two headlining shows at the September 2016 Riot Fest in Chicago and Denver. He later noted that he would be "open to possibly doing some more shows". The reunited Misfits did more shows and Danzig enforced a "no cell phone" policy at the reunion shows. The reunited "Original Misfits" sold out a succession of arenas, a singular accomplishment for a classic punk band, providing evidence that they are among the most popular punk bands ever.
Danzig returned to Riot Fest in 2017 with his band, Danzig.
The newest Danzig album Black Laden Crown was released on May 26, 2017.
Musical style
Danzig's musical career has encompassed a number of genres, from punk rock and heavy metal to classical music. He is noted for his baritone voice and tenor vocal range; his style has been compared to those of Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, Roy Orbison and Howlin' Wolf. Critic Mark Deming of Allmusic described Danzig as "one of the very best singers to emerge from hardcore punk, though in a genre where an angry, sneering bark was the order of the day, that only says so much. Still, the guy could carry a tune far better than his peers".
The Misfits combined Danzig's harmonic vocals with camp-horror imagery and lyrics. The Misfits sound was a faster, heavier derivation of Ramones-style punk with rockabilly influences. Glenn Danzig's Misfits songs dealt almost exclusively with themes derived from B-grade horror and science fiction movies (e.g. "Night of the Living Dead") as well as comic books (e.g. "Wasp Women", "I Turned into a Martian"). Unlike the later incarnation of the Misfits, Danzig also dealt with Atomic Era scandals in songs like "Bullet" (about the assassination of John F. Kennedy), "Who Killed Marilyn" (which alluded to alternate theories about Marilyn Monroe's death), and "Hollywood Babylon" (inspired by the Kenneth Anger book on scandals associated with the early, formative years of Hollywood). In later years the Misfits style was noticeably heavier and faster than during their earlier releases, introducing elements of hardcore punk.
Samhain's musical and lyrical style was much darker in tone than Misfits material, fusing an experimental combination of horror punk, gothic–death rock, and heavy metal. With Samhain, Glenn Danzig began to introduce more complicated drum patterns. Samhain songs often combined tribal drum beats and distorted guitars. Samhain's lyrical themes were rooted in paganism and the occult, pain and violence, and the horrors of reality.
The band Danzig showed a progression to a slower, heavier, more blues-based and doom-driven heavy metal sound primarily influenced by the early sound of Black Sabbath. Other musical influences include The Doors, and the ballads of Roy Orbison. Danzig opted for a thicker and heavier-sounding guitar tone than with his previous bands, retaining his preference for a single lead guitarist and short guitar solos. After replacing the band's original line-up, Danzig began to experiment with a more industrial sound, before merging into gothic metal. Later, Danzig albums have returned to the band's original sound.
Glenn Danzig's lyrics, which had already evolved from those of the Misfits to the more serious style of Samhain, progressed even further with Danzig to become "frighteningly intense images of doom" which "convey their bleak messages with an eerie grace and intelligence". His lyrics are typically dark in subject matter, bearing "a heavily romanticized, brooding, gothic sensibility, more quietly sinister and darkly seductive than obviously threatening or satanic". Lyrical themes include love, sex, evil, death, religion, and occult imagery. Danzig's songs about love often deal with the pain of loss and loneliness using gothic romanticism. Sex is another common theme, with songs frequently alluding to various sexual practices and depicting powerful, seductive and sometimes supernatural female figures. Glenn Danzig has tackled Biblical subjects and has offered his criticisms of organised religion. He often promotes rebellion and anti-authoritarianism, whilst embracing independence and the left hand path. In other lyrics, Danzig deals with the subject of death and questions the concepts of evil and sin.
Glenn Danzig has served as the sole songwriter for every band he has fronted, and described his writing process: "Sometimes I get the guitar lines, sometimes I write on the piano, sometimes I'll write the lyrics first and then figure out the chord patterns on guitar, and sometimes I write the drum pattern first. It's all different". Danzig also records basic song ideas when away from his home: "I usually hum it into a microcassette recorder and then I transpose it when I get home and work it out on guitar or piano".
Television and film
Danzig had a minor role as a fallen angel in the 1998 film The Prophecy II, starring Christopher Walken.
He was invited by 20th Century Fox to audition for the role of Wolverine in X-Men, as his height and build closely resemble that of the film's protagonist, as described in the original comic books. However, he declined due to scheduling conflicts. He later admitted that he was glad to turn the role down as he thought the final product was "terrible" and further insulted Hugh Jackman's performance, calling it "gay".
Danzig guest-appeared as himself in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future", where he purchased the house of the character Carl.
In February 2016, Danzig appeared in the Portlandia episode "Weirdo Beach".
Directing
Danzig plays a personal role in the production of the band's music videos, suggesting ideas and sometimes directing them himself. He is currently working on a film version of the Verotik comic Ge Rouge. The possibility of an animated film version of the Satanika comic has also been discussed.
In 2019, Danzig made his feature film directorial debut with Verotika, an anthology horror film that premiered at Chicago's Cinepocalypse Film Festival that year. The film was directed, written and scored by Danzig.
In September 2019, at the Los Angeles red carpet premiere of the Rob Zombie film 3 from Hell, Danzig told interviewers that production for a new film would begin in October. He described the project as "a vampire Spaghetti western", after revealing there would not be any more Misfits tours.
In 2020, Danzig announced his next film is Death Rider in the House of Vampires, which blends elements of the Spaghetti western with vampire horror. Danzig stated there would be several prominent actors in the film, including: Devon Sawa, Danny Trejo, Julian Sands, and Kim Director.
In multiple interviews, Danzig cites Italian horror director Mario Bava among his directorial inspirations, along with Sergio Leone and Jean Cocteau.
Personal life
In January 1992, Danzig became a student of Jerry Poteet, a martial artist in Jeet Kune Do. Danzig has since earned a teaching degree in the discipline. Danzig has also studied Muay Thai.
Danzig also developed an interest in bodybuilding:
"I've always been attracted to the Nietzschean idea of perfection, and so I began trying to perfect my body. I bought Arnold Schwarzenegger's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MODERN BODYBUILDING and started studying. Lifting weights is just lifting weights, but bodybuilding is about sculpting the body. Nutrition is essential, and though I'd like to be eating candy and cake, it immediately settles on my hips. Unfortunately, when I'm on the road I only get to work out a few times weekly, but when I'm at home with my weights and machines I work out four or five times a week."
Danzig has several distinctive tattoos, all by tattoo artist Rick Spellman, which incorporate artwork based upon his music. These include a Danzig/Samhain skull symbol designed by Michael Golden, a bat with a Misfits Crimson Ghost skull, a wolf's head with the text "Wolfs Blood" (the title of a Misfits song), a skeleton as found on the cover art for the album November-Coming-Fire, and a demon woman as found on the cover art for Unholy Passion. His lower back features the logo for the Devilman manga.
Danzig is a fan of horror movies and Japanese anime/manga, and has expressed his appreciation for the works of filmmaker David Cronenberg and manga artist Go Nagai.
Danzig's favorite composers include Richard Wagner, Sergei Prokofiev, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carl Orff, and film score composer Jerry Goldsmith.
Danzig is an avid reader and owns a large book collection on subjects including the occult, religious history and true murder cases. He commented about the book The Occult Roots of Nazism that "every school kid should have this book", though he later stated that the comment was satirical. Danzig also has a long-standing interest in New World Order related conspiracies: "Not only have I always been interested in the families that run the world forever, that people know now as the Bilderberg Group. But there's an older book called Committee of 300 which tells you all about it. I mean, I got in trouble for this back in the 90s, talking about this kind of stuff – how the United States is based on a Freemason thing, and I got so many government files on me from that one".
Regarding his political views, Danzig has described himself as being "conservative on some issues, and some issues I'm really liberal". He defended former President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban from selected countries, arguing "It's really not a travel ban. When you walk into the country, we want to see who you are and what you're doing." Danzig has voiced his dissatisfaction with the United States' two-party system; stating "the bottom line is that both parties are in agreement about one thing: They don't want a third, a fourth, or a fifth party in there. They want it Democratic and Republican. Both sides are corrupt."
Though sometimes portrayed as a Satanist by the media, Danzig has denied this in several interviews, elaborating that "I embrace both my light and dark side... I definitely believe in a yin and yang, good and evil. My religion is a patchwork of whatever is real to me. If I can draw the strength to get through the day from something, that's religion... I'm not trying to be preachy or tell people what to think." Danzig has voiced his approval of certain aspects of Satanic ideologies, including the quest for knowledge and individual freedom. He has stated that religion does not play a role in how he perceives other bands and musicians.
Discography
Danzig
Studio albums
Danzig (1988)
Danzig II: Lucifuge (1990)
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill (1992)
Danzig 4 (1994) – LP
Blackacidevil (1996; reissued in 2000 with extra tracks)
6:66 Satan's Child (1999)
I Luciferi (2002)
Circle of Snakes (2004)
Deth Red Sabaoth (2010)
Skeletons (2015)
Black Laden Crown (2017)
Danzig Sings Elvis (2020)
EPs
Thrall/Demonsweatlive (1993)
Sacrifice (1996; reissued in 2000 with extra tracks)
Singles
"Mother" (1988) – promotional CD single
"Her Black Wings" (1990) – promotional CD single
"Killer Wolf" (1990) – promotional CD single
"A Taste of Danzig III" (1992) – promotional CD single
"Dirty Black Summer" (1992) – CD single
"How the Gods Kill" (1992) – promotional CD single
"It's Coming Down" (1993) – promotional CD single
"Mother '93" (1993) – promotional and wide-release CD singles
"Until You Call on the Dark" – (1994) – promotional CD single
"Brand New God" (1994) – promotional CD single
"Cantspeak" (1994) – CD single
"I Don't Mind the Pain" (1995) – CD single
"7th House" (1996) – promotional CD single
"Sacrifice" (1996) – CD single
"Unspeakable" (1999) – promotional CD single
"Wicked Pussycat" (2001) – promotional CD single
"On a Wicked Night" (2010) – CD single
"Ju Ju Bone" (2011) – CD single
Compilations
The Lost Tracks of Danzig (2007) – double LP
Live albums
Live on the Black Hand Side (2001) – double LP
Soundtracks
"Deep" Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files (1996)
"UnderBelly of the Beast" The Crow: Salvation Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2000)
"Mother" Guitar Hero II (2006)
"Thirteen" The Hangover Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2009)
"Mother" Guitar Hero Smash Hits (2009)
"Black Hell" The Hangover Part II Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2011)
"Mother '93" The Hangover Part III Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2013)
Official videography
Danzig (1990) – VHS
Lucifuge: The Video (1991) – VHS
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill: Special Limited Edition Box Set (1992) – CD/VHS
Archive de la Morte (2004) – DVD
Il Demonio Nera (2005) – DVD
Misfits
Studio albums
Walk Among Us (1982)
Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983)
Static Age (recorded 1978, released 1996)
12 Hits from Hell (recorded 1980, released 2001) (deleted prior to official release)
EPs
Beware (1980)
3 Hits from Hell (1981)
Evilive (1982)
Singles
"Cough/Cool" (1977)
"Bullet" (1978)
"Horror Business" (1979)
"Night of the Living Dead" (1979)
"Halloween" (1981)
"Die, Die My Darling" (1984)
Compilations
Legacy of Brutality (1985)
Misfits (1986)
Collection II (1995)
Misfits Box Set (1996)
Live albums
Evilive (1987)
Soundtracks
"Hybrid Moments" Jackass: The Movie Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2002)
"Last Caress" True Crime: New York City (2005)
"Halloween II" Halloween Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2007)
Samhain
Studio albums
Initium (1984)
Samhain III: November-Coming-Fire (1986)
Final Descent (1990)
Other releases
Unholy Passion (EP, 1985)
Box Set (compilation, 2000)
Samhain Live '85-'86 (live album, 2001)
"Mother of Mercy" Guitar Hero: Metallica (soundtrack, 2009)
Live 1984 at the Stardust Ballroom (DVD, 2005)
Glenn Danzig and the Power Fury Orchestra
"You and Me (Less Than Zero)" Less Than Zero Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack, 1987)
Solo
Studio albums
Black Aria (1992)
Black Aria II (2006)
Singles
"Who Killed Marilyn?" (1981) – 7" single
Other
Less Than Zero Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987) (Danzig and Orbison wrote the song "Life Fades Away", performed by Roy Orbison)
Kinghorse (1990) (Eponymous debut album produced by Danzig)
American Recordings by Johnny Cash (1994) (Danzig wrote the song "Thirteen")
Songs from the Earth by Son of Sam (2001) (Extra guitar and keyboards on "Songs from the Earth", and extra guitar on "Stray")
Gorgeous Frankenstein (2007) (Eponymous debut album produced by Danzig)
Out of Our Minds by Melissa Auf der Maur (2010) (Guest vocals on "Father's Grave")
References
External links
Glenn Danzig audio interview from Synthesis magazine
1955 births
American cartoonists
American crooners
American heavy metal singers
American Jeet Kune Do practitioners
American male singer-songwriters
American baritones
American people of Scottish descent
American people of German descent
American people of Italian descent
American punk rock singers
Danzig (band) members
Horror punk musicians
Living people
Misfits (band) members
People from Lodi, New Jersey
People from Revere, Massachusetts
Samhain (band) members
Singer-songwriters from New Jersey
Tisch School of the Arts alumni | true | [
"Fischer-Chöre (Fischer choirs) is a group of children's choirs, youth choirs, men's choirs, and mixed choirs that were founded and conducted by Gotthilf Fischer, based in the Stuttgart area.\n\nHistory\nIn 1946 at the age of 18, Gotthilf Fischer took over the direction of the Deizisau Choir, later followed by other choirs. These choirs sometimes combine for a common performances encompassing over 1,500 voices.\n\nThe first television appearance was in 1969. With their performance at the Soccer World Cup in 1974 they became known to a worldwide audience. Major tours include visits to Rome, Jerusalem, and the USA.\n\nThe choirs are popular in German TV and participate in many entertainment programs. In 1990 Gotthilf Fischer and his choirs received their own program, Strasse der Lieder (Road of the Songs).\n\nRepertoire\nThe repertoire of the group includes traditional songs, and classical and operatic choir songs.\n\nExternal links \n \n\nGerman choirs",
"The English rock band the Smiths recorded 74 songs during their five-year career, which included 70 originals and 4 covers. The band was formed in Manchester in 1982 and signed a one-off recording contract with independent record label Rough Trade Records, releasing their debut single, \"Hand in Glove\" in May 1983. The single found success in the UK, earning the group a full contract. Their follow-up singles, \"This Charming Man\" and \"What Difference Does It Make?\" fared better on the UK charts and helped increase the band's popularity. The next year saw the release of their self-titled debut album, several non-album singles, and Hatful of Hollow, a collection of B-sides, live recordings, and numerous non-album singles. The band's popularity increased with Meat Is Murder (1985), their only UK number one album, and The Queen Is Dead (1986), which reached number two on the UK charts and peaked in the US Top 100. Several non-album singles after Hatful of Hollow saw release on the compilations The World Won't Listen and Louder Than Bombs in early 1987. Despite their chart success, tensions began growing in the band, mainly between Marr and Morrissey and the band's label; the band announced their break-up shortly before the release of their final album, Strangeways, Here We Come. The live album Rank followed in 1988.\n\nThe majority of the Smiths' songs were written by the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr. Throughout their career, their songs differed from the traditional synth-pop British sound of the early 1980s, instead fusing together 1960s rock and post-punk.\nIn their early years, the band purposely rejected synthesisers and dance music, until Meat Is Murder, which contained keyboards as well as rockabilly and funk influences. The Queen Is Dead was notable for featuring harder-rocking songs with witty, satirical lyrics of British social mores, intellectualism and class. Throughout their career, Morrissey drew attention during interviews and live performances for his provocative statements, such as criticising the Thatcher administration and being pro-vegetarian, as shown in the title track of Meat Is Murder. The Smiths often addressed controversial topics in their lyrics, including homosexuality (\"Hand in Glove\"), the Moors murders (\"Suffer Little Children\"), as well as burning \"the disco\" and hanging \"the DJ\" (\"Panic\"). Since their breakup, the Smiths have been considered one of the most influential bands of the 1980s, with Ian Youngs of BBC News describing them as \"the band that inspired deeper devotion than any British group since the Beatles.\"\n\nSongs\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe Smiths BMI Repertoire\nThe Smiths ASCAP Repertoire\n\n \nSmiths, The\nSmiths"
]
|
[
"Glenn Danzig",
"Misfits and Samhain (1977-1987)",
"When were the Misfits formed?",
"In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits,",
"Where did this happen?",
"I don't know.",
"What songs were in their early repertoire?",
"several singles and three albums,"
]
| C_dd9b8ea9bb574dbcbf222fd4aec2d09d_1 | What record label were they on? | 4 | What record label were the Misfits on? | Glenn Danzig | In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits, releasing the band's records through his own label, (originally known as Blank, then later as Plan 9). Danzig had attempted to get the Misfits signed to several record labels, only to be told that he would never have a career in music. The impetus for the band's name comes from Marilyn Monroe's last film, combined with Danzig considering himself to be a "social misfit." In October 1983, after releasing several singles and three albums, and gaining a small underground following, Danzig disbanded the Misfits due to increasing animosity among the band members and his dissatisfaction with their musical abilities. Danzig explained his decision: "It was difficult for me to work with those guys, because they weren't prepared to put in the hours practicing. I wanted to move things forward, and they didn't seem to have the same outlook. So it was time for me to move on." After the Misfits, he began work on a new band project: Samhain. The origins of Samhain began when Danzig started rehearsing with Eerie Von, formerly of Rosemary's Babies. Danzig took the name of the band from the ancient Celtic New Year, which influenced the evolution of the modern Halloween. Initially Samhain was conceived as a punk rock "super group". The band briefly featured members of Minor Threat and Reagan Youth, who contributed to Samhain's 1984 debut, Initium. The band then settled with a lineup consisting of Eerie Von on bass, Damien on guitar, and Steve Zing on drums (later replaced by London May). In 1985 the Unholy Passion EP was released, followed by November-Coming-Fire in 1986. Samhain eventually began to attract the interest of major labels including Epic and Elektra. Rick Rubin, music producer and head of the Def American label, would see the band perform at the 1986 New Music Seminar, on the advice of then-Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Danzig has credited both Burton and Metallica frontman James Hetfield with helping to raise awareness about his music: "I first met them at a Black Flag gig, and then we became kinda friends. We'd often bump into each other on the road...James and Cliff helped to spread the word about me, and I was very grateful to them." CANNOTANSWER | ). Danzig had attempted to get the Misfits signed to several record labels, only to be told that he would never have a career in music. | Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, film director, and record producer. He is the founder of the bands Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. He owns the Evilive record label as well as Verotik, an adult-oriented comic book publishing company.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, Danzig's musical career has encompassed a number of genres through the years, including punk rock, heavy metal, industrial, blues and classical music. He has also written songs for other musicians, most notably Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison.
As a singer, Danzig is noted for his baritone voice and tenor vocal range; his style has been compared to those of Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, and Howlin' Wolf. Danzig has also cited Bill Medley as a vocal influence.
Early life
Danzig was born Glenn Allen Anzalone, the third of four sons, to a Protestant family in Lodi, New Jersey. His father was a television repairman and a United States Marine Corps veteran of World War II and the Korean War. His mother worked at a record store. Danzig and his family also spent some time living in Revere, Massachusetts. Danzig began listening to heavy music at an early age, and has described Black Sabbath, the Ramones, Blue Cheer, and The Doors as being among his early musical influences.
At age 10, Danzig began to use drugs and alcohol, leading him into frequent fights and trouble with the law. He stopped using drugs at age 15.
While growing up, Danzig began reading the works of authors including Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe, developing his appreciation for horror. Danzig collected comic books and, frustrated by American comics, he started his own company to produce "crazy, violent, erotic comics".
Danzig graduated from Lodi High School in June 1973, aspiring to become a comic book creator and professional photographer. He attended the Tisch School of the Arts and later the New York Institute of Photography. Danzig formed an adult-oriented comic book company called Verotik in the mid-1990s.
Musical career
Early career
Glenn Danzig's introduction to performing music began when he took piano and clarinet lessons as a child. He later taught himself how to play the guitar. Danzig started in the music business at the age of 11, first as a drum roadie and then playing in local garage bands. He had never taken vocal lessons, but his self-taught vocal prowess gained him attention in the local scene. Throughout his teenage years he sang for several local bands, such as Talus and Koo-Dot-N-Boo-Jang, most of which played half original songs and half Black Sabbath songs.
Misfits and Samhain (1977–1987)
In the mid-1970s, Danzig started the Misfits, releasing the band's records through his own label, (originally known as Blank, then later as Plan 9). Danzig had attempted to get the Misfits signed to several record labels, only to be told that he would never have a career in music. The impetus for the band's name comes from Marilyn Monroe's last film, combined with Danzig considering himself to be a "social misfit". In October 1983, after releasing several singles and three albums, and gaining a small underground following, Danzig disbanded the Misfits due to his increasing animosity for the other band members and his dissatisfaction with their musical abilities. Danzig explained his decision: "It was difficult for me to work with those guys, because they weren't prepared to put in the hours practicing. I wanted to move things forward, and they didn't seem to have the same outlook. So it was time for me to move on."
After the Misfits, he began work on a new band project, Samhain. The origins of Samhain began when Danzig started rehearsing with Eerie Von, formerly of Rosemary's Babies. Danzig took the name of the band from the ancient Celtic New Year, which influenced the evolution of the modern Halloween. Initially Samhain was conceived as a punk rock "super group". The band briefly featured members of Minor Threat and Reagan Youth, who contributed to Samhain's 1984 debut, Initium. The band then settled with a lineup consisting of Eerie Von on bass, Damien on guitar, and Steve Zing on drums (later replaced by London May). In 1985 the Unholy Passion EP was released, followed by November-Coming-Fire in 1986.
Samhain eventually began to attract the interest of major labels including Epic and Elektra. Rick Rubin, music producer and head of the Def American label, would see the band perform at the 1986 New Music Seminar, on the advice of then-Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Danzig has credited both Burton and Metallica frontman James Hetfield with helping to raise awareness about his music: "I first met them at a Black Flag gig, and then we became kinda friends. We'd often bump into each other on the road...James and Cliff helped to spread the word about me, and I was very grateful to them."
Danzig
"Classic" era (1987–1994)
In 1987, after two albums and an EP, Samhain was signed to a major label by Rubin and the name of the band was changed to Danzig to allow the band to retain its name in the event of line-up changes. Danzig discussed the reasoning behind the name change: "Rick [Rubin] convinced me it was the way to go, and would also provide me with a lot more artistic freedom. After all, I was now in charge of where we were going musically, so if I didn't want to do something, it was a lot easier to say so." Danzig's intention at the time was for each album he recorded to consist of a different recording line-up, allowing him to keep working with different musicians. The original band consisted of guitarist John Christ, bassist Eerie Von, and former Circle Jerks–DOA–Black Flag drummer Chuck Biscuits.
In 1987, Danzig, owing to his association with Rubin, was asked to write a song for Roy Orbison. The result was "Life Fades Away", featured in the 1987 movie Less than Zero. Danzig also contributed to the film's soundtrack with "You and Me (Less than Zero)". Danzig had originally been asked to write the song for a female vocalist, but when Rubin could not find a suitable singer Danzig recorded the vocals himself. The song is credited to "Glenn Danzig and the Power Fury Orchestra", which featured the same membership as the initial lineup of Danzig, with the exception of Eerie Von. Since Von did not like the way producer Rubin wanted the bass played on the song, George Drakoulias played the bass instead.
In 1988, the newly formed band Danzig released their eponymous debut. Its sound showed a progression from the gothic–deathrock sound of Samhain, to a slower, heavier, more blues-based heavy metal sound.
In 1990, the band's sophomore effort Danzig II: Lucifuge marked an immediate change in musical direction. The album's overall bluesier tone and somewhat milder approach were departures from Danzig, featuring a 50s-style ballad ("Blood & Tears") and a full-on acoustic blues ("I'm the One").
Other projects in 1990 included the final Samhain album Final Descent. The album was started under the title Samhain Grim several years prior. The album contained previously unreleased studio recordings, at least some of which had been intended for the Samhain Grim album before it was aborted.
In 1992, Danzig once again changed musical direction, releasing the darker Danzig III: How the Gods Kill. Several songs would feature a more textured, slower sound in between fast, dominant guitar riffs.
Also in 1992, Danzig tried his hand at composing classical music with Black Aria. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard classical music chart.
In 1993, Danzig released Thrall: Demonsweatlive, an EP featuring both studio recordings and live tracks. Danzig broke into the mainstream when the live video of "Mother '93" became a hit on MTV and earned Buzz Bin rotation, six years after the original song was recorded. During this time the band reached its commercial peak, with both the debut album and Thrall: Demonsweatlive being certified Gold, and "Mother" becoming the band's highest charting single. Both Danzig and Thrall: Demonsweatlive have since been certified Platinum.
In 1994, the release of Danzig 4 saw the band going further into a darker and more experimental sound. The album also saw further development of his vocal style and range; most notable in songs like "Let It Be Captured" and a more blues based approach on songs like "Going Down to Die".
Also in 1994, Danzig wrote the song "Thirteen" for Johnny Cash, which appeared on the album American Recordings.
Later years (1995–2004)
In 1996, the band underwent a complete overhaul. The original lineup had fallen apart, as had Glenn Danzig's relationship with their record label, American Recordings, with label owner Rick Rubin's involvement as producer diminishing with each album. Danzig would later engage in a legal battle with Rubin over unpaid royalties and the rights to the band's unreleased songs. Danzig enlisted new bandmates, most notably Joey Castillo who would continue to be the band's drummer until 2002.
Once again, he explored a new musical direction and recorded Blackacidevil; this time infusing heavy metal with industrial rock. Danzig went on to sign a deal with Hollywood Records, which led to several religious groups boycotting its parent company Disney for signing a controversial "satanic" band. As a result, the label pulled support for Blackacidevil and the record deal was severed.
In September 1999, Danzig signed his band to E-Magine Records, becoming the first artist on the label. The deal also led to the release of a Samhain box set and the re-release of Blackacidevil.
Danzig's subsequent three albums, 6:66 Satan's Child (1999), I Luciferi (2002) and Circle of Snakes (2004), all musically and lyrically evolved to a more stripped down, heavier gothic metal sound. The Danzig lineup continued to change with each album, while Danzig's voice started to show change after years of touring.
In 1999, during the U.S. touring for the album 6:66 Satan's Child Danzig reunited Samhain along with drummers Steve Zing and London May. Then-Danzig guitarist Todd Youth was invited by Glenn Danzig to fill in the guitar position for the Samhain reunion tour, replacing Samhain's original guitarist, Pete "Damien" Marshall, who had opted out in order to tour with Iggy Pop. Eerie Von was not invited to rejoin Samhain due to personal issues within the band. Both Zing and May handled bass duties, switching from drums to bass in between the "Blood Show".
In 2003, Danzig founded the Blackest of the Black tour to provide a platform for dark and extreme bands of his choosing from around the world. Bands featured on the tour have included Dimmu Borgir, Superjoint Ritual, Nile, Opeth, Lacuna Coil, Behemoth, Skeletonwitch, Mortiis and Marduk.
Recent activity (2005–2011)
In 2005, Danzig's tours to support the Circle of Snakes album and the Blackest of the Black Tour were highlighted by the special guest appearance of Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. Doyle joined Danzig on stage for a 20-minute set of classic Misfits songs: "To do this right, I invited Doyle to join Danzig on stage at 'Blackest of the Black' for a special guest set. This is the first time we will be performing on stage together in 20 years. It's the closest thing to a Misfits reunion anyone is ever going to see."
On October 17, 2006, he released his second solo album Black Aria II. The album reached the top ten on the Billboard classical music chart.
In November 2006, Danzig toured the west coast with former Samhain drummer Steve Zing on bass. They played three Samhain songs including "All Murder All Guts All Fun". In Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Doyle joined the band onstage for the encore and played two Misfits songs, "Skulls" and "Astro Zombies".
In 2007 Danzig produced the debut album by ex-Misfits guitarist Doyle's metal-influenced band, Gorgeous Frankenstein.
In July 2007, Danzig released The Lost Tracks of Danzig, a compilation of previously unreleased songs. The project took nine months to complete with Glenn Danzig having to add extra vocal and instrument tracks to songs that had been unfinished. The album included the controversial "White Devil Rise", recorded during the sessions for Danzig 4 in response to inflammatory comments by Louis Farrakhan and his use of the term "The White Devil". The song is Danzig's conjecture as to what would happen if Farrakhan incited the passive white race to rise up and start a race war: "No one wants to see a race war. It would be terrible, so the song's saying, 'Be careful what you wish for.'" Danzig himself has bluntly denied any accusations of racism: "As far as me being an Aryan or a racist, anyone who knows me knows that's bullshit."
In October and November 2007, Danzig toured the western United States, along with Gorgeous Frankenstein, Horrorpops, and Suicide City. This "3 Weeks of Halloween" tour was in support of his most recent album, The Lost Tracks of Danzig, as well as the newest graphic novel release from Verotik, Drukija: Countessa of Blood. On October 23, 2007, Danzig was performing the song "How the Gods Kill" in Baltimore and fell off the stage, injuring his left arm. He did not perform the Misfits set that night, but he continued the tour and played classic Misfits tunes with Doyle onstage as an encore with a sling on his left arm after the injury.
In 2008, Danzig confirmed he had recorded the first duet of his career, with Melissa Auf der Maur. The song, titled "Father's Grave", features Danzig singing from the perspective of a gravedigger and appears on Auf der Maur's 2010 album Out of Our Minds. Auf der Maur has spoken highly about the experience of meeting and working with Danzig.
Danzig's ninth album, Deth Red Sabaoth, was released on June 22, 2010.
In a July 2010 interview with Metal Injection, Glenn Danzig was asked if he was going to make another Danzig record after Deth Red Sabaoth. His response was, "I don't know, we'll see. With the way record sales are now...I won't do some stupid pro-tool record in someone's living room where all the drum beats are stolen from somebody and just mashed together...and I'm not going to do that if I can't do a record how I want to do it, and if it's not financially feasible, I'm just not going to do one."
During the later quarter of 2011 Danzig performed a string of one-off reunion shows called the "Danzig Legacy" tour. The shows consisted of a Danzig set, followed by a Samhain set, then closing off with Danzig and Doyle performing Misfits songs.
During the third date of Metallica's 30-year anniversary shows at the Fillmore Theater in San Francisco; Danzig went on stage with Metallica to perform the Misfits songs "Die, Die My Darling", "Last Caress", and "Green Hell".
Current activity (2012–present)
Danzig has said he wishes to avoid extensive and exhaustive touring in the future, preferring instead to focus on his various music, film and comic book projects: "I don't really want to tour. My reason for not doing it is because I'm bored of it. I like being onstage, but I don't like sitting around all day doing nothing. I could be home, working." Danzig has started work on a third Black Aria album, and a covers album is set for release by the end of 2013. Danzig hopes to record a dark blues album involving Jerry Cantrell and Hank III. He is currently working on new Danzig material with Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly.
In 2014, Danzig filed a lawsuit against Misfits bassist Jerry Only claiming Only registered trademarks for everything Misfits-related in 2000 behind Danzig's back, misappropriating exclusive ownership over the trademarks for himself, including the band's iconic "Fiend Skull" logo, violating a 1994 contract the two had. Danzig claims that after registering the trademarks, Only secretly entered into deals with various merchandisers and cut him out of any potential profits in the process. On August 6, 2014, a U.S. district judge in California dismissed Danzig's lawsuit.
On October 21, 2015, during an interview with Loudwire, Danzig stated his current tour with Superjoint could be his last.
On May 12, 2016, Danzig, Only, and Frankenstein announced they would perform together as the Misfits for the first time in 33 years in two headlining shows at the September 2016 Riot Fest in Chicago and Denver. He later noted that he would be "open to possibly doing some more shows". The reunited Misfits did more shows and Danzig enforced a "no cell phone" policy at the reunion shows. The reunited "Original Misfits" sold out a succession of arenas, a singular accomplishment for a classic punk band, providing evidence that they are among the most popular punk bands ever.
Danzig returned to Riot Fest in 2017 with his band, Danzig.
The newest Danzig album Black Laden Crown was released on May 26, 2017.
Musical style
Danzig's musical career has encompassed a number of genres, from punk rock and heavy metal to classical music. He is noted for his baritone voice and tenor vocal range; his style has been compared to those of Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, Roy Orbison and Howlin' Wolf. Critic Mark Deming of Allmusic described Danzig as "one of the very best singers to emerge from hardcore punk, though in a genre where an angry, sneering bark was the order of the day, that only says so much. Still, the guy could carry a tune far better than his peers".
The Misfits combined Danzig's harmonic vocals with camp-horror imagery and lyrics. The Misfits sound was a faster, heavier derivation of Ramones-style punk with rockabilly influences. Glenn Danzig's Misfits songs dealt almost exclusively with themes derived from B-grade horror and science fiction movies (e.g. "Night of the Living Dead") as well as comic books (e.g. "Wasp Women", "I Turned into a Martian"). Unlike the later incarnation of the Misfits, Danzig also dealt with Atomic Era scandals in songs like "Bullet" (about the assassination of John F. Kennedy), "Who Killed Marilyn" (which alluded to alternate theories about Marilyn Monroe's death), and "Hollywood Babylon" (inspired by the Kenneth Anger book on scandals associated with the early, formative years of Hollywood). In later years the Misfits style was noticeably heavier and faster than during their earlier releases, introducing elements of hardcore punk.
Samhain's musical and lyrical style was much darker in tone than Misfits material, fusing an experimental combination of horror punk, gothic–death rock, and heavy metal. With Samhain, Glenn Danzig began to introduce more complicated drum patterns. Samhain songs often combined tribal drum beats and distorted guitars. Samhain's lyrical themes were rooted in paganism and the occult, pain and violence, and the horrors of reality.
The band Danzig showed a progression to a slower, heavier, more blues-based and doom-driven heavy metal sound primarily influenced by the early sound of Black Sabbath. Other musical influences include The Doors, and the ballads of Roy Orbison. Danzig opted for a thicker and heavier-sounding guitar tone than with his previous bands, retaining his preference for a single lead guitarist and short guitar solos. After replacing the band's original line-up, Danzig began to experiment with a more industrial sound, before merging into gothic metal. Later, Danzig albums have returned to the band's original sound.
Glenn Danzig's lyrics, which had already evolved from those of the Misfits to the more serious style of Samhain, progressed even further with Danzig to become "frighteningly intense images of doom" which "convey their bleak messages with an eerie grace and intelligence". His lyrics are typically dark in subject matter, bearing "a heavily romanticized, brooding, gothic sensibility, more quietly sinister and darkly seductive than obviously threatening or satanic". Lyrical themes include love, sex, evil, death, religion, and occult imagery. Danzig's songs about love often deal with the pain of loss and loneliness using gothic romanticism. Sex is another common theme, with songs frequently alluding to various sexual practices and depicting powerful, seductive and sometimes supernatural female figures. Glenn Danzig has tackled Biblical subjects and has offered his criticisms of organised religion. He often promotes rebellion and anti-authoritarianism, whilst embracing independence and the left hand path. In other lyrics, Danzig deals with the subject of death and questions the concepts of evil and sin.
Glenn Danzig has served as the sole songwriter for every band he has fronted, and described his writing process: "Sometimes I get the guitar lines, sometimes I write on the piano, sometimes I'll write the lyrics first and then figure out the chord patterns on guitar, and sometimes I write the drum pattern first. It's all different". Danzig also records basic song ideas when away from his home: "I usually hum it into a microcassette recorder and then I transpose it when I get home and work it out on guitar or piano".
Television and film
Danzig had a minor role as a fallen angel in the 1998 film The Prophecy II, starring Christopher Walken.
He was invited by 20th Century Fox to audition for the role of Wolverine in X-Men, as his height and build closely resemble that of the film's protagonist, as described in the original comic books. However, he declined due to scheduling conflicts. He later admitted that he was glad to turn the role down as he thought the final product was "terrible" and further insulted Hugh Jackman's performance, calling it "gay".
Danzig guest-appeared as himself in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future", where he purchased the house of the character Carl.
In February 2016, Danzig appeared in the Portlandia episode "Weirdo Beach".
Directing
Danzig plays a personal role in the production of the band's music videos, suggesting ideas and sometimes directing them himself. He is currently working on a film version of the Verotik comic Ge Rouge. The possibility of an animated film version of the Satanika comic has also been discussed.
In 2019, Danzig made his feature film directorial debut with Verotika, an anthology horror film that premiered at Chicago's Cinepocalypse Film Festival that year. The film was directed, written and scored by Danzig.
In September 2019, at the Los Angeles red carpet premiere of the Rob Zombie film 3 from Hell, Danzig told interviewers that production for a new film would begin in October. He described the project as "a vampire Spaghetti western", after revealing there would not be any more Misfits tours.
In 2020, Danzig announced his next film is Death Rider in the House of Vampires, which blends elements of the Spaghetti western with vampire horror. Danzig stated there would be several prominent actors in the film, including: Devon Sawa, Danny Trejo, Julian Sands, and Kim Director.
In multiple interviews, Danzig cites Italian horror director Mario Bava among his directorial inspirations, along with Sergio Leone and Jean Cocteau.
Personal life
In January 1992, Danzig became a student of Jerry Poteet, a martial artist in Jeet Kune Do. Danzig has since earned a teaching degree in the discipline. Danzig has also studied Muay Thai.
Danzig also developed an interest in bodybuilding:
"I've always been attracted to the Nietzschean idea of perfection, and so I began trying to perfect my body. I bought Arnold Schwarzenegger's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MODERN BODYBUILDING and started studying. Lifting weights is just lifting weights, but bodybuilding is about sculpting the body. Nutrition is essential, and though I'd like to be eating candy and cake, it immediately settles on my hips. Unfortunately, when I'm on the road I only get to work out a few times weekly, but when I'm at home with my weights and machines I work out four or five times a week."
Danzig has several distinctive tattoos, all by tattoo artist Rick Spellman, which incorporate artwork based upon his music. These include a Danzig/Samhain skull symbol designed by Michael Golden, a bat with a Misfits Crimson Ghost skull, a wolf's head with the text "Wolfs Blood" (the title of a Misfits song), a skeleton as found on the cover art for the album November-Coming-Fire, and a demon woman as found on the cover art for Unholy Passion. His lower back features the logo for the Devilman manga.
Danzig is a fan of horror movies and Japanese anime/manga, and has expressed his appreciation for the works of filmmaker David Cronenberg and manga artist Go Nagai.
Danzig's favorite composers include Richard Wagner, Sergei Prokofiev, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carl Orff, and film score composer Jerry Goldsmith.
Danzig is an avid reader and owns a large book collection on subjects including the occult, religious history and true murder cases. He commented about the book The Occult Roots of Nazism that "every school kid should have this book", though he later stated that the comment was satirical. Danzig also has a long-standing interest in New World Order related conspiracies: "Not only have I always been interested in the families that run the world forever, that people know now as the Bilderberg Group. But there's an older book called Committee of 300 which tells you all about it. I mean, I got in trouble for this back in the 90s, talking about this kind of stuff – how the United States is based on a Freemason thing, and I got so many government files on me from that one".
Regarding his political views, Danzig has described himself as being "conservative on some issues, and some issues I'm really liberal". He defended former President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban from selected countries, arguing "It's really not a travel ban. When you walk into the country, we want to see who you are and what you're doing." Danzig has voiced his dissatisfaction with the United States' two-party system; stating "the bottom line is that both parties are in agreement about one thing: They don't want a third, a fourth, or a fifth party in there. They want it Democratic and Republican. Both sides are corrupt."
Though sometimes portrayed as a Satanist by the media, Danzig has denied this in several interviews, elaborating that "I embrace both my light and dark side... I definitely believe in a yin and yang, good and evil. My religion is a patchwork of whatever is real to me. If I can draw the strength to get through the day from something, that's religion... I'm not trying to be preachy or tell people what to think." Danzig has voiced his approval of certain aspects of Satanic ideologies, including the quest for knowledge and individual freedom. He has stated that religion does not play a role in how he perceives other bands and musicians.
Discography
Danzig
Studio albums
Danzig (1988)
Danzig II: Lucifuge (1990)
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill (1992)
Danzig 4 (1994) – LP
Blackacidevil (1996; reissued in 2000 with extra tracks)
6:66 Satan's Child (1999)
I Luciferi (2002)
Circle of Snakes (2004)
Deth Red Sabaoth (2010)
Skeletons (2015)
Black Laden Crown (2017)
Danzig Sings Elvis (2020)
EPs
Thrall/Demonsweatlive (1993)
Sacrifice (1996; reissued in 2000 with extra tracks)
Singles
"Mother" (1988) – promotional CD single
"Her Black Wings" (1990) – promotional CD single
"Killer Wolf" (1990) – promotional CD single
"A Taste of Danzig III" (1992) – promotional CD single
"Dirty Black Summer" (1992) – CD single
"How the Gods Kill" (1992) – promotional CD single
"It's Coming Down" (1993) – promotional CD single
"Mother '93" (1993) – promotional and wide-release CD singles
"Until You Call on the Dark" – (1994) – promotional CD single
"Brand New God" (1994) – promotional CD single
"Cantspeak" (1994) – CD single
"I Don't Mind the Pain" (1995) – CD single
"7th House" (1996) – promotional CD single
"Sacrifice" (1996) – CD single
"Unspeakable" (1999) – promotional CD single
"Wicked Pussycat" (2001) – promotional CD single
"On a Wicked Night" (2010) – CD single
"Ju Ju Bone" (2011) – CD single
Compilations
The Lost Tracks of Danzig (2007) – double LP
Live albums
Live on the Black Hand Side (2001) – double LP
Soundtracks
"Deep" Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files (1996)
"UnderBelly of the Beast" The Crow: Salvation Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2000)
"Mother" Guitar Hero II (2006)
"Thirteen" The Hangover Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2009)
"Mother" Guitar Hero Smash Hits (2009)
"Black Hell" The Hangover Part II Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2011)
"Mother '93" The Hangover Part III Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2013)
Official videography
Danzig (1990) – VHS
Lucifuge: The Video (1991) – VHS
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill: Special Limited Edition Box Set (1992) – CD/VHS
Archive de la Morte (2004) – DVD
Il Demonio Nera (2005) – DVD
Misfits
Studio albums
Walk Among Us (1982)
Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983)
Static Age (recorded 1978, released 1996)
12 Hits from Hell (recorded 1980, released 2001) (deleted prior to official release)
EPs
Beware (1980)
3 Hits from Hell (1981)
Evilive (1982)
Singles
"Cough/Cool" (1977)
"Bullet" (1978)
"Horror Business" (1979)
"Night of the Living Dead" (1979)
"Halloween" (1981)
"Die, Die My Darling" (1984)
Compilations
Legacy of Brutality (1985)
Misfits (1986)
Collection II (1995)
Misfits Box Set (1996)
Live albums
Evilive (1987)
Soundtracks
"Hybrid Moments" Jackass: The Movie Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2002)
"Last Caress" True Crime: New York City (2005)
"Halloween II" Halloween Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2007)
Samhain
Studio albums
Initium (1984)
Samhain III: November-Coming-Fire (1986)
Final Descent (1990)
Other releases
Unholy Passion (EP, 1985)
Box Set (compilation, 2000)
Samhain Live '85-'86 (live album, 2001)
"Mother of Mercy" Guitar Hero: Metallica (soundtrack, 2009)
Live 1984 at the Stardust Ballroom (DVD, 2005)
Glenn Danzig and the Power Fury Orchestra
"You and Me (Less Than Zero)" Less Than Zero Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack, 1987)
Solo
Studio albums
Black Aria (1992)
Black Aria II (2006)
Singles
"Who Killed Marilyn?" (1981) – 7" single
Other
Less Than Zero Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987) (Danzig and Orbison wrote the song "Life Fades Away", performed by Roy Orbison)
Kinghorse (1990) (Eponymous debut album produced by Danzig)
American Recordings by Johnny Cash (1994) (Danzig wrote the song "Thirteen")
Songs from the Earth by Son of Sam (2001) (Extra guitar and keyboards on "Songs from the Earth", and extra guitar on "Stray")
Gorgeous Frankenstein (2007) (Eponymous debut album produced by Danzig)
Out of Our Minds by Melissa Auf der Maur (2010) (Guest vocals on "Father's Grave")
References
External links
Glenn Danzig audio interview from Synthesis magazine
1955 births
American cartoonists
American crooners
American heavy metal singers
American Jeet Kune Do practitioners
American male singer-songwriters
American baritones
American people of Scottish descent
American people of German descent
American people of Italian descent
American punk rock singers
Danzig (band) members
Horror punk musicians
Living people
Misfits (band) members
People from Lodi, New Jersey
People from Revere, Massachusetts
Samhain (band) members
Singer-songwriters from New Jersey
Tisch School of the Arts alumni | true | [
"Switchflicker Records is an independent British record label based in Manchester, England. The company was established in 2000 by Jayne Compton.\n\nPerformers signed to the label include Divine David, Chloe Poems and formerly The Ting Tings, who launched their career at the label.\n\nIn 2008, members of The Ting Tings wrote critical comments on their blog about what they believe to be inflated prices charged by the label for their single, \"That's Not My Name\", asserting that the company was \"cashing in\" on the band's success at the expense of their fans. The label responded in a published statement, noting that they were doing nothing wrong as they owned the stock and were selling remaining copies in line with the record's value at the time: \n\nFollowing this dispute, The Ting Tings signed with Columbia Records, having received assurances from Columbia that they would retain sufficient artistic control over their music.\n\nReferences\n\nBritish record labels",
"Nul Records is an independent record label set up by the post-punk revival band The Futureheads. The label is run by the four members of the Futureheads: Ross Millard, Dave Hyde, Barry Hyde, David \"Jaff\" Craig, as well as their two managers.\n\nOverview\nThe Futureheads set up this record label some time after they split with their former record label 679 Recordings in late 2006, apparently disliking the direction they were taking them. Although other sources say that they were dropped by their record label because of poor sales. Millard, band guitarist and vocalist, also pointed out several shortcomings as the reason they left their label:\n\nWith the record label they set up between 2006 and 2008, they started on writing songs and recording them, then finally releasing their third studio album, This Is Not The World, on 26 May 2008 in Britain. All subsequent Futureheads albums were released on Nul Records.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n \n\nBritish record labels\nIndie rock record labels\nAlternative rock record labels\nThe Futureheads"
]
|
[
"Hulk Hogan",
"Third return to WWE (2005-2007)"
]
| C_f7eadf2761b540508879af06e19db632_0 | Why did Hogan return to WWE? | 1 | Why did Hogan return to WWE? | Hulk Hogan | On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels. Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd. Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on the July 15 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. CANNOTANSWER | At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The | Terry Eugene Bollea (, born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s.
Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. There, his persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of WWF's flagship annual event, WrestleMania. During his initial run, he won the WWF Championship five times, with his first reign holding the record for the second-longest. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991.
In 1993, Hogan departed the WWF to sign for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest reign. In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable. As a result, he became a major figure during the "Monday Night Wars", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times, including the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.
Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning the Undisputed WWF Championship for a record equaling (for the year) sixth time before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.
Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) - where he won the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship - and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA - now known as Impact Wrestling).
During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in Rocky III. He has starred in several films (including No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny) and three television shows (Hogan Knows Best, Thunder in Paradise, and China, IL), as well as in Right Guard commercials and the video game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event. He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules, reached 12 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio chart in 1995.
Early life
Terry Eugene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) of Italian descent and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. (née Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011) Bollea of Scottish and French descent. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida. As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He attracted scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury ended his baseball career. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes, and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention towards Superstar Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.
Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, Hogan decided to drop out of the University of South Florida before receiving a degree. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco, two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region.
Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)to make him a potential trainee. In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, however, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. However, after Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1977–1979)
In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in CWF. A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers.
Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and decided to open a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.
Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique; Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.
In Alabama, Bollea and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Leslie were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.
During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.
On December 1, 1979, Bollea won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bollea would drop the title in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong. Bollea briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.
World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980)
Later that year, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Hogan wrestled his first match in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on November 17 defeating Harry Valdez on Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug. After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor that he would end up repaying during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1980–1985)
In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used the Axe Bomber, a crooked arm lariat, as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and the first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship, that is defended regularly.
Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in a championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship.
American Wrestling Association (1981–1983)
After filming his scene for Rocky III against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last for long as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel.
Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at the end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell, after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans, began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save; however, Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel.
Return to WWF (1983–1993)
Rise of Hulkamania (1983–1984)
After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.
On the January 7, 1984 episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden. The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).
Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.
In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to a quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of the earnings, if Titan held no interest). This would also extend to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics. (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) 1988's Marvel Comics Presents #45, a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name."
International renown (1985–1988)
Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in the back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On Saturday Night's Main Event I, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification.
Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated (the first and , only professional wrestler to do so), TV Guide, and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
On Saturday Night's Main Event II, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.
In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick "Super Strong Machine". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.
The Mega Powers (1988–1989)
Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the title to André on The Main Event I after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.
Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André the Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam. They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers: Akeem and Big Boss Man.
In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at a Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series Are You Serious? in 2012.
The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989, the duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on The Main Event II, when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage, who slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V.
Final WWF Championship reigns (1989–1993)
Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in a steel cage match on the Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, which was aired on May 27. In May on WWF on NESN, Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII saw the title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie No Holds Barred, which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was "jealous" over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). However, Hogan was easily able to defeat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus would later meet at the Survivor Series, where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect before Zeus then dominated Hogan until Zeus was disqualified by referee Dave Hebner. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view First WWF UK Event at London Arena. During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match, before dropping the title to then Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.
Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam, and he for several months dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment – believing in yourself, and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The feud remained unresolved, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series, and he won it back at This Tuesday in Texas six days later. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match, but Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Flair the winner and new champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX against Flair and Undertaker, but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.
At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs, taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hogan went into the match sporting a cut above a black eye. The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying a group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.
At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion Yokozuna in his first title defense since defeating him at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop. This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.
Return to NJPW (1993–1994)
On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)
World Heavyweight Champion (1994–1996)
Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund-who was now a WCW employee- would visit him on the set of Thunder in Paradise episodes. Hype afterwards was building over whether Hogan should remain with Thunder in Paradise or instead join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair. On the May 28, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night, Hogan torn up his Thunder in Paradise contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued a telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios. The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach. Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on the Clash of the Champions XXVIII, thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee) that Hogan won.
After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade (Starrcade: Triple Threat) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader, who challenged him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V, where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored. Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach, where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on Nitro in September 1995. The October 9, 1995 broadcast of Nitro was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom, which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting) won. Hogan's fifteen-month title reign (which is the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in the title history at 469 days) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification.
Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III, where The Giant cost Hogan the title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI, where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.
New World Order (1996–1999)
At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.
On the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission. Five days later at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on Nitro, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. Savage took the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever bat match.
Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night on Nitro for the world title. In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and hit a powerbomb on Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night, but Bret Hart interfered moments later and jumped in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions – Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac that feuded with each other for the remainder of the year. Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches: his second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach, and at Road Wild he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks. Hogan also had a critically panned rematch with The Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.
On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. Campaign footage aired on Nitro of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. In the long run, however, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt attempting to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him. After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999, episode of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Hogan won for the fifth time, but many people found the title change to be "scandalous". As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.
Final years in WCW (1999–2000)
Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a steel cage First Blood match. Later, Hogan was severely injured in a Texas tornado match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship featuring him, Diamond Dallas Page, Flair, and Sting at Spring Stampede On the July 12 episode of Nitro, Hogan made his return as a face for the first time in three years and accepted an open challenge from Savage, who had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash turned on him the next week, and the two began a feud that lasted until Road Wild.
On August 9, 1999, Hogan started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main event six-man tag team match. Hogan then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Injuries and frustrations were mounting up however, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan came to the ring in street clothes, lay down for the pin, and left the ring.
Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial work with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Before the match, there was a backstage dispute between Hogan and Russo; Hogan wanted to take the title, but Russo was going to have Jarrett win, and lose it to Booker T. Russo told Hogan that he was going to have Jarrett lie down for him, simulating a real conflict, although Jarrett was not told it was a work. When the bell rang, Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring while Russo threw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt in the ring and yelled at Hogan from ringside to pin Jarrett. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" After winning and being announced as the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan immediately took the WCW title belt. Moments later, Russo returned to the ring, angrily proclaiming this would be the last time fans would ever see "that piece of shit" in a WCW stadium. This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan was able to control what would happen with his own character and be able to do so without anyone else being able to tell him no. In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!". Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jarrett later that night.
As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after, which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot. Eric Bischoff agreed with Hogan's side of the story when he wrote that Hogan winning and leaving with the belt was a work (devised by Bischoff rather than Russo), and that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the success of the angle, but that Russo coming out to fire Hogan was an unplanned shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan. It was the last time he was seen in WCW.
Post-WCW endeavors (2001)
In the months following the eventual demise of WCW in March 2001, Hogan underwent surgery on his knees in order for him to wrestle again. As a test, Hogan worked a match in Orlando, Florida for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotion run by his longtime handler Jimmy Hart. Hogan defeated Curt Hennig in this match and felt healthy enough to accept an offer to return to the WWF in February 2002.
Second return to WWF/WWE (2002–2003)
At No Way Out in February 2002, Hogan returned to the WWF as a heel. Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event. The nWo feuded with both Austin and The Rock, and Hogan accepted The Rock's challenge to a match at WrestleMania X8, where Hogan asked Hall and Nash not to interfere, wanting to defeat The Rock by himself. Despite the fact that Hogan was supposed to be the heel in the match, the crowd cheered for him heavily. The Rock cleanly won the contest, and befriended Hogan at the end of the bout and helped him fight off Hall and Nash, who were upset by Hogan's conciliatory attitude. After the match, Hogan turned face by siding with The Rock, though he continued wearing black and white tights for a few weeks after WrestleMania X8 until he resumed wearing his signature red and yellow tights. During this period, the "Hulk Rules" logo of the 1980s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules", and Hogan also wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire twelve years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania VI at the same arena, in the SkyDome. For a time, he was still known as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, notably keeping the Hollywood Hogan style blond mustache with black beard while wearing Hulkamania-like red and yellow tights and using the "Voodoo Child" entrance theme music he used in WCW. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan feuded with Triple H and defeated him for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash, thus becoming the last ever WWF Champion before the initials dispute against the World Wildlife Fund.
On May 19 at Judgment Day, Hogan lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to The Undertaker. After losing a number one contender match for the WWE Undisputed Championship to Triple H on the June 6 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan began feuding with Kurt Angle resulting in a match between the two at the King of the Ring, which Angle won by submission. On the July 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE Tag Team Championship for the first time. They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan's theme song "Real American". They later lost the titles to The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at Vengeance. In August 2002, Hogan was used in an angle with Brock Lesnar, culminating in a main event singles match on the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, which Lesnar won by technical submission (the match was called after Hogan became unconscious from a bear hug hold). Lesnar became only the second WWE wrestler to defeat Hogan by submission (after Kurt Angle), and the first to defeat Hogan by having the match called. Following the match, Lesnar continued to beat on Hogan, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the ring.
As a result of Lesnar's assault, Hogan went on hiatus and was not able to return until early 2003, shaving off his black beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name in his return. Hogan battled The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out and lost and defeated Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a street fight billed as "twenty years in the making". After WrestleMania, he had a run as the masked Mr. America, who was supposed to be Hogan in disguise, wearing a mask. He used Hogan's "Real American" as an entrance theme and all of Hogan's signature gestures, moves, and phrases. He was the subject of a storyline that took place after Hogan was forced by Mr. McMahon to sit out the rest of his contract. A WWE pre-debut push took place with mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown!. There was also on-screen discussion on SmackDown! between then General Manager Stephanie McMahon and other players concerning her hiring Mr. America "sight unseen". On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). The feud continued through the month of May, with a singles match between Mr. America and Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper at Judgment Day, a match Mr. America won.
Mr. America's last WWE appearance was on the June 26 episode of SmackDown! when Big Show and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) defeated Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Mr. America in a six-man tag team match. After the show went off the air, Mr. America unmasked to show the fans that he was indeed Hogan, putting his finger to his lips telling the fans to keep quiet about his secret. The next week, Hogan quit WWE due to frustration with the creative team. On the July 3 episode of SmackDown!, McMahon showed the footage of Mr. America unmasking as Hogan and "fired" him, although Hogan had already quit in real life. It was later revealed that Hogan was unhappy with the payoffs for his matches after his comeback under the Mr. America gimmick. McMahon decided to terminate Hogan's contract and Hogan left WWE in 2003.
Second return to NJPW (2003)
Hogan returned to NJPW in October 2003, when he defeated Masahiro Chono at Ultimate Crush II in the Tokyo Dome.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)
Shortly after Hogan left WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) began making overtures to Hogan, culminating in Jeff Jarrett, co-founder of TNA and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion, launching an on-air attack on Hogan in Japan in October 2003. The attack was supposed to be a precursor to Hogan battling Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view. However, due to recurring knee and hip problems, Hogan did not appear in TNA. Still, the incident has been shown several times on TNA broadcasts, and was included in the TNA DVD TNA's Fifty Greatest Moments.
Third return to WWE (2005–2007)
On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels.
Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd.
Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.
Memphis Wrestling (2007–2008)
After a brief fall out with McMahon and WWE, Hogan was lured to Memphis Wrestling with the proposal of wrestling Jerry Lawler. The match had been promoted on Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. On April 12, 2007, however, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC performers (including Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC-owned USA Network's Raw and his appearances on the biannual WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best airs. The situation resulted in a lawsuit being filed against WWE by event promoter Corey Maclin. Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight. Hogan defeated Wight at Memphis Wrestling's PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007 when he picked up and hit a body slam on Wight before pinning him following his signature running leg drop.
Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin (2009)
On November 21, 24, 26 and 28, Hogan performed with a group of wrestlers including Spartan-3000, Heidenreich, Eugene, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Orlando Jordan across Australia in a tour titled Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin. The main event of each show was a rematch between Hogan and Ric Flair – the wrestler who defeated Hogan more times than any other. Hogan defeated Flair in all four matches.
Return to TNA (2009–2013)
Dixie Carter's business partner (2009–2010)
On October 27, 2009, it was announced that Hogan had signed a contract to join TNA on a full-time basis. The footage of his signing and the press conference at Madison Square Garden following it were featured on the October 29 episode of Impact!.
On December 5, 2009, Hogan announced on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s The Ultimate Fighter that he would be making his official TNA debut on January 4, 2010, in a special live three-hour Monday night episode of Impact! to compete with WWE's Raw (which featured the return of Bret Hart).
On the January 4 episode of Impact!, Hogan debuted, reuniting briefly with former nWo partners Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman, the latter two of whom made their returns to the company. He, however, refused to join them for a full-fledged reunion of their group claiming, "it's a different time", and stuck to his business relations with Bischoff, who made his appearance to declare that, the two of them would "flip the company upside down" and everyone would have to earn their spot. Hogan also encountered TNA founder Jeff Jarrett on the broadcast, appearing via video wall and interrupting Jarrett's company success speech, stating that Carter was instrumental to the company's survival, and that just like the rest, Jarrett would have to (kayfabe) earn his spot in TNA.
On the February 18 episode of Impact!, Hogan took Abyss under his wing, and during this sequence, gave him his Hall of Fame ring and claimed it would make him a "god of wrestling". Hogan made his in-ring return on March 8, teaming with Abyss to defeat A.J. Styles and Ric Flair when Abyss scored a pinfall over Styles. Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Hogan and Abyss from a beat down at the hands of Styles, Flair and Desmond Wolfe. The storyline became a Team Flair versus Team Hogan situation, with Jarrett and the debuting Rob Van Dam joining Team Hogan and Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Sting joining Team Flair. At Lockdown, Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Ric Flair, Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) in a Lethal Lockdown match.
Immortal (2010–2011)
On the June 17 episode of Impact!, Hogan's alliance with Abyss came to an abrupt end when Abyss turned heel. Abyss later claimed that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. The next month, Hogan worked with Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Hogan and Bischoff were up to something. During this time, Abyss went on a rampage, attacking Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and eventually put his hands on TNA president Dixie Carter, which led to her signing the paperwork, presented by Bischoff, that would have Abyss fired from TNA following his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory. Hogan was set to wrestle with Jarrett and Joe against Sting, Nash and D'Angelo Dinero at Bound for Glory, but was forced to miss the event due to a back surgery. However, he would make an appearance at the end of the event, and turned heel by helping Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship and aligning himself with Hardy, Bischoff, Abyss and Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact!, it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. During his absence, Hogan underwent a potentially career–ending spinal fusion surgery on December 21, 2010.
Hogan returned to TNA on the March 3, 2011 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of TNA, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter. In April, he began hinting at a possible return to the ring to face the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting. On the May 12 episode of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Hogan lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Hogan and Bischoff took over the company; however, this angle was cut short just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion. During the following months, Hogan continued to interfere in Sting's matches, costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship first at Hardcore Justice, recruiting Kurt Angle to Immortal in the process, on the September 1 episode of Impact Wrestling and finally at No Surrender. On the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting defeated Immortal member Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan at Bound for Glory. On October 4, it was reported that Hogan had signed a contract extension with TNA. After feigning retirement from professional wrestling, Hogan accepted the match at Bound for Glory on the October 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, while also agreeing to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting win the match.
Hogan was defeated by Sting at Bound For Glory, ending his storyline as the president of TNA. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting, but Hogan turned face by turning on Immortal and helping Sting. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan, wearing his trademark yellow and red again, admitted to his mistakes, and put over Sting for winning.
Feud with Aces & Eights (2012–2013)
During TNA's 2012 UK tour, on January 26 and 27, Hogan returned to the ring at house shows in Nottingham and Manchester, where he, James Storm and Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag team main event at both events, the latter of which was Hogan's final match. Hogan returned to Impact Wrestling on February 2, when he was revealed as Garett Bischoff's trainer. On the March 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan returned and accepted Sting's offer to replace him as the new General Manager.
In July, Hogan, alongside Sting, began feuding with a mysterious group of masked men, who had dubbed themselves the "Aces & Eights". The group's attack on Hogan on the July 12 episode of Impact Wrestling was used to write Hogan off television as he was set to undergo another back surgery.
In November, Hogan moved into a storyline with Bully Ray after Austin Aries revealed a secret relationship between Ray and Hogan's daughter Brooke. After seeing them kissing in a parking garage on the December 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan suspended Ray indefinitely. The following week on Impact Wrestling, after Ray saved Brooke from a kidnapping by the Aces & Eights, Brooke accepted his marriage proposal. Despite Hogan's disapproval, he still walked Brooke down the aisle for her wedding on the next episode of Impact Wrestling, during which Ray's groomsmen Taz interrupted and revealed himself as a member of the Aces & Eights, leading the group to attack Hogan, Ray, and the rest of the groomsmen.
On the January 31 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan reinstated Ray so he could take on the Aces & Eights. Hogan named Ray the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling. However, at Lockdown, Ray betrayed Hogan, after Aces & Eights helped him win the title, and he revealed himself as the President of the Aces & Eights. Following Lockdown, Hogan blamed Sting for Ray winning the title as it was Sting who encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot. Sting returned and saved Hogan from an attack by Aces & Eights on the April 25 episode of Impact Wrestling. The following week on Impact Wrestling, Hogan and Sting managed to reconcile their differences. On the October 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan refused an offer from Dixie Carter to become her business partner and quit; this was done to officially write Hogan off, as a result of his contract expiring with TNA.
Fourth return to WWE (2014–2015)
On February 24, 2014 on Raw, Hogan made his first WWE in-ring appearance since December 2007 to hype the WWE Network. On the March 24 episode of Raw, Hogan came out to introduce the guest appearances of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello; this was to promote the guests' new movie Sabotage.
At WrestleMania XXX in April, Hogan served as the host, coming out at the start of the show to hype up the crowd. During his promo, he mistakenly referred to the Superdome, the venue the event was being held at, as the Silverdome, which became the subject of jokes throughout the night. Hogan was later joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and they finished their promo by drinking beer together in the ring. Later in the show, Hogan shared a moment with Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper, with whom he main-evented the first WrestleMania.
On February 27, 2015, Hogan was honored at Madison Square Garden during a WWE live event dubbed "Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night" with a special commemorative banner hanging from the rafters, honoring his wrestling career and historic matches he had in the arena.
On the March 23 episode of Raw, Hogan along with Snoop Dogg confronted Curtis Axel – who at the time had been "borrowing" Hogan's Hulkamania gimmick with Axel referring to himself as "AxelMania". On March 28, the night before WrestleMania, Hogan posthumously inducted longtime partner and rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015. The next night at WrestleMania 31, Hogan reunited with Hall and Nash to reform the nWo, appearing in Sting's corner in his match against Triple H, who himself was joined by D-Generation X members Billy Gunn, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Shawn Michaels.
Scandal and departure
In July 2015, National Enquirer and Radar Online publicized an anti-black rant made by Hogan on a leaked sex tape recorded in 2007. In the recording, he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter dating a black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur "nigger." Hogan also admitted to being "a racist, to a point."
Once the recordings went public erupting in a media scandal, Hogan apologized for the remarks, which he said is "language that is offensive and inconsistent with [his] own beliefs." Three black wrestlers who worked in the WWF and WCW with Hogan made supportive comments. Virgil commented "Hogan has never given me a reason to believe he is a racist" while Dennis Rodman said he "most certainly is not a racist" and Kamala added "I do not think Hogan meant harm by saying that. Hogan is my brother until he decides not to be." Black wrestlers working in the WWE made different comments. Mark Henry said he was pleased by WWE's "no tolerance approach to racism" response, and that he was hurt and offended by Hogan's manner and tone. Booker T said he was shocked and called the statements unfortunate.
On July 24, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are "committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds," although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed almost all references to Hogan from their website, including his listing as a judge for Tough Enough, his merchandise from WWE Shop, and his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page (however, he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016). His DLC appearance from WWE 2K15 was taken down from sale, and his character was cut from then upcoming WWE 2K16 game during development.
In response to the controversy, Mattel stopped producing Hogan action figures, while Hogan's merchandise was taken down from online stores of Target, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart. On July 28, Radar Online reported that Hogan had also used homophobic slurs on the leaked sex tape. Days later, it was reported that Hogan had used racist language in a 2008 call to his then-imprisoned son, Nick, and also said that he hoped they would not be reincarnated as black males.
Hogan gave an interview with ABC on August 31 in which he pleaded forgiveness for his racist comments, attributing these to a racial bias inherited from his neighborhood while growing up. Hogan claimed that the term "nigger" was used liberally among friends in Tampa; however, former neighbors have disputed this claim.
In the time that followed, numerous African-Americans expressed some level of support for Hogan including: The Rock, Dennis Rodman, Booker T, Kamala, Virgil, Mark Henry, Big E, and D'Angelo Dinero, who stressed his forgiveness of Hogan, whom he saw as having made a "positive mark on humanity" for over three decades.
Fifth return to WWE (2018–present)
On July 15, 2018, Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame. Later that same night, he was invited backstage to WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event and was briefly mentioned on the event's kickoff show. Hogan made his on-screen return on November 2, 2018, as the host of Crown Jewel. Hogan next appeared on the January 7, 2019 episode of Raw to present a tribute to his longtime friend and colleague Mean Gene Okerlund, who had died five days prior. It was the first time Hogan had appeared in a WWE ring in North America since his 2015 firing. Hogan subsequently appeared on a WWE Network special where he spoke further of his relationship with Okerlund.
Hogan inducted his Mega-Maniacs tag team partner and longtime friend Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019. The following night at WrestleMania 35, he made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the show alongside WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss, welcoming fans to the event and parodying his gaffe from WrestleMania XXX, when he incorrectly referred to the Superdome as the Silverdome. On the June 17, 2019, Raw, WWE aired a Hogan interview about the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team. On the July 22, 2019, Raw, Hogan appeared as part of the "Raw Reunion" special. Hogan was one of the speakers during the "Toast to Raw" segment along with Steve Austin. On September 30, 2019 episode of Raw, he and Ric Flair unveiled a 10 man tag team match, for Crown Jewel. Hogan and Flair made multiple appearances on shows with their teams leading up to the event, which saw Hogan manage his team to victory.
Hogan made it public knowledge that he hoped to have one more match in the WWE, including during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Hogan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time as a member of the New World Order, together with fellow former nWo stablemates Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
Hogan made his only appearance of 2020 on WWE's non-WWE Network programming when he appeared via satellite on the February 14, 2020 episode of Smackdown to speak about the Hall of Fame. He was interrupted by Bray Wyatt, as Hogan warned him about his upcoming match with Goldberg. The 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony was subsequently delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aired on April 6, 2021.
Hogan made his first appearance of 2021 on the January 4 episode of Raw, which was a special Legends Night episode. He opened the show introducing the 'H-Phone,' his spin on an iPhone. He appeared in a backstage segment with Jimmy Hart, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, where he gave his approval to McIntyre, the current WWE Champion. He also watched the championship main event match between McIntyre and Keith Lee on-stage with the rest of the guest legends. It was confirmed on the March 19, 2021, episode of WWE SmackDown he would be the co-host of WrestleMania 37 alongside Titus O'Neil.
Hogan opened both nights of WrestleMania 37 with O'Neil, appeared in multiple segments with Bayley, which led to a return of the Bella Twins, and was introduced during the Hall of Fame celebration with Nash, Hall and Waltman.
Endorsements and business ventures
Food industry
Hogan created and financed a restaurant called Pastamania located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It opened on the Labor Day weekend of 1995 and was heavily promoted on World Championship Wrestling's live show Monday Nitro. The restaurant, which remained in operation for less than a year, featured such dishes as "Hulk-U's" and "Hulk-A-Roos".
In interviews on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Bollea claimed that the opportunity to endorse what came to be known as the George Foreman Grill was originally offered to him, but when he failed to respond in time, Foreman endorsed the grill instead. Instead, Bollea endorsed a blender, known as the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer. He has since endorsed a grill known as "The Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill".
In 2006, Bollea unveiled Hogan Energy, a drink distributed by Socko Energy. His name and likeness were also applied to a line of microwavable hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches sold at Wal-Mart called "Hulkster Burgers". On November 1, 2011, Bollea launched a new website called Hogan Nutrition, which features many nutritional and dietary products.
On New Year's Eve 2012, Bollea opened a beachfront restaurant called "Hogan's Beach", located in the Tampa area. The restaurant dropped Hogan's name in October 2015. Hogan later opened Hogan's Hangout in Clearwater Beach.
Finances
In September 2008, Bollea's net worth was revealed to be around $30 million. In September 2011, Bollea revealed that his lavish lifestyle and divorce had cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly bankrupted him.
Other
In October 2007, Bollea transferred all trademarks referring to himself to his liability company named "Hogan Holdings Limited". The trademarks include Hulk Hogan, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, and Hulkapedia.com.
In April 2008, Bollea announced that he would lend his license to video game developer Gameloft to create "Hulkamania Wrestling" for mobile phones. Hogan stated in a press release that the game would be "true to [his] experiences in wrestling" and use his classic wrestling moves like the Doublehand Choke Lift and Strong Clothesline. , Hogan stars alongside Troy Aikman in commercials for Rent-A-Center. On March 24, 2011, Hogan made a special appearance on American Idol, giving a big surprise to wrestling fans Paul McDonald and James Durbin. On October 15, 2010, Endemol Games UK (a subsidiary of media production group Endemol UK) announced a partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment to produce "Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania", an online gambling game featuring video footage of Hogan.
In October 2013, Bollea partnered with Tech Assets, Inc. to open a web hosting service called "Hostamania". To promote the service, a commercial video was released, featuring Hogan parodying Jean-Claude Van Damme's GoDaddy.com commercials and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video. On November 21, 2013, Hulk Hogan and GoDaddy.com appeared together on a live Hangout On Air on Google Plus, where Hulk Hogan had a casual conversation about Hostamania, fans, and business.
Hogan became a distributor for multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences after looking for business opportunities outside of wrestling. Hogan supports the American Diabetes Association.
Other media
Acting
Hogan's crossover popularity led to several television and movie roles. Early in his career Bollea played the part of Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982). He also appeared in No Holds Barred (1989), before starring in family films Suburban Commando (1991), Mr. Nanny (1993), Santa with Muscles (1996), and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998). Hogan also appeared in 1992 commercials for Right Guard deodorant. He starred in his own television series, Thunder in Paradise, in 1994. He is the star of The Ultimate Weapon (1997), in which Brutus Beefcake also appears in a cameo.
Bollea also starred in a pair of television movies, originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series for TNT, produced by Eric Bischoff. The movies, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island and Shadow Warriors: Hunt for The Death Merchant, starred Hogan alongside Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed as a freelance mercenary team. In 1995, he appeared on TBN's Kids Against Crime. Bollea made cameo appearances in Muppets from Space, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (the theatrical cut) and Spy Hard as himself. Hogan also played the role of Zeus in Little Hercules in 3D. Hogan also made two appearances on The A-Team (in 1985 and 1986), along with Roddy Piper. He also appeared on Suddenly Susan in 1999. In 2001, Hogan guest-starred on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Hogan has become a busy voice actor in later years making guest voice spots on Robot Chicken and American Dad! and as a primary actor in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series China, Illinois.
Reality television and hosting
On July 10, 2005, VH1 premiered Hogan Knows Best a reality show which centered around Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. In July 2008, a spin-off entitled Brooke Knows Best premiered, which focused primarily on Hogan's daughter Brooke.
Bollea hosted the comeback series of American Gladiators on NBC in 2008. He also hosted and judged the short-lived reality show, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Hogan had a special titled Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E on November 17, 2010.
In 2015, Hogan was a judge on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Paige and Daniel Bryan, but due to the scandal, he was replaced by The Miz after episode 5.
Music and radio
Bollea released a music CD, Hulk Rules, as Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Band. Also, Green Jellÿ released a single, a duet with Hogan, performing Gary Glitter's classic song "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)". He has also made cameos in several music videos. From her self-named show, Dolly the music video for Dolly Parton's wrestling-themed love song "Headlock on my Heart" features Hogan as "Starlight Starbright". In the music video "Pressure" by Belly ft. Ginuwine, Bollea and his daughter Brooke both made brief cameo appearances.
Bollea was a regular guest on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show. He also served as the best man at Bubba's January 2007 wedding. On March 12, 2010, Bollea hosted his own radio show, titled Hogan Uncensored, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101.
Merchandising
The Wrestling Figure Checklist records Bollea as having 171 different action figures, produced between the 1980s and 2010s from numerous manufacturers and promotions.
Video games
Bollea provided his voice for the 2011 game Saints Row: The Third as Angel de la Muerte, a member of the Saints. In October 2011, he released a video game called Hulk Hogan's Main Event.
A likeness of him, as Rex Kwan-Do, is featured as a playable police officer in This Is The Police.
Hulk Hogan and Hollywood Hogan are featured in the following licensed wrestling video games:
Filmography
Personal life
Legal issues
Belzer lawsuit
On March 27, 1985, just days prior to the inaugural WrestleMania, Richard Belzer requested on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties that Hogan demonstrate one of his signature wrestling moves. After consistently refusing but being egged on by Belzer, Hogan put Belzer in a modified Guillotine choke, which caused Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to the scalp that required a brief hospitalization. Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and later settled out of court. On October 20, 2006, on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show, it was claimed (with Hogan in the studio) that the settlement totaled $5 million, half from Hogan and half from Vince McMahon. During his June 23, 2008, appearance on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show, Belzer suggested that the real settlement amount was actually closer to $400,000.
Testimony in McMahon trial
In 1994, Hogan, having received immunity from prosecution, testified in the trial of Vince McMahon relating to shipments of steroids received by both parties from WWF physician George T. Zahorian. Under oath, Hogan admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain size and weight, but that McMahon had neither sold him the drugs nor ordered him to take them. The evidence given by Hogan proved extremely costly to the government's case against McMahon. Due to this and jurisdictional issues, McMahon was found not guilty.
Gawker lawsuit
In April 2012, a sex tape between Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, emerged online. On October 4, 2012, Gawker released a short clip of the video. In the video, Bubba can be heard saying that the couple can "do their thing" and he will be in his office. At the end of the video, he can also be heard telling Heather, "If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket". Hogan later told Howard Stern on his satellite radio show that, "it was a bad choice and a very low point" and "I was with some friends and made a wrong choice. It has devastated me, I have never been this hurt". On October 15, 2012, Hogan filed a lawsuit against Bubba and Heather Clem for invading his privacy. A settlement with Bubba was announced on October 29, 2012. Afterwards, Clem publicly apologized to Hogan. In December 2012, a federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, found that Gawker's publication of the video snippet did not violate U.S. copyright law. Hogan then joined Gawker in the ongoing action against Heather Clem in state court in Florida, alleging invasion of privacy, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeking $100 million in damages.
On October 1, 2015, the New York Post reported that a Florida Judge granted Hogan access to Gawker's computer system for a forensic expert to search Gawker's computers and office.
Hogan sued Gawker for $100 million for defamation, loss of privacy, and emotional pain, and on March 18, 2016, was awarded $115 million. Also, on August 11, 2016, a Florida judge gave Hogan control of the assets of A.J. Daulerio, former Gawker editor-in-chief, who was involved in the posting of Hogan's sex tape.
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped Hogan to finance his lawsuit against Gawker Media.
On November 2, 2016, Gawker reached a $31 million settlement with Bollea.
Family
On December 18, 1983, Bollea married Linda Claridge. They have a daughter Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son Nick (born July 27, 1990). Bollea made his personal life the centerpiece of the television show Hogan Knows Best, which included his wife and two children.
According to an interview in the National Enquirer, Christiane Plante claimed that Bollea had an affair with her in 2007 while the Hogan family was shooting Hogan Knows Best. Plante was 33 years old at the time and had worked with Brooke Hogan on her 2006 album.
On November 20, 2007, Linda filed for divorce in Pinellas County, Florida. In November 2008, Linda claimed to the public that she made the decision to end her marriage after finding out about Hogan's affair. In his 2009 autobiography, Hogan acknowledged that Linda on numerous occasions suspected he was having infidelities whenever he developed friendships with other women, but denied allegations that he ever cheated on her. Bollea only retained around 30% of the couple's liquid assets totaling around $10 million in the divorce settlement. Hogan considered committing suicide after the divorce and credits Laila Ali, his co-star on American Gladiators, with preventing him from doing so.
Bollea has been in a relationship with Jennifer McDaniel since early 2008. The two were engaged in November 2009 and married on December 14, 2010, in Clearwater, Florida.
Bollea is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith in his life saying, "[I've] leaned on my religion. I was saved when I was 14. I accepted Christ as my savior. He died on the cross and paid for my sins ... I could have went the wrong way. I could have self-destructed, but I took the high road".
Health
Bollea has suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back since retiring as a wrestler following the years of heavy weight-training and jolting as a wrestler.
In January 2013, Bollea filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Laser Spine Institute for $50 million, citing that the medical firm persuaded him to undergo a half-dozen "unnecessary and ineffective" spinal operations that worsened his back problems. He claimed that the six procedures he underwent over a period of 19 months only gave him short-term relief. After the procedures failed to cure his back problems, Bollea underwent traditional spinal fusion surgery in December 2010, which enabled him to return to his professional activities. In addition, the Laser Spine Institute used his name on their advertisements without his permission.
Legacy
Hogan has been described as one of the largest attractions in professional wrestling history and a major reason why Vince McMahon's expansion of his promotion worked. Wrestling historian and journalist Dave Meltzer stated that "...You can't possibly overrate his significance in the history of the business. And he sold more tickets to wrestling shows than any man who ever lived".
On February 20, 2019, it was announced that Chris Hemsworth would portray him in a biopic, directed by Todd Phillips.
Awards and honors
Bollea was honored as the 2008 King of the Krewe of Bacchus, a New Orleans carnival organization. Hogan visited the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and rode in the parade where he threw doubloons with his likeness. Hogan received the honor in part because meeting Hogan is one of the most requested "wishes" of the terminally ill children benefited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Hogan was inducted in the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018.
Championships and accomplishments
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Heavyweight Championship (original version) (1 time)
IWGP League Tournament (1983)
MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983) with Antonio Inoki
Greatest 18 Club inductee
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2003
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
Match of the Year (1985)
Match of the Year (1988)
Match of the Year (1990)
Match of the Year (2002)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
Ranked No. 44 and No. 57 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Antonio Inoki and Randy Savage in 2003
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)
Tokyo Sports
Best Foreigner Award (1983)
Match of the Year (1991)
World Championship Wrestling
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWF/WWE Championship (6 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Edge
Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2005 – individually
Class of 2020 – as a member of the New World Order
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Strongest Wrestler (1983)
Best Babyface (1982–1991)
Best Box Office Draw (1997)
Best Gimmick (1996)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Feud of the Year (1996)
Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000)
Most Obnoxious (1994, 1995)
Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1994–1998)
Most Unimproved (1994, 1995)
Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
Worst Feud of the Year (1991)
Worst Feud of the Year (1995)
Worst Feud of the Year (1998)
Worst Feud of the Year (2000)
Worst on Interviews (1995)
Worst Wrestler (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame profile
TNA Impact Wrestling profile (archived)
1953 births
20th-century American bass guitarists
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American rappers
Actors from Pinellas County, Florida
American autobiographers
American Christians
American food industry businesspeople
American lyricists
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American male film actors
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male professional wrestlers
American male non-fiction writers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American musicians of Panamanian descent
American people of French descent
American people of Panamanian descent
American people of Scottish descent
American professional wrestlers of Italian descent
American radio personalities
American rock bass guitarists
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
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American session musicians
American sportspeople of Italian descent
American sportspeople of Panamanian descent
American television hosts
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Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state)
Businesspeople from Miami
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Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Guitarists from Florida
Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Impact Wrestling executives
Living people
Male actors from Georgia (U.S. state)
Male actors from Miami
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Masked wrestlers
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Participants in American reality television series
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Professional wrestlers from Florida
Professional wrestlers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Radio personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
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Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state)
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Singer-songwriters from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
Sportspeople from Augusta, Georgia
Sportspeople from Clearwater, Florida
Sportspeople from Miami
Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Television personalities from Florida
Television personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
Television producers from Florida
Television producers from Georgia (U.S. state)
The New World Order (professional wrestling) members
University of South Florida alumni
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
Writers from Augusta, Georgia
Writers from Miami
Writers from Tampa, Florida
WWE Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees | true | [
"The PMG Clash of Legends, Starring Hulk Hogan was an American professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event (in various territories) promoted by Memphis Wrestling owner Corey Maclin in conjunction with Hulk Hogan, which took place on April 27, 2007 in the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. The event attracted a degree of attention after a scheduled match between Hall of Famers Hogan and Jerry Lawler was vetoed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), resulting in a lawsuit between Maclin and WWE. It was described by the Wrestling Observer as \"the biggest indie undertaking in the U.S. geared toward the non-Hispanic market in many years\".\n\nHistory\nThe PMG Clash of Legends had originally been scheduled to take place in the Mid-South Coliseum. However, the Mid-South Coliseum was closed in late 2005 due to failure to comply with disabled accessibility regulations. When the FedExForum was chosen as a replacement, the operators of the FedExForum contacted WWE, which had in the past held events in the FedExForum, to ensure that WWE did not object to an alternative professional wrestling promotion staging an event there. WWE did not object to the event taking place. Following the announcement that Lawler would not be allowed to wrestle at the event, WWE offered to refund Maclin's deposit on the rental of the FedExForum. He declined.\n\nInitially, the sole match announced for the event was the titular \"Clash of Legends\", a bout between Hogan and Memphis Wrestling mainstay Lawler that had been promoted on the Memphis Wrestling television show Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. However, on April 12, 2007, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC Universal employees (which includes Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC Universal-owned USA Network's WWE Raw, and his appearances on the biannual Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on any of the channels owned by MTV Networks, which includes VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best, a reality television series starring Hogan, airs.\n\nFollowing the cancellation of the Hogan-Lawler match, Memphis Wrestling owner Corey Maclin announced that Hogan would instead wrestle Paul Wight in Wight's first match since leaving WWE in December 2006. When referred to by the ring name he used in WWE, \"The Big Show\", Wight stated that this was his \"slave name\" and that he was to be referred to as \"'The Great' Paul Wight\".\n\nIn response to Maclin's announcement, WWE immediately banned all WWE employees from appearing at Memphis Wrestling events, with the result that The Boogeyman, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin were all obliged to cancel their scheduled appearances at the April 13, 2007 Memphis Wrestling show in Tunica, Mississippi. Robert Gibson was to team with his longtime Rock 'n' Roll Express partner Ricky Morton to face Too Cool II, however WWE pulled Gibson from the event as well, as he was a WWE producer. Gibson would be replaced by Kid Kash, and Bobby Eaton filled Kash's original spot as Koko B. Ware's tag team partner against Bill Dundee and Dutch Mantel.\n\nThe event was hosted by Maclin and Lance Russell, and mayor of Memphis W. W. Herenton served as timekeeper. Colin Bowman was brought in at the last minute as the Show Director.\n\nOn May 5, 2007, it was revealed that 2,200 fans attended the event, yielding a $104,500 gate.\n\nIn January 2008, Maclin filed a claim for punitive damages against WWE and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon in the Shelby County circuit court, alleging that WWE and McMahon had breached section two of the Sherman Antitrust Act.\n\nResults\n\nReferences\n\nProfessional wrestling shows\nEvents in Tennessee\n2007 in professional wrestling\n2007 in Tennessee\nProfessional wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee\nEvents in Memphis, Tennessee",
"WWE Hall of Fame (2005) was the event which featured introduction of the 6th class to the WWE Hall of Fame. The event was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on April 2, 2005, from the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California. The event took place the same weekend as WrestleMania 21. The event was hosted by Gene Okerlund. A condensed version of the ceremony aired that evening on Spike TV. In March 2015 the ceremony was added to the WWE Network.\n\nAftermath\nOn July 24, 2015, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are \"committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds\", although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed virtually all references to Hogan from their website, including his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page. The termination coincided with the publication by the National Enquirer and Radar Online of an anti-black rant made by Hogan on his controversial leaked sex tape in which he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter with any black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur \"nigger\". Hogan also admitted to being \"a racist, to a point\". However, no official statement about his removal had been made and he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016.\n\nOn July 15, 2018, despite no prior official statements by the WWE declaring his removal from the Hall of Fame, Hogan was reinstated into the Hall of Fame, after his numerous public apologies over the past year, as well as volunteering work.\n\nInductees\n\nIndividual\n Class headliners appear in boldface\n\nReferences\n\nWWE Hall of Fame ceremonies\n2005 in professional wrestling\nProfessional wrestling in Los Angeles\nEvents in Los Angeles\n2005 in Los Angeles\nApril 2005 events in the United States"
]
|
[
"Hulk Hogan",
"Third return to WWE (2005-2007)",
"Why did Hogan return to WWE?",
"At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The"
]
| C_f7eadf2761b540508879af06e19db632_0 | How did he rescue him? | 2 | How was Hogan able to rescue Eugene? | Hulk Hogan | On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels. Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd. Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on the July 15 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Terry Eugene Bollea (, born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s.
Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. There, his persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of WWF's flagship annual event, WrestleMania. During his initial run, he won the WWF Championship five times, with his first reign holding the record for the second-longest. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991.
In 1993, Hogan departed the WWF to sign for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest reign. In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable. As a result, he became a major figure during the "Monday Night Wars", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times, including the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.
Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning the Undisputed WWF Championship for a record equaling (for the year) sixth time before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.
Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) - where he won the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship - and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA - now known as Impact Wrestling).
During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in Rocky III. He has starred in several films (including No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny) and three television shows (Hogan Knows Best, Thunder in Paradise, and China, IL), as well as in Right Guard commercials and the video game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event. He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules, reached 12 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio chart in 1995.
Early life
Terry Eugene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) of Italian descent and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. (née Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011) Bollea of Scottish and French descent. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida. As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He attracted scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury ended his baseball career. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes, and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention towards Superstar Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.
Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, Hogan decided to drop out of the University of South Florida before receiving a degree. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco, two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region.
Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)to make him a potential trainee. In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, however, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. However, after Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1977–1979)
In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in CWF. A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers.
Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and decided to open a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.
Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique; Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.
In Alabama, Bollea and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Leslie were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.
During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.
On December 1, 1979, Bollea won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bollea would drop the title in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong. Bollea briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.
World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980)
Later that year, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Hogan wrestled his first match in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on November 17 defeating Harry Valdez on Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug. After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor that he would end up repaying during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1980–1985)
In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used the Axe Bomber, a crooked arm lariat, as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and the first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship, that is defended regularly.
Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in a championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship.
American Wrestling Association (1981–1983)
After filming his scene for Rocky III against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last for long as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel.
Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at the end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell, after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans, began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save; however, Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel.
Return to WWF (1983–1993)
Rise of Hulkamania (1983–1984)
After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.
On the January 7, 1984 episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden. The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).
Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.
In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to a quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of the earnings, if Titan held no interest). This would also extend to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics. (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) 1988's Marvel Comics Presents #45, a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name."
International renown (1985–1988)
Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in the back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On Saturday Night's Main Event I, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification.
Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated (the first and , only professional wrestler to do so), TV Guide, and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
On Saturday Night's Main Event II, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.
In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick "Super Strong Machine". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.
The Mega Powers (1988–1989)
Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the title to André on The Main Event I after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.
Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André the Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam. They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers: Akeem and Big Boss Man.
In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at a Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series Are You Serious? in 2012.
The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989, the duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on The Main Event II, when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage, who slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V.
Final WWF Championship reigns (1989–1993)
Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in a steel cage match on the Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, which was aired on May 27. In May on WWF on NESN, Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII saw the title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie No Holds Barred, which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was "jealous" over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). However, Hogan was easily able to defeat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus would later meet at the Survivor Series, where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect before Zeus then dominated Hogan until Zeus was disqualified by referee Dave Hebner. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view First WWF UK Event at London Arena. During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match, before dropping the title to then Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.
Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam, and he for several months dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment – believing in yourself, and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The feud remained unresolved, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series, and he won it back at This Tuesday in Texas six days later. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match, but Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Flair the winner and new champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX against Flair and Undertaker, but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.
At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs, taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hogan went into the match sporting a cut above a black eye. The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying a group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.
At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion Yokozuna in his first title defense since defeating him at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop. This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.
Return to NJPW (1993–1994)
On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)
World Heavyweight Champion (1994–1996)
Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund-who was now a WCW employee- would visit him on the set of Thunder in Paradise episodes. Hype afterwards was building over whether Hogan should remain with Thunder in Paradise or instead join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair. On the May 28, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night, Hogan torn up his Thunder in Paradise contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued a telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios. The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach. Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on the Clash of the Champions XXVIII, thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee) that Hogan won.
After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade (Starrcade: Triple Threat) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader, who challenged him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V, where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored. Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach, where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on Nitro in September 1995. The October 9, 1995 broadcast of Nitro was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom, which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting) won. Hogan's fifteen-month title reign (which is the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in the title history at 469 days) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification.
Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III, where The Giant cost Hogan the title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI, where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.
New World Order (1996–1999)
At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.
On the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission. Five days later at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on Nitro, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. Savage took the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever bat match.
Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night on Nitro for the world title. In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and hit a powerbomb on Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night, but Bret Hart interfered moments later and jumped in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions – Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac that feuded with each other for the remainder of the year. Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches: his second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach, and at Road Wild he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks. Hogan also had a critically panned rematch with The Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.
On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. Campaign footage aired on Nitro of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. In the long run, however, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt attempting to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him. After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999, episode of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Hogan won for the fifth time, but many people found the title change to be "scandalous". As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.
Final years in WCW (1999–2000)
Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a steel cage First Blood match. Later, Hogan was severely injured in a Texas tornado match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship featuring him, Diamond Dallas Page, Flair, and Sting at Spring Stampede On the July 12 episode of Nitro, Hogan made his return as a face for the first time in three years and accepted an open challenge from Savage, who had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash turned on him the next week, and the two began a feud that lasted until Road Wild.
On August 9, 1999, Hogan started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main event six-man tag team match. Hogan then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Injuries and frustrations were mounting up however, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan came to the ring in street clothes, lay down for the pin, and left the ring.
Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial work with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Before the match, there was a backstage dispute between Hogan and Russo; Hogan wanted to take the title, but Russo was going to have Jarrett win, and lose it to Booker T. Russo told Hogan that he was going to have Jarrett lie down for him, simulating a real conflict, although Jarrett was not told it was a work. When the bell rang, Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring while Russo threw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt in the ring and yelled at Hogan from ringside to pin Jarrett. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" After winning and being announced as the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan immediately took the WCW title belt. Moments later, Russo returned to the ring, angrily proclaiming this would be the last time fans would ever see "that piece of shit" in a WCW stadium. This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan was able to control what would happen with his own character and be able to do so without anyone else being able to tell him no. In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!". Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jarrett later that night.
As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after, which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot. Eric Bischoff agreed with Hogan's side of the story when he wrote that Hogan winning and leaving with the belt was a work (devised by Bischoff rather than Russo), and that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the success of the angle, but that Russo coming out to fire Hogan was an unplanned shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan. It was the last time he was seen in WCW.
Post-WCW endeavors (2001)
In the months following the eventual demise of WCW in March 2001, Hogan underwent surgery on his knees in order for him to wrestle again. As a test, Hogan worked a match in Orlando, Florida for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotion run by his longtime handler Jimmy Hart. Hogan defeated Curt Hennig in this match and felt healthy enough to accept an offer to return to the WWF in February 2002.
Second return to WWF/WWE (2002–2003)
At No Way Out in February 2002, Hogan returned to the WWF as a heel. Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event. The nWo feuded with both Austin and The Rock, and Hogan accepted The Rock's challenge to a match at WrestleMania X8, where Hogan asked Hall and Nash not to interfere, wanting to defeat The Rock by himself. Despite the fact that Hogan was supposed to be the heel in the match, the crowd cheered for him heavily. The Rock cleanly won the contest, and befriended Hogan at the end of the bout and helped him fight off Hall and Nash, who were upset by Hogan's conciliatory attitude. After the match, Hogan turned face by siding with The Rock, though he continued wearing black and white tights for a few weeks after WrestleMania X8 until he resumed wearing his signature red and yellow tights. During this period, the "Hulk Rules" logo of the 1980s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules", and Hogan also wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire twelve years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania VI at the same arena, in the SkyDome. For a time, he was still known as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, notably keeping the Hollywood Hogan style blond mustache with black beard while wearing Hulkamania-like red and yellow tights and using the "Voodoo Child" entrance theme music he used in WCW. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan feuded with Triple H and defeated him for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash, thus becoming the last ever WWF Champion before the initials dispute against the World Wildlife Fund.
On May 19 at Judgment Day, Hogan lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to The Undertaker. After losing a number one contender match for the WWE Undisputed Championship to Triple H on the June 6 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan began feuding with Kurt Angle resulting in a match between the two at the King of the Ring, which Angle won by submission. On the July 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE Tag Team Championship for the first time. They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan's theme song "Real American". They later lost the titles to The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at Vengeance. In August 2002, Hogan was used in an angle with Brock Lesnar, culminating in a main event singles match on the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, which Lesnar won by technical submission (the match was called after Hogan became unconscious from a bear hug hold). Lesnar became only the second WWE wrestler to defeat Hogan by submission (after Kurt Angle), and the first to defeat Hogan by having the match called. Following the match, Lesnar continued to beat on Hogan, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the ring.
As a result of Lesnar's assault, Hogan went on hiatus and was not able to return until early 2003, shaving off his black beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name in his return. Hogan battled The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out and lost and defeated Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a street fight billed as "twenty years in the making". After WrestleMania, he had a run as the masked Mr. America, who was supposed to be Hogan in disguise, wearing a mask. He used Hogan's "Real American" as an entrance theme and all of Hogan's signature gestures, moves, and phrases. He was the subject of a storyline that took place after Hogan was forced by Mr. McMahon to sit out the rest of his contract. A WWE pre-debut push took place with mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown!. There was also on-screen discussion on SmackDown! between then General Manager Stephanie McMahon and other players concerning her hiring Mr. America "sight unseen". On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). The feud continued through the month of May, with a singles match between Mr. America and Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper at Judgment Day, a match Mr. America won.
Mr. America's last WWE appearance was on the June 26 episode of SmackDown! when Big Show and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) defeated Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Mr. America in a six-man tag team match. After the show went off the air, Mr. America unmasked to show the fans that he was indeed Hogan, putting his finger to his lips telling the fans to keep quiet about his secret. The next week, Hogan quit WWE due to frustration with the creative team. On the July 3 episode of SmackDown!, McMahon showed the footage of Mr. America unmasking as Hogan and "fired" him, although Hogan had already quit in real life. It was later revealed that Hogan was unhappy with the payoffs for his matches after his comeback under the Mr. America gimmick. McMahon decided to terminate Hogan's contract and Hogan left WWE in 2003.
Second return to NJPW (2003)
Hogan returned to NJPW in October 2003, when he defeated Masahiro Chono at Ultimate Crush II in the Tokyo Dome.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)
Shortly after Hogan left WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) began making overtures to Hogan, culminating in Jeff Jarrett, co-founder of TNA and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion, launching an on-air attack on Hogan in Japan in October 2003. The attack was supposed to be a precursor to Hogan battling Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view. However, due to recurring knee and hip problems, Hogan did not appear in TNA. Still, the incident has been shown several times on TNA broadcasts, and was included in the TNA DVD TNA's Fifty Greatest Moments.
Third return to WWE (2005–2007)
On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels.
Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd.
Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.
Memphis Wrestling (2007–2008)
After a brief fall out with McMahon and WWE, Hogan was lured to Memphis Wrestling with the proposal of wrestling Jerry Lawler. The match had been promoted on Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. On April 12, 2007, however, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC performers (including Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC-owned USA Network's Raw and his appearances on the biannual WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best airs. The situation resulted in a lawsuit being filed against WWE by event promoter Corey Maclin. Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight. Hogan defeated Wight at Memphis Wrestling's PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007 when he picked up and hit a body slam on Wight before pinning him following his signature running leg drop.
Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin (2009)
On November 21, 24, 26 and 28, Hogan performed with a group of wrestlers including Spartan-3000, Heidenreich, Eugene, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Orlando Jordan across Australia in a tour titled Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin. The main event of each show was a rematch between Hogan and Ric Flair – the wrestler who defeated Hogan more times than any other. Hogan defeated Flair in all four matches.
Return to TNA (2009–2013)
Dixie Carter's business partner (2009–2010)
On October 27, 2009, it was announced that Hogan had signed a contract to join TNA on a full-time basis. The footage of his signing and the press conference at Madison Square Garden following it were featured on the October 29 episode of Impact!.
On December 5, 2009, Hogan announced on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s The Ultimate Fighter that he would be making his official TNA debut on January 4, 2010, in a special live three-hour Monday night episode of Impact! to compete with WWE's Raw (which featured the return of Bret Hart).
On the January 4 episode of Impact!, Hogan debuted, reuniting briefly with former nWo partners Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman, the latter two of whom made their returns to the company. He, however, refused to join them for a full-fledged reunion of their group claiming, "it's a different time", and stuck to his business relations with Bischoff, who made his appearance to declare that, the two of them would "flip the company upside down" and everyone would have to earn their spot. Hogan also encountered TNA founder Jeff Jarrett on the broadcast, appearing via video wall and interrupting Jarrett's company success speech, stating that Carter was instrumental to the company's survival, and that just like the rest, Jarrett would have to (kayfabe) earn his spot in TNA.
On the February 18 episode of Impact!, Hogan took Abyss under his wing, and during this sequence, gave him his Hall of Fame ring and claimed it would make him a "god of wrestling". Hogan made his in-ring return on March 8, teaming with Abyss to defeat A.J. Styles and Ric Flair when Abyss scored a pinfall over Styles. Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Hogan and Abyss from a beat down at the hands of Styles, Flair and Desmond Wolfe. The storyline became a Team Flair versus Team Hogan situation, with Jarrett and the debuting Rob Van Dam joining Team Hogan and Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Sting joining Team Flair. At Lockdown, Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Ric Flair, Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) in a Lethal Lockdown match.
Immortal (2010–2011)
On the June 17 episode of Impact!, Hogan's alliance with Abyss came to an abrupt end when Abyss turned heel. Abyss later claimed that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. The next month, Hogan worked with Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Hogan and Bischoff were up to something. During this time, Abyss went on a rampage, attacking Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and eventually put his hands on TNA president Dixie Carter, which led to her signing the paperwork, presented by Bischoff, that would have Abyss fired from TNA following his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory. Hogan was set to wrestle with Jarrett and Joe against Sting, Nash and D'Angelo Dinero at Bound for Glory, but was forced to miss the event due to a back surgery. However, he would make an appearance at the end of the event, and turned heel by helping Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship and aligning himself with Hardy, Bischoff, Abyss and Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact!, it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. During his absence, Hogan underwent a potentially career–ending spinal fusion surgery on December 21, 2010.
Hogan returned to TNA on the March 3, 2011 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of TNA, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter. In April, he began hinting at a possible return to the ring to face the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting. On the May 12 episode of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Hogan lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Hogan and Bischoff took over the company; however, this angle was cut short just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion. During the following months, Hogan continued to interfere in Sting's matches, costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship first at Hardcore Justice, recruiting Kurt Angle to Immortal in the process, on the September 1 episode of Impact Wrestling and finally at No Surrender. On the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting defeated Immortal member Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan at Bound for Glory. On October 4, it was reported that Hogan had signed a contract extension with TNA. After feigning retirement from professional wrestling, Hogan accepted the match at Bound for Glory on the October 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, while also agreeing to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting win the match.
Hogan was defeated by Sting at Bound For Glory, ending his storyline as the president of TNA. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting, but Hogan turned face by turning on Immortal and helping Sting. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan, wearing his trademark yellow and red again, admitted to his mistakes, and put over Sting for winning.
Feud with Aces & Eights (2012–2013)
During TNA's 2012 UK tour, on January 26 and 27, Hogan returned to the ring at house shows in Nottingham and Manchester, where he, James Storm and Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag team main event at both events, the latter of which was Hogan's final match. Hogan returned to Impact Wrestling on February 2, when he was revealed as Garett Bischoff's trainer. On the March 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan returned and accepted Sting's offer to replace him as the new General Manager.
In July, Hogan, alongside Sting, began feuding with a mysterious group of masked men, who had dubbed themselves the "Aces & Eights". The group's attack on Hogan on the July 12 episode of Impact Wrestling was used to write Hogan off television as he was set to undergo another back surgery.
In November, Hogan moved into a storyline with Bully Ray after Austin Aries revealed a secret relationship between Ray and Hogan's daughter Brooke. After seeing them kissing in a parking garage on the December 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan suspended Ray indefinitely. The following week on Impact Wrestling, after Ray saved Brooke from a kidnapping by the Aces & Eights, Brooke accepted his marriage proposal. Despite Hogan's disapproval, he still walked Brooke down the aisle for her wedding on the next episode of Impact Wrestling, during which Ray's groomsmen Taz interrupted and revealed himself as a member of the Aces & Eights, leading the group to attack Hogan, Ray, and the rest of the groomsmen.
On the January 31 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan reinstated Ray so he could take on the Aces & Eights. Hogan named Ray the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling. However, at Lockdown, Ray betrayed Hogan, after Aces & Eights helped him win the title, and he revealed himself as the President of the Aces & Eights. Following Lockdown, Hogan blamed Sting for Ray winning the title as it was Sting who encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot. Sting returned and saved Hogan from an attack by Aces & Eights on the April 25 episode of Impact Wrestling. The following week on Impact Wrestling, Hogan and Sting managed to reconcile their differences. On the October 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan refused an offer from Dixie Carter to become her business partner and quit; this was done to officially write Hogan off, as a result of his contract expiring with TNA.
Fourth return to WWE (2014–2015)
On February 24, 2014 on Raw, Hogan made his first WWE in-ring appearance since December 2007 to hype the WWE Network. On the March 24 episode of Raw, Hogan came out to introduce the guest appearances of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello; this was to promote the guests' new movie Sabotage.
At WrestleMania XXX in April, Hogan served as the host, coming out at the start of the show to hype up the crowd. During his promo, he mistakenly referred to the Superdome, the venue the event was being held at, as the Silverdome, which became the subject of jokes throughout the night. Hogan was later joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and they finished their promo by drinking beer together in the ring. Later in the show, Hogan shared a moment with Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper, with whom he main-evented the first WrestleMania.
On February 27, 2015, Hogan was honored at Madison Square Garden during a WWE live event dubbed "Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night" with a special commemorative banner hanging from the rafters, honoring his wrestling career and historic matches he had in the arena.
On the March 23 episode of Raw, Hogan along with Snoop Dogg confronted Curtis Axel – who at the time had been "borrowing" Hogan's Hulkamania gimmick with Axel referring to himself as "AxelMania". On March 28, the night before WrestleMania, Hogan posthumously inducted longtime partner and rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015. The next night at WrestleMania 31, Hogan reunited with Hall and Nash to reform the nWo, appearing in Sting's corner in his match against Triple H, who himself was joined by D-Generation X members Billy Gunn, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Shawn Michaels.
Scandal and departure
In July 2015, National Enquirer and Radar Online publicized an anti-black rant made by Hogan on a leaked sex tape recorded in 2007. In the recording, he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter dating a black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur "nigger." Hogan also admitted to being "a racist, to a point."
Once the recordings went public erupting in a media scandal, Hogan apologized for the remarks, which he said is "language that is offensive and inconsistent with [his] own beliefs." Three black wrestlers who worked in the WWF and WCW with Hogan made supportive comments. Virgil commented "Hogan has never given me a reason to believe he is a racist" while Dennis Rodman said he "most certainly is not a racist" and Kamala added "I do not think Hogan meant harm by saying that. Hogan is my brother until he decides not to be." Black wrestlers working in the WWE made different comments. Mark Henry said he was pleased by WWE's "no tolerance approach to racism" response, and that he was hurt and offended by Hogan's manner and tone. Booker T said he was shocked and called the statements unfortunate.
On July 24, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are "committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds," although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed almost all references to Hogan from their website, including his listing as a judge for Tough Enough, his merchandise from WWE Shop, and his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page (however, he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016). His DLC appearance from WWE 2K15 was taken down from sale, and his character was cut from then upcoming WWE 2K16 game during development.
In response to the controversy, Mattel stopped producing Hogan action figures, while Hogan's merchandise was taken down from online stores of Target, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart. On July 28, Radar Online reported that Hogan had also used homophobic slurs on the leaked sex tape. Days later, it was reported that Hogan had used racist language in a 2008 call to his then-imprisoned son, Nick, and also said that he hoped they would not be reincarnated as black males.
Hogan gave an interview with ABC on August 31 in which he pleaded forgiveness for his racist comments, attributing these to a racial bias inherited from his neighborhood while growing up. Hogan claimed that the term "nigger" was used liberally among friends in Tampa; however, former neighbors have disputed this claim.
In the time that followed, numerous African-Americans expressed some level of support for Hogan including: The Rock, Dennis Rodman, Booker T, Kamala, Virgil, Mark Henry, Big E, and D'Angelo Dinero, who stressed his forgiveness of Hogan, whom he saw as having made a "positive mark on humanity" for over three decades.
Fifth return to WWE (2018–present)
On July 15, 2018, Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame. Later that same night, he was invited backstage to WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event and was briefly mentioned on the event's kickoff show. Hogan made his on-screen return on November 2, 2018, as the host of Crown Jewel. Hogan next appeared on the January 7, 2019 episode of Raw to present a tribute to his longtime friend and colleague Mean Gene Okerlund, who had died five days prior. It was the first time Hogan had appeared in a WWE ring in North America since his 2015 firing. Hogan subsequently appeared on a WWE Network special where he spoke further of his relationship with Okerlund.
Hogan inducted his Mega-Maniacs tag team partner and longtime friend Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019. The following night at WrestleMania 35, he made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the show alongside WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss, welcoming fans to the event and parodying his gaffe from WrestleMania XXX, when he incorrectly referred to the Superdome as the Silverdome. On the June 17, 2019, Raw, WWE aired a Hogan interview about the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team. On the July 22, 2019, Raw, Hogan appeared as part of the "Raw Reunion" special. Hogan was one of the speakers during the "Toast to Raw" segment along with Steve Austin. On September 30, 2019 episode of Raw, he and Ric Flair unveiled a 10 man tag team match, for Crown Jewel. Hogan and Flair made multiple appearances on shows with their teams leading up to the event, which saw Hogan manage his team to victory.
Hogan made it public knowledge that he hoped to have one more match in the WWE, including during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Hogan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time as a member of the New World Order, together with fellow former nWo stablemates Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
Hogan made his only appearance of 2020 on WWE's non-WWE Network programming when he appeared via satellite on the February 14, 2020 episode of Smackdown to speak about the Hall of Fame. He was interrupted by Bray Wyatt, as Hogan warned him about his upcoming match with Goldberg. The 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony was subsequently delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aired on April 6, 2021.
Hogan made his first appearance of 2021 on the January 4 episode of Raw, which was a special Legends Night episode. He opened the show introducing the 'H-Phone,' his spin on an iPhone. He appeared in a backstage segment with Jimmy Hart, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, where he gave his approval to McIntyre, the current WWE Champion. He also watched the championship main event match between McIntyre and Keith Lee on-stage with the rest of the guest legends. It was confirmed on the March 19, 2021, episode of WWE SmackDown he would be the co-host of WrestleMania 37 alongside Titus O'Neil.
Hogan opened both nights of WrestleMania 37 with O'Neil, appeared in multiple segments with Bayley, which led to a return of the Bella Twins, and was introduced during the Hall of Fame celebration with Nash, Hall and Waltman.
Endorsements and business ventures
Food industry
Hogan created and financed a restaurant called Pastamania located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It opened on the Labor Day weekend of 1995 and was heavily promoted on World Championship Wrestling's live show Monday Nitro. The restaurant, which remained in operation for less than a year, featured such dishes as "Hulk-U's" and "Hulk-A-Roos".
In interviews on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Bollea claimed that the opportunity to endorse what came to be known as the George Foreman Grill was originally offered to him, but when he failed to respond in time, Foreman endorsed the grill instead. Instead, Bollea endorsed a blender, known as the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer. He has since endorsed a grill known as "The Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill".
In 2006, Bollea unveiled Hogan Energy, a drink distributed by Socko Energy. His name and likeness were also applied to a line of microwavable hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches sold at Wal-Mart called "Hulkster Burgers". On November 1, 2011, Bollea launched a new website called Hogan Nutrition, which features many nutritional and dietary products.
On New Year's Eve 2012, Bollea opened a beachfront restaurant called "Hogan's Beach", located in the Tampa area. The restaurant dropped Hogan's name in October 2015. Hogan later opened Hogan's Hangout in Clearwater Beach.
Finances
In September 2008, Bollea's net worth was revealed to be around $30 million. In September 2011, Bollea revealed that his lavish lifestyle and divorce had cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly bankrupted him.
Other
In October 2007, Bollea transferred all trademarks referring to himself to his liability company named "Hogan Holdings Limited". The trademarks include Hulk Hogan, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, and Hulkapedia.com.
In April 2008, Bollea announced that he would lend his license to video game developer Gameloft to create "Hulkamania Wrestling" for mobile phones. Hogan stated in a press release that the game would be "true to [his] experiences in wrestling" and use his classic wrestling moves like the Doublehand Choke Lift and Strong Clothesline. , Hogan stars alongside Troy Aikman in commercials for Rent-A-Center. On March 24, 2011, Hogan made a special appearance on American Idol, giving a big surprise to wrestling fans Paul McDonald and James Durbin. On October 15, 2010, Endemol Games UK (a subsidiary of media production group Endemol UK) announced a partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment to produce "Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania", an online gambling game featuring video footage of Hogan.
In October 2013, Bollea partnered with Tech Assets, Inc. to open a web hosting service called "Hostamania". To promote the service, a commercial video was released, featuring Hogan parodying Jean-Claude Van Damme's GoDaddy.com commercials and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video. On November 21, 2013, Hulk Hogan and GoDaddy.com appeared together on a live Hangout On Air on Google Plus, where Hulk Hogan had a casual conversation about Hostamania, fans, and business.
Hogan became a distributor for multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences after looking for business opportunities outside of wrestling. Hogan supports the American Diabetes Association.
Other media
Acting
Hogan's crossover popularity led to several television and movie roles. Early in his career Bollea played the part of Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982). He also appeared in No Holds Barred (1989), before starring in family films Suburban Commando (1991), Mr. Nanny (1993), Santa with Muscles (1996), and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998). Hogan also appeared in 1992 commercials for Right Guard deodorant. He starred in his own television series, Thunder in Paradise, in 1994. He is the star of The Ultimate Weapon (1997), in which Brutus Beefcake also appears in a cameo.
Bollea also starred in a pair of television movies, originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series for TNT, produced by Eric Bischoff. The movies, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island and Shadow Warriors: Hunt for The Death Merchant, starred Hogan alongside Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed as a freelance mercenary team. In 1995, he appeared on TBN's Kids Against Crime. Bollea made cameo appearances in Muppets from Space, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (the theatrical cut) and Spy Hard as himself. Hogan also played the role of Zeus in Little Hercules in 3D. Hogan also made two appearances on The A-Team (in 1985 and 1986), along with Roddy Piper. He also appeared on Suddenly Susan in 1999. In 2001, Hogan guest-starred on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Hogan has become a busy voice actor in later years making guest voice spots on Robot Chicken and American Dad! and as a primary actor in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series China, Illinois.
Reality television and hosting
On July 10, 2005, VH1 premiered Hogan Knows Best a reality show which centered around Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. In July 2008, a spin-off entitled Brooke Knows Best premiered, which focused primarily on Hogan's daughter Brooke.
Bollea hosted the comeback series of American Gladiators on NBC in 2008. He also hosted and judged the short-lived reality show, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Hogan had a special titled Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E on November 17, 2010.
In 2015, Hogan was a judge on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Paige and Daniel Bryan, but due to the scandal, he was replaced by The Miz after episode 5.
Music and radio
Bollea released a music CD, Hulk Rules, as Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Band. Also, Green Jellÿ released a single, a duet with Hogan, performing Gary Glitter's classic song "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)". He has also made cameos in several music videos. From her self-named show, Dolly the music video for Dolly Parton's wrestling-themed love song "Headlock on my Heart" features Hogan as "Starlight Starbright". In the music video "Pressure" by Belly ft. Ginuwine, Bollea and his daughter Brooke both made brief cameo appearances.
Bollea was a regular guest on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show. He also served as the best man at Bubba's January 2007 wedding. On March 12, 2010, Bollea hosted his own radio show, titled Hogan Uncensored, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101.
Merchandising
The Wrestling Figure Checklist records Bollea as having 171 different action figures, produced between the 1980s and 2010s from numerous manufacturers and promotions.
Video games
Bollea provided his voice for the 2011 game Saints Row: The Third as Angel de la Muerte, a member of the Saints. In October 2011, he released a video game called Hulk Hogan's Main Event.
A likeness of him, as Rex Kwan-Do, is featured as a playable police officer in This Is The Police.
Hulk Hogan and Hollywood Hogan are featured in the following licensed wrestling video games:
Filmography
Personal life
Legal issues
Belzer lawsuit
On March 27, 1985, just days prior to the inaugural WrestleMania, Richard Belzer requested on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties that Hogan demonstrate one of his signature wrestling moves. After consistently refusing but being egged on by Belzer, Hogan put Belzer in a modified Guillotine choke, which caused Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to the scalp that required a brief hospitalization. Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and later settled out of court. On October 20, 2006, on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show, it was claimed (with Hogan in the studio) that the settlement totaled $5 million, half from Hogan and half from Vince McMahon. During his June 23, 2008, appearance on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show, Belzer suggested that the real settlement amount was actually closer to $400,000.
Testimony in McMahon trial
In 1994, Hogan, having received immunity from prosecution, testified in the trial of Vince McMahon relating to shipments of steroids received by both parties from WWF physician George T. Zahorian. Under oath, Hogan admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain size and weight, but that McMahon had neither sold him the drugs nor ordered him to take them. The evidence given by Hogan proved extremely costly to the government's case against McMahon. Due to this and jurisdictional issues, McMahon was found not guilty.
Gawker lawsuit
In April 2012, a sex tape between Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, emerged online. On October 4, 2012, Gawker released a short clip of the video. In the video, Bubba can be heard saying that the couple can "do their thing" and he will be in his office. At the end of the video, he can also be heard telling Heather, "If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket". Hogan later told Howard Stern on his satellite radio show that, "it was a bad choice and a very low point" and "I was with some friends and made a wrong choice. It has devastated me, I have never been this hurt". On October 15, 2012, Hogan filed a lawsuit against Bubba and Heather Clem for invading his privacy. A settlement with Bubba was announced on October 29, 2012. Afterwards, Clem publicly apologized to Hogan. In December 2012, a federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, found that Gawker's publication of the video snippet did not violate U.S. copyright law. Hogan then joined Gawker in the ongoing action against Heather Clem in state court in Florida, alleging invasion of privacy, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeking $100 million in damages.
On October 1, 2015, the New York Post reported that a Florida Judge granted Hogan access to Gawker's computer system for a forensic expert to search Gawker's computers and office.
Hogan sued Gawker for $100 million for defamation, loss of privacy, and emotional pain, and on March 18, 2016, was awarded $115 million. Also, on August 11, 2016, a Florida judge gave Hogan control of the assets of A.J. Daulerio, former Gawker editor-in-chief, who was involved in the posting of Hogan's sex tape.
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped Hogan to finance his lawsuit against Gawker Media.
On November 2, 2016, Gawker reached a $31 million settlement with Bollea.
Family
On December 18, 1983, Bollea married Linda Claridge. They have a daughter Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son Nick (born July 27, 1990). Bollea made his personal life the centerpiece of the television show Hogan Knows Best, which included his wife and two children.
According to an interview in the National Enquirer, Christiane Plante claimed that Bollea had an affair with her in 2007 while the Hogan family was shooting Hogan Knows Best. Plante was 33 years old at the time and had worked with Brooke Hogan on her 2006 album.
On November 20, 2007, Linda filed for divorce in Pinellas County, Florida. In November 2008, Linda claimed to the public that she made the decision to end her marriage after finding out about Hogan's affair. In his 2009 autobiography, Hogan acknowledged that Linda on numerous occasions suspected he was having infidelities whenever he developed friendships with other women, but denied allegations that he ever cheated on her. Bollea only retained around 30% of the couple's liquid assets totaling around $10 million in the divorce settlement. Hogan considered committing suicide after the divorce and credits Laila Ali, his co-star on American Gladiators, with preventing him from doing so.
Bollea has been in a relationship with Jennifer McDaniel since early 2008. The two were engaged in November 2009 and married on December 14, 2010, in Clearwater, Florida.
Bollea is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith in his life saying, "[I've] leaned on my religion. I was saved when I was 14. I accepted Christ as my savior. He died on the cross and paid for my sins ... I could have went the wrong way. I could have self-destructed, but I took the high road".
Health
Bollea has suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back since retiring as a wrestler following the years of heavy weight-training and jolting as a wrestler.
In January 2013, Bollea filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Laser Spine Institute for $50 million, citing that the medical firm persuaded him to undergo a half-dozen "unnecessary and ineffective" spinal operations that worsened his back problems. He claimed that the six procedures he underwent over a period of 19 months only gave him short-term relief. After the procedures failed to cure his back problems, Bollea underwent traditional spinal fusion surgery in December 2010, which enabled him to return to his professional activities. In addition, the Laser Spine Institute used his name on their advertisements without his permission.
Legacy
Hogan has been described as one of the largest attractions in professional wrestling history and a major reason why Vince McMahon's expansion of his promotion worked. Wrestling historian and journalist Dave Meltzer stated that "...You can't possibly overrate his significance in the history of the business. And he sold more tickets to wrestling shows than any man who ever lived".
On February 20, 2019, it was announced that Chris Hemsworth would portray him in a biopic, directed by Todd Phillips.
Awards and honors
Bollea was honored as the 2008 King of the Krewe of Bacchus, a New Orleans carnival organization. Hogan visited the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and rode in the parade where he threw doubloons with his likeness. Hogan received the honor in part because meeting Hogan is one of the most requested "wishes" of the terminally ill children benefited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Hogan was inducted in the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018.
Championships and accomplishments
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Heavyweight Championship (original version) (1 time)
IWGP League Tournament (1983)
MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983) with Antonio Inoki
Greatest 18 Club inductee
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2003
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
Match of the Year (1985)
Match of the Year (1988)
Match of the Year (1990)
Match of the Year (2002)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
Ranked No. 44 and No. 57 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Antonio Inoki and Randy Savage in 2003
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)
Tokyo Sports
Best Foreigner Award (1983)
Match of the Year (1991)
World Championship Wrestling
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWF/WWE Championship (6 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Edge
Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2005 – individually
Class of 2020 – as a member of the New World Order
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Strongest Wrestler (1983)
Best Babyface (1982–1991)
Best Box Office Draw (1997)
Best Gimmick (1996)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Feud of the Year (1996)
Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000)
Most Obnoxious (1994, 1995)
Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1994–1998)
Most Unimproved (1994, 1995)
Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
Worst Feud of the Year (1991)
Worst Feud of the Year (1995)
Worst Feud of the Year (1998)
Worst Feud of the Year (2000)
Worst on Interviews (1995)
Worst Wrestler (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame profile
TNA Impact Wrestling profile (archived)
1953 births
20th-century American bass guitarists
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American rappers
Actors from Pinellas County, Florida
American autobiographers
American Christians
American food industry businesspeople
American lyricists
American male bass guitarists
American male film actors
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male professional wrestlers
American male non-fiction writers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American musicians of Panamanian descent
American people of French descent
American people of Panamanian descent
American people of Scottish descent
American professional wrestlers of Italian descent
American radio personalities
American rock bass guitarists
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American session musicians
American sportspeople of Italian descent
American sportspeople of Panamanian descent
American television hosts
American writers of Italian descent
Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state)
Businesspeople from Miami
Businesspeople from Tampa, Florida
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Guitarists from Florida
Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Impact Wrestling executives
Living people
Male actors from Georgia (U.S. state)
Male actors from Miami
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Masked wrestlers
Musicians from Augusta, Georgia
Musicians from Miami
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People associated with direct selling
Professional wrestlers from Florida
Professional wrestlers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Radio personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
Radio personalities from Miami
Radio personalities from Tampa, Florida
Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Rappers from Miami
Record producers from Florida
Record producers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
Sportspeople from Augusta, Georgia
Sportspeople from Clearwater, Florida
Sportspeople from Miami
Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Television personalities from Florida
Television personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
Television producers from Florida
Television producers from Georgia (U.S. state)
The New World Order (professional wrestling) members
University of South Florida alumni
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
Writers from Augusta, Georgia
Writers from Miami
Writers from Tampa, Florida
WWE Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees | false | [
"Julian Stanley Wise (1900 – July 22, 1985), was the founder of the Roanoke Life Saving and First Aid Crew, the first volunteer rescue squad in the United States.\n\nIn 1909, Wise was walking along the banks of the Roanoke River in Roanoke, Virginia, when he witnessed two men capsize a canoe in deep, rough water. Though many onlookers saw the accident, none of them had the equipment or training to offer much in the way of help, and both men drowned. Wise later said of the incident, \"I vowed that never again would I watch a man die when he could have been saved if only those around him knew how.\"\n\nThat incident stayed with Wise, and on May 28, 1928, Wise and nine coworkers at the Norfolk and Western Railway began the first volunteer rescue squad. Wise proved the worth of the squad by staging a mock rescue in 1929, sinking a 250-pound dummy in a pond and calling out the rescue squad. The city of Roanoke, impressed by the demonstration, agreed to provide communication support. A local funeral home donated an ambulance, and Wise's vision became a reality.\n\nBy 1966, when the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was passed in the United States, thousands of rescue squads had sprung up throughout the United States and elsewhere in the world. With the passage of the Highway Safety Act, training standards for Emergency Medical Technicians were enacted.\n\nJulian Wise died in Roanoke on July 22, 1985, at the age of 85.\n\nOn June 8, 1991, The Julian Stanley Wise Foundation opened a volunteer rescue museum in Roanoke. Julian Wise's widow, Ruth Light Wise, was present at the opening.\n\nReferences \n \"EMT Rescue\", by Pat Ivey ()\n\nDisaster preparedness in the United States\n1900 births\n1985 deaths\nPeople from Roanoke, Virginia\nDate of birth missing",
"Rescue Heroes are a line of toys from Fisher-Price that were introduced in 1997, depicting various rescue personnel and their equipment. In 1999 an animated television series of the same name debuted. A film titled Rescue Heroes: The Movie was released in 2003.\n\nTelevision series\n\nOn October 2, 1999, an animated television series based on the toy line debuted. The TV series, titled Rescue Heroes, ran for three seasons, concluding on December 18, 2002.\n\nThe TV series, which is about a group of rescue personnel that travel the world while saving lives from both natural and man-made disasters, strives to teach proper safety techniques and how to deal with various issues. At the end of most episodes the Rescue Heroes would give safety tips and discuss how to handle the conflict presented in the episode. The episode would then usually conclude with the motto \"Think like a Rescue Hero, think safe.\"\n\nHiatus and return\nIn 2007, Fisher-Price stopped producing Rescue Heroes products and updating the Rescue Heroes website. However, from 2010-2013, Fisher-Price produced a new collection of figurines under the title \"Hero World\", a line shared with other licensed characters. Among the collection were preexisting characters such as Billy Blazes and Jake Justice.\n\nIn 2019 Fisher-Price relaunched the Rescue Heroes brand. This included figurines and various vehicles, such as a fire tracker and hover pack. Fisher-Price also released a reboot of the original TV series to YouTube.\n\nInteractive games\nRescue Heroes has spawned numerous interactive formats of entertainment, including PC, Sony PlayStation, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Pixter, Radica Play TV, and Smart Cycle.\n\nPC\n Rescue Heroes: Hurricane Havoc (1999)\n Rescue Heroes: Meteor Madness (2001)\n Rescue Heroes: Tremor Trouble (2002)\n Rescue Heroes: Lava Landslide (2003)\n Rescue Heroes: Mission Select (2003)\n\nSony PlayStation\n Rescue Heroes: Molten Menace (2000)\n\nGame Boy Color\n Rescue Heroes: Fire Frenzy (2000)\n\nGame Boy Advance\n Rescue Heroes: Billy Blazes (2003)\n\nPixter\n Rescue Heroes Mission Masters (black and white) (2002)\n Rescue Heroes Mission Masters (color) (2003)\n\nRadica Play TV\n Rescue Heroes\n\nSmart Cycle\n Rescue Heroes\n\nReferences\n\nFisher-Price\nMattel"
]
|
[
"Hulk Hogan",
"Third return to WWE (2005-2007)",
"Why did Hogan return to WWE?",
"At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The",
"How did he rescue him?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_f7eadf2761b540508879af06e19db632_0 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 3 | Are there any other interesting aspects of what Hulk Hogan did in the article aside from what is mentioned? | Hulk Hogan | On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels. Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd. Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on the July 15 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. CANNOTANSWER | Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. | Terry Eugene Bollea (, born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s.
Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. There, his persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of WWF's flagship annual event, WrestleMania. During his initial run, he won the WWF Championship five times, with his first reign holding the record for the second-longest. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991.
In 1993, Hogan departed the WWF to sign for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest reign. In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable. As a result, he became a major figure during the "Monday Night Wars", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times, including the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.
Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning the Undisputed WWF Championship for a record equaling (for the year) sixth time before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.
Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) - where he won the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship - and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA - now known as Impact Wrestling).
During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in Rocky III. He has starred in several films (including No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny) and three television shows (Hogan Knows Best, Thunder in Paradise, and China, IL), as well as in Right Guard commercials and the video game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event. He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules, reached 12 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio chart in 1995.
Early life
Terry Eugene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) of Italian descent and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. (née Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011) Bollea of Scottish and French descent. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida. As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He attracted scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury ended his baseball career. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes, and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention towards Superstar Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.
Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, Hogan decided to drop out of the University of South Florida before receiving a degree. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco, two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region.
Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)to make him a potential trainee. In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, however, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. However, after Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1977–1979)
In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in CWF. A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers.
Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and decided to open a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.
Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique; Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.
In Alabama, Bollea and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Leslie were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.
During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.
On December 1, 1979, Bollea won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bollea would drop the title in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong. Bollea briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.
World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980)
Later that year, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Hogan wrestled his first match in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on November 17 defeating Harry Valdez on Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug. After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor that he would end up repaying during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1980–1985)
In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used the Axe Bomber, a crooked arm lariat, as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and the first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship, that is defended regularly.
Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in a championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship.
American Wrestling Association (1981–1983)
After filming his scene for Rocky III against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last for long as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel.
Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at the end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell, after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans, began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save; however, Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel.
Return to WWF (1983–1993)
Rise of Hulkamania (1983–1984)
After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.
On the January 7, 1984 episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden. The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).
Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.
In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to a quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of the earnings, if Titan held no interest). This would also extend to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics. (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) 1988's Marvel Comics Presents #45, a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name."
International renown (1985–1988)
Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in the back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On Saturday Night's Main Event I, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification.
Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated (the first and , only professional wrestler to do so), TV Guide, and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
On Saturday Night's Main Event II, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.
In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick "Super Strong Machine". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.
The Mega Powers (1988–1989)
Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the title to André on The Main Event I after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.
Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André the Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam. They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers: Akeem and Big Boss Man.
In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at a Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series Are You Serious? in 2012.
The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989, the duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on The Main Event II, when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage, who slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V.
Final WWF Championship reigns (1989–1993)
Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in a steel cage match on the Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, which was aired on May 27. In May on WWF on NESN, Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII saw the title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie No Holds Barred, which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was "jealous" over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). However, Hogan was easily able to defeat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus would later meet at the Survivor Series, where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect before Zeus then dominated Hogan until Zeus was disqualified by referee Dave Hebner. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view First WWF UK Event at London Arena. During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match, before dropping the title to then Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.
Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam, and he for several months dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment – believing in yourself, and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The feud remained unresolved, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series, and he won it back at This Tuesday in Texas six days later. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match, but Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Flair the winner and new champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX against Flair and Undertaker, but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.
At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs, taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hogan went into the match sporting a cut above a black eye. The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying a group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.
At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion Yokozuna in his first title defense since defeating him at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop. This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.
Return to NJPW (1993–1994)
On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)
World Heavyweight Champion (1994–1996)
Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund-who was now a WCW employee- would visit him on the set of Thunder in Paradise episodes. Hype afterwards was building over whether Hogan should remain with Thunder in Paradise or instead join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair. On the May 28, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night, Hogan torn up his Thunder in Paradise contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued a telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios. The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach. Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on the Clash of the Champions XXVIII, thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee) that Hogan won.
After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade (Starrcade: Triple Threat) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader, who challenged him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V, where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored. Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach, where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on Nitro in September 1995. The October 9, 1995 broadcast of Nitro was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom, which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting) won. Hogan's fifteen-month title reign (which is the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in the title history at 469 days) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification.
Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III, where The Giant cost Hogan the title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI, where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.
New World Order (1996–1999)
At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.
On the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission. Five days later at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on Nitro, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. Savage took the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever bat match.
Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night on Nitro for the world title. In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and hit a powerbomb on Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night, but Bret Hart interfered moments later and jumped in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions – Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac that feuded with each other for the remainder of the year. Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches: his second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach, and at Road Wild he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks. Hogan also had a critically panned rematch with The Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.
On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. Campaign footage aired on Nitro of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. In the long run, however, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt attempting to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him. After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999, episode of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Hogan won for the fifth time, but many people found the title change to be "scandalous". As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.
Final years in WCW (1999–2000)
Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a steel cage First Blood match. Later, Hogan was severely injured in a Texas tornado match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship featuring him, Diamond Dallas Page, Flair, and Sting at Spring Stampede On the July 12 episode of Nitro, Hogan made his return as a face for the first time in three years and accepted an open challenge from Savage, who had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash turned on him the next week, and the two began a feud that lasted until Road Wild.
On August 9, 1999, Hogan started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main event six-man tag team match. Hogan then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Injuries and frustrations were mounting up however, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan came to the ring in street clothes, lay down for the pin, and left the ring.
Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial work with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Before the match, there was a backstage dispute between Hogan and Russo; Hogan wanted to take the title, but Russo was going to have Jarrett win, and lose it to Booker T. Russo told Hogan that he was going to have Jarrett lie down for him, simulating a real conflict, although Jarrett was not told it was a work. When the bell rang, Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring while Russo threw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt in the ring and yelled at Hogan from ringside to pin Jarrett. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" After winning and being announced as the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan immediately took the WCW title belt. Moments later, Russo returned to the ring, angrily proclaiming this would be the last time fans would ever see "that piece of shit" in a WCW stadium. This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan was able to control what would happen with his own character and be able to do so without anyone else being able to tell him no. In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!". Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jarrett later that night.
As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after, which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot. Eric Bischoff agreed with Hogan's side of the story when he wrote that Hogan winning and leaving with the belt was a work (devised by Bischoff rather than Russo), and that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the success of the angle, but that Russo coming out to fire Hogan was an unplanned shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan. It was the last time he was seen in WCW.
Post-WCW endeavors (2001)
In the months following the eventual demise of WCW in March 2001, Hogan underwent surgery on his knees in order for him to wrestle again. As a test, Hogan worked a match in Orlando, Florida for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotion run by his longtime handler Jimmy Hart. Hogan defeated Curt Hennig in this match and felt healthy enough to accept an offer to return to the WWF in February 2002.
Second return to WWF/WWE (2002–2003)
At No Way Out in February 2002, Hogan returned to the WWF as a heel. Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event. The nWo feuded with both Austin and The Rock, and Hogan accepted The Rock's challenge to a match at WrestleMania X8, where Hogan asked Hall and Nash not to interfere, wanting to defeat The Rock by himself. Despite the fact that Hogan was supposed to be the heel in the match, the crowd cheered for him heavily. The Rock cleanly won the contest, and befriended Hogan at the end of the bout and helped him fight off Hall and Nash, who were upset by Hogan's conciliatory attitude. After the match, Hogan turned face by siding with The Rock, though he continued wearing black and white tights for a few weeks after WrestleMania X8 until he resumed wearing his signature red and yellow tights. During this period, the "Hulk Rules" logo of the 1980s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules", and Hogan also wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire twelve years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania VI at the same arena, in the SkyDome. For a time, he was still known as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, notably keeping the Hollywood Hogan style blond mustache with black beard while wearing Hulkamania-like red and yellow tights and using the "Voodoo Child" entrance theme music he used in WCW. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan feuded with Triple H and defeated him for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash, thus becoming the last ever WWF Champion before the initials dispute against the World Wildlife Fund.
On May 19 at Judgment Day, Hogan lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to The Undertaker. After losing a number one contender match for the WWE Undisputed Championship to Triple H on the June 6 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan began feuding with Kurt Angle resulting in a match between the two at the King of the Ring, which Angle won by submission. On the July 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE Tag Team Championship for the first time. They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan's theme song "Real American". They later lost the titles to The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at Vengeance. In August 2002, Hogan was used in an angle with Brock Lesnar, culminating in a main event singles match on the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, which Lesnar won by technical submission (the match was called after Hogan became unconscious from a bear hug hold). Lesnar became only the second WWE wrestler to defeat Hogan by submission (after Kurt Angle), and the first to defeat Hogan by having the match called. Following the match, Lesnar continued to beat on Hogan, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the ring.
As a result of Lesnar's assault, Hogan went on hiatus and was not able to return until early 2003, shaving off his black beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name in his return. Hogan battled The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out and lost and defeated Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a street fight billed as "twenty years in the making". After WrestleMania, he had a run as the masked Mr. America, who was supposed to be Hogan in disguise, wearing a mask. He used Hogan's "Real American" as an entrance theme and all of Hogan's signature gestures, moves, and phrases. He was the subject of a storyline that took place after Hogan was forced by Mr. McMahon to sit out the rest of his contract. A WWE pre-debut push took place with mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown!. There was also on-screen discussion on SmackDown! between then General Manager Stephanie McMahon and other players concerning her hiring Mr. America "sight unseen". On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). The feud continued through the month of May, with a singles match between Mr. America and Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper at Judgment Day, a match Mr. America won.
Mr. America's last WWE appearance was on the June 26 episode of SmackDown! when Big Show and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) defeated Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Mr. America in a six-man tag team match. After the show went off the air, Mr. America unmasked to show the fans that he was indeed Hogan, putting his finger to his lips telling the fans to keep quiet about his secret. The next week, Hogan quit WWE due to frustration with the creative team. On the July 3 episode of SmackDown!, McMahon showed the footage of Mr. America unmasking as Hogan and "fired" him, although Hogan had already quit in real life. It was later revealed that Hogan was unhappy with the payoffs for his matches after his comeback under the Mr. America gimmick. McMahon decided to terminate Hogan's contract and Hogan left WWE in 2003.
Second return to NJPW (2003)
Hogan returned to NJPW in October 2003, when he defeated Masahiro Chono at Ultimate Crush II in the Tokyo Dome.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)
Shortly after Hogan left WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) began making overtures to Hogan, culminating in Jeff Jarrett, co-founder of TNA and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion, launching an on-air attack on Hogan in Japan in October 2003. The attack was supposed to be a precursor to Hogan battling Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view. However, due to recurring knee and hip problems, Hogan did not appear in TNA. Still, the incident has been shown several times on TNA broadcasts, and was included in the TNA DVD TNA's Fifty Greatest Moments.
Third return to WWE (2005–2007)
On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels.
Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd.
Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.
Memphis Wrestling (2007–2008)
After a brief fall out with McMahon and WWE, Hogan was lured to Memphis Wrestling with the proposal of wrestling Jerry Lawler. The match had been promoted on Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. On April 12, 2007, however, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC performers (including Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC-owned USA Network's Raw and his appearances on the biannual WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best airs. The situation resulted in a lawsuit being filed against WWE by event promoter Corey Maclin. Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight. Hogan defeated Wight at Memphis Wrestling's PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007 when he picked up and hit a body slam on Wight before pinning him following his signature running leg drop.
Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin (2009)
On November 21, 24, 26 and 28, Hogan performed with a group of wrestlers including Spartan-3000, Heidenreich, Eugene, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Orlando Jordan across Australia in a tour titled Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin. The main event of each show was a rematch between Hogan and Ric Flair – the wrestler who defeated Hogan more times than any other. Hogan defeated Flair in all four matches.
Return to TNA (2009–2013)
Dixie Carter's business partner (2009–2010)
On October 27, 2009, it was announced that Hogan had signed a contract to join TNA on a full-time basis. The footage of his signing and the press conference at Madison Square Garden following it were featured on the October 29 episode of Impact!.
On December 5, 2009, Hogan announced on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s The Ultimate Fighter that he would be making his official TNA debut on January 4, 2010, in a special live three-hour Monday night episode of Impact! to compete with WWE's Raw (which featured the return of Bret Hart).
On the January 4 episode of Impact!, Hogan debuted, reuniting briefly with former nWo partners Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman, the latter two of whom made their returns to the company. He, however, refused to join them for a full-fledged reunion of their group claiming, "it's a different time", and stuck to his business relations with Bischoff, who made his appearance to declare that, the two of them would "flip the company upside down" and everyone would have to earn their spot. Hogan also encountered TNA founder Jeff Jarrett on the broadcast, appearing via video wall and interrupting Jarrett's company success speech, stating that Carter was instrumental to the company's survival, and that just like the rest, Jarrett would have to (kayfabe) earn his spot in TNA.
On the February 18 episode of Impact!, Hogan took Abyss under his wing, and during this sequence, gave him his Hall of Fame ring and claimed it would make him a "god of wrestling". Hogan made his in-ring return on March 8, teaming with Abyss to defeat A.J. Styles and Ric Flair when Abyss scored a pinfall over Styles. Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Hogan and Abyss from a beat down at the hands of Styles, Flair and Desmond Wolfe. The storyline became a Team Flair versus Team Hogan situation, with Jarrett and the debuting Rob Van Dam joining Team Hogan and Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Sting joining Team Flair. At Lockdown, Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Ric Flair, Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) in a Lethal Lockdown match.
Immortal (2010–2011)
On the June 17 episode of Impact!, Hogan's alliance with Abyss came to an abrupt end when Abyss turned heel. Abyss later claimed that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. The next month, Hogan worked with Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Hogan and Bischoff were up to something. During this time, Abyss went on a rampage, attacking Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and eventually put his hands on TNA president Dixie Carter, which led to her signing the paperwork, presented by Bischoff, that would have Abyss fired from TNA following his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory. Hogan was set to wrestle with Jarrett and Joe against Sting, Nash and D'Angelo Dinero at Bound for Glory, but was forced to miss the event due to a back surgery. However, he would make an appearance at the end of the event, and turned heel by helping Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship and aligning himself with Hardy, Bischoff, Abyss and Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact!, it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. During his absence, Hogan underwent a potentially career–ending spinal fusion surgery on December 21, 2010.
Hogan returned to TNA on the March 3, 2011 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of TNA, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter. In April, he began hinting at a possible return to the ring to face the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting. On the May 12 episode of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Hogan lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Hogan and Bischoff took over the company; however, this angle was cut short just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion. During the following months, Hogan continued to interfere in Sting's matches, costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship first at Hardcore Justice, recruiting Kurt Angle to Immortal in the process, on the September 1 episode of Impact Wrestling and finally at No Surrender. On the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting defeated Immortal member Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan at Bound for Glory. On October 4, it was reported that Hogan had signed a contract extension with TNA. After feigning retirement from professional wrestling, Hogan accepted the match at Bound for Glory on the October 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, while also agreeing to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting win the match.
Hogan was defeated by Sting at Bound For Glory, ending his storyline as the president of TNA. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting, but Hogan turned face by turning on Immortal and helping Sting. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan, wearing his trademark yellow and red again, admitted to his mistakes, and put over Sting for winning.
Feud with Aces & Eights (2012–2013)
During TNA's 2012 UK tour, on January 26 and 27, Hogan returned to the ring at house shows in Nottingham and Manchester, where he, James Storm and Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag team main event at both events, the latter of which was Hogan's final match. Hogan returned to Impact Wrestling on February 2, when he was revealed as Garett Bischoff's trainer. On the March 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan returned and accepted Sting's offer to replace him as the new General Manager.
In July, Hogan, alongside Sting, began feuding with a mysterious group of masked men, who had dubbed themselves the "Aces & Eights". The group's attack on Hogan on the July 12 episode of Impact Wrestling was used to write Hogan off television as he was set to undergo another back surgery.
In November, Hogan moved into a storyline with Bully Ray after Austin Aries revealed a secret relationship between Ray and Hogan's daughter Brooke. After seeing them kissing in a parking garage on the December 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan suspended Ray indefinitely. The following week on Impact Wrestling, after Ray saved Brooke from a kidnapping by the Aces & Eights, Brooke accepted his marriage proposal. Despite Hogan's disapproval, he still walked Brooke down the aisle for her wedding on the next episode of Impact Wrestling, during which Ray's groomsmen Taz interrupted and revealed himself as a member of the Aces & Eights, leading the group to attack Hogan, Ray, and the rest of the groomsmen.
On the January 31 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan reinstated Ray so he could take on the Aces & Eights. Hogan named Ray the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling. However, at Lockdown, Ray betrayed Hogan, after Aces & Eights helped him win the title, and he revealed himself as the President of the Aces & Eights. Following Lockdown, Hogan blamed Sting for Ray winning the title as it was Sting who encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot. Sting returned and saved Hogan from an attack by Aces & Eights on the April 25 episode of Impact Wrestling. The following week on Impact Wrestling, Hogan and Sting managed to reconcile their differences. On the October 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan refused an offer from Dixie Carter to become her business partner and quit; this was done to officially write Hogan off, as a result of his contract expiring with TNA.
Fourth return to WWE (2014–2015)
On February 24, 2014 on Raw, Hogan made his first WWE in-ring appearance since December 2007 to hype the WWE Network. On the March 24 episode of Raw, Hogan came out to introduce the guest appearances of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello; this was to promote the guests' new movie Sabotage.
At WrestleMania XXX in April, Hogan served as the host, coming out at the start of the show to hype up the crowd. During his promo, he mistakenly referred to the Superdome, the venue the event was being held at, as the Silverdome, which became the subject of jokes throughout the night. Hogan was later joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and they finished their promo by drinking beer together in the ring. Later in the show, Hogan shared a moment with Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper, with whom he main-evented the first WrestleMania.
On February 27, 2015, Hogan was honored at Madison Square Garden during a WWE live event dubbed "Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night" with a special commemorative banner hanging from the rafters, honoring his wrestling career and historic matches he had in the arena.
On the March 23 episode of Raw, Hogan along with Snoop Dogg confronted Curtis Axel – who at the time had been "borrowing" Hogan's Hulkamania gimmick with Axel referring to himself as "AxelMania". On March 28, the night before WrestleMania, Hogan posthumously inducted longtime partner and rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015. The next night at WrestleMania 31, Hogan reunited with Hall and Nash to reform the nWo, appearing in Sting's corner in his match against Triple H, who himself was joined by D-Generation X members Billy Gunn, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Shawn Michaels.
Scandal and departure
In July 2015, National Enquirer and Radar Online publicized an anti-black rant made by Hogan on a leaked sex tape recorded in 2007. In the recording, he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter dating a black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur "nigger." Hogan also admitted to being "a racist, to a point."
Once the recordings went public erupting in a media scandal, Hogan apologized for the remarks, which he said is "language that is offensive and inconsistent with [his] own beliefs." Three black wrestlers who worked in the WWF and WCW with Hogan made supportive comments. Virgil commented "Hogan has never given me a reason to believe he is a racist" while Dennis Rodman said he "most certainly is not a racist" and Kamala added "I do not think Hogan meant harm by saying that. Hogan is my brother until he decides not to be." Black wrestlers working in the WWE made different comments. Mark Henry said he was pleased by WWE's "no tolerance approach to racism" response, and that he was hurt and offended by Hogan's manner and tone. Booker T said he was shocked and called the statements unfortunate.
On July 24, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are "committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds," although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed almost all references to Hogan from their website, including his listing as a judge for Tough Enough, his merchandise from WWE Shop, and his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page (however, he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016). His DLC appearance from WWE 2K15 was taken down from sale, and his character was cut from then upcoming WWE 2K16 game during development.
In response to the controversy, Mattel stopped producing Hogan action figures, while Hogan's merchandise was taken down from online stores of Target, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart. On July 28, Radar Online reported that Hogan had also used homophobic slurs on the leaked sex tape. Days later, it was reported that Hogan had used racist language in a 2008 call to his then-imprisoned son, Nick, and also said that he hoped they would not be reincarnated as black males.
Hogan gave an interview with ABC on August 31 in which he pleaded forgiveness for his racist comments, attributing these to a racial bias inherited from his neighborhood while growing up. Hogan claimed that the term "nigger" was used liberally among friends in Tampa; however, former neighbors have disputed this claim.
In the time that followed, numerous African-Americans expressed some level of support for Hogan including: The Rock, Dennis Rodman, Booker T, Kamala, Virgil, Mark Henry, Big E, and D'Angelo Dinero, who stressed his forgiveness of Hogan, whom he saw as having made a "positive mark on humanity" for over three decades.
Fifth return to WWE (2018–present)
On July 15, 2018, Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame. Later that same night, he was invited backstage to WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event and was briefly mentioned on the event's kickoff show. Hogan made his on-screen return on November 2, 2018, as the host of Crown Jewel. Hogan next appeared on the January 7, 2019 episode of Raw to present a tribute to his longtime friend and colleague Mean Gene Okerlund, who had died five days prior. It was the first time Hogan had appeared in a WWE ring in North America since his 2015 firing. Hogan subsequently appeared on a WWE Network special where he spoke further of his relationship with Okerlund.
Hogan inducted his Mega-Maniacs tag team partner and longtime friend Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019. The following night at WrestleMania 35, he made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the show alongside WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss, welcoming fans to the event and parodying his gaffe from WrestleMania XXX, when he incorrectly referred to the Superdome as the Silverdome. On the June 17, 2019, Raw, WWE aired a Hogan interview about the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team. On the July 22, 2019, Raw, Hogan appeared as part of the "Raw Reunion" special. Hogan was one of the speakers during the "Toast to Raw" segment along with Steve Austin. On September 30, 2019 episode of Raw, he and Ric Flair unveiled a 10 man tag team match, for Crown Jewel. Hogan and Flair made multiple appearances on shows with their teams leading up to the event, which saw Hogan manage his team to victory.
Hogan made it public knowledge that he hoped to have one more match in the WWE, including during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Hogan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time as a member of the New World Order, together with fellow former nWo stablemates Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
Hogan made his only appearance of 2020 on WWE's non-WWE Network programming when he appeared via satellite on the February 14, 2020 episode of Smackdown to speak about the Hall of Fame. He was interrupted by Bray Wyatt, as Hogan warned him about his upcoming match with Goldberg. The 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony was subsequently delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aired on April 6, 2021.
Hogan made his first appearance of 2021 on the January 4 episode of Raw, which was a special Legends Night episode. He opened the show introducing the 'H-Phone,' his spin on an iPhone. He appeared in a backstage segment with Jimmy Hart, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, where he gave his approval to McIntyre, the current WWE Champion. He also watched the championship main event match between McIntyre and Keith Lee on-stage with the rest of the guest legends. It was confirmed on the March 19, 2021, episode of WWE SmackDown he would be the co-host of WrestleMania 37 alongside Titus O'Neil.
Hogan opened both nights of WrestleMania 37 with O'Neil, appeared in multiple segments with Bayley, which led to a return of the Bella Twins, and was introduced during the Hall of Fame celebration with Nash, Hall and Waltman.
Endorsements and business ventures
Food industry
Hogan created and financed a restaurant called Pastamania located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It opened on the Labor Day weekend of 1995 and was heavily promoted on World Championship Wrestling's live show Monday Nitro. The restaurant, which remained in operation for less than a year, featured such dishes as "Hulk-U's" and "Hulk-A-Roos".
In interviews on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Bollea claimed that the opportunity to endorse what came to be known as the George Foreman Grill was originally offered to him, but when he failed to respond in time, Foreman endorsed the grill instead. Instead, Bollea endorsed a blender, known as the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer. He has since endorsed a grill known as "The Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill".
In 2006, Bollea unveiled Hogan Energy, a drink distributed by Socko Energy. His name and likeness were also applied to a line of microwavable hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches sold at Wal-Mart called "Hulkster Burgers". On November 1, 2011, Bollea launched a new website called Hogan Nutrition, which features many nutritional and dietary products.
On New Year's Eve 2012, Bollea opened a beachfront restaurant called "Hogan's Beach", located in the Tampa area. The restaurant dropped Hogan's name in October 2015. Hogan later opened Hogan's Hangout in Clearwater Beach.
Finances
In September 2008, Bollea's net worth was revealed to be around $30 million. In September 2011, Bollea revealed that his lavish lifestyle and divorce had cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly bankrupted him.
Other
In October 2007, Bollea transferred all trademarks referring to himself to his liability company named "Hogan Holdings Limited". The trademarks include Hulk Hogan, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, and Hulkapedia.com.
In April 2008, Bollea announced that he would lend his license to video game developer Gameloft to create "Hulkamania Wrestling" for mobile phones. Hogan stated in a press release that the game would be "true to [his] experiences in wrestling" and use his classic wrestling moves like the Doublehand Choke Lift and Strong Clothesline. , Hogan stars alongside Troy Aikman in commercials for Rent-A-Center. On March 24, 2011, Hogan made a special appearance on American Idol, giving a big surprise to wrestling fans Paul McDonald and James Durbin. On October 15, 2010, Endemol Games UK (a subsidiary of media production group Endemol UK) announced a partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment to produce "Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania", an online gambling game featuring video footage of Hogan.
In October 2013, Bollea partnered with Tech Assets, Inc. to open a web hosting service called "Hostamania". To promote the service, a commercial video was released, featuring Hogan parodying Jean-Claude Van Damme's GoDaddy.com commercials and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video. On November 21, 2013, Hulk Hogan and GoDaddy.com appeared together on a live Hangout On Air on Google Plus, where Hulk Hogan had a casual conversation about Hostamania, fans, and business.
Hogan became a distributor for multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences after looking for business opportunities outside of wrestling. Hogan supports the American Diabetes Association.
Other media
Acting
Hogan's crossover popularity led to several television and movie roles. Early in his career Bollea played the part of Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982). He also appeared in No Holds Barred (1989), before starring in family films Suburban Commando (1991), Mr. Nanny (1993), Santa with Muscles (1996), and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998). Hogan also appeared in 1992 commercials for Right Guard deodorant. He starred in his own television series, Thunder in Paradise, in 1994. He is the star of The Ultimate Weapon (1997), in which Brutus Beefcake also appears in a cameo.
Bollea also starred in a pair of television movies, originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series for TNT, produced by Eric Bischoff. The movies, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island and Shadow Warriors: Hunt for The Death Merchant, starred Hogan alongside Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed as a freelance mercenary team. In 1995, he appeared on TBN's Kids Against Crime. Bollea made cameo appearances in Muppets from Space, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (the theatrical cut) and Spy Hard as himself. Hogan also played the role of Zeus in Little Hercules in 3D. Hogan also made two appearances on The A-Team (in 1985 and 1986), along with Roddy Piper. He also appeared on Suddenly Susan in 1999. In 2001, Hogan guest-starred on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Hogan has become a busy voice actor in later years making guest voice spots on Robot Chicken and American Dad! and as a primary actor in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series China, Illinois.
Reality television and hosting
On July 10, 2005, VH1 premiered Hogan Knows Best a reality show which centered around Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. In July 2008, a spin-off entitled Brooke Knows Best premiered, which focused primarily on Hogan's daughter Brooke.
Bollea hosted the comeback series of American Gladiators on NBC in 2008. He also hosted and judged the short-lived reality show, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Hogan had a special titled Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E on November 17, 2010.
In 2015, Hogan was a judge on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Paige and Daniel Bryan, but due to the scandal, he was replaced by The Miz after episode 5.
Music and radio
Bollea released a music CD, Hulk Rules, as Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Band. Also, Green Jellÿ released a single, a duet with Hogan, performing Gary Glitter's classic song "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)". He has also made cameos in several music videos. From her self-named show, Dolly the music video for Dolly Parton's wrestling-themed love song "Headlock on my Heart" features Hogan as "Starlight Starbright". In the music video "Pressure" by Belly ft. Ginuwine, Bollea and his daughter Brooke both made brief cameo appearances.
Bollea was a regular guest on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show. He also served as the best man at Bubba's January 2007 wedding. On March 12, 2010, Bollea hosted his own radio show, titled Hogan Uncensored, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101.
Merchandising
The Wrestling Figure Checklist records Bollea as having 171 different action figures, produced between the 1980s and 2010s from numerous manufacturers and promotions.
Video games
Bollea provided his voice for the 2011 game Saints Row: The Third as Angel de la Muerte, a member of the Saints. In October 2011, he released a video game called Hulk Hogan's Main Event.
A likeness of him, as Rex Kwan-Do, is featured as a playable police officer in This Is The Police.
Hulk Hogan and Hollywood Hogan are featured in the following licensed wrestling video games:
Filmography
Personal life
Legal issues
Belzer lawsuit
On March 27, 1985, just days prior to the inaugural WrestleMania, Richard Belzer requested on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties that Hogan demonstrate one of his signature wrestling moves. After consistently refusing but being egged on by Belzer, Hogan put Belzer in a modified Guillotine choke, which caused Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to the scalp that required a brief hospitalization. Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and later settled out of court. On October 20, 2006, on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show, it was claimed (with Hogan in the studio) that the settlement totaled $5 million, half from Hogan and half from Vince McMahon. During his June 23, 2008, appearance on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show, Belzer suggested that the real settlement amount was actually closer to $400,000.
Testimony in McMahon trial
In 1994, Hogan, having received immunity from prosecution, testified in the trial of Vince McMahon relating to shipments of steroids received by both parties from WWF physician George T. Zahorian. Under oath, Hogan admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain size and weight, but that McMahon had neither sold him the drugs nor ordered him to take them. The evidence given by Hogan proved extremely costly to the government's case against McMahon. Due to this and jurisdictional issues, McMahon was found not guilty.
Gawker lawsuit
In April 2012, a sex tape between Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, emerged online. On October 4, 2012, Gawker released a short clip of the video. In the video, Bubba can be heard saying that the couple can "do their thing" and he will be in his office. At the end of the video, he can also be heard telling Heather, "If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket". Hogan later told Howard Stern on his satellite radio show that, "it was a bad choice and a very low point" and "I was with some friends and made a wrong choice. It has devastated me, I have never been this hurt". On October 15, 2012, Hogan filed a lawsuit against Bubba and Heather Clem for invading his privacy. A settlement with Bubba was announced on October 29, 2012. Afterwards, Clem publicly apologized to Hogan. In December 2012, a federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, found that Gawker's publication of the video snippet did not violate U.S. copyright law. Hogan then joined Gawker in the ongoing action against Heather Clem in state court in Florida, alleging invasion of privacy, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeking $100 million in damages.
On October 1, 2015, the New York Post reported that a Florida Judge granted Hogan access to Gawker's computer system for a forensic expert to search Gawker's computers and office.
Hogan sued Gawker for $100 million for defamation, loss of privacy, and emotional pain, and on March 18, 2016, was awarded $115 million. Also, on August 11, 2016, a Florida judge gave Hogan control of the assets of A.J. Daulerio, former Gawker editor-in-chief, who was involved in the posting of Hogan's sex tape.
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped Hogan to finance his lawsuit against Gawker Media.
On November 2, 2016, Gawker reached a $31 million settlement with Bollea.
Family
On December 18, 1983, Bollea married Linda Claridge. They have a daughter Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son Nick (born July 27, 1990). Bollea made his personal life the centerpiece of the television show Hogan Knows Best, which included his wife and two children.
According to an interview in the National Enquirer, Christiane Plante claimed that Bollea had an affair with her in 2007 while the Hogan family was shooting Hogan Knows Best. Plante was 33 years old at the time and had worked with Brooke Hogan on her 2006 album.
On November 20, 2007, Linda filed for divorce in Pinellas County, Florida. In November 2008, Linda claimed to the public that she made the decision to end her marriage after finding out about Hogan's affair. In his 2009 autobiography, Hogan acknowledged that Linda on numerous occasions suspected he was having infidelities whenever he developed friendships with other women, but denied allegations that he ever cheated on her. Bollea only retained around 30% of the couple's liquid assets totaling around $10 million in the divorce settlement. Hogan considered committing suicide after the divorce and credits Laila Ali, his co-star on American Gladiators, with preventing him from doing so.
Bollea has been in a relationship with Jennifer McDaniel since early 2008. The two were engaged in November 2009 and married on December 14, 2010, in Clearwater, Florida.
Bollea is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith in his life saying, "[I've] leaned on my religion. I was saved when I was 14. I accepted Christ as my savior. He died on the cross and paid for my sins ... I could have went the wrong way. I could have self-destructed, but I took the high road".
Health
Bollea has suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back since retiring as a wrestler following the years of heavy weight-training and jolting as a wrestler.
In January 2013, Bollea filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Laser Spine Institute for $50 million, citing that the medical firm persuaded him to undergo a half-dozen "unnecessary and ineffective" spinal operations that worsened his back problems. He claimed that the six procedures he underwent over a period of 19 months only gave him short-term relief. After the procedures failed to cure his back problems, Bollea underwent traditional spinal fusion surgery in December 2010, which enabled him to return to his professional activities. In addition, the Laser Spine Institute used his name on their advertisements without his permission.
Legacy
Hogan has been described as one of the largest attractions in professional wrestling history and a major reason why Vince McMahon's expansion of his promotion worked. Wrestling historian and journalist Dave Meltzer stated that "...You can't possibly overrate his significance in the history of the business. And he sold more tickets to wrestling shows than any man who ever lived".
On February 20, 2019, it was announced that Chris Hemsworth would portray him in a biopic, directed by Todd Phillips.
Awards and honors
Bollea was honored as the 2008 King of the Krewe of Bacchus, a New Orleans carnival organization. Hogan visited the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and rode in the parade where he threw doubloons with his likeness. Hogan received the honor in part because meeting Hogan is one of the most requested "wishes" of the terminally ill children benefited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Hogan was inducted in the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018.
Championships and accomplishments
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Heavyweight Championship (original version) (1 time)
IWGP League Tournament (1983)
MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983) with Antonio Inoki
Greatest 18 Club inductee
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2003
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
Match of the Year (1985)
Match of the Year (1988)
Match of the Year (1990)
Match of the Year (2002)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
Ranked No. 44 and No. 57 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Antonio Inoki and Randy Savage in 2003
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)
Tokyo Sports
Best Foreigner Award (1983)
Match of the Year (1991)
World Championship Wrestling
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWF/WWE Championship (6 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Edge
Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2005 – individually
Class of 2020 – as a member of the New World Order
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Strongest Wrestler (1983)
Best Babyface (1982–1991)
Best Box Office Draw (1997)
Best Gimmick (1996)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Feud of the Year (1996)
Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000)
Most Obnoxious (1994, 1995)
Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1994–1998)
Most Unimproved (1994, 1995)
Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
Worst Feud of the Year (1991)
Worst Feud of the Year (1995)
Worst Feud of the Year (1998)
Worst Feud of the Year (2000)
Worst on Interviews (1995)
Worst Wrestler (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame profile
TNA Impact Wrestling profile (archived)
1953 births
20th-century American bass guitarists
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American rappers
Actors from Pinellas County, Florida
American autobiographers
American Christians
American food industry businesspeople
American lyricists
American male bass guitarists
American male film actors
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male professional wrestlers
American male non-fiction writers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American musicians of Panamanian descent
American people of French descent
American people of Panamanian descent
American people of Scottish descent
American professional wrestlers of Italian descent
American radio personalities
American rock bass guitarists
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American session musicians
American sportspeople of Italian descent
American sportspeople of Panamanian descent
American television hosts
American writers of Italian descent
Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state)
Businesspeople from Miami
Businesspeople from Tampa, Florida
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Guitarists from Florida
Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Impact Wrestling executives
Living people
Male actors from Georgia (U.S. state)
Male actors from Miami
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Masked wrestlers
Musicians from Augusta, Georgia
Musicians from Miami
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People associated with direct selling
Professional wrestlers from Florida
Professional wrestlers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Radio personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
Radio personalities from Miami
Radio personalities from Tampa, Florida
Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Rappers from Miami
Record producers from Florida
Record producers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
Sportspeople from Augusta, Georgia
Sportspeople from Clearwater, Florida
Sportspeople from Miami
Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Television personalities from Florida
Television personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
Television producers from Florida
Television producers from Georgia (U.S. state)
The New World Order (professional wrestling) members
University of South Florida alumni
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
Writers from Augusta, Georgia
Writers from Miami
Writers from Tampa, Florida
WWE Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees | 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"
]
|
[
"Hulk Hogan",
"Third return to WWE (2005-2007)",
"Why did Hogan return to WWE?",
"At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The",
"How did he rescue him?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana."
]
| C_f7eadf2761b540508879af06e19db632_0 | What did Hogan do in 2006? | 4 | Aside from the Eugene hi jinks what else did Hogan do in 2006? | Hulk Hogan | On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels. Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd. Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on the July 15 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. CANNOTANSWER | Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. | Terry Eugene Bollea (, born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s.
Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. There, his persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of WWF's flagship annual event, WrestleMania. During his initial run, he won the WWF Championship five times, with his first reign holding the record for the second-longest. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991.
In 1993, Hogan departed the WWF to sign for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest reign. In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable. As a result, he became a major figure during the "Monday Night Wars", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times, including the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.
Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning the Undisputed WWF Championship for a record equaling (for the year) sixth time before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.
Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) - where he won the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship - and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA - now known as Impact Wrestling).
During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in Rocky III. He has starred in several films (including No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny) and three television shows (Hogan Knows Best, Thunder in Paradise, and China, IL), as well as in Right Guard commercials and the video game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event. He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules, reached 12 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio chart in 1995.
Early life
Terry Eugene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) of Italian descent and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. (née Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011) Bollea of Scottish and French descent. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida. As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He attracted scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury ended his baseball career. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes, and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention towards Superstar Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.
Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, Hogan decided to drop out of the University of South Florida before receiving a degree. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco, two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region.
Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)to make him a potential trainee. In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, however, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. However, after Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1977–1979)
In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in CWF. A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers.
Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and decided to open a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.
Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique; Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.
In Alabama, Bollea and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Leslie were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.
During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.
On December 1, 1979, Bollea won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bollea would drop the title in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong. Bollea briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.
World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980)
Later that year, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Hogan wrestled his first match in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on November 17 defeating Harry Valdez on Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug. After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor that he would end up repaying during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1980–1985)
In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used the Axe Bomber, a crooked arm lariat, as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and the first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship, that is defended regularly.
Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in a championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship.
American Wrestling Association (1981–1983)
After filming his scene for Rocky III against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last for long as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel.
Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at the end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell, after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans, began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save; however, Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel.
Return to WWF (1983–1993)
Rise of Hulkamania (1983–1984)
After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.
On the January 7, 1984 episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden. The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).
Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.
In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to a quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of the earnings, if Titan held no interest). This would also extend to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics. (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) 1988's Marvel Comics Presents #45, a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name."
International renown (1985–1988)
Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in the back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On Saturday Night's Main Event I, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification.
Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated (the first and , only professional wrestler to do so), TV Guide, and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
On Saturday Night's Main Event II, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.
In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick "Super Strong Machine". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.
The Mega Powers (1988–1989)
Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the title to André on The Main Event I after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.
Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André the Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam. They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers: Akeem and Big Boss Man.
In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at a Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series Are You Serious? in 2012.
The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989, the duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on The Main Event II, when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage, who slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V.
Final WWF Championship reigns (1989–1993)
Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in a steel cage match on the Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, which was aired on May 27. In May on WWF on NESN, Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII saw the title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie No Holds Barred, which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was "jealous" over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). However, Hogan was easily able to defeat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus would later meet at the Survivor Series, where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect before Zeus then dominated Hogan until Zeus was disqualified by referee Dave Hebner. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view First WWF UK Event at London Arena. During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match, before dropping the title to then Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.
Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam, and he for several months dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment – believing in yourself, and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The feud remained unresolved, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series, and he won it back at This Tuesday in Texas six days later. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match, but Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Flair the winner and new champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX against Flair and Undertaker, but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.
At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs, taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hogan went into the match sporting a cut above a black eye. The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying a group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.
At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion Yokozuna in his first title defense since defeating him at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop. This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.
Return to NJPW (1993–1994)
On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)
World Heavyweight Champion (1994–1996)
Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund-who was now a WCW employee- would visit him on the set of Thunder in Paradise episodes. Hype afterwards was building over whether Hogan should remain with Thunder in Paradise or instead join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair. On the May 28, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night, Hogan torn up his Thunder in Paradise contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued a telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios. The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach. Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on the Clash of the Champions XXVIII, thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee) that Hogan won.
After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade (Starrcade: Triple Threat) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader, who challenged him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V, where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored. Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach, where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on Nitro in September 1995. The October 9, 1995 broadcast of Nitro was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom, which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting) won. Hogan's fifteen-month title reign (which is the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in the title history at 469 days) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification.
Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III, where The Giant cost Hogan the title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI, where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.
New World Order (1996–1999)
At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.
On the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission. Five days later at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on Nitro, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. Savage took the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever bat match.
Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night on Nitro for the world title. In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and hit a powerbomb on Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night, but Bret Hart interfered moments later and jumped in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions – Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac that feuded with each other for the remainder of the year. Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches: his second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach, and at Road Wild he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks. Hogan also had a critically panned rematch with The Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.
On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. Campaign footage aired on Nitro of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. In the long run, however, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt attempting to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him. After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999, episode of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Hogan won for the fifth time, but many people found the title change to be "scandalous". As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.
Final years in WCW (1999–2000)
Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a steel cage First Blood match. Later, Hogan was severely injured in a Texas tornado match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship featuring him, Diamond Dallas Page, Flair, and Sting at Spring Stampede On the July 12 episode of Nitro, Hogan made his return as a face for the first time in three years and accepted an open challenge from Savage, who had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash turned on him the next week, and the two began a feud that lasted until Road Wild.
On August 9, 1999, Hogan started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main event six-man tag team match. Hogan then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Injuries and frustrations were mounting up however, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan came to the ring in street clothes, lay down for the pin, and left the ring.
Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial work with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Before the match, there was a backstage dispute between Hogan and Russo; Hogan wanted to take the title, but Russo was going to have Jarrett win, and lose it to Booker T. Russo told Hogan that he was going to have Jarrett lie down for him, simulating a real conflict, although Jarrett was not told it was a work. When the bell rang, Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring while Russo threw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt in the ring and yelled at Hogan from ringside to pin Jarrett. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" After winning and being announced as the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan immediately took the WCW title belt. Moments later, Russo returned to the ring, angrily proclaiming this would be the last time fans would ever see "that piece of shit" in a WCW stadium. This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan was able to control what would happen with his own character and be able to do so without anyone else being able to tell him no. In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!". Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jarrett later that night.
As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after, which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot. Eric Bischoff agreed with Hogan's side of the story when he wrote that Hogan winning and leaving with the belt was a work (devised by Bischoff rather than Russo), and that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the success of the angle, but that Russo coming out to fire Hogan was an unplanned shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan. It was the last time he was seen in WCW.
Post-WCW endeavors (2001)
In the months following the eventual demise of WCW in March 2001, Hogan underwent surgery on his knees in order for him to wrestle again. As a test, Hogan worked a match in Orlando, Florida for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotion run by his longtime handler Jimmy Hart. Hogan defeated Curt Hennig in this match and felt healthy enough to accept an offer to return to the WWF in February 2002.
Second return to WWF/WWE (2002–2003)
At No Way Out in February 2002, Hogan returned to the WWF as a heel. Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event. The nWo feuded with both Austin and The Rock, and Hogan accepted The Rock's challenge to a match at WrestleMania X8, where Hogan asked Hall and Nash not to interfere, wanting to defeat The Rock by himself. Despite the fact that Hogan was supposed to be the heel in the match, the crowd cheered for him heavily. The Rock cleanly won the contest, and befriended Hogan at the end of the bout and helped him fight off Hall and Nash, who were upset by Hogan's conciliatory attitude. After the match, Hogan turned face by siding with The Rock, though he continued wearing black and white tights for a few weeks after WrestleMania X8 until he resumed wearing his signature red and yellow tights. During this period, the "Hulk Rules" logo of the 1980s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules", and Hogan also wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire twelve years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania VI at the same arena, in the SkyDome. For a time, he was still known as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, notably keeping the Hollywood Hogan style blond mustache with black beard while wearing Hulkamania-like red and yellow tights and using the "Voodoo Child" entrance theme music he used in WCW. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan feuded with Triple H and defeated him for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash, thus becoming the last ever WWF Champion before the initials dispute against the World Wildlife Fund.
On May 19 at Judgment Day, Hogan lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to The Undertaker. After losing a number one contender match for the WWE Undisputed Championship to Triple H on the June 6 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan began feuding with Kurt Angle resulting in a match between the two at the King of the Ring, which Angle won by submission. On the July 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE Tag Team Championship for the first time. They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan's theme song "Real American". They later lost the titles to The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at Vengeance. In August 2002, Hogan was used in an angle with Brock Lesnar, culminating in a main event singles match on the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, which Lesnar won by technical submission (the match was called after Hogan became unconscious from a bear hug hold). Lesnar became only the second WWE wrestler to defeat Hogan by submission (after Kurt Angle), and the first to defeat Hogan by having the match called. Following the match, Lesnar continued to beat on Hogan, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the ring.
As a result of Lesnar's assault, Hogan went on hiatus and was not able to return until early 2003, shaving off his black beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name in his return. Hogan battled The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out and lost and defeated Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a street fight billed as "twenty years in the making". After WrestleMania, he had a run as the masked Mr. America, who was supposed to be Hogan in disguise, wearing a mask. He used Hogan's "Real American" as an entrance theme and all of Hogan's signature gestures, moves, and phrases. He was the subject of a storyline that took place after Hogan was forced by Mr. McMahon to sit out the rest of his contract. A WWE pre-debut push took place with mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown!. There was also on-screen discussion on SmackDown! between then General Manager Stephanie McMahon and other players concerning her hiring Mr. America "sight unseen". On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). The feud continued through the month of May, with a singles match between Mr. America and Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper at Judgment Day, a match Mr. America won.
Mr. America's last WWE appearance was on the June 26 episode of SmackDown! when Big Show and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) defeated Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Mr. America in a six-man tag team match. After the show went off the air, Mr. America unmasked to show the fans that he was indeed Hogan, putting his finger to his lips telling the fans to keep quiet about his secret. The next week, Hogan quit WWE due to frustration with the creative team. On the July 3 episode of SmackDown!, McMahon showed the footage of Mr. America unmasking as Hogan and "fired" him, although Hogan had already quit in real life. It was later revealed that Hogan was unhappy with the payoffs for his matches after his comeback under the Mr. America gimmick. McMahon decided to terminate Hogan's contract and Hogan left WWE in 2003.
Second return to NJPW (2003)
Hogan returned to NJPW in October 2003, when he defeated Masahiro Chono at Ultimate Crush II in the Tokyo Dome.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)
Shortly after Hogan left WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) began making overtures to Hogan, culminating in Jeff Jarrett, co-founder of TNA and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion, launching an on-air attack on Hogan in Japan in October 2003. The attack was supposed to be a precursor to Hogan battling Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view. However, due to recurring knee and hip problems, Hogan did not appear in TNA. Still, the incident has been shown several times on TNA broadcasts, and was included in the TNA DVD TNA's Fifty Greatest Moments.
Third return to WWE (2005–2007)
On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels.
Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd.
Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.
Memphis Wrestling (2007–2008)
After a brief fall out with McMahon and WWE, Hogan was lured to Memphis Wrestling with the proposal of wrestling Jerry Lawler. The match had been promoted on Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. On April 12, 2007, however, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC performers (including Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC-owned USA Network's Raw and his appearances on the biannual WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best airs. The situation resulted in a lawsuit being filed against WWE by event promoter Corey Maclin. Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight. Hogan defeated Wight at Memphis Wrestling's PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007 when he picked up and hit a body slam on Wight before pinning him following his signature running leg drop.
Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin (2009)
On November 21, 24, 26 and 28, Hogan performed with a group of wrestlers including Spartan-3000, Heidenreich, Eugene, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Orlando Jordan across Australia in a tour titled Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin. The main event of each show was a rematch between Hogan and Ric Flair – the wrestler who defeated Hogan more times than any other. Hogan defeated Flair in all four matches.
Return to TNA (2009–2013)
Dixie Carter's business partner (2009–2010)
On October 27, 2009, it was announced that Hogan had signed a contract to join TNA on a full-time basis. The footage of his signing and the press conference at Madison Square Garden following it were featured on the October 29 episode of Impact!.
On December 5, 2009, Hogan announced on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s The Ultimate Fighter that he would be making his official TNA debut on January 4, 2010, in a special live three-hour Monday night episode of Impact! to compete with WWE's Raw (which featured the return of Bret Hart).
On the January 4 episode of Impact!, Hogan debuted, reuniting briefly with former nWo partners Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman, the latter two of whom made their returns to the company. He, however, refused to join them for a full-fledged reunion of their group claiming, "it's a different time", and stuck to his business relations with Bischoff, who made his appearance to declare that, the two of them would "flip the company upside down" and everyone would have to earn their spot. Hogan also encountered TNA founder Jeff Jarrett on the broadcast, appearing via video wall and interrupting Jarrett's company success speech, stating that Carter was instrumental to the company's survival, and that just like the rest, Jarrett would have to (kayfabe) earn his spot in TNA.
On the February 18 episode of Impact!, Hogan took Abyss under his wing, and during this sequence, gave him his Hall of Fame ring and claimed it would make him a "god of wrestling". Hogan made his in-ring return on March 8, teaming with Abyss to defeat A.J. Styles and Ric Flair when Abyss scored a pinfall over Styles. Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Hogan and Abyss from a beat down at the hands of Styles, Flair and Desmond Wolfe. The storyline became a Team Flair versus Team Hogan situation, with Jarrett and the debuting Rob Van Dam joining Team Hogan and Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Sting joining Team Flair. At Lockdown, Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Ric Flair, Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) in a Lethal Lockdown match.
Immortal (2010–2011)
On the June 17 episode of Impact!, Hogan's alliance with Abyss came to an abrupt end when Abyss turned heel. Abyss later claimed that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. The next month, Hogan worked with Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Hogan and Bischoff were up to something. During this time, Abyss went on a rampage, attacking Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and eventually put his hands on TNA president Dixie Carter, which led to her signing the paperwork, presented by Bischoff, that would have Abyss fired from TNA following his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory. Hogan was set to wrestle with Jarrett and Joe against Sting, Nash and D'Angelo Dinero at Bound for Glory, but was forced to miss the event due to a back surgery. However, he would make an appearance at the end of the event, and turned heel by helping Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship and aligning himself with Hardy, Bischoff, Abyss and Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact!, it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. During his absence, Hogan underwent a potentially career–ending spinal fusion surgery on December 21, 2010.
Hogan returned to TNA on the March 3, 2011 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of TNA, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter. In April, he began hinting at a possible return to the ring to face the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting. On the May 12 episode of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Hogan lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Hogan and Bischoff took over the company; however, this angle was cut short just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion. During the following months, Hogan continued to interfere in Sting's matches, costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship first at Hardcore Justice, recruiting Kurt Angle to Immortal in the process, on the September 1 episode of Impact Wrestling and finally at No Surrender. On the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting defeated Immortal member Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan at Bound for Glory. On October 4, it was reported that Hogan had signed a contract extension with TNA. After feigning retirement from professional wrestling, Hogan accepted the match at Bound for Glory on the October 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, while also agreeing to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting win the match.
Hogan was defeated by Sting at Bound For Glory, ending his storyline as the president of TNA. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting, but Hogan turned face by turning on Immortal and helping Sting. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan, wearing his trademark yellow and red again, admitted to his mistakes, and put over Sting for winning.
Feud with Aces & Eights (2012–2013)
During TNA's 2012 UK tour, on January 26 and 27, Hogan returned to the ring at house shows in Nottingham and Manchester, where he, James Storm and Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag team main event at both events, the latter of which was Hogan's final match. Hogan returned to Impact Wrestling on February 2, when he was revealed as Garett Bischoff's trainer. On the March 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan returned and accepted Sting's offer to replace him as the new General Manager.
In July, Hogan, alongside Sting, began feuding with a mysterious group of masked men, who had dubbed themselves the "Aces & Eights". The group's attack on Hogan on the July 12 episode of Impact Wrestling was used to write Hogan off television as he was set to undergo another back surgery.
In November, Hogan moved into a storyline with Bully Ray after Austin Aries revealed a secret relationship between Ray and Hogan's daughter Brooke. After seeing them kissing in a parking garage on the December 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan suspended Ray indefinitely. The following week on Impact Wrestling, after Ray saved Brooke from a kidnapping by the Aces & Eights, Brooke accepted his marriage proposal. Despite Hogan's disapproval, he still walked Brooke down the aisle for her wedding on the next episode of Impact Wrestling, during which Ray's groomsmen Taz interrupted and revealed himself as a member of the Aces & Eights, leading the group to attack Hogan, Ray, and the rest of the groomsmen.
On the January 31 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan reinstated Ray so he could take on the Aces & Eights. Hogan named Ray the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling. However, at Lockdown, Ray betrayed Hogan, after Aces & Eights helped him win the title, and he revealed himself as the President of the Aces & Eights. Following Lockdown, Hogan blamed Sting for Ray winning the title as it was Sting who encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot. Sting returned and saved Hogan from an attack by Aces & Eights on the April 25 episode of Impact Wrestling. The following week on Impact Wrestling, Hogan and Sting managed to reconcile their differences. On the October 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan refused an offer from Dixie Carter to become her business partner and quit; this was done to officially write Hogan off, as a result of his contract expiring with TNA.
Fourth return to WWE (2014–2015)
On February 24, 2014 on Raw, Hogan made his first WWE in-ring appearance since December 2007 to hype the WWE Network. On the March 24 episode of Raw, Hogan came out to introduce the guest appearances of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello; this was to promote the guests' new movie Sabotage.
At WrestleMania XXX in April, Hogan served as the host, coming out at the start of the show to hype up the crowd. During his promo, he mistakenly referred to the Superdome, the venue the event was being held at, as the Silverdome, which became the subject of jokes throughout the night. Hogan was later joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and they finished their promo by drinking beer together in the ring. Later in the show, Hogan shared a moment with Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper, with whom he main-evented the first WrestleMania.
On February 27, 2015, Hogan was honored at Madison Square Garden during a WWE live event dubbed "Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night" with a special commemorative banner hanging from the rafters, honoring his wrestling career and historic matches he had in the arena.
On the March 23 episode of Raw, Hogan along with Snoop Dogg confronted Curtis Axel – who at the time had been "borrowing" Hogan's Hulkamania gimmick with Axel referring to himself as "AxelMania". On March 28, the night before WrestleMania, Hogan posthumously inducted longtime partner and rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015. The next night at WrestleMania 31, Hogan reunited with Hall and Nash to reform the nWo, appearing in Sting's corner in his match against Triple H, who himself was joined by D-Generation X members Billy Gunn, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Shawn Michaels.
Scandal and departure
In July 2015, National Enquirer and Radar Online publicized an anti-black rant made by Hogan on a leaked sex tape recorded in 2007. In the recording, he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter dating a black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur "nigger." Hogan also admitted to being "a racist, to a point."
Once the recordings went public erupting in a media scandal, Hogan apologized for the remarks, which he said is "language that is offensive and inconsistent with [his] own beliefs." Three black wrestlers who worked in the WWF and WCW with Hogan made supportive comments. Virgil commented "Hogan has never given me a reason to believe he is a racist" while Dennis Rodman said he "most certainly is not a racist" and Kamala added "I do not think Hogan meant harm by saying that. Hogan is my brother until he decides not to be." Black wrestlers working in the WWE made different comments. Mark Henry said he was pleased by WWE's "no tolerance approach to racism" response, and that he was hurt and offended by Hogan's manner and tone. Booker T said he was shocked and called the statements unfortunate.
On July 24, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are "committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds," although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed almost all references to Hogan from their website, including his listing as a judge for Tough Enough, his merchandise from WWE Shop, and his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page (however, he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016). His DLC appearance from WWE 2K15 was taken down from sale, and his character was cut from then upcoming WWE 2K16 game during development.
In response to the controversy, Mattel stopped producing Hogan action figures, while Hogan's merchandise was taken down from online stores of Target, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart. On July 28, Radar Online reported that Hogan had also used homophobic slurs on the leaked sex tape. Days later, it was reported that Hogan had used racist language in a 2008 call to his then-imprisoned son, Nick, and also said that he hoped they would not be reincarnated as black males.
Hogan gave an interview with ABC on August 31 in which he pleaded forgiveness for his racist comments, attributing these to a racial bias inherited from his neighborhood while growing up. Hogan claimed that the term "nigger" was used liberally among friends in Tampa; however, former neighbors have disputed this claim.
In the time that followed, numerous African-Americans expressed some level of support for Hogan including: The Rock, Dennis Rodman, Booker T, Kamala, Virgil, Mark Henry, Big E, and D'Angelo Dinero, who stressed his forgiveness of Hogan, whom he saw as having made a "positive mark on humanity" for over three decades.
Fifth return to WWE (2018–present)
On July 15, 2018, Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame. Later that same night, he was invited backstage to WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event and was briefly mentioned on the event's kickoff show. Hogan made his on-screen return on November 2, 2018, as the host of Crown Jewel. Hogan next appeared on the January 7, 2019 episode of Raw to present a tribute to his longtime friend and colleague Mean Gene Okerlund, who had died five days prior. It was the first time Hogan had appeared in a WWE ring in North America since his 2015 firing. Hogan subsequently appeared on a WWE Network special where he spoke further of his relationship with Okerlund.
Hogan inducted his Mega-Maniacs tag team partner and longtime friend Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019. The following night at WrestleMania 35, he made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the show alongside WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss, welcoming fans to the event and parodying his gaffe from WrestleMania XXX, when he incorrectly referred to the Superdome as the Silverdome. On the June 17, 2019, Raw, WWE aired a Hogan interview about the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team. On the July 22, 2019, Raw, Hogan appeared as part of the "Raw Reunion" special. Hogan was one of the speakers during the "Toast to Raw" segment along with Steve Austin. On September 30, 2019 episode of Raw, he and Ric Flair unveiled a 10 man tag team match, for Crown Jewel. Hogan and Flair made multiple appearances on shows with their teams leading up to the event, which saw Hogan manage his team to victory.
Hogan made it public knowledge that he hoped to have one more match in the WWE, including during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Hogan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time as a member of the New World Order, together with fellow former nWo stablemates Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
Hogan made his only appearance of 2020 on WWE's non-WWE Network programming when he appeared via satellite on the February 14, 2020 episode of Smackdown to speak about the Hall of Fame. He was interrupted by Bray Wyatt, as Hogan warned him about his upcoming match with Goldberg. The 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony was subsequently delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aired on April 6, 2021.
Hogan made his first appearance of 2021 on the January 4 episode of Raw, which was a special Legends Night episode. He opened the show introducing the 'H-Phone,' his spin on an iPhone. He appeared in a backstage segment with Jimmy Hart, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, where he gave his approval to McIntyre, the current WWE Champion. He also watched the championship main event match between McIntyre and Keith Lee on-stage with the rest of the guest legends. It was confirmed on the March 19, 2021, episode of WWE SmackDown he would be the co-host of WrestleMania 37 alongside Titus O'Neil.
Hogan opened both nights of WrestleMania 37 with O'Neil, appeared in multiple segments with Bayley, which led to a return of the Bella Twins, and was introduced during the Hall of Fame celebration with Nash, Hall and Waltman.
Endorsements and business ventures
Food industry
Hogan created and financed a restaurant called Pastamania located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It opened on the Labor Day weekend of 1995 and was heavily promoted on World Championship Wrestling's live show Monday Nitro. The restaurant, which remained in operation for less than a year, featured such dishes as "Hulk-U's" and "Hulk-A-Roos".
In interviews on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Bollea claimed that the opportunity to endorse what came to be known as the George Foreman Grill was originally offered to him, but when he failed to respond in time, Foreman endorsed the grill instead. Instead, Bollea endorsed a blender, known as the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer. He has since endorsed a grill known as "The Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill".
In 2006, Bollea unveiled Hogan Energy, a drink distributed by Socko Energy. His name and likeness were also applied to a line of microwavable hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches sold at Wal-Mart called "Hulkster Burgers". On November 1, 2011, Bollea launched a new website called Hogan Nutrition, which features many nutritional and dietary products.
On New Year's Eve 2012, Bollea opened a beachfront restaurant called "Hogan's Beach", located in the Tampa area. The restaurant dropped Hogan's name in October 2015. Hogan later opened Hogan's Hangout in Clearwater Beach.
Finances
In September 2008, Bollea's net worth was revealed to be around $30 million. In September 2011, Bollea revealed that his lavish lifestyle and divorce had cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly bankrupted him.
Other
In October 2007, Bollea transferred all trademarks referring to himself to his liability company named "Hogan Holdings Limited". The trademarks include Hulk Hogan, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, and Hulkapedia.com.
In April 2008, Bollea announced that he would lend his license to video game developer Gameloft to create "Hulkamania Wrestling" for mobile phones. Hogan stated in a press release that the game would be "true to [his] experiences in wrestling" and use his classic wrestling moves like the Doublehand Choke Lift and Strong Clothesline. , Hogan stars alongside Troy Aikman in commercials for Rent-A-Center. On March 24, 2011, Hogan made a special appearance on American Idol, giving a big surprise to wrestling fans Paul McDonald and James Durbin. On October 15, 2010, Endemol Games UK (a subsidiary of media production group Endemol UK) announced a partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment to produce "Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania", an online gambling game featuring video footage of Hogan.
In October 2013, Bollea partnered with Tech Assets, Inc. to open a web hosting service called "Hostamania". To promote the service, a commercial video was released, featuring Hogan parodying Jean-Claude Van Damme's GoDaddy.com commercials and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video. On November 21, 2013, Hulk Hogan and GoDaddy.com appeared together on a live Hangout On Air on Google Plus, where Hulk Hogan had a casual conversation about Hostamania, fans, and business.
Hogan became a distributor for multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences after looking for business opportunities outside of wrestling. Hogan supports the American Diabetes Association.
Other media
Acting
Hogan's crossover popularity led to several television and movie roles. Early in his career Bollea played the part of Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982). He also appeared in No Holds Barred (1989), before starring in family films Suburban Commando (1991), Mr. Nanny (1993), Santa with Muscles (1996), and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998). Hogan also appeared in 1992 commercials for Right Guard deodorant. He starred in his own television series, Thunder in Paradise, in 1994. He is the star of The Ultimate Weapon (1997), in which Brutus Beefcake also appears in a cameo.
Bollea also starred in a pair of television movies, originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series for TNT, produced by Eric Bischoff. The movies, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island and Shadow Warriors: Hunt for The Death Merchant, starred Hogan alongside Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed as a freelance mercenary team. In 1995, he appeared on TBN's Kids Against Crime. Bollea made cameo appearances in Muppets from Space, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (the theatrical cut) and Spy Hard as himself. Hogan also played the role of Zeus in Little Hercules in 3D. Hogan also made two appearances on The A-Team (in 1985 and 1986), along with Roddy Piper. He also appeared on Suddenly Susan in 1999. In 2001, Hogan guest-starred on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Hogan has become a busy voice actor in later years making guest voice spots on Robot Chicken and American Dad! and as a primary actor in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series China, Illinois.
Reality television and hosting
On July 10, 2005, VH1 premiered Hogan Knows Best a reality show which centered around Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. In July 2008, a spin-off entitled Brooke Knows Best premiered, which focused primarily on Hogan's daughter Brooke.
Bollea hosted the comeback series of American Gladiators on NBC in 2008. He also hosted and judged the short-lived reality show, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Hogan had a special titled Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E on November 17, 2010.
In 2015, Hogan was a judge on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Paige and Daniel Bryan, but due to the scandal, he was replaced by The Miz after episode 5.
Music and radio
Bollea released a music CD, Hulk Rules, as Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Band. Also, Green Jellÿ released a single, a duet with Hogan, performing Gary Glitter's classic song "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)". He has also made cameos in several music videos. From her self-named show, Dolly the music video for Dolly Parton's wrestling-themed love song "Headlock on my Heart" features Hogan as "Starlight Starbright". In the music video "Pressure" by Belly ft. Ginuwine, Bollea and his daughter Brooke both made brief cameo appearances.
Bollea was a regular guest on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show. He also served as the best man at Bubba's January 2007 wedding. On March 12, 2010, Bollea hosted his own radio show, titled Hogan Uncensored, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101.
Merchandising
The Wrestling Figure Checklist records Bollea as having 171 different action figures, produced between the 1980s and 2010s from numerous manufacturers and promotions.
Video games
Bollea provided his voice for the 2011 game Saints Row: The Third as Angel de la Muerte, a member of the Saints. In October 2011, he released a video game called Hulk Hogan's Main Event.
A likeness of him, as Rex Kwan-Do, is featured as a playable police officer in This Is The Police.
Hulk Hogan and Hollywood Hogan are featured in the following licensed wrestling video games:
Filmography
Personal life
Legal issues
Belzer lawsuit
On March 27, 1985, just days prior to the inaugural WrestleMania, Richard Belzer requested on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties that Hogan demonstrate one of his signature wrestling moves. After consistently refusing but being egged on by Belzer, Hogan put Belzer in a modified Guillotine choke, which caused Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to the scalp that required a brief hospitalization. Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and later settled out of court. On October 20, 2006, on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show, it was claimed (with Hogan in the studio) that the settlement totaled $5 million, half from Hogan and half from Vince McMahon. During his June 23, 2008, appearance on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show, Belzer suggested that the real settlement amount was actually closer to $400,000.
Testimony in McMahon trial
In 1994, Hogan, having received immunity from prosecution, testified in the trial of Vince McMahon relating to shipments of steroids received by both parties from WWF physician George T. Zahorian. Under oath, Hogan admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain size and weight, but that McMahon had neither sold him the drugs nor ordered him to take them. The evidence given by Hogan proved extremely costly to the government's case against McMahon. Due to this and jurisdictional issues, McMahon was found not guilty.
Gawker lawsuit
In April 2012, a sex tape between Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, emerged online. On October 4, 2012, Gawker released a short clip of the video. In the video, Bubba can be heard saying that the couple can "do their thing" and he will be in his office. At the end of the video, he can also be heard telling Heather, "If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket". Hogan later told Howard Stern on his satellite radio show that, "it was a bad choice and a very low point" and "I was with some friends and made a wrong choice. It has devastated me, I have never been this hurt". On October 15, 2012, Hogan filed a lawsuit against Bubba and Heather Clem for invading his privacy. A settlement with Bubba was announced on October 29, 2012. Afterwards, Clem publicly apologized to Hogan. In December 2012, a federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, found that Gawker's publication of the video snippet did not violate U.S. copyright law. Hogan then joined Gawker in the ongoing action against Heather Clem in state court in Florida, alleging invasion of privacy, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeking $100 million in damages.
On October 1, 2015, the New York Post reported that a Florida Judge granted Hogan access to Gawker's computer system for a forensic expert to search Gawker's computers and office.
Hogan sued Gawker for $100 million for defamation, loss of privacy, and emotional pain, and on March 18, 2016, was awarded $115 million. Also, on August 11, 2016, a Florida judge gave Hogan control of the assets of A.J. Daulerio, former Gawker editor-in-chief, who was involved in the posting of Hogan's sex tape.
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped Hogan to finance his lawsuit against Gawker Media.
On November 2, 2016, Gawker reached a $31 million settlement with Bollea.
Family
On December 18, 1983, Bollea married Linda Claridge. They have a daughter Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son Nick (born July 27, 1990). Bollea made his personal life the centerpiece of the television show Hogan Knows Best, which included his wife and two children.
According to an interview in the National Enquirer, Christiane Plante claimed that Bollea had an affair with her in 2007 while the Hogan family was shooting Hogan Knows Best. Plante was 33 years old at the time and had worked with Brooke Hogan on her 2006 album.
On November 20, 2007, Linda filed for divorce in Pinellas County, Florida. In November 2008, Linda claimed to the public that she made the decision to end her marriage after finding out about Hogan's affair. In his 2009 autobiography, Hogan acknowledged that Linda on numerous occasions suspected he was having infidelities whenever he developed friendships with other women, but denied allegations that he ever cheated on her. Bollea only retained around 30% of the couple's liquid assets totaling around $10 million in the divorce settlement. Hogan considered committing suicide after the divorce and credits Laila Ali, his co-star on American Gladiators, with preventing him from doing so.
Bollea has been in a relationship with Jennifer McDaniel since early 2008. The two were engaged in November 2009 and married on December 14, 2010, in Clearwater, Florida.
Bollea is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith in his life saying, "[I've] leaned on my religion. I was saved when I was 14. I accepted Christ as my savior. He died on the cross and paid for my sins ... I could have went the wrong way. I could have self-destructed, but I took the high road".
Health
Bollea has suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back since retiring as a wrestler following the years of heavy weight-training and jolting as a wrestler.
In January 2013, Bollea filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Laser Spine Institute for $50 million, citing that the medical firm persuaded him to undergo a half-dozen "unnecessary and ineffective" spinal operations that worsened his back problems. He claimed that the six procedures he underwent over a period of 19 months only gave him short-term relief. After the procedures failed to cure his back problems, Bollea underwent traditional spinal fusion surgery in December 2010, which enabled him to return to his professional activities. In addition, the Laser Spine Institute used his name on their advertisements without his permission.
Legacy
Hogan has been described as one of the largest attractions in professional wrestling history and a major reason why Vince McMahon's expansion of his promotion worked. Wrestling historian and journalist Dave Meltzer stated that "...You can't possibly overrate his significance in the history of the business. And he sold more tickets to wrestling shows than any man who ever lived".
On February 20, 2019, it was announced that Chris Hemsworth would portray him in a biopic, directed by Todd Phillips.
Awards and honors
Bollea was honored as the 2008 King of the Krewe of Bacchus, a New Orleans carnival organization. Hogan visited the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and rode in the parade where he threw doubloons with his likeness. Hogan received the honor in part because meeting Hogan is one of the most requested "wishes" of the terminally ill children benefited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Hogan was inducted in the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018.
Championships and accomplishments
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Heavyweight Championship (original version) (1 time)
IWGP League Tournament (1983)
MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983) with Antonio Inoki
Greatest 18 Club inductee
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2003
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
Match of the Year (1985)
Match of the Year (1988)
Match of the Year (1990)
Match of the Year (2002)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
Ranked No. 44 and No. 57 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Antonio Inoki and Randy Savage in 2003
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)
Tokyo Sports
Best Foreigner Award (1983)
Match of the Year (1991)
World Championship Wrestling
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWF/WWE Championship (6 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Edge
Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2005 – individually
Class of 2020 – as a member of the New World Order
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Strongest Wrestler (1983)
Best Babyface (1982–1991)
Best Box Office Draw (1997)
Best Gimmick (1996)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Feud of the Year (1996)
Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000)
Most Obnoxious (1994, 1995)
Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1994–1998)
Most Unimproved (1994, 1995)
Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
Worst Feud of the Year (1991)
Worst Feud of the Year (1995)
Worst Feud of the Year (1998)
Worst Feud of the Year (2000)
Worst on Interviews (1995)
Worst Wrestler (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame profile
TNA Impact Wrestling profile (archived)
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WWE Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees | true | [
"Ed Humenik (born June 29, 1959) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour.\n\nHumenik joined the PGA Tour in 1989, gaining his Tour card through qualifying school. After struggling on his rookie year on Tour, he joined the Nationwide Tour in 1990. He won two events, the Ben Hogan Macon Open and the Ben Hogan Santa Rosa Open en route to a 5th-place finish on the money list which earned him his PGA Tour card for 1991. In 1991, he finished 121st on the money list, just good enough to retain his Tour card, he recorded two top-10 finishes. He bettered his performance in 1992, finishing 100th on the money list, including finishing in a tie for fourth at the Buick Southern Open. He finished 105th on the money list in 1993 and recorded three top-10 finishes. In 1994 he finished 108th on the money list, with the highlight of his year coming at the Greater Greensboro Open where he finished in a tie for second. He did not do as well in 1995 and failed to retain his Tour card. He did not play full-time on Tour again until 1999 when he played on the Nationwide Tour, his final season on Tour. He played in the U.S. Senior Open in 2009 and missed the cut.\n\nProfessional wins (3)\n\nBen Hogan Tour wins (2)\n\nOther wins (1)\n1988 Michigan Open\n\nResults in major championships\n\nCUT = missed the half-way cut\n\"T\" = tied\nNote: Humenik only played in the U.S. Open.\n\nSee also\n1988 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates\n1990 Ben Hogan Tour graduates\n\nExternal links\n\nAmerican male golfers\nMichigan Wolverines men's golfers\nPGA Tour golfers\nKorn Ferry Tour graduates\nGolfers from Detroit\n1959 births\nLiving people",
"Carl D. Hogan (October 15, 1917 – July 8, 1977) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues guitarist and bassist. He is known for playing the lead guitar riff on Louis Jordan's \"Ain't That Just Like a Woman (They'll Do It Every Time)\" which was later imitated by Chuck Berry for his hit \"Johnny B. Goode\".\n\nEarly life and career\nHogan was born to Broadus Henry Hogan and his wife Luerena, possibly in Louina, Alabama. He spent time as a child in Tallapoosa and Atlanta, and also in Pensacola, Florida where his father was a preacher. Census records describe the family as \"mulatto\". Other sources state that he was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. By 1940 he was living in Conway, Arkansas. His early musical career included stints on guitar and bass with the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra and George Hudson's Orchestra.\n\nHogan was recruited to join Louis Jordan's Tympany Five as a temporary bass player. Jordan had wanted Po Simkins as a bassist, however Simkins was unable to give Jordan his release date from the US Armed Forces and as a result until Jordan was discharged from the military, Hogan filled in as Jordan's bassist. With Jordan's band, Hogan appeared on the soundtracks to Look Out Sister (1946), Beware (1946), and Reet, Petite, and Gone (1948). He performed on numerous recordings with Jordan, including \"Choo Choo Ch'Boogie\", \"Don't Worry 'Bout That Mule\", \"Ain't That Just Like a Woman (They'll Do It Every Time)\", \"Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens\", \"Jack, You're Dead\", \"Let the Good Times Roll\", \"Open the Door, Richard\", \"Boogie Woogie Blue Plate\", and \"Early in the Mornin'. On 1946's \"Ain't That Just Like a Woman (They'll Do It Every Time)\", Hogan first recorded the guitar riff that was to become \"the most famous signature in rock 'n' roll\".\n\nHogan continued to record with Jordan and the Tympany Five until 1949.\n\nInfluence\nChuck Berry used Hogan's riff in 1958 – almost note-for-note – as the introduction to \"Johnny B. Goode\". Berry also used a similar riff in \"Roll Over Beethoven\", released one year earlier. On describing his use of the riff, Berry said:\n\nDeath\nHogan died in St. Louis in 1977, aged 59.\n\nReferences\n\n1917 births\n1977 deaths\nAmerican jazz guitarists\nMusicians from St. Louis\n20th-century American guitarists\nGuitarists from Missouri\nAmerican male guitarists\nJazz musicians from Missouri\n20th-century American male musicians\nAmerican male jazz musicians"
]
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"Hulk Hogan",
"Third return to WWE (2005-2007)",
"Why did Hogan return to WWE?",
"At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The",
"How did he rescue him?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana.",
"What did Hogan do in 2006?",
"Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer \"Mean\" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006."
]
| C_f7eadf2761b540508879af06e19db632_0 | Did Hogan win any matches during this time? | 5 | Did Hogan participate and win in any other matches in 2006? | Hulk Hogan | On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels. Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd. Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on the July 15 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. CANNOTANSWER | During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. | Terry Eugene Bollea (, born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s.
Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. There, his persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of WWF's flagship annual event, WrestleMania. During his initial run, he won the WWF Championship five times, with his first reign holding the record for the second-longest. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991.
In 1993, Hogan departed the WWF to sign for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest reign. In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable. As a result, he became a major figure during the "Monday Night Wars", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times, including the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.
Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning the Undisputed WWF Championship for a record equaling (for the year) sixth time before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.
Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) - where he won the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship - and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA - now known as Impact Wrestling).
During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in Rocky III. He has starred in several films (including No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny) and three television shows (Hogan Knows Best, Thunder in Paradise, and China, IL), as well as in Right Guard commercials and the video game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event. He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules, reached 12 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio chart in 1995.
Early life
Terry Eugene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) of Italian descent and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. (née Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011) Bollea of Scottish and French descent. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida. As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He attracted scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury ended his baseball career. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes, and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention towards Superstar Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.
Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, Hogan decided to drop out of the University of South Florida before receiving a degree. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco, two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region.
Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)to make him a potential trainee. In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, however, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. However, after Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1977–1979)
In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in CWF. A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers.
Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and decided to open a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.
Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique; Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.
In Alabama, Bollea and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Leslie were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.
During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.
On December 1, 1979, Bollea won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bollea would drop the title in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong. Bollea briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.
World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980)
Later that year, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Hogan wrestled his first match in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on November 17 defeating Harry Valdez on Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug. After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor that he would end up repaying during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1980–1985)
In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used the Axe Bomber, a crooked arm lariat, as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and the first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship, that is defended regularly.
Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in a championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship.
American Wrestling Association (1981–1983)
After filming his scene for Rocky III against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last for long as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel.
Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at the end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell, after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans, began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save; however, Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel.
Return to WWF (1983–1993)
Rise of Hulkamania (1983–1984)
After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.
On the January 7, 1984 episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden. The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).
Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.
In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to a quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of the earnings, if Titan held no interest). This would also extend to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics. (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) 1988's Marvel Comics Presents #45, a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name."
International renown (1985–1988)
Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in the back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On Saturday Night's Main Event I, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification.
Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated (the first and , only professional wrestler to do so), TV Guide, and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
On Saturday Night's Main Event II, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.
In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick "Super Strong Machine". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.
The Mega Powers (1988–1989)
Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the title to André on The Main Event I after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.
Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André the Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam. They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers: Akeem and Big Boss Man.
In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at a Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series Are You Serious? in 2012.
The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989, the duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on The Main Event II, when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage, who slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V.
Final WWF Championship reigns (1989–1993)
Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in a steel cage match on the Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, which was aired on May 27. In May on WWF on NESN, Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII saw the title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie No Holds Barred, which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was "jealous" over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). However, Hogan was easily able to defeat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus would later meet at the Survivor Series, where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect before Zeus then dominated Hogan until Zeus was disqualified by referee Dave Hebner. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view First WWF UK Event at London Arena. During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match, before dropping the title to then Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.
Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam, and he for several months dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment – believing in yourself, and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The feud remained unresolved, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series, and he won it back at This Tuesday in Texas six days later. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match, but Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Flair the winner and new champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX against Flair and Undertaker, but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.
At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs, taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hogan went into the match sporting a cut above a black eye. The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying a group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.
At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion Yokozuna in his first title defense since defeating him at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop. This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.
Return to NJPW (1993–1994)
On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)
World Heavyweight Champion (1994–1996)
Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund-who was now a WCW employee- would visit him on the set of Thunder in Paradise episodes. Hype afterwards was building over whether Hogan should remain with Thunder in Paradise or instead join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair. On the May 28, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night, Hogan torn up his Thunder in Paradise contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued a telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios. The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach. Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on the Clash of the Champions XXVIII, thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee) that Hogan won.
After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade (Starrcade: Triple Threat) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader, who challenged him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V, where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored. Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach, where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on Nitro in September 1995. The October 9, 1995 broadcast of Nitro was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom, which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting) won. Hogan's fifteen-month title reign (which is the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in the title history at 469 days) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification.
Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III, where The Giant cost Hogan the title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI, where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.
New World Order (1996–1999)
At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.
On the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission. Five days later at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on Nitro, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. Savage took the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever bat match.
Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night on Nitro for the world title. In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and hit a powerbomb on Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night, but Bret Hart interfered moments later and jumped in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions – Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac that feuded with each other for the remainder of the year. Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches: his second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach, and at Road Wild he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks. Hogan also had a critically panned rematch with The Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.
On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. Campaign footage aired on Nitro of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. In the long run, however, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt attempting to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him. After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999, episode of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Hogan won for the fifth time, but many people found the title change to be "scandalous". As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.
Final years in WCW (1999–2000)
Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a steel cage First Blood match. Later, Hogan was severely injured in a Texas tornado match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship featuring him, Diamond Dallas Page, Flair, and Sting at Spring Stampede On the July 12 episode of Nitro, Hogan made his return as a face for the first time in three years and accepted an open challenge from Savage, who had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash turned on him the next week, and the two began a feud that lasted until Road Wild.
On August 9, 1999, Hogan started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main event six-man tag team match. Hogan then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Injuries and frustrations were mounting up however, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan came to the ring in street clothes, lay down for the pin, and left the ring.
Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial work with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Before the match, there was a backstage dispute between Hogan and Russo; Hogan wanted to take the title, but Russo was going to have Jarrett win, and lose it to Booker T. Russo told Hogan that he was going to have Jarrett lie down for him, simulating a real conflict, although Jarrett was not told it was a work. When the bell rang, Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring while Russo threw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt in the ring and yelled at Hogan from ringside to pin Jarrett. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" After winning and being announced as the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan immediately took the WCW title belt. Moments later, Russo returned to the ring, angrily proclaiming this would be the last time fans would ever see "that piece of shit" in a WCW stadium. This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan was able to control what would happen with his own character and be able to do so without anyone else being able to tell him no. In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!". Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jarrett later that night.
As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after, which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot. Eric Bischoff agreed with Hogan's side of the story when he wrote that Hogan winning and leaving with the belt was a work (devised by Bischoff rather than Russo), and that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the success of the angle, but that Russo coming out to fire Hogan was an unplanned shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan. It was the last time he was seen in WCW.
Post-WCW endeavors (2001)
In the months following the eventual demise of WCW in March 2001, Hogan underwent surgery on his knees in order for him to wrestle again. As a test, Hogan worked a match in Orlando, Florida for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotion run by his longtime handler Jimmy Hart. Hogan defeated Curt Hennig in this match and felt healthy enough to accept an offer to return to the WWF in February 2002.
Second return to WWF/WWE (2002–2003)
At No Way Out in February 2002, Hogan returned to the WWF as a heel. Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event. The nWo feuded with both Austin and The Rock, and Hogan accepted The Rock's challenge to a match at WrestleMania X8, where Hogan asked Hall and Nash not to interfere, wanting to defeat The Rock by himself. Despite the fact that Hogan was supposed to be the heel in the match, the crowd cheered for him heavily. The Rock cleanly won the contest, and befriended Hogan at the end of the bout and helped him fight off Hall and Nash, who were upset by Hogan's conciliatory attitude. After the match, Hogan turned face by siding with The Rock, though he continued wearing black and white tights for a few weeks after WrestleMania X8 until he resumed wearing his signature red and yellow tights. During this period, the "Hulk Rules" logo of the 1980s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules", and Hogan also wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire twelve years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania VI at the same arena, in the SkyDome. For a time, he was still known as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, notably keeping the Hollywood Hogan style blond mustache with black beard while wearing Hulkamania-like red and yellow tights and using the "Voodoo Child" entrance theme music he used in WCW. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan feuded with Triple H and defeated him for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash, thus becoming the last ever WWF Champion before the initials dispute against the World Wildlife Fund.
On May 19 at Judgment Day, Hogan lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to The Undertaker. After losing a number one contender match for the WWE Undisputed Championship to Triple H on the June 6 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan began feuding with Kurt Angle resulting in a match between the two at the King of the Ring, which Angle won by submission. On the July 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE Tag Team Championship for the first time. They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan's theme song "Real American". They later lost the titles to The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at Vengeance. In August 2002, Hogan was used in an angle with Brock Lesnar, culminating in a main event singles match on the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, which Lesnar won by technical submission (the match was called after Hogan became unconscious from a bear hug hold). Lesnar became only the second WWE wrestler to defeat Hogan by submission (after Kurt Angle), and the first to defeat Hogan by having the match called. Following the match, Lesnar continued to beat on Hogan, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the ring.
As a result of Lesnar's assault, Hogan went on hiatus and was not able to return until early 2003, shaving off his black beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name in his return. Hogan battled The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out and lost and defeated Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a street fight billed as "twenty years in the making". After WrestleMania, he had a run as the masked Mr. America, who was supposed to be Hogan in disguise, wearing a mask. He used Hogan's "Real American" as an entrance theme and all of Hogan's signature gestures, moves, and phrases. He was the subject of a storyline that took place after Hogan was forced by Mr. McMahon to sit out the rest of his contract. A WWE pre-debut push took place with mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown!. There was also on-screen discussion on SmackDown! between then General Manager Stephanie McMahon and other players concerning her hiring Mr. America "sight unseen". On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). The feud continued through the month of May, with a singles match between Mr. America and Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper at Judgment Day, a match Mr. America won.
Mr. America's last WWE appearance was on the June 26 episode of SmackDown! when Big Show and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) defeated Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Mr. America in a six-man tag team match. After the show went off the air, Mr. America unmasked to show the fans that he was indeed Hogan, putting his finger to his lips telling the fans to keep quiet about his secret. The next week, Hogan quit WWE due to frustration with the creative team. On the July 3 episode of SmackDown!, McMahon showed the footage of Mr. America unmasking as Hogan and "fired" him, although Hogan had already quit in real life. It was later revealed that Hogan was unhappy with the payoffs for his matches after his comeback under the Mr. America gimmick. McMahon decided to terminate Hogan's contract and Hogan left WWE in 2003.
Second return to NJPW (2003)
Hogan returned to NJPW in October 2003, when he defeated Masahiro Chono at Ultimate Crush II in the Tokyo Dome.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)
Shortly after Hogan left WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) began making overtures to Hogan, culminating in Jeff Jarrett, co-founder of TNA and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion, launching an on-air attack on Hogan in Japan in October 2003. The attack was supposed to be a precursor to Hogan battling Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view. However, due to recurring knee and hip problems, Hogan did not appear in TNA. Still, the incident has been shown several times on TNA broadcasts, and was included in the TNA DVD TNA's Fifty Greatest Moments.
Third return to WWE (2005–2007)
On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels.
Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd.
Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.
Memphis Wrestling (2007–2008)
After a brief fall out with McMahon and WWE, Hogan was lured to Memphis Wrestling with the proposal of wrestling Jerry Lawler. The match had been promoted on Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. On April 12, 2007, however, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC performers (including Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC-owned USA Network's Raw and his appearances on the biannual WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best airs. The situation resulted in a lawsuit being filed against WWE by event promoter Corey Maclin. Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight. Hogan defeated Wight at Memphis Wrestling's PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007 when he picked up and hit a body slam on Wight before pinning him following his signature running leg drop.
Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin (2009)
On November 21, 24, 26 and 28, Hogan performed with a group of wrestlers including Spartan-3000, Heidenreich, Eugene, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Orlando Jordan across Australia in a tour titled Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin. The main event of each show was a rematch between Hogan and Ric Flair – the wrestler who defeated Hogan more times than any other. Hogan defeated Flair in all four matches.
Return to TNA (2009–2013)
Dixie Carter's business partner (2009–2010)
On October 27, 2009, it was announced that Hogan had signed a contract to join TNA on a full-time basis. The footage of his signing and the press conference at Madison Square Garden following it were featured on the October 29 episode of Impact!.
On December 5, 2009, Hogan announced on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s The Ultimate Fighter that he would be making his official TNA debut on January 4, 2010, in a special live three-hour Monday night episode of Impact! to compete with WWE's Raw (which featured the return of Bret Hart).
On the January 4 episode of Impact!, Hogan debuted, reuniting briefly with former nWo partners Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman, the latter two of whom made their returns to the company. He, however, refused to join them for a full-fledged reunion of their group claiming, "it's a different time", and stuck to his business relations with Bischoff, who made his appearance to declare that, the two of them would "flip the company upside down" and everyone would have to earn their spot. Hogan also encountered TNA founder Jeff Jarrett on the broadcast, appearing via video wall and interrupting Jarrett's company success speech, stating that Carter was instrumental to the company's survival, and that just like the rest, Jarrett would have to (kayfabe) earn his spot in TNA.
On the February 18 episode of Impact!, Hogan took Abyss under his wing, and during this sequence, gave him his Hall of Fame ring and claimed it would make him a "god of wrestling". Hogan made his in-ring return on March 8, teaming with Abyss to defeat A.J. Styles and Ric Flair when Abyss scored a pinfall over Styles. Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Hogan and Abyss from a beat down at the hands of Styles, Flair and Desmond Wolfe. The storyline became a Team Flair versus Team Hogan situation, with Jarrett and the debuting Rob Van Dam joining Team Hogan and Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Sting joining Team Flair. At Lockdown, Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Ric Flair, Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) in a Lethal Lockdown match.
Immortal (2010–2011)
On the June 17 episode of Impact!, Hogan's alliance with Abyss came to an abrupt end when Abyss turned heel. Abyss later claimed that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. The next month, Hogan worked with Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Hogan and Bischoff were up to something. During this time, Abyss went on a rampage, attacking Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and eventually put his hands on TNA president Dixie Carter, which led to her signing the paperwork, presented by Bischoff, that would have Abyss fired from TNA following his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory. Hogan was set to wrestle with Jarrett and Joe against Sting, Nash and D'Angelo Dinero at Bound for Glory, but was forced to miss the event due to a back surgery. However, he would make an appearance at the end of the event, and turned heel by helping Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship and aligning himself with Hardy, Bischoff, Abyss and Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact!, it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. During his absence, Hogan underwent a potentially career–ending spinal fusion surgery on December 21, 2010.
Hogan returned to TNA on the March 3, 2011 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of TNA, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter. In April, he began hinting at a possible return to the ring to face the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting. On the May 12 episode of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Hogan lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Hogan and Bischoff took over the company; however, this angle was cut short just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion. During the following months, Hogan continued to interfere in Sting's matches, costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship first at Hardcore Justice, recruiting Kurt Angle to Immortal in the process, on the September 1 episode of Impact Wrestling and finally at No Surrender. On the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting defeated Immortal member Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan at Bound for Glory. On October 4, it was reported that Hogan had signed a contract extension with TNA. After feigning retirement from professional wrestling, Hogan accepted the match at Bound for Glory on the October 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, while also agreeing to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting win the match.
Hogan was defeated by Sting at Bound For Glory, ending his storyline as the president of TNA. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting, but Hogan turned face by turning on Immortal and helping Sting. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan, wearing his trademark yellow and red again, admitted to his mistakes, and put over Sting for winning.
Feud with Aces & Eights (2012–2013)
During TNA's 2012 UK tour, on January 26 and 27, Hogan returned to the ring at house shows in Nottingham and Manchester, where he, James Storm and Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag team main event at both events, the latter of which was Hogan's final match. Hogan returned to Impact Wrestling on February 2, when he was revealed as Garett Bischoff's trainer. On the March 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan returned and accepted Sting's offer to replace him as the new General Manager.
In July, Hogan, alongside Sting, began feuding with a mysterious group of masked men, who had dubbed themselves the "Aces & Eights". The group's attack on Hogan on the July 12 episode of Impact Wrestling was used to write Hogan off television as he was set to undergo another back surgery.
In November, Hogan moved into a storyline with Bully Ray after Austin Aries revealed a secret relationship between Ray and Hogan's daughter Brooke. After seeing them kissing in a parking garage on the December 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan suspended Ray indefinitely. The following week on Impact Wrestling, after Ray saved Brooke from a kidnapping by the Aces & Eights, Brooke accepted his marriage proposal. Despite Hogan's disapproval, he still walked Brooke down the aisle for her wedding on the next episode of Impact Wrestling, during which Ray's groomsmen Taz interrupted and revealed himself as a member of the Aces & Eights, leading the group to attack Hogan, Ray, and the rest of the groomsmen.
On the January 31 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan reinstated Ray so he could take on the Aces & Eights. Hogan named Ray the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling. However, at Lockdown, Ray betrayed Hogan, after Aces & Eights helped him win the title, and he revealed himself as the President of the Aces & Eights. Following Lockdown, Hogan blamed Sting for Ray winning the title as it was Sting who encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot. Sting returned and saved Hogan from an attack by Aces & Eights on the April 25 episode of Impact Wrestling. The following week on Impact Wrestling, Hogan and Sting managed to reconcile their differences. On the October 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan refused an offer from Dixie Carter to become her business partner and quit; this was done to officially write Hogan off, as a result of his contract expiring with TNA.
Fourth return to WWE (2014–2015)
On February 24, 2014 on Raw, Hogan made his first WWE in-ring appearance since December 2007 to hype the WWE Network. On the March 24 episode of Raw, Hogan came out to introduce the guest appearances of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello; this was to promote the guests' new movie Sabotage.
At WrestleMania XXX in April, Hogan served as the host, coming out at the start of the show to hype up the crowd. During his promo, he mistakenly referred to the Superdome, the venue the event was being held at, as the Silverdome, which became the subject of jokes throughout the night. Hogan was later joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and they finished their promo by drinking beer together in the ring. Later in the show, Hogan shared a moment with Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper, with whom he main-evented the first WrestleMania.
On February 27, 2015, Hogan was honored at Madison Square Garden during a WWE live event dubbed "Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night" with a special commemorative banner hanging from the rafters, honoring his wrestling career and historic matches he had in the arena.
On the March 23 episode of Raw, Hogan along with Snoop Dogg confronted Curtis Axel – who at the time had been "borrowing" Hogan's Hulkamania gimmick with Axel referring to himself as "AxelMania". On March 28, the night before WrestleMania, Hogan posthumously inducted longtime partner and rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015. The next night at WrestleMania 31, Hogan reunited with Hall and Nash to reform the nWo, appearing in Sting's corner in his match against Triple H, who himself was joined by D-Generation X members Billy Gunn, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Shawn Michaels.
Scandal and departure
In July 2015, National Enquirer and Radar Online publicized an anti-black rant made by Hogan on a leaked sex tape recorded in 2007. In the recording, he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter dating a black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur "nigger." Hogan also admitted to being "a racist, to a point."
Once the recordings went public erupting in a media scandal, Hogan apologized for the remarks, which he said is "language that is offensive and inconsistent with [his] own beliefs." Three black wrestlers who worked in the WWF and WCW with Hogan made supportive comments. Virgil commented "Hogan has never given me a reason to believe he is a racist" while Dennis Rodman said he "most certainly is not a racist" and Kamala added "I do not think Hogan meant harm by saying that. Hogan is my brother until he decides not to be." Black wrestlers working in the WWE made different comments. Mark Henry said he was pleased by WWE's "no tolerance approach to racism" response, and that he was hurt and offended by Hogan's manner and tone. Booker T said he was shocked and called the statements unfortunate.
On July 24, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are "committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds," although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed almost all references to Hogan from their website, including his listing as a judge for Tough Enough, his merchandise from WWE Shop, and his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page (however, he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016). His DLC appearance from WWE 2K15 was taken down from sale, and his character was cut from then upcoming WWE 2K16 game during development.
In response to the controversy, Mattel stopped producing Hogan action figures, while Hogan's merchandise was taken down from online stores of Target, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart. On July 28, Radar Online reported that Hogan had also used homophobic slurs on the leaked sex tape. Days later, it was reported that Hogan had used racist language in a 2008 call to his then-imprisoned son, Nick, and also said that he hoped they would not be reincarnated as black males.
Hogan gave an interview with ABC on August 31 in which he pleaded forgiveness for his racist comments, attributing these to a racial bias inherited from his neighborhood while growing up. Hogan claimed that the term "nigger" was used liberally among friends in Tampa; however, former neighbors have disputed this claim.
In the time that followed, numerous African-Americans expressed some level of support for Hogan including: The Rock, Dennis Rodman, Booker T, Kamala, Virgil, Mark Henry, Big E, and D'Angelo Dinero, who stressed his forgiveness of Hogan, whom he saw as having made a "positive mark on humanity" for over three decades.
Fifth return to WWE (2018–present)
On July 15, 2018, Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame. Later that same night, he was invited backstage to WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event and was briefly mentioned on the event's kickoff show. Hogan made his on-screen return on November 2, 2018, as the host of Crown Jewel. Hogan next appeared on the January 7, 2019 episode of Raw to present a tribute to his longtime friend and colleague Mean Gene Okerlund, who had died five days prior. It was the first time Hogan had appeared in a WWE ring in North America since his 2015 firing. Hogan subsequently appeared on a WWE Network special where he spoke further of his relationship with Okerlund.
Hogan inducted his Mega-Maniacs tag team partner and longtime friend Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019. The following night at WrestleMania 35, he made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the show alongside WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss, welcoming fans to the event and parodying his gaffe from WrestleMania XXX, when he incorrectly referred to the Superdome as the Silverdome. On the June 17, 2019, Raw, WWE aired a Hogan interview about the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team. On the July 22, 2019, Raw, Hogan appeared as part of the "Raw Reunion" special. Hogan was one of the speakers during the "Toast to Raw" segment along with Steve Austin. On September 30, 2019 episode of Raw, he and Ric Flair unveiled a 10 man tag team match, for Crown Jewel. Hogan and Flair made multiple appearances on shows with their teams leading up to the event, which saw Hogan manage his team to victory.
Hogan made it public knowledge that he hoped to have one more match in the WWE, including during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Hogan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time as a member of the New World Order, together with fellow former nWo stablemates Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
Hogan made his only appearance of 2020 on WWE's non-WWE Network programming when he appeared via satellite on the February 14, 2020 episode of Smackdown to speak about the Hall of Fame. He was interrupted by Bray Wyatt, as Hogan warned him about his upcoming match with Goldberg. The 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony was subsequently delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aired on April 6, 2021.
Hogan made his first appearance of 2021 on the January 4 episode of Raw, which was a special Legends Night episode. He opened the show introducing the 'H-Phone,' his spin on an iPhone. He appeared in a backstage segment with Jimmy Hart, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, where he gave his approval to McIntyre, the current WWE Champion. He also watched the championship main event match between McIntyre and Keith Lee on-stage with the rest of the guest legends. It was confirmed on the March 19, 2021, episode of WWE SmackDown he would be the co-host of WrestleMania 37 alongside Titus O'Neil.
Hogan opened both nights of WrestleMania 37 with O'Neil, appeared in multiple segments with Bayley, which led to a return of the Bella Twins, and was introduced during the Hall of Fame celebration with Nash, Hall and Waltman.
Endorsements and business ventures
Food industry
Hogan created and financed a restaurant called Pastamania located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It opened on the Labor Day weekend of 1995 and was heavily promoted on World Championship Wrestling's live show Monday Nitro. The restaurant, which remained in operation for less than a year, featured such dishes as "Hulk-U's" and "Hulk-A-Roos".
In interviews on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Bollea claimed that the opportunity to endorse what came to be known as the George Foreman Grill was originally offered to him, but when he failed to respond in time, Foreman endorsed the grill instead. Instead, Bollea endorsed a blender, known as the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer. He has since endorsed a grill known as "The Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill".
In 2006, Bollea unveiled Hogan Energy, a drink distributed by Socko Energy. His name and likeness were also applied to a line of microwavable hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches sold at Wal-Mart called "Hulkster Burgers". On November 1, 2011, Bollea launched a new website called Hogan Nutrition, which features many nutritional and dietary products.
On New Year's Eve 2012, Bollea opened a beachfront restaurant called "Hogan's Beach", located in the Tampa area. The restaurant dropped Hogan's name in October 2015. Hogan later opened Hogan's Hangout in Clearwater Beach.
Finances
In September 2008, Bollea's net worth was revealed to be around $30 million. In September 2011, Bollea revealed that his lavish lifestyle and divorce had cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly bankrupted him.
Other
In October 2007, Bollea transferred all trademarks referring to himself to his liability company named "Hogan Holdings Limited". The trademarks include Hulk Hogan, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, and Hulkapedia.com.
In April 2008, Bollea announced that he would lend his license to video game developer Gameloft to create "Hulkamania Wrestling" for mobile phones. Hogan stated in a press release that the game would be "true to [his] experiences in wrestling" and use his classic wrestling moves like the Doublehand Choke Lift and Strong Clothesline. , Hogan stars alongside Troy Aikman in commercials for Rent-A-Center. On March 24, 2011, Hogan made a special appearance on American Idol, giving a big surprise to wrestling fans Paul McDonald and James Durbin. On October 15, 2010, Endemol Games UK (a subsidiary of media production group Endemol UK) announced a partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment to produce "Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania", an online gambling game featuring video footage of Hogan.
In October 2013, Bollea partnered with Tech Assets, Inc. to open a web hosting service called "Hostamania". To promote the service, a commercial video was released, featuring Hogan parodying Jean-Claude Van Damme's GoDaddy.com commercials and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video. On November 21, 2013, Hulk Hogan and GoDaddy.com appeared together on a live Hangout On Air on Google Plus, where Hulk Hogan had a casual conversation about Hostamania, fans, and business.
Hogan became a distributor for multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences after looking for business opportunities outside of wrestling. Hogan supports the American Diabetes Association.
Other media
Acting
Hogan's crossover popularity led to several television and movie roles. Early in his career Bollea played the part of Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982). He also appeared in No Holds Barred (1989), before starring in family films Suburban Commando (1991), Mr. Nanny (1993), Santa with Muscles (1996), and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998). Hogan also appeared in 1992 commercials for Right Guard deodorant. He starred in his own television series, Thunder in Paradise, in 1994. He is the star of The Ultimate Weapon (1997), in which Brutus Beefcake also appears in a cameo.
Bollea also starred in a pair of television movies, originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series for TNT, produced by Eric Bischoff. The movies, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island and Shadow Warriors: Hunt for The Death Merchant, starred Hogan alongside Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed as a freelance mercenary team. In 1995, he appeared on TBN's Kids Against Crime. Bollea made cameo appearances in Muppets from Space, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (the theatrical cut) and Spy Hard as himself. Hogan also played the role of Zeus in Little Hercules in 3D. Hogan also made two appearances on The A-Team (in 1985 and 1986), along with Roddy Piper. He also appeared on Suddenly Susan in 1999. In 2001, Hogan guest-starred on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Hogan has become a busy voice actor in later years making guest voice spots on Robot Chicken and American Dad! and as a primary actor in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series China, Illinois.
Reality television and hosting
On July 10, 2005, VH1 premiered Hogan Knows Best a reality show which centered around Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. In July 2008, a spin-off entitled Brooke Knows Best premiered, which focused primarily on Hogan's daughter Brooke.
Bollea hosted the comeback series of American Gladiators on NBC in 2008. He also hosted and judged the short-lived reality show, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Hogan had a special titled Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E on November 17, 2010.
In 2015, Hogan was a judge on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Paige and Daniel Bryan, but due to the scandal, he was replaced by The Miz after episode 5.
Music and radio
Bollea released a music CD, Hulk Rules, as Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Band. Also, Green Jellÿ released a single, a duet with Hogan, performing Gary Glitter's classic song "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)". He has also made cameos in several music videos. From her self-named show, Dolly the music video for Dolly Parton's wrestling-themed love song "Headlock on my Heart" features Hogan as "Starlight Starbright". In the music video "Pressure" by Belly ft. Ginuwine, Bollea and his daughter Brooke both made brief cameo appearances.
Bollea was a regular guest on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show. He also served as the best man at Bubba's January 2007 wedding. On March 12, 2010, Bollea hosted his own radio show, titled Hogan Uncensored, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101.
Merchandising
The Wrestling Figure Checklist records Bollea as having 171 different action figures, produced between the 1980s and 2010s from numerous manufacturers and promotions.
Video games
Bollea provided his voice for the 2011 game Saints Row: The Third as Angel de la Muerte, a member of the Saints. In October 2011, he released a video game called Hulk Hogan's Main Event.
A likeness of him, as Rex Kwan-Do, is featured as a playable police officer in This Is The Police.
Hulk Hogan and Hollywood Hogan are featured in the following licensed wrestling video games:
Filmography
Personal life
Legal issues
Belzer lawsuit
On March 27, 1985, just days prior to the inaugural WrestleMania, Richard Belzer requested on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties that Hogan demonstrate one of his signature wrestling moves. After consistently refusing but being egged on by Belzer, Hogan put Belzer in a modified Guillotine choke, which caused Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to the scalp that required a brief hospitalization. Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and later settled out of court. On October 20, 2006, on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show, it was claimed (with Hogan in the studio) that the settlement totaled $5 million, half from Hogan and half from Vince McMahon. During his June 23, 2008, appearance on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show, Belzer suggested that the real settlement amount was actually closer to $400,000.
Testimony in McMahon trial
In 1994, Hogan, having received immunity from prosecution, testified in the trial of Vince McMahon relating to shipments of steroids received by both parties from WWF physician George T. Zahorian. Under oath, Hogan admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain size and weight, but that McMahon had neither sold him the drugs nor ordered him to take them. The evidence given by Hogan proved extremely costly to the government's case against McMahon. Due to this and jurisdictional issues, McMahon was found not guilty.
Gawker lawsuit
In April 2012, a sex tape between Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, emerged online. On October 4, 2012, Gawker released a short clip of the video. In the video, Bubba can be heard saying that the couple can "do their thing" and he will be in his office. At the end of the video, he can also be heard telling Heather, "If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket". Hogan later told Howard Stern on his satellite radio show that, "it was a bad choice and a very low point" and "I was with some friends and made a wrong choice. It has devastated me, I have never been this hurt". On October 15, 2012, Hogan filed a lawsuit against Bubba and Heather Clem for invading his privacy. A settlement with Bubba was announced on October 29, 2012. Afterwards, Clem publicly apologized to Hogan. In December 2012, a federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, found that Gawker's publication of the video snippet did not violate U.S. copyright law. Hogan then joined Gawker in the ongoing action against Heather Clem in state court in Florida, alleging invasion of privacy, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeking $100 million in damages.
On October 1, 2015, the New York Post reported that a Florida Judge granted Hogan access to Gawker's computer system for a forensic expert to search Gawker's computers and office.
Hogan sued Gawker for $100 million for defamation, loss of privacy, and emotional pain, and on March 18, 2016, was awarded $115 million. Also, on August 11, 2016, a Florida judge gave Hogan control of the assets of A.J. Daulerio, former Gawker editor-in-chief, who was involved in the posting of Hogan's sex tape.
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped Hogan to finance his lawsuit against Gawker Media.
On November 2, 2016, Gawker reached a $31 million settlement with Bollea.
Family
On December 18, 1983, Bollea married Linda Claridge. They have a daughter Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son Nick (born July 27, 1990). Bollea made his personal life the centerpiece of the television show Hogan Knows Best, which included his wife and two children.
According to an interview in the National Enquirer, Christiane Plante claimed that Bollea had an affair with her in 2007 while the Hogan family was shooting Hogan Knows Best. Plante was 33 years old at the time and had worked with Brooke Hogan on her 2006 album.
On November 20, 2007, Linda filed for divorce in Pinellas County, Florida. In November 2008, Linda claimed to the public that she made the decision to end her marriage after finding out about Hogan's affair. In his 2009 autobiography, Hogan acknowledged that Linda on numerous occasions suspected he was having infidelities whenever he developed friendships with other women, but denied allegations that he ever cheated on her. Bollea only retained around 30% of the couple's liquid assets totaling around $10 million in the divorce settlement. Hogan considered committing suicide after the divorce and credits Laila Ali, his co-star on American Gladiators, with preventing him from doing so.
Bollea has been in a relationship with Jennifer McDaniel since early 2008. The two were engaged in November 2009 and married on December 14, 2010, in Clearwater, Florida.
Bollea is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith in his life saying, "[I've] leaned on my religion. I was saved when I was 14. I accepted Christ as my savior. He died on the cross and paid for my sins ... I could have went the wrong way. I could have self-destructed, but I took the high road".
Health
Bollea has suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back since retiring as a wrestler following the years of heavy weight-training and jolting as a wrestler.
In January 2013, Bollea filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Laser Spine Institute for $50 million, citing that the medical firm persuaded him to undergo a half-dozen "unnecessary and ineffective" spinal operations that worsened his back problems. He claimed that the six procedures he underwent over a period of 19 months only gave him short-term relief. After the procedures failed to cure his back problems, Bollea underwent traditional spinal fusion surgery in December 2010, which enabled him to return to his professional activities. In addition, the Laser Spine Institute used his name on their advertisements without his permission.
Legacy
Hogan has been described as one of the largest attractions in professional wrestling history and a major reason why Vince McMahon's expansion of his promotion worked. Wrestling historian and journalist Dave Meltzer stated that "...You can't possibly overrate his significance in the history of the business. And he sold more tickets to wrestling shows than any man who ever lived".
On February 20, 2019, it was announced that Chris Hemsworth would portray him in a biopic, directed by Todd Phillips.
Awards and honors
Bollea was honored as the 2008 King of the Krewe of Bacchus, a New Orleans carnival organization. Hogan visited the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and rode in the parade where he threw doubloons with his likeness. Hogan received the honor in part because meeting Hogan is one of the most requested "wishes" of the terminally ill children benefited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Hogan was inducted in the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018.
Championships and accomplishments
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Heavyweight Championship (original version) (1 time)
IWGP League Tournament (1983)
MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983) with Antonio Inoki
Greatest 18 Club inductee
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2003
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
Match of the Year (1985)
Match of the Year (1988)
Match of the Year (1990)
Match of the Year (2002)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
Ranked No. 44 and No. 57 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Antonio Inoki and Randy Savage in 2003
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)
Tokyo Sports
Best Foreigner Award (1983)
Match of the Year (1991)
World Championship Wrestling
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWF/WWE Championship (6 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Edge
Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2005 – individually
Class of 2020 – as a member of the New World Order
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Strongest Wrestler (1983)
Best Babyface (1982–1991)
Best Box Office Draw (1997)
Best Gimmick (1996)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Feud of the Year (1996)
Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000)
Most Obnoxious (1994, 1995)
Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1994–1998)
Most Unimproved (1994, 1995)
Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
Worst Feud of the Year (1991)
Worst Feud of the Year (1995)
Worst Feud of the Year (1998)
Worst Feud of the Year (2000)
Worst on Interviews (1995)
Worst Wrestler (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame profile
TNA Impact Wrestling profile (archived)
1953 births
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21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American rappers
Actors from Pinellas County, Florida
American autobiographers
American Christians
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Living people
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WWE Hall of Fame inductees | true | [
"The 9th Ryder Cup Matches were held November 2–4, 1951 at Course No. 2 of the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The United States team won their fifth consecutive competition by a score of 9 to 2 points.\n\nThe two-day competition was held on Friday and Sunday; Saturday was an off day so that the participants (and spectators) could attend a college football game in Chapel Hill, about northeast. North Carolina hosted top-ranked Tennessee and the visiting Volunteers won in a rout, 27-0. \n\nCourse No. 2, designed by Donald Ross, was set at for this Ryder Cup. It later hosted the U.S. Open in 1999, 2005, and 2014.\n\nFormat\nThe Ryder Cup is a match play event, with each match worth one point. From 1927 through 1959, the format consisted of 4 foursome (alternate shot) matches on the first day and 8 singles matches on the second day, for a total of 12 points. Therefore, 6½ points were required to win the Cup. All matches were played to a maximum of 36 holes.\n\nTeams\nSource: \n\nThis was the second and final Ryder Cup for Ben Hogan as a competitor, following 1947. Although he won three majors in 1953, he declined to participate on that year's team. Hogan was a non-playing captain in 1949 and 1967.\n\nIn April 1951 the British P.G.A. appointed Arthur Lacey as non-playing captain and chose a selection committee of four which included Lacey and Bill Cox. In late-July eight players were selected: Bousfield, Daly, Faulkner, Hargreaves, Lees, Panton, Rees and Ward. The remaining two places were to be selected after the News of the World Match Play. The final two places were later given to Weetman and Adams, the finalists in the News of the World Match Play.\n\nFriday's foursome matches\n\n18 hole scores: Heafner/Burke: 2 up, Ward/Lees: 3 up, Snead/Mangrum: 5 up, Hogan/Demaret: 3 up.\n\nSunday's singles matches\n\n18 hole scores: Burke: 6 up, Rees: 1 up, Heafner: 3 up, Mangrum: 6 up, Lees: 2 up, Hogan: 2 up, Alexander: 5 up, Snead: 4 up.\n\nIndividual player records\nEach entry refers to the Win–Loss–Half record of the player.\n\nSource:\n\nUnited States\n\nDutch Harrison did not play in any matches.\n\nGreat Britain\n\nJack Hargreaves did not play in any matches.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nPGA of America: 1951 Ryder Cup\nAbout.com: 1951 Ryder Cup\n\nRyder Cup\nGolf in North Carolina\nRyder Cup\nRyder Cup\nRyder Cup\nRyder Cup",
"Marty Hogan (born January 22, 1958 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a former American racquetball player who won more than 100 international or national titles and six U.S. national championships during his 14-year career. Hogan was ranked either number one or number two in the world from 1976 to 1990.\n\nEarly years \n\nHe was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was taught to play racquetball by his mother, Goldie. He graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in 1976. In 1975, Hogan won the United States Racquetball Association Junior Racquetball Championship. While still a teenager, Hogan relocated to San Diego, California, in order to pursue professional racquetball. He eventually attended San Diego State University.\n\nHogan is credited with revolutionizing the game of racquetball, with a serve that drove the ball as fast as 142 miles per hour. This speed measurement is a reference to the ball speed after hitting the front wall and then bouncing as it returned. He won the U.S. indoor professional racquetball national championship on five consecutive occasions, between 1978 and 1982, and won again in 1986. In 1979, Hogan also won the national outdoor (three-wall) championships.\n\nProfessional career and retirement \n\nHogan turned professional and won his first professional racquetball title in Burlington, Vermont, in 1975 defeating Steve Keeley in the finals. He went on to become the first millionaire in the history of racquetball. Hogan was so dominant that he lost only four matches in three years during his prime. He lost only one match in 1977, two matches in 1978, and one match in 1979. Hogan's greatest season was 1979; not only did he win the Pro Racquetball Nationals, but he also won the Outdoor Racquetball Nationals and the Paddleball Nationals.\n\nHogan is the only player in the history of the sport to win all three titles in one year. He also won a second Paddleball National Championship in 1987. Hogan captured his final national racquetball championship in 1989, retiring the following year.\n\nHe returned briefly and won his last professional racquetball title in 1991, 16 years after he won his first professional tournament. After retiring from the professional game, Hogan competed in a handful of national amateur events. He won three USRA National Doubles Championships, 1994 25+ with Jeff Conine, 1996 35+ with Steve Trent and 2001 40+ with Dave Peck. Hogan won the US Open 35+ Singles Championship in 1996.\n\nHonors and later career\n\nHogan was named the Professional Racquetball Player of the Year eight times, in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1989. Ranked as the number one racquetball player of all time by National Racquetball Magazine, In 1991 he was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Hogan was inducted into the USA Racquetball of Fame in 1997. Marty Hogan was inducted into the World Outdoor Racquetball Hall of Fame in 2016.\n\nIn 2002, Hogan founded The Legends Racquetball Tour. He won the most victories of any participant in the Legends Tour, winning 14 events. Hogan won the Legends Racquetball Nationals 35+ in 2002 and 2003. Moreover, he won the Legends 45+ National Championship in 2005, and the 2004 US Open Legends Racquetball Championship. In addition, he teamed with Cliff Swain to win the Legends National Doubles Championships in 2004 and 2005.\n\nReferences \n\n US Open Champions Classic Pros\n NPA National Paddleball Champions\n\nHogan, Marty (raquetball player)\nLiving people\nHogan, Marty (raquetball player)\nHogan, Marty (raquetball player)\nHogan, Marty (raquetball player)\nLadue Horton Watkins High School alumni\nAmerican racquetball players\n21st-century American Jews"
]
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"Hulk Hogan",
"Third return to WWE (2005-2007)",
"Why did Hogan return to WWE?",
"At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The",
"How did he rescue him?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana.",
"What did Hogan do in 2006?",
"Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer \"Mean\" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006.",
"Did Hogan win any matches during this time?",
"During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot."
]
| C_f7eadf2761b540508879af06e19db632_0 | Did Hogan get hurt? | 6 | Was Hogan injured at all in 2006? | Hulk Hogan | On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels. Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd. Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on the July 15 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. CANNOTANSWER | He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. | Terry Eugene Bollea (, born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s.
Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. There, his persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of WWF's flagship annual event, WrestleMania. During his initial run, he won the WWF Championship five times, with his first reign holding the record for the second-longest. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991.
In 1993, Hogan departed the WWF to sign for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest reign. In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable. As a result, he became a major figure during the "Monday Night Wars", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times, including the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.
Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning the Undisputed WWF Championship for a record equaling (for the year) sixth time before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.
Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) - where he won the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship - and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA - now known as Impact Wrestling).
During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in Rocky III. He has starred in several films (including No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny) and three television shows (Hogan Knows Best, Thunder in Paradise, and China, IL), as well as in Right Guard commercials and the video game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event. He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules, reached 12 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio chart in 1995.
Early life
Terry Eugene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) of Italian descent and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. (née Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011) Bollea of Scottish and French descent. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida. As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He attracted scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury ended his baseball career. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes, and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention towards Superstar Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.
Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, Hogan decided to drop out of the University of South Florida before receiving a degree. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco, two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region.
Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)to make him a potential trainee. In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, however, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. However, after Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1977–1979)
In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in CWF. A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers.
Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and decided to open a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.
Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique; Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.
In Alabama, Bollea and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Leslie were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.
During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.
On December 1, 1979, Bollea won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bollea would drop the title in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong. Bollea briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.
World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980)
Later that year, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Hogan wrestled his first match in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on November 17 defeating Harry Valdez on Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug. After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor that he would end up repaying during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1980–1985)
In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used the Axe Bomber, a crooked arm lariat, as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and the first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship, that is defended regularly.
Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in a championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship.
American Wrestling Association (1981–1983)
After filming his scene for Rocky III against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last for long as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel.
Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at the end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell, after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans, began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save; however, Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel.
Return to WWF (1983–1993)
Rise of Hulkamania (1983–1984)
After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.
On the January 7, 1984 episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden. The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).
Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.
In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to a quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of the earnings, if Titan held no interest). This would also extend to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics. (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) 1988's Marvel Comics Presents #45, a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name."
International renown (1985–1988)
Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in the back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On Saturday Night's Main Event I, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification.
Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated (the first and , only professional wrestler to do so), TV Guide, and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
On Saturday Night's Main Event II, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.
In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick "Super Strong Machine". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.
The Mega Powers (1988–1989)
Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the title to André on The Main Event I after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.
Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André the Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam. They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers: Akeem and Big Boss Man.
In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at a Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series Are You Serious? in 2012.
The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989, the duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on The Main Event II, when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage, who slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V.
Final WWF Championship reigns (1989–1993)
Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in a steel cage match on the Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, which was aired on May 27. In May on WWF on NESN, Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII saw the title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie No Holds Barred, which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was "jealous" over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). However, Hogan was easily able to defeat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus would later meet at the Survivor Series, where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect before Zeus then dominated Hogan until Zeus was disqualified by referee Dave Hebner. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view First WWF UK Event at London Arena. During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match, before dropping the title to then Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.
Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam, and he for several months dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment – believing in yourself, and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The feud remained unresolved, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series, and he won it back at This Tuesday in Texas six days later. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match, but Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Flair the winner and new champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX against Flair and Undertaker, but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.
At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs, taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hogan went into the match sporting a cut above a black eye. The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying a group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.
At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion Yokozuna in his first title defense since defeating him at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop. This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.
Return to NJPW (1993–1994)
On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)
World Heavyweight Champion (1994–1996)
Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund-who was now a WCW employee- would visit him on the set of Thunder in Paradise episodes. Hype afterwards was building over whether Hogan should remain with Thunder in Paradise or instead join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair. On the May 28, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night, Hogan torn up his Thunder in Paradise contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued a telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios. The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach. Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on the Clash of the Champions XXVIII, thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee) that Hogan won.
After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade (Starrcade: Triple Threat) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader, who challenged him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V, where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored. Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach, where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on Nitro in September 1995. The October 9, 1995 broadcast of Nitro was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom, which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting) won. Hogan's fifteen-month title reign (which is the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in the title history at 469 days) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification.
Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III, where The Giant cost Hogan the title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI, where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.
New World Order (1996–1999)
At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.
On the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission. Five days later at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on Nitro, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. Savage took the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever bat match.
Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night on Nitro for the world title. In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and hit a powerbomb on Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night, but Bret Hart interfered moments later and jumped in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions – Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac that feuded with each other for the remainder of the year. Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches: his second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach, and at Road Wild he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks. Hogan also had a critically panned rematch with The Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.
On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. Campaign footage aired on Nitro of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. In the long run, however, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt attempting to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him. After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999, episode of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Hogan won for the fifth time, but many people found the title change to be "scandalous". As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.
Final years in WCW (1999–2000)
Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a steel cage First Blood match. Later, Hogan was severely injured in a Texas tornado match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship featuring him, Diamond Dallas Page, Flair, and Sting at Spring Stampede On the July 12 episode of Nitro, Hogan made his return as a face for the first time in three years and accepted an open challenge from Savage, who had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash turned on him the next week, and the two began a feud that lasted until Road Wild.
On August 9, 1999, Hogan started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main event six-man tag team match. Hogan then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Injuries and frustrations were mounting up however, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan came to the ring in street clothes, lay down for the pin, and left the ring.
Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial work with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Before the match, there was a backstage dispute between Hogan and Russo; Hogan wanted to take the title, but Russo was going to have Jarrett win, and lose it to Booker T. Russo told Hogan that he was going to have Jarrett lie down for him, simulating a real conflict, although Jarrett was not told it was a work. When the bell rang, Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring while Russo threw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt in the ring and yelled at Hogan from ringside to pin Jarrett. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" After winning and being announced as the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan immediately took the WCW title belt. Moments later, Russo returned to the ring, angrily proclaiming this would be the last time fans would ever see "that piece of shit" in a WCW stadium. This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan was able to control what would happen with his own character and be able to do so without anyone else being able to tell him no. In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!". Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jarrett later that night.
As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after, which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot. Eric Bischoff agreed with Hogan's side of the story when he wrote that Hogan winning and leaving with the belt was a work (devised by Bischoff rather than Russo), and that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the success of the angle, but that Russo coming out to fire Hogan was an unplanned shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan. It was the last time he was seen in WCW.
Post-WCW endeavors (2001)
In the months following the eventual demise of WCW in March 2001, Hogan underwent surgery on his knees in order for him to wrestle again. As a test, Hogan worked a match in Orlando, Florida for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotion run by his longtime handler Jimmy Hart. Hogan defeated Curt Hennig in this match and felt healthy enough to accept an offer to return to the WWF in February 2002.
Second return to WWF/WWE (2002–2003)
At No Way Out in February 2002, Hogan returned to the WWF as a heel. Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event. The nWo feuded with both Austin and The Rock, and Hogan accepted The Rock's challenge to a match at WrestleMania X8, where Hogan asked Hall and Nash not to interfere, wanting to defeat The Rock by himself. Despite the fact that Hogan was supposed to be the heel in the match, the crowd cheered for him heavily. The Rock cleanly won the contest, and befriended Hogan at the end of the bout and helped him fight off Hall and Nash, who were upset by Hogan's conciliatory attitude. After the match, Hogan turned face by siding with The Rock, though he continued wearing black and white tights for a few weeks after WrestleMania X8 until he resumed wearing his signature red and yellow tights. During this period, the "Hulk Rules" logo of the 1980s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules", and Hogan also wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire twelve years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania VI at the same arena, in the SkyDome. For a time, he was still known as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, notably keeping the Hollywood Hogan style blond mustache with black beard while wearing Hulkamania-like red and yellow tights and using the "Voodoo Child" entrance theme music he used in WCW. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan feuded with Triple H and defeated him for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash, thus becoming the last ever WWF Champion before the initials dispute against the World Wildlife Fund.
On May 19 at Judgment Day, Hogan lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to The Undertaker. After losing a number one contender match for the WWE Undisputed Championship to Triple H on the June 6 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan began feuding with Kurt Angle resulting in a match between the two at the King of the Ring, which Angle won by submission. On the July 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE Tag Team Championship for the first time. They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan's theme song "Real American". They later lost the titles to The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at Vengeance. In August 2002, Hogan was used in an angle with Brock Lesnar, culminating in a main event singles match on the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, which Lesnar won by technical submission (the match was called after Hogan became unconscious from a bear hug hold). Lesnar became only the second WWE wrestler to defeat Hogan by submission (after Kurt Angle), and the first to defeat Hogan by having the match called. Following the match, Lesnar continued to beat on Hogan, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the ring.
As a result of Lesnar's assault, Hogan went on hiatus and was not able to return until early 2003, shaving off his black beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name in his return. Hogan battled The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out and lost and defeated Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a street fight billed as "twenty years in the making". After WrestleMania, he had a run as the masked Mr. America, who was supposed to be Hogan in disguise, wearing a mask. He used Hogan's "Real American" as an entrance theme and all of Hogan's signature gestures, moves, and phrases. He was the subject of a storyline that took place after Hogan was forced by Mr. McMahon to sit out the rest of his contract. A WWE pre-debut push took place with mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown!. There was also on-screen discussion on SmackDown! between then General Manager Stephanie McMahon and other players concerning her hiring Mr. America "sight unseen". On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). The feud continued through the month of May, with a singles match between Mr. America and Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper at Judgment Day, a match Mr. America won.
Mr. America's last WWE appearance was on the June 26 episode of SmackDown! when Big Show and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) defeated Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Mr. America in a six-man tag team match. After the show went off the air, Mr. America unmasked to show the fans that he was indeed Hogan, putting his finger to his lips telling the fans to keep quiet about his secret. The next week, Hogan quit WWE due to frustration with the creative team. On the July 3 episode of SmackDown!, McMahon showed the footage of Mr. America unmasking as Hogan and "fired" him, although Hogan had already quit in real life. It was later revealed that Hogan was unhappy with the payoffs for his matches after his comeback under the Mr. America gimmick. McMahon decided to terminate Hogan's contract and Hogan left WWE in 2003.
Second return to NJPW (2003)
Hogan returned to NJPW in October 2003, when he defeated Masahiro Chono at Ultimate Crush II in the Tokyo Dome.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)
Shortly after Hogan left WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) began making overtures to Hogan, culminating in Jeff Jarrett, co-founder of TNA and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion, launching an on-air attack on Hogan in Japan in October 2003. The attack was supposed to be a precursor to Hogan battling Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view. However, due to recurring knee and hip problems, Hogan did not appear in TNA. Still, the incident has been shown several times on TNA broadcasts, and was included in the TNA DVD TNA's Fifty Greatest Moments.
Third return to WWE (2005–2007)
On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels.
Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd.
Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.
Memphis Wrestling (2007–2008)
After a brief fall out with McMahon and WWE, Hogan was lured to Memphis Wrestling with the proposal of wrestling Jerry Lawler. The match had been promoted on Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. On April 12, 2007, however, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC performers (including Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC-owned USA Network's Raw and his appearances on the biannual WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best airs. The situation resulted in a lawsuit being filed against WWE by event promoter Corey Maclin. Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight. Hogan defeated Wight at Memphis Wrestling's PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007 when he picked up and hit a body slam on Wight before pinning him following his signature running leg drop.
Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin (2009)
On November 21, 24, 26 and 28, Hogan performed with a group of wrestlers including Spartan-3000, Heidenreich, Eugene, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Orlando Jordan across Australia in a tour titled Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin. The main event of each show was a rematch between Hogan and Ric Flair – the wrestler who defeated Hogan more times than any other. Hogan defeated Flair in all four matches.
Return to TNA (2009–2013)
Dixie Carter's business partner (2009–2010)
On October 27, 2009, it was announced that Hogan had signed a contract to join TNA on a full-time basis. The footage of his signing and the press conference at Madison Square Garden following it were featured on the October 29 episode of Impact!.
On December 5, 2009, Hogan announced on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s The Ultimate Fighter that he would be making his official TNA debut on January 4, 2010, in a special live three-hour Monday night episode of Impact! to compete with WWE's Raw (which featured the return of Bret Hart).
On the January 4 episode of Impact!, Hogan debuted, reuniting briefly with former nWo partners Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman, the latter two of whom made their returns to the company. He, however, refused to join them for a full-fledged reunion of their group claiming, "it's a different time", and stuck to his business relations with Bischoff, who made his appearance to declare that, the two of them would "flip the company upside down" and everyone would have to earn their spot. Hogan also encountered TNA founder Jeff Jarrett on the broadcast, appearing via video wall and interrupting Jarrett's company success speech, stating that Carter was instrumental to the company's survival, and that just like the rest, Jarrett would have to (kayfabe) earn his spot in TNA.
On the February 18 episode of Impact!, Hogan took Abyss under his wing, and during this sequence, gave him his Hall of Fame ring and claimed it would make him a "god of wrestling". Hogan made his in-ring return on March 8, teaming with Abyss to defeat A.J. Styles and Ric Flair when Abyss scored a pinfall over Styles. Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Hogan and Abyss from a beat down at the hands of Styles, Flair and Desmond Wolfe. The storyline became a Team Flair versus Team Hogan situation, with Jarrett and the debuting Rob Van Dam joining Team Hogan and Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Sting joining Team Flair. At Lockdown, Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Ric Flair, Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) in a Lethal Lockdown match.
Immortal (2010–2011)
On the June 17 episode of Impact!, Hogan's alliance with Abyss came to an abrupt end when Abyss turned heel. Abyss later claimed that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. The next month, Hogan worked with Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Hogan and Bischoff were up to something. During this time, Abyss went on a rampage, attacking Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and eventually put his hands on TNA president Dixie Carter, which led to her signing the paperwork, presented by Bischoff, that would have Abyss fired from TNA following his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory. Hogan was set to wrestle with Jarrett and Joe against Sting, Nash and D'Angelo Dinero at Bound for Glory, but was forced to miss the event due to a back surgery. However, he would make an appearance at the end of the event, and turned heel by helping Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship and aligning himself with Hardy, Bischoff, Abyss and Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact!, it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. During his absence, Hogan underwent a potentially career–ending spinal fusion surgery on December 21, 2010.
Hogan returned to TNA on the March 3, 2011 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of TNA, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter. In April, he began hinting at a possible return to the ring to face the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting. On the May 12 episode of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Hogan lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Hogan and Bischoff took over the company; however, this angle was cut short just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion. During the following months, Hogan continued to interfere in Sting's matches, costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship first at Hardcore Justice, recruiting Kurt Angle to Immortal in the process, on the September 1 episode of Impact Wrestling and finally at No Surrender. On the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting defeated Immortal member Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan at Bound for Glory. On October 4, it was reported that Hogan had signed a contract extension with TNA. After feigning retirement from professional wrestling, Hogan accepted the match at Bound for Glory on the October 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, while also agreeing to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting win the match.
Hogan was defeated by Sting at Bound For Glory, ending his storyline as the president of TNA. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting, but Hogan turned face by turning on Immortal and helping Sting. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan, wearing his trademark yellow and red again, admitted to his mistakes, and put over Sting for winning.
Feud with Aces & Eights (2012–2013)
During TNA's 2012 UK tour, on January 26 and 27, Hogan returned to the ring at house shows in Nottingham and Manchester, where he, James Storm and Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag team main event at both events, the latter of which was Hogan's final match. Hogan returned to Impact Wrestling on February 2, when he was revealed as Garett Bischoff's trainer. On the March 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan returned and accepted Sting's offer to replace him as the new General Manager.
In July, Hogan, alongside Sting, began feuding with a mysterious group of masked men, who had dubbed themselves the "Aces & Eights". The group's attack on Hogan on the July 12 episode of Impact Wrestling was used to write Hogan off television as he was set to undergo another back surgery.
In November, Hogan moved into a storyline with Bully Ray after Austin Aries revealed a secret relationship between Ray and Hogan's daughter Brooke. After seeing them kissing in a parking garage on the December 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan suspended Ray indefinitely. The following week on Impact Wrestling, after Ray saved Brooke from a kidnapping by the Aces & Eights, Brooke accepted his marriage proposal. Despite Hogan's disapproval, he still walked Brooke down the aisle for her wedding on the next episode of Impact Wrestling, during which Ray's groomsmen Taz interrupted and revealed himself as a member of the Aces & Eights, leading the group to attack Hogan, Ray, and the rest of the groomsmen.
On the January 31 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan reinstated Ray so he could take on the Aces & Eights. Hogan named Ray the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling. However, at Lockdown, Ray betrayed Hogan, after Aces & Eights helped him win the title, and he revealed himself as the President of the Aces & Eights. Following Lockdown, Hogan blamed Sting for Ray winning the title as it was Sting who encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot. Sting returned and saved Hogan from an attack by Aces & Eights on the April 25 episode of Impact Wrestling. The following week on Impact Wrestling, Hogan and Sting managed to reconcile their differences. On the October 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan refused an offer from Dixie Carter to become her business partner and quit; this was done to officially write Hogan off, as a result of his contract expiring with TNA.
Fourth return to WWE (2014–2015)
On February 24, 2014 on Raw, Hogan made his first WWE in-ring appearance since December 2007 to hype the WWE Network. On the March 24 episode of Raw, Hogan came out to introduce the guest appearances of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello; this was to promote the guests' new movie Sabotage.
At WrestleMania XXX in April, Hogan served as the host, coming out at the start of the show to hype up the crowd. During his promo, he mistakenly referred to the Superdome, the venue the event was being held at, as the Silverdome, which became the subject of jokes throughout the night. Hogan was later joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and they finished their promo by drinking beer together in the ring. Later in the show, Hogan shared a moment with Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper, with whom he main-evented the first WrestleMania.
On February 27, 2015, Hogan was honored at Madison Square Garden during a WWE live event dubbed "Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night" with a special commemorative banner hanging from the rafters, honoring his wrestling career and historic matches he had in the arena.
On the March 23 episode of Raw, Hogan along with Snoop Dogg confronted Curtis Axel – who at the time had been "borrowing" Hogan's Hulkamania gimmick with Axel referring to himself as "AxelMania". On March 28, the night before WrestleMania, Hogan posthumously inducted longtime partner and rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015. The next night at WrestleMania 31, Hogan reunited with Hall and Nash to reform the nWo, appearing in Sting's corner in his match against Triple H, who himself was joined by D-Generation X members Billy Gunn, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Shawn Michaels.
Scandal and departure
In July 2015, National Enquirer and Radar Online publicized an anti-black rant made by Hogan on a leaked sex tape recorded in 2007. In the recording, he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter dating a black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur "nigger." Hogan also admitted to being "a racist, to a point."
Once the recordings went public erupting in a media scandal, Hogan apologized for the remarks, which he said is "language that is offensive and inconsistent with [his] own beliefs." Three black wrestlers who worked in the WWF and WCW with Hogan made supportive comments. Virgil commented "Hogan has never given me a reason to believe he is a racist" while Dennis Rodman said he "most certainly is not a racist" and Kamala added "I do not think Hogan meant harm by saying that. Hogan is my brother until he decides not to be." Black wrestlers working in the WWE made different comments. Mark Henry said he was pleased by WWE's "no tolerance approach to racism" response, and that he was hurt and offended by Hogan's manner and tone. Booker T said he was shocked and called the statements unfortunate.
On July 24, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are "committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds," although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed almost all references to Hogan from their website, including his listing as a judge for Tough Enough, his merchandise from WWE Shop, and his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page (however, he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016). His DLC appearance from WWE 2K15 was taken down from sale, and his character was cut from then upcoming WWE 2K16 game during development.
In response to the controversy, Mattel stopped producing Hogan action figures, while Hogan's merchandise was taken down from online stores of Target, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart. On July 28, Radar Online reported that Hogan had also used homophobic slurs on the leaked sex tape. Days later, it was reported that Hogan had used racist language in a 2008 call to his then-imprisoned son, Nick, and also said that he hoped they would not be reincarnated as black males.
Hogan gave an interview with ABC on August 31 in which he pleaded forgiveness for his racist comments, attributing these to a racial bias inherited from his neighborhood while growing up. Hogan claimed that the term "nigger" was used liberally among friends in Tampa; however, former neighbors have disputed this claim.
In the time that followed, numerous African-Americans expressed some level of support for Hogan including: The Rock, Dennis Rodman, Booker T, Kamala, Virgil, Mark Henry, Big E, and D'Angelo Dinero, who stressed his forgiveness of Hogan, whom he saw as having made a "positive mark on humanity" for over three decades.
Fifth return to WWE (2018–present)
On July 15, 2018, Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame. Later that same night, he was invited backstage to WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event and was briefly mentioned on the event's kickoff show. Hogan made his on-screen return on November 2, 2018, as the host of Crown Jewel. Hogan next appeared on the January 7, 2019 episode of Raw to present a tribute to his longtime friend and colleague Mean Gene Okerlund, who had died five days prior. It was the first time Hogan had appeared in a WWE ring in North America since his 2015 firing. Hogan subsequently appeared on a WWE Network special where he spoke further of his relationship with Okerlund.
Hogan inducted his Mega-Maniacs tag team partner and longtime friend Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019. The following night at WrestleMania 35, he made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the show alongside WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss, welcoming fans to the event and parodying his gaffe from WrestleMania XXX, when he incorrectly referred to the Superdome as the Silverdome. On the June 17, 2019, Raw, WWE aired a Hogan interview about the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team. On the July 22, 2019, Raw, Hogan appeared as part of the "Raw Reunion" special. Hogan was one of the speakers during the "Toast to Raw" segment along with Steve Austin. On September 30, 2019 episode of Raw, he and Ric Flair unveiled a 10 man tag team match, for Crown Jewel. Hogan and Flair made multiple appearances on shows with their teams leading up to the event, which saw Hogan manage his team to victory.
Hogan made it public knowledge that he hoped to have one more match in the WWE, including during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Hogan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time as a member of the New World Order, together with fellow former nWo stablemates Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
Hogan made his only appearance of 2020 on WWE's non-WWE Network programming when he appeared via satellite on the February 14, 2020 episode of Smackdown to speak about the Hall of Fame. He was interrupted by Bray Wyatt, as Hogan warned him about his upcoming match with Goldberg. The 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony was subsequently delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aired on April 6, 2021.
Hogan made his first appearance of 2021 on the January 4 episode of Raw, which was a special Legends Night episode. He opened the show introducing the 'H-Phone,' his spin on an iPhone. He appeared in a backstage segment with Jimmy Hart, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, where he gave his approval to McIntyre, the current WWE Champion. He also watched the championship main event match between McIntyre and Keith Lee on-stage with the rest of the guest legends. It was confirmed on the March 19, 2021, episode of WWE SmackDown he would be the co-host of WrestleMania 37 alongside Titus O'Neil.
Hogan opened both nights of WrestleMania 37 with O'Neil, appeared in multiple segments with Bayley, which led to a return of the Bella Twins, and was introduced during the Hall of Fame celebration with Nash, Hall and Waltman.
Endorsements and business ventures
Food industry
Hogan created and financed a restaurant called Pastamania located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It opened on the Labor Day weekend of 1995 and was heavily promoted on World Championship Wrestling's live show Monday Nitro. The restaurant, which remained in operation for less than a year, featured such dishes as "Hulk-U's" and "Hulk-A-Roos".
In interviews on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Bollea claimed that the opportunity to endorse what came to be known as the George Foreman Grill was originally offered to him, but when he failed to respond in time, Foreman endorsed the grill instead. Instead, Bollea endorsed a blender, known as the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer. He has since endorsed a grill known as "The Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill".
In 2006, Bollea unveiled Hogan Energy, a drink distributed by Socko Energy. His name and likeness were also applied to a line of microwavable hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches sold at Wal-Mart called "Hulkster Burgers". On November 1, 2011, Bollea launched a new website called Hogan Nutrition, which features many nutritional and dietary products.
On New Year's Eve 2012, Bollea opened a beachfront restaurant called "Hogan's Beach", located in the Tampa area. The restaurant dropped Hogan's name in October 2015. Hogan later opened Hogan's Hangout in Clearwater Beach.
Finances
In September 2008, Bollea's net worth was revealed to be around $30 million. In September 2011, Bollea revealed that his lavish lifestyle and divorce had cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly bankrupted him.
Other
In October 2007, Bollea transferred all trademarks referring to himself to his liability company named "Hogan Holdings Limited". The trademarks include Hulk Hogan, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, and Hulkapedia.com.
In April 2008, Bollea announced that he would lend his license to video game developer Gameloft to create "Hulkamania Wrestling" for mobile phones. Hogan stated in a press release that the game would be "true to [his] experiences in wrestling" and use his classic wrestling moves like the Doublehand Choke Lift and Strong Clothesline. , Hogan stars alongside Troy Aikman in commercials for Rent-A-Center. On March 24, 2011, Hogan made a special appearance on American Idol, giving a big surprise to wrestling fans Paul McDonald and James Durbin. On October 15, 2010, Endemol Games UK (a subsidiary of media production group Endemol UK) announced a partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment to produce "Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania", an online gambling game featuring video footage of Hogan.
In October 2013, Bollea partnered with Tech Assets, Inc. to open a web hosting service called "Hostamania". To promote the service, a commercial video was released, featuring Hogan parodying Jean-Claude Van Damme's GoDaddy.com commercials and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video. On November 21, 2013, Hulk Hogan and GoDaddy.com appeared together on a live Hangout On Air on Google Plus, where Hulk Hogan had a casual conversation about Hostamania, fans, and business.
Hogan became a distributor for multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences after looking for business opportunities outside of wrestling. Hogan supports the American Diabetes Association.
Other media
Acting
Hogan's crossover popularity led to several television and movie roles. Early in his career Bollea played the part of Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982). He also appeared in No Holds Barred (1989), before starring in family films Suburban Commando (1991), Mr. Nanny (1993), Santa with Muscles (1996), and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998). Hogan also appeared in 1992 commercials for Right Guard deodorant. He starred in his own television series, Thunder in Paradise, in 1994. He is the star of The Ultimate Weapon (1997), in which Brutus Beefcake also appears in a cameo.
Bollea also starred in a pair of television movies, originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series for TNT, produced by Eric Bischoff. The movies, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island and Shadow Warriors: Hunt for The Death Merchant, starred Hogan alongside Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed as a freelance mercenary team. In 1995, he appeared on TBN's Kids Against Crime. Bollea made cameo appearances in Muppets from Space, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (the theatrical cut) and Spy Hard as himself. Hogan also played the role of Zeus in Little Hercules in 3D. Hogan also made two appearances on The A-Team (in 1985 and 1986), along with Roddy Piper. He also appeared on Suddenly Susan in 1999. In 2001, Hogan guest-starred on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Hogan has become a busy voice actor in later years making guest voice spots on Robot Chicken and American Dad! and as a primary actor in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series China, Illinois.
Reality television and hosting
On July 10, 2005, VH1 premiered Hogan Knows Best a reality show which centered around Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. In July 2008, a spin-off entitled Brooke Knows Best premiered, which focused primarily on Hogan's daughter Brooke.
Bollea hosted the comeback series of American Gladiators on NBC in 2008. He also hosted and judged the short-lived reality show, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Hogan had a special titled Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E on November 17, 2010.
In 2015, Hogan was a judge on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Paige and Daniel Bryan, but due to the scandal, he was replaced by The Miz after episode 5.
Music and radio
Bollea released a music CD, Hulk Rules, as Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Band. Also, Green Jellÿ released a single, a duet with Hogan, performing Gary Glitter's classic song "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)". He has also made cameos in several music videos. From her self-named show, Dolly the music video for Dolly Parton's wrestling-themed love song "Headlock on my Heart" features Hogan as "Starlight Starbright". In the music video "Pressure" by Belly ft. Ginuwine, Bollea and his daughter Brooke both made brief cameo appearances.
Bollea was a regular guest on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show. He also served as the best man at Bubba's January 2007 wedding. On March 12, 2010, Bollea hosted his own radio show, titled Hogan Uncensored, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101.
Merchandising
The Wrestling Figure Checklist records Bollea as having 171 different action figures, produced between the 1980s and 2010s from numerous manufacturers and promotions.
Video games
Bollea provided his voice for the 2011 game Saints Row: The Third as Angel de la Muerte, a member of the Saints. In October 2011, he released a video game called Hulk Hogan's Main Event.
A likeness of him, as Rex Kwan-Do, is featured as a playable police officer in This Is The Police.
Hulk Hogan and Hollywood Hogan are featured in the following licensed wrestling video games:
Filmography
Personal life
Legal issues
Belzer lawsuit
On March 27, 1985, just days prior to the inaugural WrestleMania, Richard Belzer requested on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties that Hogan demonstrate one of his signature wrestling moves. After consistently refusing but being egged on by Belzer, Hogan put Belzer in a modified Guillotine choke, which caused Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to the scalp that required a brief hospitalization. Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and later settled out of court. On October 20, 2006, on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show, it was claimed (with Hogan in the studio) that the settlement totaled $5 million, half from Hogan and half from Vince McMahon. During his June 23, 2008, appearance on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show, Belzer suggested that the real settlement amount was actually closer to $400,000.
Testimony in McMahon trial
In 1994, Hogan, having received immunity from prosecution, testified in the trial of Vince McMahon relating to shipments of steroids received by both parties from WWF physician George T. Zahorian. Under oath, Hogan admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain size and weight, but that McMahon had neither sold him the drugs nor ordered him to take them. The evidence given by Hogan proved extremely costly to the government's case against McMahon. Due to this and jurisdictional issues, McMahon was found not guilty.
Gawker lawsuit
In April 2012, a sex tape between Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, emerged online. On October 4, 2012, Gawker released a short clip of the video. In the video, Bubba can be heard saying that the couple can "do their thing" and he will be in his office. At the end of the video, he can also be heard telling Heather, "If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket". Hogan later told Howard Stern on his satellite radio show that, "it was a bad choice and a very low point" and "I was with some friends and made a wrong choice. It has devastated me, I have never been this hurt". On October 15, 2012, Hogan filed a lawsuit against Bubba and Heather Clem for invading his privacy. A settlement with Bubba was announced on October 29, 2012. Afterwards, Clem publicly apologized to Hogan. In December 2012, a federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, found that Gawker's publication of the video snippet did not violate U.S. copyright law. Hogan then joined Gawker in the ongoing action against Heather Clem in state court in Florida, alleging invasion of privacy, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeking $100 million in damages.
On October 1, 2015, the New York Post reported that a Florida Judge granted Hogan access to Gawker's computer system for a forensic expert to search Gawker's computers and office.
Hogan sued Gawker for $100 million for defamation, loss of privacy, and emotional pain, and on March 18, 2016, was awarded $115 million. Also, on August 11, 2016, a Florida judge gave Hogan control of the assets of A.J. Daulerio, former Gawker editor-in-chief, who was involved in the posting of Hogan's sex tape.
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped Hogan to finance his lawsuit against Gawker Media.
On November 2, 2016, Gawker reached a $31 million settlement with Bollea.
Family
On December 18, 1983, Bollea married Linda Claridge. They have a daughter Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son Nick (born July 27, 1990). Bollea made his personal life the centerpiece of the television show Hogan Knows Best, which included his wife and two children.
According to an interview in the National Enquirer, Christiane Plante claimed that Bollea had an affair with her in 2007 while the Hogan family was shooting Hogan Knows Best. Plante was 33 years old at the time and had worked with Brooke Hogan on her 2006 album.
On November 20, 2007, Linda filed for divorce in Pinellas County, Florida. In November 2008, Linda claimed to the public that she made the decision to end her marriage after finding out about Hogan's affair. In his 2009 autobiography, Hogan acknowledged that Linda on numerous occasions suspected he was having infidelities whenever he developed friendships with other women, but denied allegations that he ever cheated on her. Bollea only retained around 30% of the couple's liquid assets totaling around $10 million in the divorce settlement. Hogan considered committing suicide after the divorce and credits Laila Ali, his co-star on American Gladiators, with preventing him from doing so.
Bollea has been in a relationship with Jennifer McDaniel since early 2008. The two were engaged in November 2009 and married on December 14, 2010, in Clearwater, Florida.
Bollea is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith in his life saying, "[I've] leaned on my religion. I was saved when I was 14. I accepted Christ as my savior. He died on the cross and paid for my sins ... I could have went the wrong way. I could have self-destructed, but I took the high road".
Health
Bollea has suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back since retiring as a wrestler following the years of heavy weight-training and jolting as a wrestler.
In January 2013, Bollea filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Laser Spine Institute for $50 million, citing that the medical firm persuaded him to undergo a half-dozen "unnecessary and ineffective" spinal operations that worsened his back problems. He claimed that the six procedures he underwent over a period of 19 months only gave him short-term relief. After the procedures failed to cure his back problems, Bollea underwent traditional spinal fusion surgery in December 2010, which enabled him to return to his professional activities. In addition, the Laser Spine Institute used his name on their advertisements without his permission.
Legacy
Hogan has been described as one of the largest attractions in professional wrestling history and a major reason why Vince McMahon's expansion of his promotion worked. Wrestling historian and journalist Dave Meltzer stated that "...You can't possibly overrate his significance in the history of the business. And he sold more tickets to wrestling shows than any man who ever lived".
On February 20, 2019, it was announced that Chris Hemsworth would portray him in a biopic, directed by Todd Phillips.
Awards and honors
Bollea was honored as the 2008 King of the Krewe of Bacchus, a New Orleans carnival organization. Hogan visited the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and rode in the parade where he threw doubloons with his likeness. Hogan received the honor in part because meeting Hogan is one of the most requested "wishes" of the terminally ill children benefited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Hogan was inducted in the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018.
Championships and accomplishments
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Heavyweight Championship (original version) (1 time)
IWGP League Tournament (1983)
MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983) with Antonio Inoki
Greatest 18 Club inductee
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2003
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
Match of the Year (1985)
Match of the Year (1988)
Match of the Year (1990)
Match of the Year (2002)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
Ranked No. 44 and No. 57 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Antonio Inoki and Randy Savage in 2003
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)
Tokyo Sports
Best Foreigner Award (1983)
Match of the Year (1991)
World Championship Wrestling
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWF/WWE Championship (6 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Edge
Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2005 – individually
Class of 2020 – as a member of the New World Order
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Strongest Wrestler (1983)
Best Babyface (1982–1991)
Best Box Office Draw (1997)
Best Gimmick (1996)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Feud of the Year (1996)
Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000)
Most Obnoxious (1994, 1995)
Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1994–1998)
Most Unimproved (1994, 1995)
Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
Worst Feud of the Year (1991)
Worst Feud of the Year (1995)
Worst Feud of the Year (1998)
Worst Feud of the Year (2000)
Worst on Interviews (1995)
Worst Wrestler (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame profile
TNA Impact Wrestling profile (archived)
1953 births
20th-century American bass guitarists
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Actors from Pinellas County, Florida
American autobiographers
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Living people
Male actors from Georgia (U.S. state)
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Writers from Augusta, Georgia
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WWE Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees | true | [
"Get Hurt may refer to:\n\n Get Hurt (album), by the Gaslight Anthem (2014)\n Get Hurt (EP), by No Age (2007)\n \"Get Hurt\", a song by AFI from AFI (2017)",
"Moody Blue is the second studio album by Canadian country music singer Beverley Mahood. Released in 2004 on Spin Records, it features the singles \"My Wheels Got Wings\" and \"I Like That Shirt\".\n\nTrack listing\n\"Free\" (Noaise Sheridan, Allison Mellon) - 4:36\n\"The First Day You Wake Up Alone\" (Sheridan, David Lee) - 4:22\n\"Making It Up as You Go\" (Stan Meissner, Steve McEwan) - 4:45\n\"My Wheels Got Wings\" (Vince Degiorgio, Steve Smith, Anthony Anderson, Joleen Belle) - 3:31\n\"I Like That Shirt\" (Bryan Potvin, Beverley Mahood, Rob Wells) - 3:58\n\"You Can Never Tell\" (Mahood, Sean Hogan) - 3:22\n\"Ghost of 66\" (Gary O'Connor) - 3:48\n\"End of a Long Goodbye\" (Potvin, Mahood, Wells) - 4:22\n\"Take Me Home\" (Mahood, Steve Fox) - 3:45\n\"Hurt City\" (Mahood, Hogan) - 4:27\n\"That Changes Everything\" (Giselle Brohman, Jamie Warren) - 4:05\n\"Relentless Flame\" (Mahood, Hogan) - 4:06\n\n2004 albums\nBeverley Mahood albums"
]
|
[
"Hulk Hogan",
"Third return to WWE (2005-2007)",
"Why did Hogan return to WWE?",
"At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The",
"How did he rescue him?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana.",
"What did Hogan do in 2006?",
"Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer \"Mean\" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006.",
"Did Hogan win any matches during this time?",
"During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot.",
"Did Hogan get hurt?",
"He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won."
]
| C_f7eadf2761b540508879af06e19db632_0 | Did anything else happen with Brooke? | 7 | Aside from the Orton shenanigans, was Brooke used for anything else? | Hulk Hogan | On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels. Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd. Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on the July 15 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Terry Eugene Bollea (, born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s.
Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. There, his persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of WWF's flagship annual event, WrestleMania. During his initial run, he won the WWF Championship five times, with his first reign holding the record for the second-longest. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991.
In 1993, Hogan departed the WWF to sign for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest reign. In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable. As a result, he became a major figure during the "Monday Night Wars", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times, including the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.
Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning the Undisputed WWF Championship for a record equaling (for the year) sixth time before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.
Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) - where he won the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship - and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA - now known as Impact Wrestling).
During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in Rocky III. He has starred in several films (including No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny) and three television shows (Hogan Knows Best, Thunder in Paradise, and China, IL), as well as in Right Guard commercials and the video game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event. He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules, reached 12 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio chart in 1995.
Early life
Terry Eugene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) of Italian descent and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. (née Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011) Bollea of Scottish and French descent. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida. As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He attracted scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury ended his baseball career. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes, and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention towards Superstar Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.
Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, Hogan decided to drop out of the University of South Florida before receiving a degree. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco, two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region.
Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)to make him a potential trainee. In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, however, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. However, after Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1977–1979)
In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in CWF. A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers.
Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and decided to open a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.
Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique; Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.
In Alabama, Bollea and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Leslie were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.
During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.
On December 1, 1979, Bollea won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bollea would drop the title in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong. Bollea briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.
World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980)
Later that year, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Hogan wrestled his first match in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on November 17 defeating Harry Valdez on Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug. After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor that he would end up repaying during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1980–1985)
In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used the Axe Bomber, a crooked arm lariat, as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and the first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship, that is defended regularly.
Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in a championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship.
American Wrestling Association (1981–1983)
After filming his scene for Rocky III against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last for long as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel.
Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at the end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell, after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans, began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save; however, Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel.
Return to WWF (1983–1993)
Rise of Hulkamania (1983–1984)
After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.
On the January 7, 1984 episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden. The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).
Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.
In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to a quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of the earnings, if Titan held no interest). This would also extend to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics. (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) 1988's Marvel Comics Presents #45, a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name."
International renown (1985–1988)
Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in the back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On Saturday Night's Main Event I, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification.
Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated (the first and , only professional wrestler to do so), TV Guide, and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
On Saturday Night's Main Event II, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.
In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick "Super Strong Machine". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.
The Mega Powers (1988–1989)
Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the title to André on The Main Event I after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.
Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André the Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam. They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers: Akeem and Big Boss Man.
In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at a Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series Are You Serious? in 2012.
The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989, the duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on The Main Event II, when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage, who slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V.
Final WWF Championship reigns (1989–1993)
Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in a steel cage match on the Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, which was aired on May 27. In May on WWF on NESN, Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII saw the title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie No Holds Barred, which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was "jealous" over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). However, Hogan was easily able to defeat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus would later meet at the Survivor Series, where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect before Zeus then dominated Hogan until Zeus was disqualified by referee Dave Hebner. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view First WWF UK Event at London Arena. During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match, before dropping the title to then Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.
Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam, and he for several months dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment – believing in yourself, and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The feud remained unresolved, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series, and he won it back at This Tuesday in Texas six days later. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match, but Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Flair the winner and new champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX against Flair and Undertaker, but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.
At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs, taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hogan went into the match sporting a cut above a black eye. The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying a group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.
At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion Yokozuna in his first title defense since defeating him at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop. This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.
Return to NJPW (1993–1994)
On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)
World Heavyweight Champion (1994–1996)
Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund-who was now a WCW employee- would visit him on the set of Thunder in Paradise episodes. Hype afterwards was building over whether Hogan should remain with Thunder in Paradise or instead join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair. On the May 28, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night, Hogan torn up his Thunder in Paradise contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued a telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios. The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach. Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on the Clash of the Champions XXVIII, thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee) that Hogan won.
After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade (Starrcade: Triple Threat) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader, who challenged him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V, where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored. Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach, where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on Nitro in September 1995. The October 9, 1995 broadcast of Nitro was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom, which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting) won. Hogan's fifteen-month title reign (which is the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in the title history at 469 days) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification.
Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III, where The Giant cost Hogan the title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI, where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.
New World Order (1996–1999)
At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.
On the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission. Five days later at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on Nitro, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. Savage took the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever bat match.
Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night on Nitro for the world title. In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and hit a powerbomb on Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night, but Bret Hart interfered moments later and jumped in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions – Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac that feuded with each other for the remainder of the year. Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches: his second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach, and at Road Wild he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks. Hogan also had a critically panned rematch with The Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.
On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. Campaign footage aired on Nitro of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. In the long run, however, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt attempting to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him. After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999, episode of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Hogan won for the fifth time, but many people found the title change to be "scandalous". As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.
Final years in WCW (1999–2000)
Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a steel cage First Blood match. Later, Hogan was severely injured in a Texas tornado match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship featuring him, Diamond Dallas Page, Flair, and Sting at Spring Stampede On the July 12 episode of Nitro, Hogan made his return as a face for the first time in three years and accepted an open challenge from Savage, who had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash turned on him the next week, and the two began a feud that lasted until Road Wild.
On August 9, 1999, Hogan started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main event six-man tag team match. Hogan then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Injuries and frustrations were mounting up however, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan came to the ring in street clothes, lay down for the pin, and left the ring.
Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial work with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Before the match, there was a backstage dispute between Hogan and Russo; Hogan wanted to take the title, but Russo was going to have Jarrett win, and lose it to Booker T. Russo told Hogan that he was going to have Jarrett lie down for him, simulating a real conflict, although Jarrett was not told it was a work. When the bell rang, Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring while Russo threw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt in the ring and yelled at Hogan from ringside to pin Jarrett. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" After winning and being announced as the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan immediately took the WCW title belt. Moments later, Russo returned to the ring, angrily proclaiming this would be the last time fans would ever see "that piece of shit" in a WCW stadium. This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan was able to control what would happen with his own character and be able to do so without anyone else being able to tell him no. In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!". Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jarrett later that night.
As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after, which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot. Eric Bischoff agreed with Hogan's side of the story when he wrote that Hogan winning and leaving with the belt was a work (devised by Bischoff rather than Russo), and that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the success of the angle, but that Russo coming out to fire Hogan was an unplanned shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan. It was the last time he was seen in WCW.
Post-WCW endeavors (2001)
In the months following the eventual demise of WCW in March 2001, Hogan underwent surgery on his knees in order for him to wrestle again. As a test, Hogan worked a match in Orlando, Florida for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotion run by his longtime handler Jimmy Hart. Hogan defeated Curt Hennig in this match and felt healthy enough to accept an offer to return to the WWF in February 2002.
Second return to WWF/WWE (2002–2003)
At No Way Out in February 2002, Hogan returned to the WWF as a heel. Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event. The nWo feuded with both Austin and The Rock, and Hogan accepted The Rock's challenge to a match at WrestleMania X8, where Hogan asked Hall and Nash not to interfere, wanting to defeat The Rock by himself. Despite the fact that Hogan was supposed to be the heel in the match, the crowd cheered for him heavily. The Rock cleanly won the contest, and befriended Hogan at the end of the bout and helped him fight off Hall and Nash, who were upset by Hogan's conciliatory attitude. After the match, Hogan turned face by siding with The Rock, though he continued wearing black and white tights for a few weeks after WrestleMania X8 until he resumed wearing his signature red and yellow tights. During this period, the "Hulk Rules" logo of the 1980s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules", and Hogan also wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire twelve years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania VI at the same arena, in the SkyDome. For a time, he was still known as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, notably keeping the Hollywood Hogan style blond mustache with black beard while wearing Hulkamania-like red and yellow tights and using the "Voodoo Child" entrance theme music he used in WCW. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan feuded with Triple H and defeated him for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash, thus becoming the last ever WWF Champion before the initials dispute against the World Wildlife Fund.
On May 19 at Judgment Day, Hogan lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to The Undertaker. After losing a number one contender match for the WWE Undisputed Championship to Triple H on the June 6 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan began feuding with Kurt Angle resulting in a match between the two at the King of the Ring, which Angle won by submission. On the July 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE Tag Team Championship for the first time. They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan's theme song "Real American". They later lost the titles to The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at Vengeance. In August 2002, Hogan was used in an angle with Brock Lesnar, culminating in a main event singles match on the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, which Lesnar won by technical submission (the match was called after Hogan became unconscious from a bear hug hold). Lesnar became only the second WWE wrestler to defeat Hogan by submission (after Kurt Angle), and the first to defeat Hogan by having the match called. Following the match, Lesnar continued to beat on Hogan, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the ring.
As a result of Lesnar's assault, Hogan went on hiatus and was not able to return until early 2003, shaving off his black beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name in his return. Hogan battled The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out and lost and defeated Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a street fight billed as "twenty years in the making". After WrestleMania, he had a run as the masked Mr. America, who was supposed to be Hogan in disguise, wearing a mask. He used Hogan's "Real American" as an entrance theme and all of Hogan's signature gestures, moves, and phrases. He was the subject of a storyline that took place after Hogan was forced by Mr. McMahon to sit out the rest of his contract. A WWE pre-debut push took place with mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown!. There was also on-screen discussion on SmackDown! between then General Manager Stephanie McMahon and other players concerning her hiring Mr. America "sight unseen". On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). The feud continued through the month of May, with a singles match between Mr. America and Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper at Judgment Day, a match Mr. America won.
Mr. America's last WWE appearance was on the June 26 episode of SmackDown! when Big Show and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) defeated Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Mr. America in a six-man tag team match. After the show went off the air, Mr. America unmasked to show the fans that he was indeed Hogan, putting his finger to his lips telling the fans to keep quiet about his secret. The next week, Hogan quit WWE due to frustration with the creative team. On the July 3 episode of SmackDown!, McMahon showed the footage of Mr. America unmasking as Hogan and "fired" him, although Hogan had already quit in real life. It was later revealed that Hogan was unhappy with the payoffs for his matches after his comeback under the Mr. America gimmick. McMahon decided to terminate Hogan's contract and Hogan left WWE in 2003.
Second return to NJPW (2003)
Hogan returned to NJPW in October 2003, when he defeated Masahiro Chono at Ultimate Crush II in the Tokyo Dome.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)
Shortly after Hogan left WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) began making overtures to Hogan, culminating in Jeff Jarrett, co-founder of TNA and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion, launching an on-air attack on Hogan in Japan in October 2003. The attack was supposed to be a precursor to Hogan battling Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view. However, due to recurring knee and hip problems, Hogan did not appear in TNA. Still, the incident has been shown several times on TNA broadcasts, and was included in the TNA DVD TNA's Fifty Greatest Moments.
Third return to WWE (2005–2007)
On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels.
Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd.
Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.
Memphis Wrestling (2007–2008)
After a brief fall out with McMahon and WWE, Hogan was lured to Memphis Wrestling with the proposal of wrestling Jerry Lawler. The match had been promoted on Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. On April 12, 2007, however, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC performers (including Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC-owned USA Network's Raw and his appearances on the biannual WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best airs. The situation resulted in a lawsuit being filed against WWE by event promoter Corey Maclin. Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight. Hogan defeated Wight at Memphis Wrestling's PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007 when he picked up and hit a body slam on Wight before pinning him following his signature running leg drop.
Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin (2009)
On November 21, 24, 26 and 28, Hogan performed with a group of wrestlers including Spartan-3000, Heidenreich, Eugene, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Orlando Jordan across Australia in a tour titled Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin. The main event of each show was a rematch between Hogan and Ric Flair – the wrestler who defeated Hogan more times than any other. Hogan defeated Flair in all four matches.
Return to TNA (2009–2013)
Dixie Carter's business partner (2009–2010)
On October 27, 2009, it was announced that Hogan had signed a contract to join TNA on a full-time basis. The footage of his signing and the press conference at Madison Square Garden following it were featured on the October 29 episode of Impact!.
On December 5, 2009, Hogan announced on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s The Ultimate Fighter that he would be making his official TNA debut on January 4, 2010, in a special live three-hour Monday night episode of Impact! to compete with WWE's Raw (which featured the return of Bret Hart).
On the January 4 episode of Impact!, Hogan debuted, reuniting briefly with former nWo partners Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman, the latter two of whom made their returns to the company. He, however, refused to join them for a full-fledged reunion of their group claiming, "it's a different time", and stuck to his business relations with Bischoff, who made his appearance to declare that, the two of them would "flip the company upside down" and everyone would have to earn their spot. Hogan also encountered TNA founder Jeff Jarrett on the broadcast, appearing via video wall and interrupting Jarrett's company success speech, stating that Carter was instrumental to the company's survival, and that just like the rest, Jarrett would have to (kayfabe) earn his spot in TNA.
On the February 18 episode of Impact!, Hogan took Abyss under his wing, and during this sequence, gave him his Hall of Fame ring and claimed it would make him a "god of wrestling". Hogan made his in-ring return on March 8, teaming with Abyss to defeat A.J. Styles and Ric Flair when Abyss scored a pinfall over Styles. Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Hogan and Abyss from a beat down at the hands of Styles, Flair and Desmond Wolfe. The storyline became a Team Flair versus Team Hogan situation, with Jarrett and the debuting Rob Van Dam joining Team Hogan and Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Sting joining Team Flair. At Lockdown, Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Ric Flair, Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) in a Lethal Lockdown match.
Immortal (2010–2011)
On the June 17 episode of Impact!, Hogan's alliance with Abyss came to an abrupt end when Abyss turned heel. Abyss later claimed that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. The next month, Hogan worked with Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Hogan and Bischoff were up to something. During this time, Abyss went on a rampage, attacking Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and eventually put his hands on TNA president Dixie Carter, which led to her signing the paperwork, presented by Bischoff, that would have Abyss fired from TNA following his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory. Hogan was set to wrestle with Jarrett and Joe against Sting, Nash and D'Angelo Dinero at Bound for Glory, but was forced to miss the event due to a back surgery. However, he would make an appearance at the end of the event, and turned heel by helping Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship and aligning himself with Hardy, Bischoff, Abyss and Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact!, it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. During his absence, Hogan underwent a potentially career–ending spinal fusion surgery on December 21, 2010.
Hogan returned to TNA on the March 3, 2011 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of TNA, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter. In April, he began hinting at a possible return to the ring to face the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting. On the May 12 episode of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Hogan lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Hogan and Bischoff took over the company; however, this angle was cut short just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion. During the following months, Hogan continued to interfere in Sting's matches, costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship first at Hardcore Justice, recruiting Kurt Angle to Immortal in the process, on the September 1 episode of Impact Wrestling and finally at No Surrender. On the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting defeated Immortal member Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan at Bound for Glory. On October 4, it was reported that Hogan had signed a contract extension with TNA. After feigning retirement from professional wrestling, Hogan accepted the match at Bound for Glory on the October 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, while also agreeing to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting win the match.
Hogan was defeated by Sting at Bound For Glory, ending his storyline as the president of TNA. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting, but Hogan turned face by turning on Immortal and helping Sting. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan, wearing his trademark yellow and red again, admitted to his mistakes, and put over Sting for winning.
Feud with Aces & Eights (2012–2013)
During TNA's 2012 UK tour, on January 26 and 27, Hogan returned to the ring at house shows in Nottingham and Manchester, where he, James Storm and Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag team main event at both events, the latter of which was Hogan's final match. Hogan returned to Impact Wrestling on February 2, when he was revealed as Garett Bischoff's trainer. On the March 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan returned and accepted Sting's offer to replace him as the new General Manager.
In July, Hogan, alongside Sting, began feuding with a mysterious group of masked men, who had dubbed themselves the "Aces & Eights". The group's attack on Hogan on the July 12 episode of Impact Wrestling was used to write Hogan off television as he was set to undergo another back surgery.
In November, Hogan moved into a storyline with Bully Ray after Austin Aries revealed a secret relationship between Ray and Hogan's daughter Brooke. After seeing them kissing in a parking garage on the December 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan suspended Ray indefinitely. The following week on Impact Wrestling, after Ray saved Brooke from a kidnapping by the Aces & Eights, Brooke accepted his marriage proposal. Despite Hogan's disapproval, he still walked Brooke down the aisle for her wedding on the next episode of Impact Wrestling, during which Ray's groomsmen Taz interrupted and revealed himself as a member of the Aces & Eights, leading the group to attack Hogan, Ray, and the rest of the groomsmen.
On the January 31 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan reinstated Ray so he could take on the Aces & Eights. Hogan named Ray the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling. However, at Lockdown, Ray betrayed Hogan, after Aces & Eights helped him win the title, and he revealed himself as the President of the Aces & Eights. Following Lockdown, Hogan blamed Sting for Ray winning the title as it was Sting who encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot. Sting returned and saved Hogan from an attack by Aces & Eights on the April 25 episode of Impact Wrestling. The following week on Impact Wrestling, Hogan and Sting managed to reconcile their differences. On the October 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan refused an offer from Dixie Carter to become her business partner and quit; this was done to officially write Hogan off, as a result of his contract expiring with TNA.
Fourth return to WWE (2014–2015)
On February 24, 2014 on Raw, Hogan made his first WWE in-ring appearance since December 2007 to hype the WWE Network. On the March 24 episode of Raw, Hogan came out to introduce the guest appearances of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello; this was to promote the guests' new movie Sabotage.
At WrestleMania XXX in April, Hogan served as the host, coming out at the start of the show to hype up the crowd. During his promo, he mistakenly referred to the Superdome, the venue the event was being held at, as the Silverdome, which became the subject of jokes throughout the night. Hogan was later joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and they finished their promo by drinking beer together in the ring. Later in the show, Hogan shared a moment with Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper, with whom he main-evented the first WrestleMania.
On February 27, 2015, Hogan was honored at Madison Square Garden during a WWE live event dubbed "Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night" with a special commemorative banner hanging from the rafters, honoring his wrestling career and historic matches he had in the arena.
On the March 23 episode of Raw, Hogan along with Snoop Dogg confronted Curtis Axel – who at the time had been "borrowing" Hogan's Hulkamania gimmick with Axel referring to himself as "AxelMania". On March 28, the night before WrestleMania, Hogan posthumously inducted longtime partner and rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015. The next night at WrestleMania 31, Hogan reunited with Hall and Nash to reform the nWo, appearing in Sting's corner in his match against Triple H, who himself was joined by D-Generation X members Billy Gunn, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Shawn Michaels.
Scandal and departure
In July 2015, National Enquirer and Radar Online publicized an anti-black rant made by Hogan on a leaked sex tape recorded in 2007. In the recording, he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter dating a black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur "nigger." Hogan also admitted to being "a racist, to a point."
Once the recordings went public erupting in a media scandal, Hogan apologized for the remarks, which he said is "language that is offensive and inconsistent with [his] own beliefs." Three black wrestlers who worked in the WWF and WCW with Hogan made supportive comments. Virgil commented "Hogan has never given me a reason to believe he is a racist" while Dennis Rodman said he "most certainly is not a racist" and Kamala added "I do not think Hogan meant harm by saying that. Hogan is my brother until he decides not to be." Black wrestlers working in the WWE made different comments. Mark Henry said he was pleased by WWE's "no tolerance approach to racism" response, and that he was hurt and offended by Hogan's manner and tone. Booker T said he was shocked and called the statements unfortunate.
On July 24, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are "committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds," although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed almost all references to Hogan from their website, including his listing as a judge for Tough Enough, his merchandise from WWE Shop, and his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page (however, he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016). His DLC appearance from WWE 2K15 was taken down from sale, and his character was cut from then upcoming WWE 2K16 game during development.
In response to the controversy, Mattel stopped producing Hogan action figures, while Hogan's merchandise was taken down from online stores of Target, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart. On July 28, Radar Online reported that Hogan had also used homophobic slurs on the leaked sex tape. Days later, it was reported that Hogan had used racist language in a 2008 call to his then-imprisoned son, Nick, and also said that he hoped they would not be reincarnated as black males.
Hogan gave an interview with ABC on August 31 in which he pleaded forgiveness for his racist comments, attributing these to a racial bias inherited from his neighborhood while growing up. Hogan claimed that the term "nigger" was used liberally among friends in Tampa; however, former neighbors have disputed this claim.
In the time that followed, numerous African-Americans expressed some level of support for Hogan including: The Rock, Dennis Rodman, Booker T, Kamala, Virgil, Mark Henry, Big E, and D'Angelo Dinero, who stressed his forgiveness of Hogan, whom he saw as having made a "positive mark on humanity" for over three decades.
Fifth return to WWE (2018–present)
On July 15, 2018, Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame. Later that same night, he was invited backstage to WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event and was briefly mentioned on the event's kickoff show. Hogan made his on-screen return on November 2, 2018, as the host of Crown Jewel. Hogan next appeared on the January 7, 2019 episode of Raw to present a tribute to his longtime friend and colleague Mean Gene Okerlund, who had died five days prior. It was the first time Hogan had appeared in a WWE ring in North America since his 2015 firing. Hogan subsequently appeared on a WWE Network special where he spoke further of his relationship with Okerlund.
Hogan inducted his Mega-Maniacs tag team partner and longtime friend Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019. The following night at WrestleMania 35, he made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the show alongside WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss, welcoming fans to the event and parodying his gaffe from WrestleMania XXX, when he incorrectly referred to the Superdome as the Silverdome. On the June 17, 2019, Raw, WWE aired a Hogan interview about the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team. On the July 22, 2019, Raw, Hogan appeared as part of the "Raw Reunion" special. Hogan was one of the speakers during the "Toast to Raw" segment along with Steve Austin. On September 30, 2019 episode of Raw, he and Ric Flair unveiled a 10 man tag team match, for Crown Jewel. Hogan and Flair made multiple appearances on shows with their teams leading up to the event, which saw Hogan manage his team to victory.
Hogan made it public knowledge that he hoped to have one more match in the WWE, including during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Hogan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time as a member of the New World Order, together with fellow former nWo stablemates Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
Hogan made his only appearance of 2020 on WWE's non-WWE Network programming when he appeared via satellite on the February 14, 2020 episode of Smackdown to speak about the Hall of Fame. He was interrupted by Bray Wyatt, as Hogan warned him about his upcoming match with Goldberg. The 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony was subsequently delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aired on April 6, 2021.
Hogan made his first appearance of 2021 on the January 4 episode of Raw, which was a special Legends Night episode. He opened the show introducing the 'H-Phone,' his spin on an iPhone. He appeared in a backstage segment with Jimmy Hart, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, where he gave his approval to McIntyre, the current WWE Champion. He also watched the championship main event match between McIntyre and Keith Lee on-stage with the rest of the guest legends. It was confirmed on the March 19, 2021, episode of WWE SmackDown he would be the co-host of WrestleMania 37 alongside Titus O'Neil.
Hogan opened both nights of WrestleMania 37 with O'Neil, appeared in multiple segments with Bayley, which led to a return of the Bella Twins, and was introduced during the Hall of Fame celebration with Nash, Hall and Waltman.
Endorsements and business ventures
Food industry
Hogan created and financed a restaurant called Pastamania located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It opened on the Labor Day weekend of 1995 and was heavily promoted on World Championship Wrestling's live show Monday Nitro. The restaurant, which remained in operation for less than a year, featured such dishes as "Hulk-U's" and "Hulk-A-Roos".
In interviews on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Bollea claimed that the opportunity to endorse what came to be known as the George Foreman Grill was originally offered to him, but when he failed to respond in time, Foreman endorsed the grill instead. Instead, Bollea endorsed a blender, known as the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer. He has since endorsed a grill known as "The Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill".
In 2006, Bollea unveiled Hogan Energy, a drink distributed by Socko Energy. His name and likeness were also applied to a line of microwavable hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches sold at Wal-Mart called "Hulkster Burgers". On November 1, 2011, Bollea launched a new website called Hogan Nutrition, which features many nutritional and dietary products.
On New Year's Eve 2012, Bollea opened a beachfront restaurant called "Hogan's Beach", located in the Tampa area. The restaurant dropped Hogan's name in October 2015. Hogan later opened Hogan's Hangout in Clearwater Beach.
Finances
In September 2008, Bollea's net worth was revealed to be around $30 million. In September 2011, Bollea revealed that his lavish lifestyle and divorce had cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly bankrupted him.
Other
In October 2007, Bollea transferred all trademarks referring to himself to his liability company named "Hogan Holdings Limited". The trademarks include Hulk Hogan, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, and Hulkapedia.com.
In April 2008, Bollea announced that he would lend his license to video game developer Gameloft to create "Hulkamania Wrestling" for mobile phones. Hogan stated in a press release that the game would be "true to [his] experiences in wrestling" and use his classic wrestling moves like the Doublehand Choke Lift and Strong Clothesline. , Hogan stars alongside Troy Aikman in commercials for Rent-A-Center. On March 24, 2011, Hogan made a special appearance on American Idol, giving a big surprise to wrestling fans Paul McDonald and James Durbin. On October 15, 2010, Endemol Games UK (a subsidiary of media production group Endemol UK) announced a partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment to produce "Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania", an online gambling game featuring video footage of Hogan.
In October 2013, Bollea partnered with Tech Assets, Inc. to open a web hosting service called "Hostamania". To promote the service, a commercial video was released, featuring Hogan parodying Jean-Claude Van Damme's GoDaddy.com commercials and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video. On November 21, 2013, Hulk Hogan and GoDaddy.com appeared together on a live Hangout On Air on Google Plus, where Hulk Hogan had a casual conversation about Hostamania, fans, and business.
Hogan became a distributor for multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences after looking for business opportunities outside of wrestling. Hogan supports the American Diabetes Association.
Other media
Acting
Hogan's crossover popularity led to several television and movie roles. Early in his career Bollea played the part of Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982). He also appeared in No Holds Barred (1989), before starring in family films Suburban Commando (1991), Mr. Nanny (1993), Santa with Muscles (1996), and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998). Hogan also appeared in 1992 commercials for Right Guard deodorant. He starred in his own television series, Thunder in Paradise, in 1994. He is the star of The Ultimate Weapon (1997), in which Brutus Beefcake also appears in a cameo.
Bollea also starred in a pair of television movies, originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series for TNT, produced by Eric Bischoff. The movies, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island and Shadow Warriors: Hunt for The Death Merchant, starred Hogan alongside Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed as a freelance mercenary team. In 1995, he appeared on TBN's Kids Against Crime. Bollea made cameo appearances in Muppets from Space, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (the theatrical cut) and Spy Hard as himself. Hogan also played the role of Zeus in Little Hercules in 3D. Hogan also made two appearances on The A-Team (in 1985 and 1986), along with Roddy Piper. He also appeared on Suddenly Susan in 1999. In 2001, Hogan guest-starred on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Hogan has become a busy voice actor in later years making guest voice spots on Robot Chicken and American Dad! and as a primary actor in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series China, Illinois.
Reality television and hosting
On July 10, 2005, VH1 premiered Hogan Knows Best a reality show which centered around Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. In July 2008, a spin-off entitled Brooke Knows Best premiered, which focused primarily on Hogan's daughter Brooke.
Bollea hosted the comeback series of American Gladiators on NBC in 2008. He also hosted and judged the short-lived reality show, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Hogan had a special titled Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E on November 17, 2010.
In 2015, Hogan was a judge on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Paige and Daniel Bryan, but due to the scandal, he was replaced by The Miz after episode 5.
Music and radio
Bollea released a music CD, Hulk Rules, as Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Band. Also, Green Jellÿ released a single, a duet with Hogan, performing Gary Glitter's classic song "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)". He has also made cameos in several music videos. From her self-named show, Dolly the music video for Dolly Parton's wrestling-themed love song "Headlock on my Heart" features Hogan as "Starlight Starbright". In the music video "Pressure" by Belly ft. Ginuwine, Bollea and his daughter Brooke both made brief cameo appearances.
Bollea was a regular guest on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show. He also served as the best man at Bubba's January 2007 wedding. On March 12, 2010, Bollea hosted his own radio show, titled Hogan Uncensored, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101.
Merchandising
The Wrestling Figure Checklist records Bollea as having 171 different action figures, produced between the 1980s and 2010s from numerous manufacturers and promotions.
Video games
Bollea provided his voice for the 2011 game Saints Row: The Third as Angel de la Muerte, a member of the Saints. In October 2011, he released a video game called Hulk Hogan's Main Event.
A likeness of him, as Rex Kwan-Do, is featured as a playable police officer in This Is The Police.
Hulk Hogan and Hollywood Hogan are featured in the following licensed wrestling video games:
Filmography
Personal life
Legal issues
Belzer lawsuit
On March 27, 1985, just days prior to the inaugural WrestleMania, Richard Belzer requested on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties that Hogan demonstrate one of his signature wrestling moves. After consistently refusing but being egged on by Belzer, Hogan put Belzer in a modified Guillotine choke, which caused Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to the scalp that required a brief hospitalization. Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and later settled out of court. On October 20, 2006, on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show, it was claimed (with Hogan in the studio) that the settlement totaled $5 million, half from Hogan and half from Vince McMahon. During his June 23, 2008, appearance on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show, Belzer suggested that the real settlement amount was actually closer to $400,000.
Testimony in McMahon trial
In 1994, Hogan, having received immunity from prosecution, testified in the trial of Vince McMahon relating to shipments of steroids received by both parties from WWF physician George T. Zahorian. Under oath, Hogan admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain size and weight, but that McMahon had neither sold him the drugs nor ordered him to take them. The evidence given by Hogan proved extremely costly to the government's case against McMahon. Due to this and jurisdictional issues, McMahon was found not guilty.
Gawker lawsuit
In April 2012, a sex tape between Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, emerged online. On October 4, 2012, Gawker released a short clip of the video. In the video, Bubba can be heard saying that the couple can "do their thing" and he will be in his office. At the end of the video, he can also be heard telling Heather, "If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket". Hogan later told Howard Stern on his satellite radio show that, "it was a bad choice and a very low point" and "I was with some friends and made a wrong choice. It has devastated me, I have never been this hurt". On October 15, 2012, Hogan filed a lawsuit against Bubba and Heather Clem for invading his privacy. A settlement with Bubba was announced on October 29, 2012. Afterwards, Clem publicly apologized to Hogan. In December 2012, a federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, found that Gawker's publication of the video snippet did not violate U.S. copyright law. Hogan then joined Gawker in the ongoing action against Heather Clem in state court in Florida, alleging invasion of privacy, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeking $100 million in damages.
On October 1, 2015, the New York Post reported that a Florida Judge granted Hogan access to Gawker's computer system for a forensic expert to search Gawker's computers and office.
Hogan sued Gawker for $100 million for defamation, loss of privacy, and emotional pain, and on March 18, 2016, was awarded $115 million. Also, on August 11, 2016, a Florida judge gave Hogan control of the assets of A.J. Daulerio, former Gawker editor-in-chief, who was involved in the posting of Hogan's sex tape.
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped Hogan to finance his lawsuit against Gawker Media.
On November 2, 2016, Gawker reached a $31 million settlement with Bollea.
Family
On December 18, 1983, Bollea married Linda Claridge. They have a daughter Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son Nick (born July 27, 1990). Bollea made his personal life the centerpiece of the television show Hogan Knows Best, which included his wife and two children.
According to an interview in the National Enquirer, Christiane Plante claimed that Bollea had an affair with her in 2007 while the Hogan family was shooting Hogan Knows Best. Plante was 33 years old at the time and had worked with Brooke Hogan on her 2006 album.
On November 20, 2007, Linda filed for divorce in Pinellas County, Florida. In November 2008, Linda claimed to the public that she made the decision to end her marriage after finding out about Hogan's affair. In his 2009 autobiography, Hogan acknowledged that Linda on numerous occasions suspected he was having infidelities whenever he developed friendships with other women, but denied allegations that he ever cheated on her. Bollea only retained around 30% of the couple's liquid assets totaling around $10 million in the divorce settlement. Hogan considered committing suicide after the divorce and credits Laila Ali, his co-star on American Gladiators, with preventing him from doing so.
Bollea has been in a relationship with Jennifer McDaniel since early 2008. The two were engaged in November 2009 and married on December 14, 2010, in Clearwater, Florida.
Bollea is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith in his life saying, "[I've] leaned on my religion. I was saved when I was 14. I accepted Christ as my savior. He died on the cross and paid for my sins ... I could have went the wrong way. I could have self-destructed, but I took the high road".
Health
Bollea has suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back since retiring as a wrestler following the years of heavy weight-training and jolting as a wrestler.
In January 2013, Bollea filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Laser Spine Institute for $50 million, citing that the medical firm persuaded him to undergo a half-dozen "unnecessary and ineffective" spinal operations that worsened his back problems. He claimed that the six procedures he underwent over a period of 19 months only gave him short-term relief. After the procedures failed to cure his back problems, Bollea underwent traditional spinal fusion surgery in December 2010, which enabled him to return to his professional activities. In addition, the Laser Spine Institute used his name on their advertisements without his permission.
Legacy
Hogan has been described as one of the largest attractions in professional wrestling history and a major reason why Vince McMahon's expansion of his promotion worked. Wrestling historian and journalist Dave Meltzer stated that "...You can't possibly overrate his significance in the history of the business. And he sold more tickets to wrestling shows than any man who ever lived".
On February 20, 2019, it was announced that Chris Hemsworth would portray him in a biopic, directed by Todd Phillips.
Awards and honors
Bollea was honored as the 2008 King of the Krewe of Bacchus, a New Orleans carnival organization. Hogan visited the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and rode in the parade where he threw doubloons with his likeness. Hogan received the honor in part because meeting Hogan is one of the most requested "wishes" of the terminally ill children benefited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Hogan was inducted in the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018.
Championships and accomplishments
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Heavyweight Championship (original version) (1 time)
IWGP League Tournament (1983)
MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983) with Antonio Inoki
Greatest 18 Club inductee
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2003
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
Match of the Year (1985)
Match of the Year (1988)
Match of the Year (1990)
Match of the Year (2002)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
Ranked No. 44 and No. 57 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Antonio Inoki and Randy Savage in 2003
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)
Tokyo Sports
Best Foreigner Award (1983)
Match of the Year (1991)
World Championship Wrestling
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWF/WWE Championship (6 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Edge
Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2005 – individually
Class of 2020 – as a member of the New World Order
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Strongest Wrestler (1983)
Best Babyface (1982–1991)
Best Box Office Draw (1997)
Best Gimmick (1996)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Feud of the Year (1996)
Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000)
Most Obnoxious (1994, 1995)
Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1994–1998)
Most Unimproved (1994, 1995)
Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
Worst Feud of the Year (1991)
Worst Feud of the Year (1995)
Worst Feud of the Year (1998)
Worst Feud of the Year (2000)
Worst on Interviews (1995)
Worst Wrestler (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame profile
TNA Impact Wrestling profile (archived)
1953 births
20th-century American bass guitarists
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American rappers
Actors from Pinellas County, Florida
American autobiographers
American Christians
American food industry businesspeople
American lyricists
American male bass guitarists
American male film actors
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male professional wrestlers
American male non-fiction writers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American musicians of Panamanian descent
American people of French descent
American people of Panamanian descent
American people of Scottish descent
American professional wrestlers of Italian descent
American radio personalities
American rock bass guitarists
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American session musicians
American sportspeople of Italian descent
American sportspeople of Panamanian descent
American television hosts
American writers of Italian descent
Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state)
Businesspeople from Miami
Businesspeople from Tampa, Florida
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Guitarists from Florida
Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Impact Wrestling executives
Living people
Male actors from Georgia (U.S. state)
Male actors from Miami
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Masked wrestlers
Musicians from Augusta, Georgia
Musicians from Miami
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People associated with direct selling
Professional wrestlers from Florida
Professional wrestlers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Radio personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
Radio personalities from Miami
Radio personalities from Tampa, Florida
Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Rappers from Miami
Record producers from Florida
Record producers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
Sportspeople from Augusta, Georgia
Sportspeople from Clearwater, Florida
Sportspeople from Miami
Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Television personalities from Florida
Television personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
Television producers from Florida
Television producers from Georgia (U.S. state)
The New World Order (professional wrestling) members
University of South Florida alumni
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
Writers from Augusta, Georgia
Writers from Miami
Writers from Tampa, Florida
WWE Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees | false | [
"Anything Else is a 2003 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, produced by Letty Aronson, and starring Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Allen, Stockard Channing, Danny DeVito, Jimmy Fallon, Erica Leerhsen and KaDee Strickland. The film was shown as the opening night selection at the 60th annual Venice International Film Festival. The film was released theatrically on September 19, 2003, to mixed reviews and commercial failure.\n\nPlot\nJerry Falk (Biggs), an aspiring writer living in New York City, has a girlfriend, Brooke (Strickland). He falls in love with Amanda (Ricci) and has an affair with her. Brooke finds out of Jerry's infidelity and leaves him. Amanda leaves her own boyfriend for Jerry. Jerry turns to aging, struggling artist David Dobel (Allen, loosely based on David Panich) who acts as his mentor, which includes trying to help sort out Jerry's romantic life. Dobel says that when he told a cab driver of all his anxieties and phobias in life, the cab driver told him, \"It's like anything else\".\n\nDobel tries to convince Jerry that his manager is only holding him back and his relationship with Amanda is the most destructive force in his life. Amanda continuously cheats on Jerry. Amanda leaves and then comes back. Jerry's neuroses start to worsen. Eventually, Jerry leaves town as Dobel gets him a job writing for television in California. Amanda has an affair with the doctor who was treating her and runs off with him. He sees them together laughing as she once did with him as the cab is taking him towards the airport. Jerry talks to the cabbie of love and relationships. The cabbie simply replies, \"It's like anything else\".\n\nCast\n\nReception\nOn Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 40%, based on reviews from 137 critics. The site's consensus states: \"Too many elements from better Woody Allen films are being recycled here.\" On Metacritic the film has an average score of 43 out of 100, based on reviews from 37 critics. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C- on scale of A to F.\n\nRoger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 and wrote: \"At a time when so many American movies keep dialogue at a minimum so they can play better overseas, what a delight to listen to smart people whose conversation is like a kind of comic music.\"\nJames Berardinelli of ReelViews wrote: \"Anything Else may not be the second coming of \"Annie Hall,\" but it has more wit and substance than almost every post-college romance that sees the inside of a projection booth.\nDavid Stratton of Variety magazine wrote: \"The younger casting brings a freshness to the material and, with Allen as the weird mentor, there are plenty of laughs, even if the pacing's slow and the running time over-extended.\"\n\nMike Clark of USA Today was critical of the characterizations, the music, the length (\"brutally overlong\"), but praised the actors for their performances: \"It's asking a lot of audiences to spend nearly two hours with characters as screen-unfriendly as the ones played by Biggs and Ricci, though both actors (and especially Ricci) do what they're asked to do.\" Clark also says the film \"sounds as if it ought to be funny, but like so much else here, intent and execution keep missing each other.\" and complains that the misery of the story is not tempered by sufficient laughs.\n\nIn August 2009, it was cited by Quentin Tarantino as one of his favorite 20 films since 1992, when his career as a filmmaker began.\n\nLeonard Maltin, in his movie and video guide, gave the film a \"BOMB\" rating (the only Allen-directed film he ever rated BOMB), and called it \"Allen's all-time worst\".\nIn 2016, film critics Robbie Collin and Tim Robey ranked Anything Else as one of the worst movies by Woody Allen.\n\nSoundtrack\n\nEasy to Love - Written by Cole Porter - Performed by Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra\nGat I - Written and performed by Ravi Shankar\nIt Could Happen to You - Written by Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen - Performed by Diana Krall\nGone with the Wind - Written by Herb Magidson & Allie Wrubel - Performed by Wes Montgomery\nThe Way You Look Tonight - Written by Dorothy Fields & Jerome Kern - Performed by Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra\nI Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me - Written by Clarence Gaskill & Jimmy McHugh - Performed by Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra\nHoneysuckle Rose - Written by Andy Razaf & Fats Waller - Performed by Teddy Wilson\nI Can't Get Started - Written by Vernon Duke & Ira Gershwin - Performed by Lester Young\nSunday (The Day Before My Birthday) - Written by Moby & Sylvia Robinson - Performed by Moby\nThere'll Be Another Spring - Written by Peggy Lee & Hubie Wheeler - Performed by Stockard Channing\nThere Will Never Be Another You - Written by Harry Warren & Mack Gordon - Performed by Lester Young\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n \n\n2003 films\nFilms directed by Woody Allen\nFilms about writers\nFilms set in New York City\nFilms shot in New York City\n2003 romantic comedy films\nDreamWorks Pictures films\nAmerican romantic comedy films\nAmerican films\n2000s English-language films\nFilms with screenplays by Woody Allen\nFilms produced by Letty Aronson",
"Brooke Logan is a fictional character from The Bold and the Beautiful, an American soap opera on the CBS network. She has been portrayed by Katherine Kelly Lang since the series's debut in March 1987. The character is part of the original four central characters and actors (including her onscreen double-decade long love and husband, Ridge Forrester, and his parents Stephanie and Eric). Over the years, she has developed into a business woman working at Forrester Creations and a mother to five children: Rick, Bridget, Hope, R.J., and Jack. Her character is described as having \"emerged as the show's quintessential heroine, always in turmoil and forever symbolic of true love and destiny prevailing.\" The character has also had long-time rivalries with Stephanie Forrester and Taylor Hayes. In addition to Ridge (whom she married eight times), Brooke has had relationships with Eric Forrester, Ridge's two half-brothers, Thorne Forrester and Nick Marone, her son-in-law Deacon Sharpe, her brother-in-law Bill Spencer, Jr., and several others, including marriages to Whip Jones and Grant Chambers.\n\nCasting\nKatherine Kelly Lang debuted as the character in the soap's first episode on March 23, 1987, and continues to portray the role to this day. In 1987, she was briefly replaced by Catherine Hickland while Lang was on sick leave, with Hickland appearing on July 9 and 13 of that year. In 1997, Sandra Ferguson filled in for a small amount of time during Lang's maternity leave. In 2012, Lang announced that she had signed a two-year contract with the series, ensuring her stay until 2014.\n\nCharacter development\nLang, who is known for her ready smile and engaging manner, has confessed to sometimes calling Ronn Moss (Ridge) his onscreen name, Ridge; \"Sometimes I just call him Ridge out of habit\" she has confessed to the Sydney Morning Herald. Lang said of the ongoing plots and twists in the relationship: \"Ridge and Brooke will always be connected [but] the heart of the drama is what happens when true love is thwarted.\". During an interview with Who! On January 29, 2008, actress Katherine Kelly Lang was asked \"What do you like about your character Brooke Logan?\", Lang stated \"I like that she doesn't give up, no matter how depressed she may be or the bad things that she may be going through, she always bounces back\", highlighting the continuing resilience within the character. She also said \"I think she has a real grasp of things, even though she still doesn't have her love life under control but, hopefully, that will come together too,\" and at the end of the way she wants her character to be \"Happy\".\n\nIn mid-2010, Taylor's (Brooke Forrester's nemesis) daughter Steffy Forrester began going after Hope Logan (Brooke's now teen daughter)'s boyfriends. This re-ignited both Taylor and Brooke's rivalry and began a new generation rivalry. Bradley Bell stated on this: \"is exciting to see Brooke and Taylor in the more maternal roles. Brooke has a daughter -- miraculously -- who is sweet and a virgin. She is just a darling; and Taylor has a daughter who is trouble. She knows how to manipulate men and she is very sexual [Like Brooke]\". Of the character's \"accidental\" infidelity with her daughter's (Hope) boyfriend Oliver Jones, Lang stated: \"She was excited and high on her hormones\" during an interview with Michael Fairman.\nHope began to become more like her mother when she became more sexual in her relationship with Liam's half-brother, Wyatt Spencer. And the fact that she was dating two half brothers, Liam and Wyatt, at the same time, just as Brooke did with Nick Marone and Ridge Forrester. Ivy Forrester kept stating Hope is a lot like Brooke and so did Stephanie.\n\nStorylines\n\nBackstory\nBrooke is the eldest of the Logan sisters. She studied chemistry during her early days in college. Brooke is the daughter of Beth and Stephen Logan, the elder sister of Donna Logan (Jennifer Gareis) and Katie Logan (Heather Tom), and the younger sister of Storm Logan (played by William deVry at the time of the character's death in 2008). She worked for her family's catering business who often served rich pillars of the community (including the Forrester family).\n\n1987–present\nBrooke and Ridge met when she asked her mother to help cater a Forrester party so she could meet Ridge. She fell instantly in love with the handsome playboy Ridge, who was engaged to be married to Caroline Spencer. After finding out that Ridge had spent the night with Alex, Caroline collapsed at the wedding and broke it off with Ridge. Caroline was raped shortly after that, and Brooke shortly befriended her after visiting her at the hospital. Brooke was so smitten with Ridge that she broke off her engagement to David, a police officer, because even her brother knew she would never be happy on a cop's pay. Hiding a letter Ridge wrote to Caroline spilling his heart to her and telling her he loved her, Brooke conspired with Thorne to keep Ridge and Caroline apart. Caroline became engaged to Thorne and Brooke and Ridge fell in love with each other, with Brooke becoming pregnant. Ridge and Caroline hid their true feelings for each other. Once Brooke lost the baby in a tragic miscarriage, Ridge broke off the relationship with her and began one with Caroline again. Caroline broke it off with Thorne after admitting she was still in love with Ridge, and they quickly married. A devastated Brooke turned to Eric for comfort and ended up pregnant, so Eric married her. After the death of Caroline Ridge met and fell in love with Taylor Hayes, the doctor who cared for Caroline. Despite this, Ridge was still involved with and loved both women, Brooke and Taylor, while Taylor herself was also involved with Brooke's brother Storm. Brooke created the wrinkle-free formula BeLieF for design house Forrester Creations and celebrated with Ridge by making love on the lab floor. Brooke and Ridge were intimate again when they believed that Eric wanted Stephanie back thanks to a forged letter from Stephanie. In the end however, Ridge chose Taylor as he did not want to be the cause of the end of Brooke and his father's marriage, and hoped if he chose Taylor, Brooke would stay with Eric. On the wedding day of Ridge and Taylor, Brooke ran to find them thinking she was pregnant with her and Ridge's child, when in fact she was pregnant with her and Eric's second child, Bridget. A paternity test was later conducted, with Sheila Carter tampering with the results and having everyone believe Ridge was the father; it would be years later before the truth about Bridget's true parentage was revealed.\n\nWhen Ridge wouldn't leave Taylor, Brooke dated attorney Connor Davis, who informed Brooke she had a legal right to the BeLieF patent. Furious when Ridge tried to sweet-talk her out of her rights, Brooke obtained 51% of Forrester Creations and appointed herself CEO, even slapping Stephanie, who struck Brooke first. Brooke created a men's line, putting Ridge at the helm; Brooke fell into the pool and knocked herself unconscious when Ridge playfully shoved her. After Taylor was presumed dead in a plane crash, Brooke became engaged to psychiatrist James Warwick, but accepted Ridge's proposal instead. Brooke finally married Ridge in a lavish beach ceremony, then honeymooned with him in Morocco, where they were guests of Prince Omar Rashid. Once home, Brooke cared for Ridge when he was blinded in a lab accident and was horrified to learn that the hospital volunteer treating Ridge was actually Taylor, who had been saved by Omar but held prisoner in his palace. Brooke tried to keep Taylor's existence from Ridge, but when the truth came out, Brooke learned her marriage to Ridge was invalid. Brooke heaved a sigh of relief when Ridge asked Taylor for a divorce, clearing the way for Brooke to remarry Ridge.\n\nBrooke later had a short marriage to a man named Grant Chambers in 1997; after giving him a friendly kiss, causing Ridge to propose to Taylor at a fashion show, Brooke rebelled by marrying Grant. However, their marriage was never legal due to a fraudulent sea captain who performed the ceremony. In 1998, Taylor became pregnant with her and Ridge's child; however, she told everyone the baby belonged to Thorne after seeing Ridge in bed with Brooke. In reality, a drunken Ridge had fallen into bed with Brooke while visiting her at her home, though he end things with Brooke before they could fully make love. Brooke later became interested in Thorne and overcame obstacles with him and his then wife, Macy. Macy was killed in a car accident, which Brooke survived. Thorne and Brooke parted ways, and she turned her attention back to Ridge, who was still married to Taylor. Brooke was later tricked by the Forrester family into traveling to Paris to keep away from the happily married Taylor and Ridge (who had since had twins, Steffy and Phoebe). After she came back, Brooke had an affair with her daughter Bridget's husband, Deacon Sharpe. Bridget was disgusted by this, and later Brooke gave birth to a daughter named Hope Logan as a result of the scandalous affair. Briefly during the pregnancy, she married a Forrester co-worker Whip Jones to cover up her adulterous affair.\n\nWhen Taylor was murdered by Sheila Carter, Ridge and Brooke found their way back to one another. Sheila returned and later held Ridge, Brooke and the Sailor who arrived in L.A., Nick Marone hostage for ransom. Ridge was briefly presumed dead after falling into a fire pit, and Brooke slept with Nick while mourning. Ridge returned and Brooke later fell pregnant and gave birth to R.J. (Ridge Junior) Forrester. The baby was initially thought to be her and Nick's child, but later proved to be her and Ridge's. When Taylor returned from the dead In 2005, Stephanie Forrester faked a heart attack and asked for her dying wish to be Ridge and Taylor's reunion. Brooke moved out of Ridge's life, and began a relationship with Nick in 2006. She faced complications as Nick was also in an on-again, off-again relationship with her daughter Bridget. She and Nick divorced for the sake of Bridget's ill- fated pregnancy (the baby was stillborn). In 2007, Brooke tried to interfere with Ridge's relationship with Ashley Abbott. She left town after being practically pushed out by Stephanie, who had supported Ashley and Ridge's relationship.\n\nBrooke started to go after Nick again. When Taylor and Nick (together now) decided to have a baby, they needed an egg donor. After baby Jack was born, it was revealed that Brooke was the biological mother of the baby and the eggs were hers through a mix up. Taylor had an emotional breakdown and recovered, and decided to share Jack with Brooke so that the child could have a biological connection. In 2009, Taylor and Brooke began to fight for Ridge's affections once again after Taylor's relationship with Brooke's much younger son Rick. Taylor and Ridge married; however, he returned to Brooke shortly after. In 2010, Brooke repeated history, as she had once done with Deacon and Bridget, when she accidentally had sex with Hope's then-boyfriend, Oliver Jones, and like Bridget, Hope forgave her. In 2011, Brooke and Thomas, while on a business trip to promote Thomas Forrester's Taboo men's line at Forrester Creations, ended up stranded on an island. While stranded, Brooke and Thomas ingested poisonous berries as a means of survival. The berries planted the idea that Brooke and Thomas had slept together. When they returned home safely, Stephanie teamed up with Thomas together to come up with the lie that he and Brooke had sex on the island, in order to break up her marriage with Ridge. This allowed Ridge and Taylor to nearly remarry, until Stephanie revealed the truth, allowing Ridge to reunite with Brooke. Ridge proposes to Brooke in Italy. Stephanie offers to organise the wedding at her house; it was a simple ceremony with only family as guests. Ridge and Brooke leave for their honeymoon after the speeches have taken place. While on their honeymoon, Brooke is in touch with Deacon via text, and Ridge finds out, but when he asks Brooke about it, she denies it. Ridge tells Brooke he can no longer take the lies and tells her he will not be returning home with her. Brooke arrives home without Ridge to deal with Katie.\n\nWhen Katie, who is suffering from post-partum depression, walks out on the marriage, Brooke and Bill, Katie's husband, grow closer and share a kiss. When Katie's back, she forgives the two. Brooke and Bill collaborated to re-launch the Brooke's Bedroom line at Forrester Creations. Brooke and Bill spend time together and Brooke tries to help Bill with the distance in his marriage to Katie. Katie is upset at their growing closeness despite their reassurances that nothing was going on. Eventually Brooke and Bill begin an affair, but after sleeping together they decide to break things off for Katie's sake. After suffering worrying symptoms, such as a fever and not sleeping well, Brooke decides to visit her doctor. The doctor says that its menopause and that they will have to run tests. When Brooke gets the test results back, she is shocked to discover that she is pregnant with her and Bill's baby. Hurt and deeply upset, she turns to Eric, who's in a relationship with Taylor, and asks him to say the baby is his. In this way she hopes to keep her indiscretion from Katie and hide her pregnancy from Bill. Eric refuses and urges her to come clean to both Katie and Bill. Taylor who has suspected that Brooke and Bill were having an affair finds out about the pregnancy. At a surprise birthday party for Brooke, Taylor tells the guests including Katie about the affair. By that time, Brooke's body had mysteriously \"absorbed\" the pregnancy according to her doctor and she was hoping it would never come out.\n\nIn 2013, Katie goes missing shortly after giving birth to Will, and suffering from post-partum depression. Bill tracks Katie down in Aspen, Colorado, and Brooke helps him search for Katie. Brooke and Bill begin to act on their feelings for each other, hiding it from Katie, until Taylor found out. At a party for Brooke’s birthday, Taylor exposes Brooke and Bill’s affair in front of the Forrester, Logan and Spencer families, resulting in Katie screaming at Bill and Brooke. Brooke later criticised Katie when she decided to use her divorce with Bill to gain control of Spencer publications. Brooke reconnected with Bill in Monte Carlo, then traveled with him to Aspen, where he nearly fell from a cliff. As a result, Bill re-evaluated his recent decisions, and later returned to Katie. However, this did not last as Katie discovered that Bill was only trying to regain control of his company. Ridge returned to LA (now played by Thorsten Kaye), and the two reunite and almost remarry. However, Katie fainted at their wedding, and later revealed that she did it in order to stop the wedding due to her developing feelings for Ridge. Katie and Ridge have a brief relationship, and Brooke becomes jealous when Ridge proposes to Katie, giving her a red string instead of an engagement ring. Brooke helps Bill regain control of Spencer Publications, and the two go to the UAE to marry. However, Ridge arrives in time to stop the wedding with a picture of Bill in bed with Quinn Fuller. Bill exacted revenge on Ridge by having Justin throw him out of a helicopter. After disappearing briefly, Ridge returns with an impaired memory and had lost his design ability. Brooke was later furious when Ridge began having an affair with Caroline Spencer, Rick’s then-wife.\n\nBrooke then finds herself caught between two men – Bill and Deacon, who had recently returned to LA to be a part of Hope’s life. Brooke then leaves LA for three months to work in Milan, Italy. Upon returning, she decides that she wants to be with Ridge, but he rejects her to marry Caroline. Brooke then turns to alcohol, and Deacon helps her deal with it by attending AA meetings with her. Brooke’s alcoholism resulted in her acting strangely at Bill and Katie’s second wedding, and also began raising suspicions from Quinn, who was then involved with Deacon. Quinn found out about Brooke and Deacon’s affair, and slapped her to the floor. Brooke then crashed Deacon and Quinn’s wedding by bringing Hope in via Skype in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the ceremony. Brooke and Ridge became closer after he revealed to her that he had a vasectomy, and that Thomas was the biological father of Caroline’s baby, Douglas. Katie decided to make amends with Brooke by offering her a job at Spencer Publications, which resulted in Bill and Brooke re-igniting their feelings. Bill and Brooke began to raise suspicions, causing Katie to begin drinking excessively. After Ridge manipulates Eric into kicking Rick, Maya and Nicole out of the Forrester Mansion, Brooke allows them to stay. Brooke began to resurrect her feelings for Bill but did not want to have an affair with him while married to Katie. Katie then found out about Brooke and Bill’s affair, resulting in a complicated divorce, with Katie receiving $50 000 000 from Bill, and the two sharing custody of Will. Bill promised Brooke his 12.5% stake in Forrester Creations, which Brooke would sell to Ridge in order to help him remove Quinn from the company. However, on the day of Brooke and Bill’s wedding, on Halloween 2016, Ridge stopped the wedding and won back Brooke after Bill left her at the altar. Ridge then proposed to Brooke at Stephanie’s grave, and eventually the two found their way back to each other.\n\nIn March 2017, the Forrester and Spencer families traveled to Sydney, Australia for Liam and Steffy’s third wedding. Ridge and Brooke decided to get married there as well, until Brooke discovered Quinn and Ridge kissing at a beach. Originally determined to tell Eric, Ridge and Quinn manipulated Brooke into keeping quiet, but broke off her engagement with Ridge. Brooke stayed in Sydney while everyone else returned to LA, and was comforted by Bill. Bill and Brooke finally marry in May 2017, and honeymooned in Paris. Their marriage ends when Bill confess to Brooke about burning Spectra Fashions, and that he punched Liam. Steffy convinces Brooke not to leave Bill, and that he is sorry. Brooke almost goes back to him until Bill almost killed Liam and Sally when Bill torn down the newly repaired Spectra Fashions building for his skyscraper. Ridge then wins Brooke back and marries her in 2018 at the Forrester mansion, with Stephanie's picture hanging on the fireplace. Stephanie's voice talks to Brooke at her wedding and tells her that she is proud of her becoming a better woman. Brooke tells Stephanie that she missed her every day and especially on her wedding day. Brooke's daughter Hope (Annika Noelle) faced a tragedy when her granddaughter Beth, was stillborn and her marriage to Liam Spencer ended. Brooke later learns that her brother Storm has a daughter named Flo Fulton, and that she gave her daughter Phoebe to Steffy to raise. Brooke happily welcomes Flo into the family. When Ridge's son Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) returns after Caroline passed away, he starts to pursue Hope and manipulates her into marrying him. Brooke disprove of their relationship because of Thomas's past with Rick and is worry about Hope because she still loves Liam and is still grieving over Beth.\n\nHowever when Ridge tells Brooke that Douglas told Liam, Steffy, and Hope that Beth is alive, Liam would not let it go and believes Douglas. Ridge assures Brooke that Douglas may have been confused, and has not check up on Liam with losing Beth. Also Ridge tells Brooke Liam stormed out of her house when he saw an error on Phoebes birth certificate, and wanted to talk to Flo. Brooke and Ridge then storms over to Forrester Creations, to get answers from Flo about Phoebe. Flo and her mother Shauna are there and Brooke asks Flo about Liam's assumptions about Phoebe being Beth. Flo confesses that she is not Phoebe's birth mother, but Hope is the birth mother. Brooke angrily demands Flo to tell her how Steffy has her granddaughter. Flo revealed that Dr. Reese Buckingham (Hope's doctor) owed people a lot of money from a gambling debt and that he needed the money fast or they would kill Zoe (Buckingham's daughter). Flo goes into detail that Reese stole Beth from hope when she passed out from labor, and that he switched Beth with another baby who was stillborn. Also Reese made Hope and Liam believe that the baby they were holding was Beth, and had Flo give Steffy Beth and collect the money from Taylor for the adoption for his debt. Flo tells Brooke and Ridge that Taylor had no idea what Reese was doing, and that she wanted to give Steffy a daughter for her to raise. Brooke then is shocked when Zoe knew what her father did and didn't say a word so that he won't get arrested. Zoe apologises to Brooke and Ridge for keeping Beth away from Hope and Liam. However Zoe and Flo tell Brooke and Ridge that Thomas knew about Beth and did not say anything because Hope would leave him for Liam. Also, Thomas had threaten them if they ever tell anybody about Beth being alive. Ridge then call UK police to let them now about Reese's crime and to have him arrested.\n\nReception\n\nThe world-wide success of The Bold and the Beautiful has meant world-wide controversy among fans for this most controversial of characters. As far away from the U.S.A. as Kenya, men heatedly condemn this \"evil\" and \"wicked\" woman, while women praise her for being \"independent and put[ting] men where they belong.\" In 2013, she received her first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series nomination for her portrayal of Brooke after 25 years of joining the soap. In May 2020, Lang received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series nomination for her work as Brooke.\n\nIn popular culture\nR&B singer Tamar Braxton named her son Logan after the character of Brooke Logan, due to her husband's love of the show.\n\nReferences\n\nThe Bold and the Beautiful characters\nFictional female businesspeople\nFictional business executives\nTelevision characters introduced in 1987\nFictional people in fashion\nFictional alcohol abusers\nFictional victims of sexual assault\nFemale characters in television"
]
|
[
"Hulk Hogan",
"Third return to WWE (2005-2007)",
"Why did Hogan return to WWE?",
"At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The",
"How did he rescue him?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana.",
"What did Hogan do in 2006?",
"Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer \"Mean\" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006.",
"Did Hogan win any matches during this time?",
"During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot.",
"Did Hogan get hurt?",
"He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.",
"Did anything else happen with Brooke?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_f7eadf2761b540508879af06e19db632_0 | What was Hogan doing before his return to WWE? | 8 | What was Hogan doing in 2006 before rejoining the WWE? | Hulk Hogan | On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels. Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd. Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on the July 15 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. CANNOTANSWER | On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. | Terry Eugene Bollea (, born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s.
Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. There, his persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of WWF's flagship annual event, WrestleMania. During his initial run, he won the WWF Championship five times, with his first reign holding the record for the second-longest. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991.
In 1993, Hogan departed the WWF to sign for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest reign. In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable. As a result, he became a major figure during the "Monday Night Wars", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times, including the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.
Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning the Undisputed WWF Championship for a record equaling (for the year) sixth time before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.
Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) - where he won the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship - and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA - now known as Impact Wrestling).
During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in Rocky III. He has starred in several films (including No Holds Barred, Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny) and three television shows (Hogan Knows Best, Thunder in Paradise, and China, IL), as well as in Right Guard commercials and the video game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event. He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules, reached 12 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio chart in 1995.
Early life
Terry Eugene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) of Italian descent and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. (née Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011) Bollea of Scottish and French descent. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida. As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He attracted scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury ended his baseball career. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes, and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention towards Superstar Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.
Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, Hogan decided to drop out of the University of South Florida before receiving a degree. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco, two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region.
Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)to make him a potential trainee. In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, however, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. However, after Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1977–1979)
In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in CWF. A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers.
Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and decided to open a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.
Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique; Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.
In Alabama, Bollea and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Leslie were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.
During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.
On December 1, 1979, Bollea won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bollea would drop the title in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong. Bollea briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.
World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980)
Later that year, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Hogan wrestled his first match in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on November 17 defeating Harry Valdez on Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug. After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor that he would end up repaying during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1980–1985)
In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used the Axe Bomber, a crooked arm lariat, as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and the first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship, that is defended regularly.
Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in a championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship.
American Wrestling Association (1981–1983)
After filming his scene for Rocky III against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last for long as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel.
Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at the end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell, after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans, began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save; however, Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel.
Return to WWF (1983–1993)
Rise of Hulkamania (1983–1984)
After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.
On the January 7, 1984 episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden. The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).
Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.
In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to a quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of the earnings, if Titan held no interest). This would also extend to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics. (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) 1988's Marvel Comics Presents #45, a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name."
International renown (1985–1988)
Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in the back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On Saturday Night's Main Event I, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification.
Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated (the first and , only professional wrestler to do so), TV Guide, and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
On Saturday Night's Main Event II, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.
In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick "Super Strong Machine". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.
The Mega Powers (1988–1989)
Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the title to André on The Main Event I after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.
Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André the Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam. They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers: Akeem and Big Boss Man.
In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at a Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series Are You Serious? in 2012.
The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989, the duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on The Main Event II, when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage, who slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V.
Final WWF Championship reigns (1989–1993)
Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in a steel cage match on the Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, which was aired on May 27. In May on WWF on NESN, Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII saw the title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie No Holds Barred, which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was "jealous" over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). However, Hogan was easily able to defeat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus would later meet at the Survivor Series, where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect before Zeus then dominated Hogan until Zeus was disqualified by referee Dave Hebner. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view First WWF UK Event at London Arena. During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match, before dropping the title to then Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.
Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam, and he for several months dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment – believing in yourself, and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The feud remained unresolved, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series, and he won it back at This Tuesday in Texas six days later. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match, but Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Flair the winner and new champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX against Flair and Undertaker, but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.
At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs, taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hogan went into the match sporting a cut above a black eye. The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying a group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.
At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion Yokozuna in his first title defense since defeating him at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop. This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.
Return to NJPW (1993–1994)
On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)
World Heavyweight Champion (1994–1996)
Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund-who was now a WCW employee- would visit him on the set of Thunder in Paradise episodes. Hype afterwards was building over whether Hogan should remain with Thunder in Paradise or instead join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair. On the May 28, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night, Hogan torn up his Thunder in Paradise contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued a telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios. The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach. Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on the Clash of the Champions XXVIII, thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee) that Hogan won.
After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade (Starrcade: Triple Threat) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader, who challenged him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V, where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored. Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach, where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on Nitro in September 1995. The October 9, 1995 broadcast of Nitro was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom, which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting) won. Hogan's fifteen-month title reign (which is the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in the title history at 469 days) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification.
Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III, where The Giant cost Hogan the title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI, where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.
New World Order (1996–1999)
At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.
On the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission. Five days later at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on Nitro, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. Savage took the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever bat match.
Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night on Nitro for the world title. In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and hit a powerbomb on Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night, but Bret Hart interfered moments later and jumped in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions – Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac that feuded with each other for the remainder of the year. Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches: his second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach, and at Road Wild he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks. Hogan also had a critically panned rematch with The Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.
On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. Campaign footage aired on Nitro of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. In the long run, however, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt attempting to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him. After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999, episode of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Hogan won for the fifth time, but many people found the title change to be "scandalous". As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.
Final years in WCW (1999–2000)
Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a steel cage First Blood match. Later, Hogan was severely injured in a Texas tornado match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship featuring him, Diamond Dallas Page, Flair, and Sting at Spring Stampede On the July 12 episode of Nitro, Hogan made his return as a face for the first time in three years and accepted an open challenge from Savage, who had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Nash turned on him the next week, and the two began a feud that lasted until Road Wild.
On August 9, 1999, Hogan started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main event six-man tag team match. Hogan then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Injuries and frustrations were mounting up however, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan came to the ring in street clothes, lay down for the pin, and left the ring.
Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial work with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Before the match, there was a backstage dispute between Hogan and Russo; Hogan wanted to take the title, but Russo was going to have Jarrett win, and lose it to Booker T. Russo told Hogan that he was going to have Jarrett lie down for him, simulating a real conflict, although Jarrett was not told it was a work. When the bell rang, Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring while Russo threw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt in the ring and yelled at Hogan from ringside to pin Jarrett. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" After winning and being announced as the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan immediately took the WCW title belt. Moments later, Russo returned to the ring, angrily proclaiming this would be the last time fans would ever see "that piece of shit" in a WCW stadium. This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan was able to control what would happen with his own character and be able to do so without anyone else being able to tell him no. In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!". Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jarrett later that night.
As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after, which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot. Eric Bischoff agreed with Hogan's side of the story when he wrote that Hogan winning and leaving with the belt was a work (devised by Bischoff rather than Russo), and that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the success of the angle, but that Russo coming out to fire Hogan was an unplanned shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan. It was the last time he was seen in WCW.
Post-WCW endeavors (2001)
In the months following the eventual demise of WCW in March 2001, Hogan underwent surgery on his knees in order for him to wrestle again. As a test, Hogan worked a match in Orlando, Florida for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotion run by his longtime handler Jimmy Hart. Hogan defeated Curt Hennig in this match and felt healthy enough to accept an offer to return to the WWF in February 2002.
Second return to WWF/WWE (2002–2003)
At No Way Out in February 2002, Hogan returned to the WWF as a heel. Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event. The nWo feuded with both Austin and The Rock, and Hogan accepted The Rock's challenge to a match at WrestleMania X8, where Hogan asked Hall and Nash not to interfere, wanting to defeat The Rock by himself. Despite the fact that Hogan was supposed to be the heel in the match, the crowd cheered for him heavily. The Rock cleanly won the contest, and befriended Hogan at the end of the bout and helped him fight off Hall and Nash, who were upset by Hogan's conciliatory attitude. After the match, Hogan turned face by siding with The Rock, though he continued wearing black and white tights for a few weeks after WrestleMania X8 until he resumed wearing his signature red and yellow tights. During this period, the "Hulk Rules" logo of the 1980s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules", and Hogan also wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire twelve years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania VI at the same arena, in the SkyDome. For a time, he was still known as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, notably keeping the Hollywood Hogan style blond mustache with black beard while wearing Hulkamania-like red and yellow tights and using the "Voodoo Child" entrance theme music he used in WCW. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan feuded with Triple H and defeated him for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash, thus becoming the last ever WWF Champion before the initials dispute against the World Wildlife Fund.
On May 19 at Judgment Day, Hogan lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to The Undertaker. After losing a number one contender match for the WWE Undisputed Championship to Triple H on the June 6 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan began feuding with Kurt Angle resulting in a match between the two at the King of the Ring, which Angle won by submission. On the July 4 episode of SmackDown!, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE Tag Team Championship for the first time. They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan's theme song "Real American". They later lost the titles to The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at Vengeance. In August 2002, Hogan was used in an angle with Brock Lesnar, culminating in a main event singles match on the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, which Lesnar won by technical submission (the match was called after Hogan became unconscious from a bear hug hold). Lesnar became only the second WWE wrestler to defeat Hogan by submission (after Kurt Angle), and the first to defeat Hogan by having the match called. Following the match, Lesnar continued to beat on Hogan, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the ring.
As a result of Lesnar's assault, Hogan went on hiatus and was not able to return until early 2003, shaving off his black beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name in his return. Hogan battled The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out and lost and defeated Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a street fight billed as "twenty years in the making". After WrestleMania, he had a run as the masked Mr. America, who was supposed to be Hogan in disguise, wearing a mask. He used Hogan's "Real American" as an entrance theme and all of Hogan's signature gestures, moves, and phrases. He was the subject of a storyline that took place after Hogan was forced by Mr. McMahon to sit out the rest of his contract. A WWE pre-debut push took place with mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown!. There was also on-screen discussion on SmackDown! between then General Manager Stephanie McMahon and other players concerning her hiring Mr. America "sight unseen". On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). The feud continued through the month of May, with a singles match between Mr. America and Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper at Judgment Day, a match Mr. America won.
Mr. America's last WWE appearance was on the June 26 episode of SmackDown! when Big Show and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) defeated Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Mr. America in a six-man tag team match. After the show went off the air, Mr. America unmasked to show the fans that he was indeed Hogan, putting his finger to his lips telling the fans to keep quiet about his secret. The next week, Hogan quit WWE due to frustration with the creative team. On the July 3 episode of SmackDown!, McMahon showed the footage of Mr. America unmasking as Hogan and "fired" him, although Hogan had already quit in real life. It was later revealed that Hogan was unhappy with the payoffs for his matches after his comeback under the Mr. America gimmick. McMahon decided to terminate Hogan's contract and Hogan left WWE in 2003.
Second return to NJPW (2003)
Hogan returned to NJPW in October 2003, when he defeated Masahiro Chono at Ultimate Crush II in the Tokyo Dome.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)
Shortly after Hogan left WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) began making overtures to Hogan, culminating in Jeff Jarrett, co-founder of TNA and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion, launching an on-air attack on Hogan in Japan in October 2003. The attack was supposed to be a precursor to Hogan battling Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view. However, due to recurring knee and hip problems, Hogan did not appear in TNA. Still, the incident has been shown several times on TNA broadcasts, and was included in the TNA DVD TNA's Fifty Greatest Moments.
Third return to WWE (2005–2007)
On April 2, 2005, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2005 by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The build-up to Hogan's Hall of Fame induction and preparation for his WrestleMania angle was shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best. The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused, but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hogan to team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, saving Michaels and accepting his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels.
Hogan then appeared on July 4 episode of Raw, as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke, Hogan attacked Carlito. Kurt Angle then also appeared, making comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan, who was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle, but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Angle in a tag team match; during the post-match celebration, Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Hogan and walked off. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time. Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge. The match took place at SummerSlam, which Hogan won. After the match, Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself", and Hogan and Michaels shook hands as Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd.
Prior to WrestleMania 22 in April 2006, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006. Hogan returned on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton kayfabe flirted with Brooke and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot. He later challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.
Memphis Wrestling (2007–2008)
After a brief fall out with McMahon and WWE, Hogan was lured to Memphis Wrestling with the proposal of wrestling Jerry Lawler. The match had been promoted on Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. On April 12, 2007, however, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC performers (including Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC-owned USA Network's Raw and his appearances on the biannual WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best airs. The situation resulted in a lawsuit being filed against WWE by event promoter Corey Maclin. Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight. Hogan defeated Wight at Memphis Wrestling's PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007 when he picked up and hit a body slam on Wight before pinning him following his signature running leg drop.
Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin (2009)
On November 21, 24, 26 and 28, Hogan performed with a group of wrestlers including Spartan-3000, Heidenreich, Eugene, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Orlando Jordan across Australia in a tour titled Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin. The main event of each show was a rematch between Hogan and Ric Flair – the wrestler who defeated Hogan more times than any other. Hogan defeated Flair in all four matches.
Return to TNA (2009–2013)
Dixie Carter's business partner (2009–2010)
On October 27, 2009, it was announced that Hogan had signed a contract to join TNA on a full-time basis. The footage of his signing and the press conference at Madison Square Garden following it were featured on the October 29 episode of Impact!.
On December 5, 2009, Hogan announced on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s The Ultimate Fighter that he would be making his official TNA debut on January 4, 2010, in a special live three-hour Monday night episode of Impact! to compete with WWE's Raw (which featured the return of Bret Hart).
On the January 4 episode of Impact!, Hogan debuted, reuniting briefly with former nWo partners Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman, the latter two of whom made their returns to the company. He, however, refused to join them for a full-fledged reunion of their group claiming, "it's a different time", and stuck to his business relations with Bischoff, who made his appearance to declare that, the two of them would "flip the company upside down" and everyone would have to earn their spot. Hogan also encountered TNA founder Jeff Jarrett on the broadcast, appearing via video wall and interrupting Jarrett's company success speech, stating that Carter was instrumental to the company's survival, and that just like the rest, Jarrett would have to (kayfabe) earn his spot in TNA.
On the February 18 episode of Impact!, Hogan took Abyss under his wing, and during this sequence, gave him his Hall of Fame ring and claimed it would make him a "god of wrestling". Hogan made his in-ring return on March 8, teaming with Abyss to defeat A.J. Styles and Ric Flair when Abyss scored a pinfall over Styles. Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Hogan and Abyss from a beat down at the hands of Styles, Flair and Desmond Wolfe. The storyline became a Team Flair versus Team Hogan situation, with Jarrett and the debuting Rob Van Dam joining Team Hogan and Beer Money (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Sting joining Team Flair. At Lockdown, Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Ric Flair, Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) in a Lethal Lockdown match.
Immortal (2010–2011)
On the June 17 episode of Impact!, Hogan's alliance with Abyss came to an abrupt end when Abyss turned heel. Abyss later claimed that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA. The next month, Hogan worked with Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Hogan and Bischoff were up to something. During this time, Abyss went on a rampage, attacking Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and eventually put his hands on TNA president Dixie Carter, which led to her signing the paperwork, presented by Bischoff, that would have Abyss fired from TNA following his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory. Hogan was set to wrestle with Jarrett and Joe against Sting, Nash and D'Angelo Dinero at Bound for Glory, but was forced to miss the event due to a back surgery. However, he would make an appearance at the end of the event, and turned heel by helping Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship and aligning himself with Hardy, Bischoff, Abyss and Jarrett. On the following episode of Impact!, it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 episode of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA. During his absence, Hogan underwent a potentially career–ending spinal fusion surgery on December 21, 2010.
Hogan returned to TNA on the March 3, 2011 episode of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of TNA, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter. In April, he began hinting at a possible return to the ring to face the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting. On the May 12 episode of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Hogan lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Hogan and Bischoff took over the company; however, this angle was cut short just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion. During the following months, Hogan continued to interfere in Sting's matches, costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship first at Hardcore Justice, recruiting Kurt Angle to Immortal in the process, on the September 1 episode of Impact Wrestling and finally at No Surrender. On the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting defeated Immortal member Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan at Bound for Glory. On October 4, it was reported that Hogan had signed a contract extension with TNA. After feigning retirement from professional wrestling, Hogan accepted the match at Bound for Glory on the October 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, while also agreeing to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting win the match.
Hogan was defeated by Sting at Bound For Glory, ending his storyline as the president of TNA. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting, but Hogan turned face by turning on Immortal and helping Sting. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan, wearing his trademark yellow and red again, admitted to his mistakes, and put over Sting for winning.
Feud with Aces & Eights (2012–2013)
During TNA's 2012 UK tour, on January 26 and 27, Hogan returned to the ring at house shows in Nottingham and Manchester, where he, James Storm and Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag team main event at both events, the latter of which was Hogan's final match. Hogan returned to Impact Wrestling on February 2, when he was revealed as Garett Bischoff's trainer. On the March 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan returned and accepted Sting's offer to replace him as the new General Manager.
In July, Hogan, alongside Sting, began feuding with a mysterious group of masked men, who had dubbed themselves the "Aces & Eights". The group's attack on Hogan on the July 12 episode of Impact Wrestling was used to write Hogan off television as he was set to undergo another back surgery.
In November, Hogan moved into a storyline with Bully Ray after Austin Aries revealed a secret relationship between Ray and Hogan's daughter Brooke. After seeing them kissing in a parking garage on the December 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan suspended Ray indefinitely. The following week on Impact Wrestling, after Ray saved Brooke from a kidnapping by the Aces & Eights, Brooke accepted his marriage proposal. Despite Hogan's disapproval, he still walked Brooke down the aisle for her wedding on the next episode of Impact Wrestling, during which Ray's groomsmen Taz interrupted and revealed himself as a member of the Aces & Eights, leading the group to attack Hogan, Ray, and the rest of the groomsmen.
On the January 31 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan reinstated Ray so he could take on the Aces & Eights. Hogan named Ray the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling. However, at Lockdown, Ray betrayed Hogan, after Aces & Eights helped him win the title, and he revealed himself as the President of the Aces & Eights. Following Lockdown, Hogan blamed Sting for Ray winning the title as it was Sting who encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot. Sting returned and saved Hogan from an attack by Aces & Eights on the April 25 episode of Impact Wrestling. The following week on Impact Wrestling, Hogan and Sting managed to reconcile their differences. On the October 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hogan refused an offer from Dixie Carter to become her business partner and quit; this was done to officially write Hogan off, as a result of his contract expiring with TNA.
Fourth return to WWE (2014–2015)
On February 24, 2014 on Raw, Hogan made his first WWE in-ring appearance since December 2007 to hype the WWE Network. On the March 24 episode of Raw, Hogan came out to introduce the guest appearances of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello; this was to promote the guests' new movie Sabotage.
At WrestleMania XXX in April, Hogan served as the host, coming out at the start of the show to hype up the crowd. During his promo, he mistakenly referred to the Superdome, the venue the event was being held at, as the Silverdome, which became the subject of jokes throughout the night. Hogan was later joined by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and they finished their promo by drinking beer together in the ring. Later in the show, Hogan shared a moment with Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper, with whom he main-evented the first WrestleMania.
On February 27, 2015, Hogan was honored at Madison Square Garden during a WWE live event dubbed "Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night" with a special commemorative banner hanging from the rafters, honoring his wrestling career and historic matches he had in the arena.
On the March 23 episode of Raw, Hogan along with Snoop Dogg confronted Curtis Axel – who at the time had been "borrowing" Hogan's Hulkamania gimmick with Axel referring to himself as "AxelMania". On March 28, the night before WrestleMania, Hogan posthumously inducted longtime partner and rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015. The next night at WrestleMania 31, Hogan reunited with Hall and Nash to reform the nWo, appearing in Sting's corner in his match against Triple H, who himself was joined by D-Generation X members Billy Gunn, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Shawn Michaels.
Scandal and departure
In July 2015, National Enquirer and Radar Online publicized an anti-black rant made by Hogan on a leaked sex tape recorded in 2007. In the recording, he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter dating a black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur "nigger." Hogan also admitted to being "a racist, to a point."
Once the recordings went public erupting in a media scandal, Hogan apologized for the remarks, which he said is "language that is offensive and inconsistent with [his] own beliefs." Three black wrestlers who worked in the WWF and WCW with Hogan made supportive comments. Virgil commented "Hogan has never given me a reason to believe he is a racist" while Dennis Rodman said he "most certainly is not a racist" and Kamala added "I do not think Hogan meant harm by saying that. Hogan is my brother until he decides not to be." Black wrestlers working in the WWE made different comments. Mark Henry said he was pleased by WWE's "no tolerance approach to racism" response, and that he was hurt and offended by Hogan's manner and tone. Booker T said he was shocked and called the statements unfortunate.
On July 24, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are "committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds," although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed almost all references to Hogan from their website, including his listing as a judge for Tough Enough, his merchandise from WWE Shop, and his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page (however, he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016). His DLC appearance from WWE 2K15 was taken down from sale, and his character was cut from then upcoming WWE 2K16 game during development.
In response to the controversy, Mattel stopped producing Hogan action figures, while Hogan's merchandise was taken down from online stores of Target, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart. On July 28, Radar Online reported that Hogan had also used homophobic slurs on the leaked sex tape. Days later, it was reported that Hogan had used racist language in a 2008 call to his then-imprisoned son, Nick, and also said that he hoped they would not be reincarnated as black males.
Hogan gave an interview with ABC on August 31 in which he pleaded forgiveness for his racist comments, attributing these to a racial bias inherited from his neighborhood while growing up. Hogan claimed that the term "nigger" was used liberally among friends in Tampa; however, former neighbors have disputed this claim.
In the time that followed, numerous African-Americans expressed some level of support for Hogan including: The Rock, Dennis Rodman, Booker T, Kamala, Virgil, Mark Henry, Big E, and D'Angelo Dinero, who stressed his forgiveness of Hogan, whom he saw as having made a "positive mark on humanity" for over three decades.
Fifth return to WWE (2018–present)
On July 15, 2018, Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame. Later that same night, he was invited backstage to WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event and was briefly mentioned on the event's kickoff show. Hogan made his on-screen return on November 2, 2018, as the host of Crown Jewel. Hogan next appeared on the January 7, 2019 episode of Raw to present a tribute to his longtime friend and colleague Mean Gene Okerlund, who had died five days prior. It was the first time Hogan had appeared in a WWE ring in North America since his 2015 firing. Hogan subsequently appeared on a WWE Network special where he spoke further of his relationship with Okerlund.
Hogan inducted his Mega-Maniacs tag team partner and longtime friend Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019. The following night at WrestleMania 35, he made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the show alongside WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss, welcoming fans to the event and parodying his gaffe from WrestleMania XXX, when he incorrectly referred to the Superdome as the Silverdome. On the June 17, 2019, Raw, WWE aired a Hogan interview about the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team. On the July 22, 2019, Raw, Hogan appeared as part of the "Raw Reunion" special. Hogan was one of the speakers during the "Toast to Raw" segment along with Steve Austin. On September 30, 2019 episode of Raw, he and Ric Flair unveiled a 10 man tag team match, for Crown Jewel. Hogan and Flair made multiple appearances on shows with their teams leading up to the event, which saw Hogan manage his team to victory.
Hogan made it public knowledge that he hoped to have one more match in the WWE, including during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Hogan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a second time as a member of the New World Order, together with fellow former nWo stablemates Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman.
Hogan made his only appearance of 2020 on WWE's non-WWE Network programming when he appeared via satellite on the February 14, 2020 episode of Smackdown to speak about the Hall of Fame. He was interrupted by Bray Wyatt, as Hogan warned him about his upcoming match with Goldberg. The 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony was subsequently delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aired on April 6, 2021.
Hogan made his first appearance of 2021 on the January 4 episode of Raw, which was a special Legends Night episode. He opened the show introducing the 'H-Phone,' his spin on an iPhone. He appeared in a backstage segment with Jimmy Hart, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, where he gave his approval to McIntyre, the current WWE Champion. He also watched the championship main event match between McIntyre and Keith Lee on-stage with the rest of the guest legends. It was confirmed on the March 19, 2021, episode of WWE SmackDown he would be the co-host of WrestleMania 37 alongside Titus O'Neil.
Hogan opened both nights of WrestleMania 37 with O'Neil, appeared in multiple segments with Bayley, which led to a return of the Bella Twins, and was introduced during the Hall of Fame celebration with Nash, Hall and Waltman.
Endorsements and business ventures
Food industry
Hogan created and financed a restaurant called Pastamania located in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It opened on the Labor Day weekend of 1995 and was heavily promoted on World Championship Wrestling's live show Monday Nitro. The restaurant, which remained in operation for less than a year, featured such dishes as "Hulk-U's" and "Hulk-A-Roos".
In interviews on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Bollea claimed that the opportunity to endorse what came to be known as the George Foreman Grill was originally offered to him, but when he failed to respond in time, Foreman endorsed the grill instead. Instead, Bollea endorsed a blender, known as the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer. He has since endorsed a grill known as "The Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill".
In 2006, Bollea unveiled Hogan Energy, a drink distributed by Socko Energy. His name and likeness were also applied to a line of microwavable hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches sold at Wal-Mart called "Hulkster Burgers". On November 1, 2011, Bollea launched a new website called Hogan Nutrition, which features many nutritional and dietary products.
On New Year's Eve 2012, Bollea opened a beachfront restaurant called "Hogan's Beach", located in the Tampa area. The restaurant dropped Hogan's name in October 2015. Hogan later opened Hogan's Hangout in Clearwater Beach.
Finances
In September 2008, Bollea's net worth was revealed to be around $30 million. In September 2011, Bollea revealed that his lavish lifestyle and divorce had cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly bankrupted him.
Other
In October 2007, Bollea transferred all trademarks referring to himself to his liability company named "Hogan Holdings Limited". The trademarks include Hulk Hogan, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, and Hulkapedia.com.
In April 2008, Bollea announced that he would lend his license to video game developer Gameloft to create "Hulkamania Wrestling" for mobile phones. Hogan stated in a press release that the game would be "true to [his] experiences in wrestling" and use his classic wrestling moves like the Doublehand Choke Lift and Strong Clothesline. , Hogan stars alongside Troy Aikman in commercials for Rent-A-Center. On March 24, 2011, Hogan made a special appearance on American Idol, giving a big surprise to wrestling fans Paul McDonald and James Durbin. On October 15, 2010, Endemol Games UK (a subsidiary of media production group Endemol UK) announced a partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment to produce "Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania", an online gambling game featuring video footage of Hogan.
In October 2013, Bollea partnered with Tech Assets, Inc. to open a web hosting service called "Hostamania". To promote the service, a commercial video was released, featuring Hogan parodying Jean-Claude Van Damme's GoDaddy.com commercials and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video. On November 21, 2013, Hulk Hogan and GoDaddy.com appeared together on a live Hangout On Air on Google Plus, where Hulk Hogan had a casual conversation about Hostamania, fans, and business.
Hogan became a distributor for multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences after looking for business opportunities outside of wrestling. Hogan supports the American Diabetes Association.
Other media
Acting
Hogan's crossover popularity led to several television and movie roles. Early in his career Bollea played the part of Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982). He also appeared in No Holds Barred (1989), before starring in family films Suburban Commando (1991), Mr. Nanny (1993), Santa with Muscles (1996), and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998). Hogan also appeared in 1992 commercials for Right Guard deodorant. He starred in his own television series, Thunder in Paradise, in 1994. He is the star of The Ultimate Weapon (1997), in which Brutus Beefcake also appears in a cameo.
Bollea also starred in a pair of television movies, originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series for TNT, produced by Eric Bischoff. The movies, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island and Shadow Warriors: Hunt for The Death Merchant, starred Hogan alongside Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed as a freelance mercenary team. In 1995, he appeared on TBN's Kids Against Crime. Bollea made cameo appearances in Muppets from Space, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (the theatrical cut) and Spy Hard as himself. Hogan also played the role of Zeus in Little Hercules in 3D. Hogan also made two appearances on The A-Team (in 1985 and 1986), along with Roddy Piper. He also appeared on Suddenly Susan in 1999. In 2001, Hogan guest-starred on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Hogan has become a busy voice actor in later years making guest voice spots on Robot Chicken and American Dad! and as a primary actor in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series China, Illinois.
Reality television and hosting
On July 10, 2005, VH1 premiered Hogan Knows Best a reality show which centered around Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. In July 2008, a spin-off entitled Brooke Knows Best premiered, which focused primarily on Hogan's daughter Brooke.
Bollea hosted the comeback series of American Gladiators on NBC in 2008. He also hosted and judged the short-lived reality show, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Hogan had a special titled Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E on November 17, 2010.
In 2015, Hogan was a judge on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Paige and Daniel Bryan, but due to the scandal, he was replaced by The Miz after episode 5.
Music and radio
Bollea released a music CD, Hulk Rules, as Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Band. Also, Green Jellÿ released a single, a duet with Hogan, performing Gary Glitter's classic song "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)". He has also made cameos in several music videos. From her self-named show, Dolly the music video for Dolly Parton's wrestling-themed love song "Headlock on my Heart" features Hogan as "Starlight Starbright". In the music video "Pressure" by Belly ft. Ginuwine, Bollea and his daughter Brooke both made brief cameo appearances.
Bollea was a regular guest on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show. He also served as the best man at Bubba's January 2007 wedding. On March 12, 2010, Bollea hosted his own radio show, titled Hogan Uncensored, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101.
Merchandising
The Wrestling Figure Checklist records Bollea as having 171 different action figures, produced between the 1980s and 2010s from numerous manufacturers and promotions.
Video games
Bollea provided his voice for the 2011 game Saints Row: The Third as Angel de la Muerte, a member of the Saints. In October 2011, he released a video game called Hulk Hogan's Main Event.
A likeness of him, as Rex Kwan-Do, is featured as a playable police officer in This Is The Police.
Hulk Hogan and Hollywood Hogan are featured in the following licensed wrestling video games:
Filmography
Personal life
Legal issues
Belzer lawsuit
On March 27, 1985, just days prior to the inaugural WrestleMania, Richard Belzer requested on his cable TV talk show Hot Properties that Hogan demonstrate one of his signature wrestling moves. After consistently refusing but being egged on by Belzer, Hogan put Belzer in a modified Guillotine choke, which caused Belzer to pass out. When Hogan released him, Belzer hit his head on the floor, sustaining a laceration to the scalp that required a brief hospitalization. Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and later settled out of court. On October 20, 2006, on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show, it was claimed (with Hogan in the studio) that the settlement totaled $5 million, half from Hogan and half from Vince McMahon. During his June 23, 2008, appearance on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show, Belzer suggested that the real settlement amount was actually closer to $400,000.
Testimony in McMahon trial
In 1994, Hogan, having received immunity from prosecution, testified in the trial of Vince McMahon relating to shipments of steroids received by both parties from WWF physician George T. Zahorian. Under oath, Hogan admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain size and weight, but that McMahon had neither sold him the drugs nor ordered him to take them. The evidence given by Hogan proved extremely costly to the government's case against McMahon. Due to this and jurisdictional issues, McMahon was found not guilty.
Gawker lawsuit
In April 2012, a sex tape between Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, emerged online. On October 4, 2012, Gawker released a short clip of the video. In the video, Bubba can be heard saying that the couple can "do their thing" and he will be in his office. At the end of the video, he can also be heard telling Heather, "If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket". Hogan later told Howard Stern on his satellite radio show that, "it was a bad choice and a very low point" and "I was with some friends and made a wrong choice. It has devastated me, I have never been this hurt". On October 15, 2012, Hogan filed a lawsuit against Bubba and Heather Clem for invading his privacy. A settlement with Bubba was announced on October 29, 2012. Afterwards, Clem publicly apologized to Hogan. In December 2012, a federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, found that Gawker's publication of the video snippet did not violate U.S. copyright law. Hogan then joined Gawker in the ongoing action against Heather Clem in state court in Florida, alleging invasion of privacy, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeking $100 million in damages.
On October 1, 2015, the New York Post reported that a Florida Judge granted Hogan access to Gawker's computer system for a forensic expert to search Gawker's computers and office.
Hogan sued Gawker for $100 million for defamation, loss of privacy, and emotional pain, and on March 18, 2016, was awarded $115 million. Also, on August 11, 2016, a Florida judge gave Hogan control of the assets of A.J. Daulerio, former Gawker editor-in-chief, who was involved in the posting of Hogan's sex tape.
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped Hogan to finance his lawsuit against Gawker Media.
On November 2, 2016, Gawker reached a $31 million settlement with Bollea.
Family
On December 18, 1983, Bollea married Linda Claridge. They have a daughter Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son Nick (born July 27, 1990). Bollea made his personal life the centerpiece of the television show Hogan Knows Best, which included his wife and two children.
According to an interview in the National Enquirer, Christiane Plante claimed that Bollea had an affair with her in 2007 while the Hogan family was shooting Hogan Knows Best. Plante was 33 years old at the time and had worked with Brooke Hogan on her 2006 album.
On November 20, 2007, Linda filed for divorce in Pinellas County, Florida. In November 2008, Linda claimed to the public that she made the decision to end her marriage after finding out about Hogan's affair. In his 2009 autobiography, Hogan acknowledged that Linda on numerous occasions suspected he was having infidelities whenever he developed friendships with other women, but denied allegations that he ever cheated on her. Bollea only retained around 30% of the couple's liquid assets totaling around $10 million in the divorce settlement. Hogan considered committing suicide after the divorce and credits Laila Ali, his co-star on American Gladiators, with preventing him from doing so.
Bollea has been in a relationship with Jennifer McDaniel since early 2008. The two were engaged in November 2009 and married on December 14, 2010, in Clearwater, Florida.
Bollea is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith in his life saying, "[I've] leaned on my religion. I was saved when I was 14. I accepted Christ as my savior. He died on the cross and paid for my sins ... I could have went the wrong way. I could have self-destructed, but I took the high road".
Health
Bollea has suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back since retiring as a wrestler following the years of heavy weight-training and jolting as a wrestler.
In January 2013, Bollea filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Laser Spine Institute for $50 million, citing that the medical firm persuaded him to undergo a half-dozen "unnecessary and ineffective" spinal operations that worsened his back problems. He claimed that the six procedures he underwent over a period of 19 months only gave him short-term relief. After the procedures failed to cure his back problems, Bollea underwent traditional spinal fusion surgery in December 2010, which enabled him to return to his professional activities. In addition, the Laser Spine Institute used his name on their advertisements without his permission.
Legacy
Hogan has been described as one of the largest attractions in professional wrestling history and a major reason why Vince McMahon's expansion of his promotion worked. Wrestling historian and journalist Dave Meltzer stated that "...You can't possibly overrate his significance in the history of the business. And he sold more tickets to wrestling shows than any man who ever lived".
On February 20, 2019, it was announced that Chris Hemsworth would portray him in a biopic, directed by Todd Phillips.
Awards and honors
Bollea was honored as the 2008 King of the Krewe of Bacchus, a New Orleans carnival organization. Hogan visited the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and rode in the parade where he threw doubloons with his likeness. Hogan received the honor in part because meeting Hogan is one of the most requested "wishes" of the terminally ill children benefited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Hogan was inducted in the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame on May 3, 2018.
Championships and accomplishments
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Heavyweight Championship (original version) (1 time)
IWGP League Tournament (1983)
MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983) with Antonio Inoki
Greatest 18 Club inductee
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2003
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
Match of the Year (1985)
Match of the Year (1988)
Match of the Year (1990)
Match of the Year (2002)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
Ranked No. 44 and No. 57 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Antonio Inoki and Randy Savage in 2003
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)
Tokyo Sports
Best Foreigner Award (1983)
Match of the Year (1991)
World Championship Wrestling
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWF/WWE Championship (6 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Edge
Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2005 – individually
Class of 2020 – as a member of the New World Order
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Strongest Wrestler (1983)
Best Babyface (1982–1991)
Best Box Office Draw (1997)
Best Gimmick (1996)
Feud of the Year (1986)
Feud of the Year (1996)
Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000)
Most Obnoxious (1994, 1995)
Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1994–1998)
Most Unimproved (1994, 1995)
Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
Worst Feud of the Year (1991)
Worst Feud of the Year (1995)
Worst Feud of the Year (1998)
Worst Feud of the Year (2000)
Worst on Interviews (1995)
Worst Wrestler (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame profile
TNA Impact Wrestling profile (archived)
1953 births
20th-century American bass guitarists
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American rappers
Actors from Pinellas County, Florida
American autobiographers
American Christians
American food industry businesspeople
American lyricists
American male bass guitarists
American male film actors
American male guitarists
American male pop singers
American male professional wrestlers
American male non-fiction writers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American musicians of Panamanian descent
American people of French descent
American people of Panamanian descent
American people of Scottish descent
American professional wrestlers of Italian descent
American radio personalities
American rock bass guitarists
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American session musicians
American sportspeople of Italian descent
American sportspeople of Panamanian descent
American television hosts
American writers of Italian descent
Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state)
Businesspeople from Miami
Businesspeople from Tampa, Florida
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Guitarists from Florida
Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Impact Wrestling executives
Living people
Male actors from Georgia (U.S. state)
Male actors from Miami
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Masked wrestlers
Musicians from Augusta, Georgia
Musicians from Miami
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People associated with direct selling
Professional wrestlers from Florida
Professional wrestlers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Radio personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
Radio personalities from Miami
Radio personalities from Tampa, Florida
Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Rappers from Miami
Record producers from Florida
Record producers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
Sportspeople from Augusta, Georgia
Sportspeople from Clearwater, Florida
Sportspeople from Miami
Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Television personalities from Florida
Television personalities from Georgia (U.S. state)
Television producers from Florida
Television producers from Georgia (U.S. state)
The New World Order (professional wrestling) members
University of South Florida alumni
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
Writers from Augusta, Georgia
Writers from Miami
Writers from Tampa, Florida
WWE Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees | true | [
"WWE Hall of Fame (2005) was the event which featured introduction of the 6th class to the WWE Hall of Fame. The event was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on April 2, 2005, from the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California. The event took place the same weekend as WrestleMania 21. The event was hosted by Gene Okerlund. A condensed version of the ceremony aired that evening on Spike TV. In March 2015 the ceremony was added to the WWE Network.\n\nAftermath\nOn July 24, 2015, WWE terminated their contract with Hogan, stating that they are \"committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds\", although Hogan's lawyer said Hogan chose to resign. A day prior, WWE removed virtually all references to Hogan from their website, including his entry from its WWE Hall of Fame page. The termination coincided with the publication by the National Enquirer and Radar Online of an anti-black rant made by Hogan on his controversial leaked sex tape in which he is heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter with any black man, referenced by repeated use of the racial slur \"nigger\". Hogan also admitted to being \"a racist, to a point\". However, no official statement about his removal had been made and he was still listed in the Hall of Fame entry of the official WWE encyclopedia released in October 2016.\n\nOn July 15, 2018, despite no prior official statements by the WWE declaring his removal from the Hall of Fame, Hogan was reinstated into the Hall of Fame, after his numerous public apologies over the past year, as well as volunteering work.\n\nInductees\n\nIndividual\n Class headliners appear in boldface\n\nReferences\n\nWWE Hall of Fame ceremonies\n2005 in professional wrestling\nProfessional wrestling in Los Angeles\nEvents in Los Angeles\n2005 in Los Angeles\nApril 2005 events in the United States",
"The PMG Clash of Legends, Starring Hulk Hogan was an American professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event (in various territories) promoted by Memphis Wrestling owner Corey Maclin in conjunction with Hulk Hogan, which took place on April 27, 2007 in the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. The event attracted a degree of attention after a scheduled match between Hall of Famers Hogan and Jerry Lawler was vetoed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), resulting in a lawsuit between Maclin and WWE. It was described by the Wrestling Observer as \"the biggest indie undertaking in the U.S. geared toward the non-Hispanic market in many years\".\n\nHistory\nThe PMG Clash of Legends had originally been scheduled to take place in the Mid-South Coliseum. However, the Mid-South Coliseum was closed in late 2005 due to failure to comply with disabled accessibility regulations. When the FedExForum was chosen as a replacement, the operators of the FedExForum contacted WWE, which had in the past held events in the FedExForum, to ensure that WWE did not object to an alternative professional wrestling promotion staging an event there. WWE did not object to the event taking place. Following the announcement that Lawler would not be allowed to wrestle at the event, WWE offered to refund Maclin's deposit on the rental of the FedExForum. He declined.\n\nInitially, the sole match announced for the event was the titular \"Clash of Legends\", a bout between Hogan and Memphis Wrestling mainstay Lawler that had been promoted on the Memphis Wrestling television show Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. However, on April 12, 2007, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC Universal employees (which includes Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC Universal-owned USA Network's WWE Raw, and his appearances on the biannual Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on any of the channels owned by MTV Networks, which includes VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best, a reality television series starring Hogan, airs.\n\nFollowing the cancellation of the Hogan-Lawler match, Memphis Wrestling owner Corey Maclin announced that Hogan would instead wrestle Paul Wight in Wight's first match since leaving WWE in December 2006. When referred to by the ring name he used in WWE, \"The Big Show\", Wight stated that this was his \"slave name\" and that he was to be referred to as \"'The Great' Paul Wight\".\n\nIn response to Maclin's announcement, WWE immediately banned all WWE employees from appearing at Memphis Wrestling events, with the result that The Boogeyman, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin were all obliged to cancel their scheduled appearances at the April 13, 2007 Memphis Wrestling show in Tunica, Mississippi. Robert Gibson was to team with his longtime Rock 'n' Roll Express partner Ricky Morton to face Too Cool II, however WWE pulled Gibson from the event as well, as he was a WWE producer. Gibson would be replaced by Kid Kash, and Bobby Eaton filled Kash's original spot as Koko B. Ware's tag team partner against Bill Dundee and Dutch Mantel.\n\nThe event was hosted by Maclin and Lance Russell, and mayor of Memphis W. W. Herenton served as timekeeper. Colin Bowman was brought in at the last minute as the Show Director.\n\nOn May 5, 2007, it was revealed that 2,200 fans attended the event, yielding a $104,500 gate.\n\nIn January 2008, Maclin filed a claim for punitive damages against WWE and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon in the Shelby County circuit court, alleging that WWE and McMahon had breached section two of the Sherman Antitrust Act.\n\nResults\n\nReferences\n\nProfessional wrestling shows\nEvents in Tennessee\n2007 in professional wrestling\n2007 in Tennessee\nProfessional wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee\nEvents in Memphis, Tennessee"
]
|
[
"Terrance Dicks",
"Doctor Who"
]
| C_3965809363894f11aaa30962314a4a6c_1 | What is Doctor Who? | 1 | What is Doctor Who? | Terrance Dicks | In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year, and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death, having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts. Dicks went on to form a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts' five seasons as head of the programme from 1970 to 1974. In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke. After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym "Robin Bland" after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980). State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. Dicks penned his final Doctor Who script in 1983, when he wrote the programme's 20th anniversary special episode, The Five Doctors. Dicks' other work for Doctor Who includes two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, working as a writer and also serving as the programme's script editor from 1968 to 1974. The Doctor Who News Page described him as "arguably the most prolific contributor to Doctor Who". He later became a script editor and producer of classic serials for the BBC.
Dicks wrote many children's books during the 1970s and 1980s. He also maintained his association with Doctor Who by adapting televised stories into novelisations for Target Books and in later years contributing to many documentaries and DVD commentaries for the series.
Early career
Born in East Ham, Essex (now part of Greater London), Dicks was the only son of William, a tailor's salesman and Nellie (née Ambler), a waitress. His parents later ran a pub, the Fox and Hounds, in Forest Gate. He excelled in English at East Ham Grammar School and consumed literature ranging from classics to pulp thrillers and adventure stories. He won a scholarship to study English at Downing College, Cambridge, and later performed two years of National Service in the British Army with the Royal Fusiliers. Following his discharge from the armed forces, he worked for five years as an advertising copywriter, and started to write radio play scripts for the BBC in his spare time.
His breakthrough into television came when friend Malcolm Hulke, whom he met when he rented a room from him, asked for his help with the scripting of "The Mauritius Penny", an episode of the second series of ABC action-adventure The Avengers, for which Dicks was awarded a co-writer's credit. Dicks went on to co-write a further two Avengers episodes with Hulke: the second, "Intercrime", was later re-worked for the sixth and final series.
Doctor Who
In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. The serial introduced the concept of the Time Lords and initiated the Doctor's exile to Earth, which would be a major theme of the Third Doctor's tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death (1969), having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts.
Dicks formed a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts's five seasons as series producer from 1970 to 1974. During his tenure as script editor on Doctor Who, Dicks oversaw a number of additions to the program's mythology that still exist in the modern era including the following:
The development of the Time Lords and their society.
The name Gallifrey (augmented from Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes' "Galfrey").
The creation of companions Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, and Sarah Jane Smith.
The term "regeneration". (Planet of the Spiders)
Sontarans (from writer Robert Holmes).
The Dematerialisation Circuit is vital for the operation of the TARDIS.
The concept that the TARDIS is indestructible.
The TARDIS can be remote controlled.
The TARDIS has a Telepathic Circuit (in The Time Monster)
The TARDIS might be sentient (The Time Monster and Planet of the Spiders)
The Blinovitch Limitation Effect used as a plot device to explain away paradoxes. (Day of the Daleks)
Multi-Doctor stories. (The Three Doctors)
During Dicks' tenure, the program also delved into social and political concepts. Sometimes these were straightforward and other times they were metaphors. Concepts and topics included the respect for all life (The Silurians), Great Britain joining the European Economic Community (in metaphor in The Curse of Peladon), apartheid (The Mutants), global pollution (The Green Death) and equality for women (with the inclusion of Sarah Jane Smith as companion).
In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke.
After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym Robin Bland after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980).
State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. His final Doctor Who script was The Five Doctors (1983), a feature-length episode for the programme's 20th anniversary.
His other work for Doctor Who included two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. He went on to contribute several additional scripts to Big Finish including audio adaptations of his two-stage plays, a Sixth Doctor-era story for the "Companion Chronicle" range, and a Bernice Summerfield story, in 2011, which was the final script of his career.
The first serial aired after his death, the 2020 Thirteenth Doctor-era story "Spyfall", was dedicated to him.
Books
Dicks contributed heavily to Target Books' series of novelisations of the Doctor Who TV serials, writing 67 of the titles published by the company. As Dicks explains in an interview in the documentary Built for War (included on the 2006 DVD release of The Sontaran Experiment), he served as the unofficial editor of the Target Books range. In this role, he would attempt to enlist the author of the original scripts to write the novelisation whenever possible, but if they refused or had other commitments, Dicks would usually undertake the work himself (although he also recruited other writers, including former Doctor Who actor Ian Marter and former series producer Philip Hinchcliffe).
On one occasion, he enlisted Robert Holmes to novelise his script for The Time Warrior, but when Holmes gave up after writing only one chapter, it was left to Dicks to complete the work. Dicks would have better success in recruiting the original writers for the later Doctor Who serials, and was required to adapt only one Sixth Doctor story himself (The Mysterious Planet; he again replaced Holmes, who had died in 1986). Dicks' name appears on the cover of no Seventh Doctor novelisations. His plans to publish a novelisation of his stage play Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure were not realised.
As of September, 1980, Terrance Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations had sold three-and-a-half million copies and had been translated into ten different languages.
During the 1990s, Dicks contributed to Virgin Publishing's line of full-length, officially licensed, original Doctor Who novels, New Adventures, which continued the series' storyline following the TV cancellation in 1989. Dicks wrote three Doctor Who novels for Virgin, and continued to write occasionally for the franchise after BBC Books assumed the licence in 1997. He wrote the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, titled The Eight Doctors, which was, for a time, the best-selling original Doctor Who novel. World Game, featuring the Second Doctor, is set during the so-called "Season 6B". Later contributions to the range were the Quick Reads books Made of Steel and Revenge of the Judoon, both featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones.
His final Doctor Who short story, "Save Yourself", was published posthumously by BBC Books in October 2019.
A compilation of his work chosen by fans entitled The Essential Terrance Dicks Volumes 1 & 2 was published in August 2021.
Other television work
Dicks also wrote for the ATV soap opera Crossroads. He co-created and wrote for the short-lived BBC science-fiction TV series Moonbase 3 (1973), and wrote for the ITC science-fiction series Space: 1999 (1976). During the early 1980s, Dicks served once more as script editor to producer Barry Letts on the BBC's Sunday Classics strand of period dramas and literary adaptations.
When Letts returned to directing in 1985, Dicks succeeded him as the producer of the Sunday Classics, overseeing productions such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Vanity Fair, before retiring from the BBC in 1988 to resume his career as a novelist.
Children's fiction and non-fiction
It was through his work on Doctor Who books that Dicks became a writer of children's fiction, penning many successful titles during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, he wrote a trilogy for Target Books, The Mounties, concerning a Royal Canadian Mounted Police recruit. They were followed from 1979 to 1983 another trilogy, Star Quest, which was later re-printed by Big Finish Productions.
Beginning in 1978, Dicks penned The Baker Street Irregulars inspired by the Sherlock Holmes characters; the series eventually ran to 10 books, the last published in 1987. In 1981, he commenced work on a series of six children's horror novels with Cry Vampire. In 1987, Dicks started a new series for very young children titled T. R. Bear, resulting in a further seven books. There followed the Sally Ann series, about a ragdoll, Magnificent Max, about a cat, and The Adventures of Goliath (Dicks' longest series, at 18 books), about a golden retriever. Another five books concerning a St. Bernard dog make up the Harvey series.
Jonathan's Ghost and its three sequels were published in 1988, and the three-part MacMagic series followed in 1990. The Littlest Dinosaur was published in 1993 and The Littlest on Guard in 1994. Other works that Dicks published in 1994 include Woof! The Never Ending Tale, the Cold Blood series and the Chronicles of a Computer Game Addict series (both in four parts). Between 1998 and 2000, Dicks penned Changing Universe trilogy. In 2000 and 2001, Dicks produced the 12-book series, The Unexplained.
As well as his numerous fictional works, Dicks also penned several non-fiction books for children, including Europe United, A Riot of Writers, Uproar in the House, A Right Royal History and The Good, the Bad and the Ghastly.
Personal life
Dicks lived in Hampstead, London. In 1963, he married Elsa (née Germaney), a teacher and later a Quaker recording clerk. They had three sons: Stephen, Jonathan and Oliver.
Dicks died in London on 29 August 2019 after a short illness.
Bibliography
Great March West (1976)
Massacre in the Hills (1976)
War Drums of the Blackfoot (1976)
The Case of the Missing Masterpiece (1978)
Spacejack (1978)
The Case of the Blackmail Boys (1979)
Roboworld (1979)
The Case of the Cinema Swindle (1980)
The Case of the Crooked Kids (1980)
The Case of the Ghost Grabbers (1980)
Cry Vampire! (1981)
The Case of the Cop Catchers (1981)
Terrorsaur! (1981)
Ask Oliver (1982)
Marvin's Monster (1982)
Wereboy! (1982)
The Mystery of the Missing Diamond (1983)
Demon of the Dark (1983)
The Fireworks Mystery (1984)
The Mystery of the Missing Train (1984)
Goliath and the Dognappers (1984)
Ghosts of Gallows Cross (1984)
Gupta's Christmas (1985)
Goliath on Holiday (1985)
Goliath at the Dog Show (1986)
Goliath's Christmas (1986)
T.R. Afloat (1986)
T.R.'s Hallowe'en (1986)
In the Money (1986)
The Disappearing Diplomat (1986)
The Case of the Fagin File (1987)
Goliath and the Burglar (1987)
Goliath and the Buried Treasure (1987)
Goliath Goes to Summer School (1987)
Goliath on Vacation (1987)
Goliath's Easter Parade (1987)
Goliath at the Seaside (1988)
T.R's Big Game (1987)
T.R.'s Festival (1987)
Sally Ann, on Her Own (1987)
By the Sea (1987)
School Fair (1987)
The Criminal Computer (1988)
The Haunted Holiday (1988)
Goliath Cub Scouts (1989)
Enter T.R. (1988)
T.R. Bear: Enter T.R., T.R. Goes to School, T.R.'s Day Out, T.R.'s Halloween (1988)
T.R. Goes Skiing (1988)
T.R. Goes to Hollywood (1988)
T.R. Goes to School (1988)
T.R.'s Day Out (1988)
The Picnic (1988)
Sally Ann Goes to Hospital (1988)
Sally Ann's School Play (1988)
In Trouble (1988)
A New Beginning (1988)
Goliath's Sports Day (1989)
T.R. Down Under (1989)
T.R. in New York (1989)
At the Ballet (1989)
The River Rats (1989)
The School Spirit (1989)
Spitfire Summer (1989)
Magnificent Max (1989)
Goliath and the Cub Scouts (1990)
Goliath's Birthday (1990)
Teacher's Pet (1990)
T.R. Bear at the Zoo (1990)
The Pony (1990)
Majestic Max (1990)
Max and the Quiz Kids (1990)
Meet the MacMagics (1990)
My Brother the Vampire (1990)
Lost Property (1990)
Prisoners of War (1990)
The Winjin' Pom (1991)
The Big Match (1991)
Goliath Gets a Job (1991)
Jonathan and the Superstar (1991)
Jonathan's Ghost (1991)
Max's Amazing Summer (1991)
A Spell for My Sister (1991)
George and the Dragon (1991)
What's Going On William (1991)
The Comic Capers (1992)
Sally Ann and the School Show (1992)
Max and the Cat Burglar (1992)
Max and the Missing Megastar (1992)
Steaming Sam (1992)
Knightschool (1992)
War of the Witches (1992)
On Their Own (1993)
Goliath and the School Bully (1993)
Sally Ann and the Mystery Picnic (1993)
Max's Old-fashioned Christmas (1993)
The Littlest Dinosaur (1993)
Nurse Sally Ann (1994)
The Ultimate Game (1994)
Killing Time: Cold Blood 2 (1994)
Littlest on Guard (1994)
Cyberspace Adventure (1994)
Woof! the Never Ending Tale (1994)
Terror in the Swamp (1994)
World War Two (1995)
Harvey to the Rescue (1995)
Escape from Everytown (1995)
Littlest Disappears (1995)
Virtual Unreality (1995)
The Wild West (1996)
World War One (1996)
Harvey and the Beast of Bodmin (1996)
Harvey on Holiday (1996)
The Wollagong Incident (1996)
Murder on the Net (1996)
Jonathan's Ghost: Spitfire Summer, The School Spirit and Jonathan and the Superstar: A Spine-chilling Trilogy (1997)
Harvey and the Swindlers (1997)
Harvey Goes to School (1997)
The Bermuda Triangle Incident (1997)
The Circle of Death Incident (1997)
Stella's Wedding (1990)
Internet Danger (1998)
The Transylvanian Incident (1998)
SS World (1998)
Mets O Hyd (1998)
The Borley Rectory Incident (1998)
The Easter Island Incident (1999)
Mafia Incident (1999)
The Pyramid Incident (1999)
Eco Crash (1999)
Sam the Detective (1999)
The Chinese Ghost Incident (2000)
The Mars Project (2000)
Cassie and the Devil's Charm (2000)
Sci-Fi Danger: Set of 6 (2000)
Endgame (2000)
The Bombay Deaths Incident (2001)
The Inca Alien Incident (2001)
The Nazi Dagger Incident (2001)
Cassie and the Conway Curse: Second Sight II (2001)
Cassie and the Cornish Ghost: Second Sight III (2001)
Cassie and the Riviera Crime (2002)
Nikki and the Drugs Queen Murder (2002)
Star Quest (2003)
Doctor Who
Novelisations
Most of Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations incorporated the prefix "Doctor Who and..." before the title, as did most of the series' novelisations prior to 1981. Several of his novels were subsequently re-printed in omnibus editions, such as The Adventures of Doctor Who and The Dalek Omnibus. In the late 1980s, Star Books issued "2-in-1" collections of selected Target Books novelisations, which included several of Dicks' works.
The Auton Invasion (1974)
The Day of the Daleks (1974)
Terror of the Autons (1975)
The Planet of the Spiders (1975)
The Three Doctors (1975)
The Planet of the Daleks (1976)
The Carnival of Monsters (1977)
The Claws of Axos (1977)
The Mutants (1977)
The Time Warrior (1978; with Robert Holmes, who is uncredited)
Death to the Daleks (1978)
The Monster of Peladon (1980)
Inferno (1984)
The Mind of Evil (1985)
The Time Monster (1985)
Ambassadors of Death (1987)
The Abominable Snowmen (1974)
The Web of Fear (1976)
The Krotons (1985)
The Faceless Ones (1986)
The Seeds of Death (1986)
The Wheel in Space (1988)
The Space Pirates (1990)
The Giant Robot (1975; re-titled Robot for the 1992 edition; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, which was published in 1980)
The Loch Ness Monster (1976; re-titled Terror of the Zygons for the 1993 edition)
The Pyramids of Mars (1976)
The Revenge of the Cybermen (1976)
The Genesis of the Daleks (1976)
The Face of Evil (1977)
The Brain of Morbius (1977; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius, which was published in 1980)
The Planet of Evil (1977)
The Deadly Assassin (1977)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977)
The Horror of Fang Rock (1978)
The Android Invasion (1978)
The Hand of Fear (1979)
The Invisible Enemy (1979)
The Robots of Death (1979)
The Image of the Fendahl (1979)
The Destiny of the Daleks (1979)
Underworld (1980)
The Invasion of Time (1980)
The Stones of Blood (1980)
The Androids of Tara (1980)
The Power of Kroll (1980)
The Armageddon Factor (1980)
The Nightmare of Eden (1980)
The Horns of Nimon (1980)
The State of Decay (1981)
The Keeper of Traken (1982)
The Sun Makers (1982)
Meglos (1983)
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1977)
An Unearthly Child (1981)
The Smugglers (1988)
Planet of Giants (1990)
Four to Doomsday (1983)
Arc of Infinity (1983)
The Five Doctors (1983)
Kinda (1983)
Snakedance (1984)
Warriors of the Deep (1984)
The Caves of Androzani (1984)
The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet (1987)
Sarah Jane Adventures – Invasion of the Bane (2007)
Original novels
Virgin New Adventures (the Doctor):
Timewyrm: Exodus (1991)
Blood Harvest (1994)
Shakedown (1995)
Virgin New Adventures (Bernice Summerfield):
Mean Streets (1997)
Eighth Doctor Adventures:
The Eight Doctors (1997)
Endgame (2000)
Past Doctor Adventures:
Catastrophea (1998)
Players (1999)
Warmonger (2002)
Deadly Reunion (2003) (with Barry Letts)
World Game (2005)
New Series Adventures (Quick Reads):
Made of Steel (2007)
Revenge of the Judoon (2008)
Original short story
"Save Yourself" in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook (2019)
Non-fiction
The Making of Doctor Who (1972; co-written with Malcolm Hulke; updated and re-issued in 1976)
Stage plays
Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974)
Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure (1989)
Big Finish audio productions
Sarah Jane Smith audio series
Comeback (2002)
Big Finish stage play adaptations
Seven Keys to Doomsday (2008)
The Ultimate Adventure (2008)
Companion Chronicles
Beyond the Ultimate Adventure (2010)
Bernice Summerfield Short Stories
A Mutual Friend (2011)
Writing credits
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Biography and Interview at BBC Online
Biography at on Target
1935 births
2019 deaths
20th-century British Army personnel
20th-century English male writers
21st-century English male writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
21st-century English writers
Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
BBC television producers
British male screenwriters
British television writers
English book editors
English children's writers
English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male novelists
English non-fiction writers
English radio writers
English science fiction writers
English television producers
English television writers
British male television writers
People from East Ham
People from Hampstead
Writers from London
Writers of Doctor Who novels
20th-century pseudonymous writers
21st-century pseudonymous writers | false | [
"A Storm of Angels is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The Doctor Who Unbound dramas pose a series of \"What if...?\" questions. A Storm of Angels is the sequel to the earlier Unbound play Auld Mortality.\n\nPlot\nWhat if... the Doctor really had changed history, even just the tiniest bit?\n\nThe Doctor has exchanged the fantasy lives of his Possibility Generator for real adventure with Susan in time and space. But has he been too cavalier about the effects of his travels on history? Why is Sir Francis Drake captaining a spaceship through the Asteroid Belt? And what is the true nature of Susan's illness?\n\nCast\n The Doctor — Geoffrey Bayldon\n Susan — Carole Ann Ford\n Francis Drake — Cameron Stewart\n Doctor John Dee — Ivor Danvers\n Zeuro — Ian Hallard\n Anthony Fettiplace — Nicolas Deal\n Mr Raju — Shiv Grewal\n Queen Elizabeth — Kate Brown\n Shewstone / Bosun — Ian Brooker\n\nExternal links\n Big Finish Productions - A Storm of Angels\n\n2005 audio plays\nDoctor Who Unbound audio plays\nAudio plays by Marc Platt",
"Martha in the Mirror is a BBC Books original novel written by Justin Richards and based on the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. It was published on 10 April 2008 alongside Snowglobe 7, and The Many Hands.\n\nSynopsis \n\nCastle Extremis - whoever holds it can control the provinces either side that have been at war for centuries. Now the castle is about to play host to the signing of a peace treaty. But as the Doctor and Martha find out, not everyone wants the war to end.\n\nWho is the strange little girl who haunts the castle? What is the secret of the book the Doctor finds, its pages made from thin, brittle glass? Who is the hooded figure that watches from the shadows? And what is the secret of the legendary Mortal Mirror?\nThe Doctor and Martha don't have long to find the answers-an army is on the march, and the castle will soon be under siege once more...\n\nSee also\n\nWhoniverse\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Cloister Library - Martha in the Mirror\n\n2008 British novels\n2008 science fiction novels\nNew Series Adventures\nTenth Doctor novels\nNovels by Justin Richards"
]
|
[
"Terrance Dicks",
"Doctor Who",
"What is Doctor Who?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_3965809363894f11aaa30962314a4a6c_1 | The section is entitled Doctor Who. I am askin what is Doctor Who. | 2 | The section is entitled Doctor Who so I am askin what is Doctor Who? | Terrance Dicks | In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year, and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death, having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts. Dicks went on to form a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts' five seasons as head of the programme from 1970 to 1974. In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke. After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym "Robin Bland" after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980). State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. Dicks penned his final Doctor Who script in 1983, when he wrote the programme's 20th anniversary special episode, The Five Doctors. Dicks' other work for Doctor Who includes two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, working as a writer and also serving as the programme's script editor from 1968 to 1974. The Doctor Who News Page described him as "arguably the most prolific contributor to Doctor Who". He later became a script editor and producer of classic serials for the BBC.
Dicks wrote many children's books during the 1970s and 1980s. He also maintained his association with Doctor Who by adapting televised stories into novelisations for Target Books and in later years contributing to many documentaries and DVD commentaries for the series.
Early career
Born in East Ham, Essex (now part of Greater London), Dicks was the only son of William, a tailor's salesman and Nellie (née Ambler), a waitress. His parents later ran a pub, the Fox and Hounds, in Forest Gate. He excelled in English at East Ham Grammar School and consumed literature ranging from classics to pulp thrillers and adventure stories. He won a scholarship to study English at Downing College, Cambridge, and later performed two years of National Service in the British Army with the Royal Fusiliers. Following his discharge from the armed forces, he worked for five years as an advertising copywriter, and started to write radio play scripts for the BBC in his spare time.
His breakthrough into television came when friend Malcolm Hulke, whom he met when he rented a room from him, asked for his help with the scripting of "The Mauritius Penny", an episode of the second series of ABC action-adventure The Avengers, for which Dicks was awarded a co-writer's credit. Dicks went on to co-write a further two Avengers episodes with Hulke: the second, "Intercrime", was later re-worked for the sixth and final series.
Doctor Who
In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. The serial introduced the concept of the Time Lords and initiated the Doctor's exile to Earth, which would be a major theme of the Third Doctor's tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death (1969), having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts.
Dicks formed a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts's five seasons as series producer from 1970 to 1974. During his tenure as script editor on Doctor Who, Dicks oversaw a number of additions to the program's mythology that still exist in the modern era including the following:
The development of the Time Lords and their society.
The name Gallifrey (augmented from Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes' "Galfrey").
The creation of companions Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, and Sarah Jane Smith.
The term "regeneration". (Planet of the Spiders)
Sontarans (from writer Robert Holmes).
The Dematerialisation Circuit is vital for the operation of the TARDIS.
The concept that the TARDIS is indestructible.
The TARDIS can be remote controlled.
The TARDIS has a Telepathic Circuit (in The Time Monster)
The TARDIS might be sentient (The Time Monster and Planet of the Spiders)
The Blinovitch Limitation Effect used as a plot device to explain away paradoxes. (Day of the Daleks)
Multi-Doctor stories. (The Three Doctors)
During Dicks' tenure, the program also delved into social and political concepts. Sometimes these were straightforward and other times they were metaphors. Concepts and topics included the respect for all life (The Silurians), Great Britain joining the European Economic Community (in metaphor in The Curse of Peladon), apartheid (The Mutants), global pollution (The Green Death) and equality for women (with the inclusion of Sarah Jane Smith as companion).
In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke.
After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym Robin Bland after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980).
State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. His final Doctor Who script was The Five Doctors (1983), a feature-length episode for the programme's 20th anniversary.
His other work for Doctor Who included two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. He went on to contribute several additional scripts to Big Finish including audio adaptations of his two-stage plays, a Sixth Doctor-era story for the "Companion Chronicle" range, and a Bernice Summerfield story, in 2011, which was the final script of his career.
The first serial aired after his death, the 2020 Thirteenth Doctor-era story "Spyfall", was dedicated to him.
Books
Dicks contributed heavily to Target Books' series of novelisations of the Doctor Who TV serials, writing 67 of the titles published by the company. As Dicks explains in an interview in the documentary Built for War (included on the 2006 DVD release of The Sontaran Experiment), he served as the unofficial editor of the Target Books range. In this role, he would attempt to enlist the author of the original scripts to write the novelisation whenever possible, but if they refused or had other commitments, Dicks would usually undertake the work himself (although he also recruited other writers, including former Doctor Who actor Ian Marter and former series producer Philip Hinchcliffe).
On one occasion, he enlisted Robert Holmes to novelise his script for The Time Warrior, but when Holmes gave up after writing only one chapter, it was left to Dicks to complete the work. Dicks would have better success in recruiting the original writers for the later Doctor Who serials, and was required to adapt only one Sixth Doctor story himself (The Mysterious Planet; he again replaced Holmes, who had died in 1986). Dicks' name appears on the cover of no Seventh Doctor novelisations. His plans to publish a novelisation of his stage play Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure were not realised.
As of September, 1980, Terrance Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations had sold three-and-a-half million copies and had been translated into ten different languages.
During the 1990s, Dicks contributed to Virgin Publishing's line of full-length, officially licensed, original Doctor Who novels, New Adventures, which continued the series' storyline following the TV cancellation in 1989. Dicks wrote three Doctor Who novels for Virgin, and continued to write occasionally for the franchise after BBC Books assumed the licence in 1997. He wrote the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, titled The Eight Doctors, which was, for a time, the best-selling original Doctor Who novel. World Game, featuring the Second Doctor, is set during the so-called "Season 6B". Later contributions to the range were the Quick Reads books Made of Steel and Revenge of the Judoon, both featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones.
His final Doctor Who short story, "Save Yourself", was published posthumously by BBC Books in October 2019.
A compilation of his work chosen by fans entitled The Essential Terrance Dicks Volumes 1 & 2 was published in August 2021.
Other television work
Dicks also wrote for the ATV soap opera Crossroads. He co-created and wrote for the short-lived BBC science-fiction TV series Moonbase 3 (1973), and wrote for the ITC science-fiction series Space: 1999 (1976). During the early 1980s, Dicks served once more as script editor to producer Barry Letts on the BBC's Sunday Classics strand of period dramas and literary adaptations.
When Letts returned to directing in 1985, Dicks succeeded him as the producer of the Sunday Classics, overseeing productions such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Vanity Fair, before retiring from the BBC in 1988 to resume his career as a novelist.
Children's fiction and non-fiction
It was through his work on Doctor Who books that Dicks became a writer of children's fiction, penning many successful titles during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, he wrote a trilogy for Target Books, The Mounties, concerning a Royal Canadian Mounted Police recruit. They were followed from 1979 to 1983 another trilogy, Star Quest, which was later re-printed by Big Finish Productions.
Beginning in 1978, Dicks penned The Baker Street Irregulars inspired by the Sherlock Holmes characters; the series eventually ran to 10 books, the last published in 1987. In 1981, he commenced work on a series of six children's horror novels with Cry Vampire. In 1987, Dicks started a new series for very young children titled T. R. Bear, resulting in a further seven books. There followed the Sally Ann series, about a ragdoll, Magnificent Max, about a cat, and The Adventures of Goliath (Dicks' longest series, at 18 books), about a golden retriever. Another five books concerning a St. Bernard dog make up the Harvey series.
Jonathan's Ghost and its three sequels were published in 1988, and the three-part MacMagic series followed in 1990. The Littlest Dinosaur was published in 1993 and The Littlest on Guard in 1994. Other works that Dicks published in 1994 include Woof! The Never Ending Tale, the Cold Blood series and the Chronicles of a Computer Game Addict series (both in four parts). Between 1998 and 2000, Dicks penned Changing Universe trilogy. In 2000 and 2001, Dicks produced the 12-book series, The Unexplained.
As well as his numerous fictional works, Dicks also penned several non-fiction books for children, including Europe United, A Riot of Writers, Uproar in the House, A Right Royal History and The Good, the Bad and the Ghastly.
Personal life
Dicks lived in Hampstead, London. In 1963, he married Elsa (née Germaney), a teacher and later a Quaker recording clerk. They had three sons: Stephen, Jonathan and Oliver.
Dicks died in London on 29 August 2019 after a short illness.
Bibliography
Great March West (1976)
Massacre in the Hills (1976)
War Drums of the Blackfoot (1976)
The Case of the Missing Masterpiece (1978)
Spacejack (1978)
The Case of the Blackmail Boys (1979)
Roboworld (1979)
The Case of the Cinema Swindle (1980)
The Case of the Crooked Kids (1980)
The Case of the Ghost Grabbers (1980)
Cry Vampire! (1981)
The Case of the Cop Catchers (1981)
Terrorsaur! (1981)
Ask Oliver (1982)
Marvin's Monster (1982)
Wereboy! (1982)
The Mystery of the Missing Diamond (1983)
Demon of the Dark (1983)
The Fireworks Mystery (1984)
The Mystery of the Missing Train (1984)
Goliath and the Dognappers (1984)
Ghosts of Gallows Cross (1984)
Gupta's Christmas (1985)
Goliath on Holiday (1985)
Goliath at the Dog Show (1986)
Goliath's Christmas (1986)
T.R. Afloat (1986)
T.R.'s Hallowe'en (1986)
In the Money (1986)
The Disappearing Diplomat (1986)
The Case of the Fagin File (1987)
Goliath and the Burglar (1987)
Goliath and the Buried Treasure (1987)
Goliath Goes to Summer School (1987)
Goliath on Vacation (1987)
Goliath's Easter Parade (1987)
Goliath at the Seaside (1988)
T.R's Big Game (1987)
T.R.'s Festival (1987)
Sally Ann, on Her Own (1987)
By the Sea (1987)
School Fair (1987)
The Criminal Computer (1988)
The Haunted Holiday (1988)
Goliath Cub Scouts (1989)
Enter T.R. (1988)
T.R. Bear: Enter T.R., T.R. Goes to School, T.R.'s Day Out, T.R.'s Halloween (1988)
T.R. Goes Skiing (1988)
T.R. Goes to Hollywood (1988)
T.R. Goes to School (1988)
T.R.'s Day Out (1988)
The Picnic (1988)
Sally Ann Goes to Hospital (1988)
Sally Ann's School Play (1988)
In Trouble (1988)
A New Beginning (1988)
Goliath's Sports Day (1989)
T.R. Down Under (1989)
T.R. in New York (1989)
At the Ballet (1989)
The River Rats (1989)
The School Spirit (1989)
Spitfire Summer (1989)
Magnificent Max (1989)
Goliath and the Cub Scouts (1990)
Goliath's Birthday (1990)
Teacher's Pet (1990)
T.R. Bear at the Zoo (1990)
The Pony (1990)
Majestic Max (1990)
Max and the Quiz Kids (1990)
Meet the MacMagics (1990)
My Brother the Vampire (1990)
Lost Property (1990)
Prisoners of War (1990)
The Winjin' Pom (1991)
The Big Match (1991)
Goliath Gets a Job (1991)
Jonathan and the Superstar (1991)
Jonathan's Ghost (1991)
Max's Amazing Summer (1991)
A Spell for My Sister (1991)
George and the Dragon (1991)
What's Going On William (1991)
The Comic Capers (1992)
Sally Ann and the School Show (1992)
Max and the Cat Burglar (1992)
Max and the Missing Megastar (1992)
Steaming Sam (1992)
Knightschool (1992)
War of the Witches (1992)
On Their Own (1993)
Goliath and the School Bully (1993)
Sally Ann and the Mystery Picnic (1993)
Max's Old-fashioned Christmas (1993)
The Littlest Dinosaur (1993)
Nurse Sally Ann (1994)
The Ultimate Game (1994)
Killing Time: Cold Blood 2 (1994)
Littlest on Guard (1994)
Cyberspace Adventure (1994)
Woof! the Never Ending Tale (1994)
Terror in the Swamp (1994)
World War Two (1995)
Harvey to the Rescue (1995)
Escape from Everytown (1995)
Littlest Disappears (1995)
Virtual Unreality (1995)
The Wild West (1996)
World War One (1996)
Harvey and the Beast of Bodmin (1996)
Harvey on Holiday (1996)
The Wollagong Incident (1996)
Murder on the Net (1996)
Jonathan's Ghost: Spitfire Summer, The School Spirit and Jonathan and the Superstar: A Spine-chilling Trilogy (1997)
Harvey and the Swindlers (1997)
Harvey Goes to School (1997)
The Bermuda Triangle Incident (1997)
The Circle of Death Incident (1997)
Stella's Wedding (1990)
Internet Danger (1998)
The Transylvanian Incident (1998)
SS World (1998)
Mets O Hyd (1998)
The Borley Rectory Incident (1998)
The Easter Island Incident (1999)
Mafia Incident (1999)
The Pyramid Incident (1999)
Eco Crash (1999)
Sam the Detective (1999)
The Chinese Ghost Incident (2000)
The Mars Project (2000)
Cassie and the Devil's Charm (2000)
Sci-Fi Danger: Set of 6 (2000)
Endgame (2000)
The Bombay Deaths Incident (2001)
The Inca Alien Incident (2001)
The Nazi Dagger Incident (2001)
Cassie and the Conway Curse: Second Sight II (2001)
Cassie and the Cornish Ghost: Second Sight III (2001)
Cassie and the Riviera Crime (2002)
Nikki and the Drugs Queen Murder (2002)
Star Quest (2003)
Doctor Who
Novelisations
Most of Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations incorporated the prefix "Doctor Who and..." before the title, as did most of the series' novelisations prior to 1981. Several of his novels were subsequently re-printed in omnibus editions, such as The Adventures of Doctor Who and The Dalek Omnibus. In the late 1980s, Star Books issued "2-in-1" collections of selected Target Books novelisations, which included several of Dicks' works.
The Auton Invasion (1974)
The Day of the Daleks (1974)
Terror of the Autons (1975)
The Planet of the Spiders (1975)
The Three Doctors (1975)
The Planet of the Daleks (1976)
The Carnival of Monsters (1977)
The Claws of Axos (1977)
The Mutants (1977)
The Time Warrior (1978; with Robert Holmes, who is uncredited)
Death to the Daleks (1978)
The Monster of Peladon (1980)
Inferno (1984)
The Mind of Evil (1985)
The Time Monster (1985)
Ambassadors of Death (1987)
The Abominable Snowmen (1974)
The Web of Fear (1976)
The Krotons (1985)
The Faceless Ones (1986)
The Seeds of Death (1986)
The Wheel in Space (1988)
The Space Pirates (1990)
The Giant Robot (1975; re-titled Robot for the 1992 edition; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, which was published in 1980)
The Loch Ness Monster (1976; re-titled Terror of the Zygons for the 1993 edition)
The Pyramids of Mars (1976)
The Revenge of the Cybermen (1976)
The Genesis of the Daleks (1976)
The Face of Evil (1977)
The Brain of Morbius (1977; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius, which was published in 1980)
The Planet of Evil (1977)
The Deadly Assassin (1977)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977)
The Horror of Fang Rock (1978)
The Android Invasion (1978)
The Hand of Fear (1979)
The Invisible Enemy (1979)
The Robots of Death (1979)
The Image of the Fendahl (1979)
The Destiny of the Daleks (1979)
Underworld (1980)
The Invasion of Time (1980)
The Stones of Blood (1980)
The Androids of Tara (1980)
The Power of Kroll (1980)
The Armageddon Factor (1980)
The Nightmare of Eden (1980)
The Horns of Nimon (1980)
The State of Decay (1981)
The Keeper of Traken (1982)
The Sun Makers (1982)
Meglos (1983)
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1977)
An Unearthly Child (1981)
The Smugglers (1988)
Planet of Giants (1990)
Four to Doomsday (1983)
Arc of Infinity (1983)
The Five Doctors (1983)
Kinda (1983)
Snakedance (1984)
Warriors of the Deep (1984)
The Caves of Androzani (1984)
The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet (1987)
Sarah Jane Adventures – Invasion of the Bane (2007)
Original novels
Virgin New Adventures (the Doctor):
Timewyrm: Exodus (1991)
Blood Harvest (1994)
Shakedown (1995)
Virgin New Adventures (Bernice Summerfield):
Mean Streets (1997)
Eighth Doctor Adventures:
The Eight Doctors (1997)
Endgame (2000)
Past Doctor Adventures:
Catastrophea (1998)
Players (1999)
Warmonger (2002)
Deadly Reunion (2003) (with Barry Letts)
World Game (2005)
New Series Adventures (Quick Reads):
Made of Steel (2007)
Revenge of the Judoon (2008)
Original short story
"Save Yourself" in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook (2019)
Non-fiction
The Making of Doctor Who (1972; co-written with Malcolm Hulke; updated and re-issued in 1976)
Stage plays
Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974)
Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure (1989)
Big Finish audio productions
Sarah Jane Smith audio series
Comeback (2002)
Big Finish stage play adaptations
Seven Keys to Doomsday (2008)
The Ultimate Adventure (2008)
Companion Chronicles
Beyond the Ultimate Adventure (2010)
Bernice Summerfield Short Stories
A Mutual Friend (2011)
Writing credits
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Biography and Interview at BBC Online
Biography at on Target
1935 births
2019 deaths
20th-century British Army personnel
20th-century English male writers
21st-century English male writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
21st-century English writers
Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
BBC television producers
British male screenwriters
British television writers
English book editors
English children's writers
English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male novelists
English non-fiction writers
English radio writers
English science fiction writers
English television producers
English television writers
British male television writers
People from East Ham
People from Hampstead
Writers from London
Writers of Doctor Who novels
20th-century pseudonymous writers
21st-century pseudonymous writers | false | [
"Psykosoul is the first studio album by R&B/neo soul singer/songwriter Sy Smith, released in 2000 on Hollywood Records. The critically acclaimed album included the singles \"Gladly\" and \"Good N'Strong,\" as well as a standout cover of Edie Brickell's \"What I Am\" which also made an appearance on the television soundtrack of the animated series The PJ's. Psykosoul was later re-released as Psykosoul Plus.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPsykosoul (2000) \n Good N Strong (4:48)\n Gladly (4:07)\n That Ring (4:15)\n One (4:33)\n Deep Sleep (4:18)\n Stop Askin' (3:30)\n Broke My Heart (4:34)\n Distance (3:45)\n Can't (5:13)\n Talking to a Wall (4:22)\n Waiting... Contemplating (5:14)\n What I Am (4:34)\n\nPsykosoul Plus (2005) \n Deep Sleep (Axis remix)\n That Ring\n Waiting...Contemplating\n Good And Strong\n Stop Askin'\n You're the One\n Distance\n Broke My Heart\n Gladly\n Talking 2 A Wall\n Do Things (bonus track)\n What I Am\n Welcome Back (bonus track)\n Deep Sleep (original version)\n Can't\n\nSingles\n\nGladly \nTrack listing\n Gladly (clean)\n Gladly (clean – no rap)\n Gladly (instrumental)\n Gladly (LP version)\n\nGood N Strong \nTrack listing\n Good N Strong (radio mix)\n Good N Strong (LP version)\n Good N Strong (instrumental)\n\nReferences \n\n2000 debut albums\nSy Smith albums",
"Matthew Askin (born 24 December 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2018. He held the British cruiserweight title from 2017 to 2018 and challenged once for the Commonwealth cruiserweight title in 2015.\n\nAmateur career\nAskin boxed for the Pool of Life Amateur Boxing Club and was crowned the 2008 Senior ABA champion at cruiserweight.\n\nProfessional career\nAskin turned professional in November 2008 after signing with promoter Steve Wood and defeated Paul Bonson at The Tower Ballroom in Blackpool.\n\nIn January 2009 he signed with promoter Ricky Hatton and has since taken his record to 11 wins without defeat.\n\nDuring 2011 Sky Sports short listed Askin as a prospect to watch in 2011.\n\nIn March 2011 he won his first title as a professional by knocking out Neil Dawson in six rounds in Wigan. Askin is the former undefeated Central Area Cruiserweight Champion.\n\nIn November 2012 Askin has lost by KO to current WBO Cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Glowacki.\n\nAskin is due to defend his English Cruiserweight title against Londoner Menay Edwards before February 2014.\n\nOn 26 May 2017, Askin stopped Craig Kennedy in the sixth round to become British cruiserweight champion.\n\nProfessional boxing record\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n Official Matty Askin Boxing Website\n\n1988 births\nLiving people\nEnglish male boxers\nCruiserweight boxers\nSportspeople from Barnsley"
]
|
[
"Terrance Dicks",
"Doctor Who",
"What is Doctor Who?",
"I don't know.",
"The section is entitled Doctor Who. I am askin what is Doctor Who.",
"I don't know."
]
| C_3965809363894f11aaa30962314a4a6c_1 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 3 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article together with Doctor who? | Terrance Dicks | In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year, and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death, having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts. Dicks went on to form a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts' five seasons as head of the programme from 1970 to 1974. In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke. After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym "Robin Bland" after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980). State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. Dicks penned his final Doctor Who script in 1983, when he wrote the programme's 20th anniversary special episode, The Five Doctors. Dicks' other work for Doctor Who includes two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. CANNOTANSWER | In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. | Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, working as a writer and also serving as the programme's script editor from 1968 to 1974. The Doctor Who News Page described him as "arguably the most prolific contributor to Doctor Who". He later became a script editor and producer of classic serials for the BBC.
Dicks wrote many children's books during the 1970s and 1980s. He also maintained his association with Doctor Who by adapting televised stories into novelisations for Target Books and in later years contributing to many documentaries and DVD commentaries for the series.
Early career
Born in East Ham, Essex (now part of Greater London), Dicks was the only son of William, a tailor's salesman and Nellie (née Ambler), a waitress. His parents later ran a pub, the Fox and Hounds, in Forest Gate. He excelled in English at East Ham Grammar School and consumed literature ranging from classics to pulp thrillers and adventure stories. He won a scholarship to study English at Downing College, Cambridge, and later performed two years of National Service in the British Army with the Royal Fusiliers. Following his discharge from the armed forces, he worked for five years as an advertising copywriter, and started to write radio play scripts for the BBC in his spare time.
His breakthrough into television came when friend Malcolm Hulke, whom he met when he rented a room from him, asked for his help with the scripting of "The Mauritius Penny", an episode of the second series of ABC action-adventure The Avengers, for which Dicks was awarded a co-writer's credit. Dicks went on to co-write a further two Avengers episodes with Hulke: the second, "Intercrime", was later re-worked for the sixth and final series.
Doctor Who
In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. The serial introduced the concept of the Time Lords and initiated the Doctor's exile to Earth, which would be a major theme of the Third Doctor's tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death (1969), having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts.
Dicks formed a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts's five seasons as series producer from 1970 to 1974. During his tenure as script editor on Doctor Who, Dicks oversaw a number of additions to the program's mythology that still exist in the modern era including the following:
The development of the Time Lords and their society.
The name Gallifrey (augmented from Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes' "Galfrey").
The creation of companions Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, and Sarah Jane Smith.
The term "regeneration". (Planet of the Spiders)
Sontarans (from writer Robert Holmes).
The Dematerialisation Circuit is vital for the operation of the TARDIS.
The concept that the TARDIS is indestructible.
The TARDIS can be remote controlled.
The TARDIS has a Telepathic Circuit (in The Time Monster)
The TARDIS might be sentient (The Time Monster and Planet of the Spiders)
The Blinovitch Limitation Effect used as a plot device to explain away paradoxes. (Day of the Daleks)
Multi-Doctor stories. (The Three Doctors)
During Dicks' tenure, the program also delved into social and political concepts. Sometimes these were straightforward and other times they were metaphors. Concepts and topics included the respect for all life (The Silurians), Great Britain joining the European Economic Community (in metaphor in The Curse of Peladon), apartheid (The Mutants), global pollution (The Green Death) and equality for women (with the inclusion of Sarah Jane Smith as companion).
In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke.
After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym Robin Bland after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980).
State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. His final Doctor Who script was The Five Doctors (1983), a feature-length episode for the programme's 20th anniversary.
His other work for Doctor Who included two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. He went on to contribute several additional scripts to Big Finish including audio adaptations of his two-stage plays, a Sixth Doctor-era story for the "Companion Chronicle" range, and a Bernice Summerfield story, in 2011, which was the final script of his career.
The first serial aired after his death, the 2020 Thirteenth Doctor-era story "Spyfall", was dedicated to him.
Books
Dicks contributed heavily to Target Books' series of novelisations of the Doctor Who TV serials, writing 67 of the titles published by the company. As Dicks explains in an interview in the documentary Built for War (included on the 2006 DVD release of The Sontaran Experiment), he served as the unofficial editor of the Target Books range. In this role, he would attempt to enlist the author of the original scripts to write the novelisation whenever possible, but if they refused or had other commitments, Dicks would usually undertake the work himself (although he also recruited other writers, including former Doctor Who actor Ian Marter and former series producer Philip Hinchcliffe).
On one occasion, he enlisted Robert Holmes to novelise his script for The Time Warrior, but when Holmes gave up after writing only one chapter, it was left to Dicks to complete the work. Dicks would have better success in recruiting the original writers for the later Doctor Who serials, and was required to adapt only one Sixth Doctor story himself (The Mysterious Planet; he again replaced Holmes, who had died in 1986). Dicks' name appears on the cover of no Seventh Doctor novelisations. His plans to publish a novelisation of his stage play Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure were not realised.
As of September, 1980, Terrance Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations had sold three-and-a-half million copies and had been translated into ten different languages.
During the 1990s, Dicks contributed to Virgin Publishing's line of full-length, officially licensed, original Doctor Who novels, New Adventures, which continued the series' storyline following the TV cancellation in 1989. Dicks wrote three Doctor Who novels for Virgin, and continued to write occasionally for the franchise after BBC Books assumed the licence in 1997. He wrote the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, titled The Eight Doctors, which was, for a time, the best-selling original Doctor Who novel. World Game, featuring the Second Doctor, is set during the so-called "Season 6B". Later contributions to the range were the Quick Reads books Made of Steel and Revenge of the Judoon, both featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones.
His final Doctor Who short story, "Save Yourself", was published posthumously by BBC Books in October 2019.
A compilation of his work chosen by fans entitled The Essential Terrance Dicks Volumes 1 & 2 was published in August 2021.
Other television work
Dicks also wrote for the ATV soap opera Crossroads. He co-created and wrote for the short-lived BBC science-fiction TV series Moonbase 3 (1973), and wrote for the ITC science-fiction series Space: 1999 (1976). During the early 1980s, Dicks served once more as script editor to producer Barry Letts on the BBC's Sunday Classics strand of period dramas and literary adaptations.
When Letts returned to directing in 1985, Dicks succeeded him as the producer of the Sunday Classics, overseeing productions such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Vanity Fair, before retiring from the BBC in 1988 to resume his career as a novelist.
Children's fiction and non-fiction
It was through his work on Doctor Who books that Dicks became a writer of children's fiction, penning many successful titles during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, he wrote a trilogy for Target Books, The Mounties, concerning a Royal Canadian Mounted Police recruit. They were followed from 1979 to 1983 another trilogy, Star Quest, which was later re-printed by Big Finish Productions.
Beginning in 1978, Dicks penned The Baker Street Irregulars inspired by the Sherlock Holmes characters; the series eventually ran to 10 books, the last published in 1987. In 1981, he commenced work on a series of six children's horror novels with Cry Vampire. In 1987, Dicks started a new series for very young children titled T. R. Bear, resulting in a further seven books. There followed the Sally Ann series, about a ragdoll, Magnificent Max, about a cat, and The Adventures of Goliath (Dicks' longest series, at 18 books), about a golden retriever. Another five books concerning a St. Bernard dog make up the Harvey series.
Jonathan's Ghost and its three sequels were published in 1988, and the three-part MacMagic series followed in 1990. The Littlest Dinosaur was published in 1993 and The Littlest on Guard in 1994. Other works that Dicks published in 1994 include Woof! The Never Ending Tale, the Cold Blood series and the Chronicles of a Computer Game Addict series (both in four parts). Between 1998 and 2000, Dicks penned Changing Universe trilogy. In 2000 and 2001, Dicks produced the 12-book series, The Unexplained.
As well as his numerous fictional works, Dicks also penned several non-fiction books for children, including Europe United, A Riot of Writers, Uproar in the House, A Right Royal History and The Good, the Bad and the Ghastly.
Personal life
Dicks lived in Hampstead, London. In 1963, he married Elsa (née Germaney), a teacher and later a Quaker recording clerk. They had three sons: Stephen, Jonathan and Oliver.
Dicks died in London on 29 August 2019 after a short illness.
Bibliography
Great March West (1976)
Massacre in the Hills (1976)
War Drums of the Blackfoot (1976)
The Case of the Missing Masterpiece (1978)
Spacejack (1978)
The Case of the Blackmail Boys (1979)
Roboworld (1979)
The Case of the Cinema Swindle (1980)
The Case of the Crooked Kids (1980)
The Case of the Ghost Grabbers (1980)
Cry Vampire! (1981)
The Case of the Cop Catchers (1981)
Terrorsaur! (1981)
Ask Oliver (1982)
Marvin's Monster (1982)
Wereboy! (1982)
The Mystery of the Missing Diamond (1983)
Demon of the Dark (1983)
The Fireworks Mystery (1984)
The Mystery of the Missing Train (1984)
Goliath and the Dognappers (1984)
Ghosts of Gallows Cross (1984)
Gupta's Christmas (1985)
Goliath on Holiday (1985)
Goliath at the Dog Show (1986)
Goliath's Christmas (1986)
T.R. Afloat (1986)
T.R.'s Hallowe'en (1986)
In the Money (1986)
The Disappearing Diplomat (1986)
The Case of the Fagin File (1987)
Goliath and the Burglar (1987)
Goliath and the Buried Treasure (1987)
Goliath Goes to Summer School (1987)
Goliath on Vacation (1987)
Goliath's Easter Parade (1987)
Goliath at the Seaside (1988)
T.R's Big Game (1987)
T.R.'s Festival (1987)
Sally Ann, on Her Own (1987)
By the Sea (1987)
School Fair (1987)
The Criminal Computer (1988)
The Haunted Holiday (1988)
Goliath Cub Scouts (1989)
Enter T.R. (1988)
T.R. Bear: Enter T.R., T.R. Goes to School, T.R.'s Day Out, T.R.'s Halloween (1988)
T.R. Goes Skiing (1988)
T.R. Goes to Hollywood (1988)
T.R. Goes to School (1988)
T.R.'s Day Out (1988)
The Picnic (1988)
Sally Ann Goes to Hospital (1988)
Sally Ann's School Play (1988)
In Trouble (1988)
A New Beginning (1988)
Goliath's Sports Day (1989)
T.R. Down Under (1989)
T.R. in New York (1989)
At the Ballet (1989)
The River Rats (1989)
The School Spirit (1989)
Spitfire Summer (1989)
Magnificent Max (1989)
Goliath and the Cub Scouts (1990)
Goliath's Birthday (1990)
Teacher's Pet (1990)
T.R. Bear at the Zoo (1990)
The Pony (1990)
Majestic Max (1990)
Max and the Quiz Kids (1990)
Meet the MacMagics (1990)
My Brother the Vampire (1990)
Lost Property (1990)
Prisoners of War (1990)
The Winjin' Pom (1991)
The Big Match (1991)
Goliath Gets a Job (1991)
Jonathan and the Superstar (1991)
Jonathan's Ghost (1991)
Max's Amazing Summer (1991)
A Spell for My Sister (1991)
George and the Dragon (1991)
What's Going On William (1991)
The Comic Capers (1992)
Sally Ann and the School Show (1992)
Max and the Cat Burglar (1992)
Max and the Missing Megastar (1992)
Steaming Sam (1992)
Knightschool (1992)
War of the Witches (1992)
On Their Own (1993)
Goliath and the School Bully (1993)
Sally Ann and the Mystery Picnic (1993)
Max's Old-fashioned Christmas (1993)
The Littlest Dinosaur (1993)
Nurse Sally Ann (1994)
The Ultimate Game (1994)
Killing Time: Cold Blood 2 (1994)
Littlest on Guard (1994)
Cyberspace Adventure (1994)
Woof! the Never Ending Tale (1994)
Terror in the Swamp (1994)
World War Two (1995)
Harvey to the Rescue (1995)
Escape from Everytown (1995)
Littlest Disappears (1995)
Virtual Unreality (1995)
The Wild West (1996)
World War One (1996)
Harvey and the Beast of Bodmin (1996)
Harvey on Holiday (1996)
The Wollagong Incident (1996)
Murder on the Net (1996)
Jonathan's Ghost: Spitfire Summer, The School Spirit and Jonathan and the Superstar: A Spine-chilling Trilogy (1997)
Harvey and the Swindlers (1997)
Harvey Goes to School (1997)
The Bermuda Triangle Incident (1997)
The Circle of Death Incident (1997)
Stella's Wedding (1990)
Internet Danger (1998)
The Transylvanian Incident (1998)
SS World (1998)
Mets O Hyd (1998)
The Borley Rectory Incident (1998)
The Easter Island Incident (1999)
Mafia Incident (1999)
The Pyramid Incident (1999)
Eco Crash (1999)
Sam the Detective (1999)
The Chinese Ghost Incident (2000)
The Mars Project (2000)
Cassie and the Devil's Charm (2000)
Sci-Fi Danger: Set of 6 (2000)
Endgame (2000)
The Bombay Deaths Incident (2001)
The Inca Alien Incident (2001)
The Nazi Dagger Incident (2001)
Cassie and the Conway Curse: Second Sight II (2001)
Cassie and the Cornish Ghost: Second Sight III (2001)
Cassie and the Riviera Crime (2002)
Nikki and the Drugs Queen Murder (2002)
Star Quest (2003)
Doctor Who
Novelisations
Most of Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations incorporated the prefix "Doctor Who and..." before the title, as did most of the series' novelisations prior to 1981. Several of his novels were subsequently re-printed in omnibus editions, such as The Adventures of Doctor Who and The Dalek Omnibus. In the late 1980s, Star Books issued "2-in-1" collections of selected Target Books novelisations, which included several of Dicks' works.
The Auton Invasion (1974)
The Day of the Daleks (1974)
Terror of the Autons (1975)
The Planet of the Spiders (1975)
The Three Doctors (1975)
The Planet of the Daleks (1976)
The Carnival of Monsters (1977)
The Claws of Axos (1977)
The Mutants (1977)
The Time Warrior (1978; with Robert Holmes, who is uncredited)
Death to the Daleks (1978)
The Monster of Peladon (1980)
Inferno (1984)
The Mind of Evil (1985)
The Time Monster (1985)
Ambassadors of Death (1987)
The Abominable Snowmen (1974)
The Web of Fear (1976)
The Krotons (1985)
The Faceless Ones (1986)
The Seeds of Death (1986)
The Wheel in Space (1988)
The Space Pirates (1990)
The Giant Robot (1975; re-titled Robot for the 1992 edition; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, which was published in 1980)
The Loch Ness Monster (1976; re-titled Terror of the Zygons for the 1993 edition)
The Pyramids of Mars (1976)
The Revenge of the Cybermen (1976)
The Genesis of the Daleks (1976)
The Face of Evil (1977)
The Brain of Morbius (1977; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius, which was published in 1980)
The Planet of Evil (1977)
The Deadly Assassin (1977)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977)
The Horror of Fang Rock (1978)
The Android Invasion (1978)
The Hand of Fear (1979)
The Invisible Enemy (1979)
The Robots of Death (1979)
The Image of the Fendahl (1979)
The Destiny of the Daleks (1979)
Underworld (1980)
The Invasion of Time (1980)
The Stones of Blood (1980)
The Androids of Tara (1980)
The Power of Kroll (1980)
The Armageddon Factor (1980)
The Nightmare of Eden (1980)
The Horns of Nimon (1980)
The State of Decay (1981)
The Keeper of Traken (1982)
The Sun Makers (1982)
Meglos (1983)
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1977)
An Unearthly Child (1981)
The Smugglers (1988)
Planet of Giants (1990)
Four to Doomsday (1983)
Arc of Infinity (1983)
The Five Doctors (1983)
Kinda (1983)
Snakedance (1984)
Warriors of the Deep (1984)
The Caves of Androzani (1984)
The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet (1987)
Sarah Jane Adventures – Invasion of the Bane (2007)
Original novels
Virgin New Adventures (the Doctor):
Timewyrm: Exodus (1991)
Blood Harvest (1994)
Shakedown (1995)
Virgin New Adventures (Bernice Summerfield):
Mean Streets (1997)
Eighth Doctor Adventures:
The Eight Doctors (1997)
Endgame (2000)
Past Doctor Adventures:
Catastrophea (1998)
Players (1999)
Warmonger (2002)
Deadly Reunion (2003) (with Barry Letts)
World Game (2005)
New Series Adventures (Quick Reads):
Made of Steel (2007)
Revenge of the Judoon (2008)
Original short story
"Save Yourself" in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook (2019)
Non-fiction
The Making of Doctor Who (1972; co-written with Malcolm Hulke; updated and re-issued in 1976)
Stage plays
Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974)
Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure (1989)
Big Finish audio productions
Sarah Jane Smith audio series
Comeback (2002)
Big Finish stage play adaptations
Seven Keys to Doomsday (2008)
The Ultimate Adventure (2008)
Companion Chronicles
Beyond the Ultimate Adventure (2010)
Bernice Summerfield Short Stories
A Mutual Friend (2011)
Writing credits
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Biography and Interview at BBC Online
Biography at on Target
1935 births
2019 deaths
20th-century British Army personnel
20th-century English male writers
21st-century English male writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
21st-century English writers
Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
BBC television producers
British male screenwriters
British television writers
English book editors
English children's writers
English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male novelists
English non-fiction writers
English radio writers
English science fiction writers
English television producers
English television writers
British male television writers
People from East Ham
People from Hampstead
Writers from London
Writers of Doctor Who novels
20th-century pseudonymous writers
21st-century pseudonymous writers | 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"
]
|
[
"Terrance Dicks",
"Doctor Who",
"What is Doctor Who?",
"I don't know.",
"The section is entitled Doctor Who. I am askin what is Doctor Who.",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who."
]
| C_3965809363894f11aaa30962314a4a6c_1 | How long did he work on the series? | 4 | How long did Dicks work on the series? | Terrance Dicks | In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year, and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death, having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts. Dicks went on to form a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts' five seasons as head of the programme from 1970 to 1974. In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke. After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym "Robin Bland" after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980). State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. Dicks penned his final Doctor Who script in 1983, when he wrote the programme's 20th anniversary special episode, The Five Doctors. Dicks' other work for Doctor Who includes two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, working as a writer and also serving as the programme's script editor from 1968 to 1974. The Doctor Who News Page described him as "arguably the most prolific contributor to Doctor Who". He later became a script editor and producer of classic serials for the BBC.
Dicks wrote many children's books during the 1970s and 1980s. He also maintained his association with Doctor Who by adapting televised stories into novelisations for Target Books and in later years contributing to many documentaries and DVD commentaries for the series.
Early career
Born in East Ham, Essex (now part of Greater London), Dicks was the only son of William, a tailor's salesman and Nellie (née Ambler), a waitress. His parents later ran a pub, the Fox and Hounds, in Forest Gate. He excelled in English at East Ham Grammar School and consumed literature ranging from classics to pulp thrillers and adventure stories. He won a scholarship to study English at Downing College, Cambridge, and later performed two years of National Service in the British Army with the Royal Fusiliers. Following his discharge from the armed forces, he worked for five years as an advertising copywriter, and started to write radio play scripts for the BBC in his spare time.
His breakthrough into television came when friend Malcolm Hulke, whom he met when he rented a room from him, asked for his help with the scripting of "The Mauritius Penny", an episode of the second series of ABC action-adventure The Avengers, for which Dicks was awarded a co-writer's credit. Dicks went on to co-write a further two Avengers episodes with Hulke: the second, "Intercrime", was later re-worked for the sixth and final series.
Doctor Who
In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. The serial introduced the concept of the Time Lords and initiated the Doctor's exile to Earth, which would be a major theme of the Third Doctor's tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death (1969), having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts.
Dicks formed a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts's five seasons as series producer from 1970 to 1974. During his tenure as script editor on Doctor Who, Dicks oversaw a number of additions to the program's mythology that still exist in the modern era including the following:
The development of the Time Lords and their society.
The name Gallifrey (augmented from Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes' "Galfrey").
The creation of companions Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, and Sarah Jane Smith.
The term "regeneration". (Planet of the Spiders)
Sontarans (from writer Robert Holmes).
The Dematerialisation Circuit is vital for the operation of the TARDIS.
The concept that the TARDIS is indestructible.
The TARDIS can be remote controlled.
The TARDIS has a Telepathic Circuit (in The Time Monster)
The TARDIS might be sentient (The Time Monster and Planet of the Spiders)
The Blinovitch Limitation Effect used as a plot device to explain away paradoxes. (Day of the Daleks)
Multi-Doctor stories. (The Three Doctors)
During Dicks' tenure, the program also delved into social and political concepts. Sometimes these were straightforward and other times they were metaphors. Concepts and topics included the respect for all life (The Silurians), Great Britain joining the European Economic Community (in metaphor in The Curse of Peladon), apartheid (The Mutants), global pollution (The Green Death) and equality for women (with the inclusion of Sarah Jane Smith as companion).
In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke.
After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym Robin Bland after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980).
State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. His final Doctor Who script was The Five Doctors (1983), a feature-length episode for the programme's 20th anniversary.
His other work for Doctor Who included two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. He went on to contribute several additional scripts to Big Finish including audio adaptations of his two-stage plays, a Sixth Doctor-era story for the "Companion Chronicle" range, and a Bernice Summerfield story, in 2011, which was the final script of his career.
The first serial aired after his death, the 2020 Thirteenth Doctor-era story "Spyfall", was dedicated to him.
Books
Dicks contributed heavily to Target Books' series of novelisations of the Doctor Who TV serials, writing 67 of the titles published by the company. As Dicks explains in an interview in the documentary Built for War (included on the 2006 DVD release of The Sontaran Experiment), he served as the unofficial editor of the Target Books range. In this role, he would attempt to enlist the author of the original scripts to write the novelisation whenever possible, but if they refused or had other commitments, Dicks would usually undertake the work himself (although he also recruited other writers, including former Doctor Who actor Ian Marter and former series producer Philip Hinchcliffe).
On one occasion, he enlisted Robert Holmes to novelise his script for The Time Warrior, but when Holmes gave up after writing only one chapter, it was left to Dicks to complete the work. Dicks would have better success in recruiting the original writers for the later Doctor Who serials, and was required to adapt only one Sixth Doctor story himself (The Mysterious Planet; he again replaced Holmes, who had died in 1986). Dicks' name appears on the cover of no Seventh Doctor novelisations. His plans to publish a novelisation of his stage play Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure were not realised.
As of September, 1980, Terrance Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations had sold three-and-a-half million copies and had been translated into ten different languages.
During the 1990s, Dicks contributed to Virgin Publishing's line of full-length, officially licensed, original Doctor Who novels, New Adventures, which continued the series' storyline following the TV cancellation in 1989. Dicks wrote three Doctor Who novels for Virgin, and continued to write occasionally for the franchise after BBC Books assumed the licence in 1997. He wrote the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, titled The Eight Doctors, which was, for a time, the best-selling original Doctor Who novel. World Game, featuring the Second Doctor, is set during the so-called "Season 6B". Later contributions to the range were the Quick Reads books Made of Steel and Revenge of the Judoon, both featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones.
His final Doctor Who short story, "Save Yourself", was published posthumously by BBC Books in October 2019.
A compilation of his work chosen by fans entitled The Essential Terrance Dicks Volumes 1 & 2 was published in August 2021.
Other television work
Dicks also wrote for the ATV soap opera Crossroads. He co-created and wrote for the short-lived BBC science-fiction TV series Moonbase 3 (1973), and wrote for the ITC science-fiction series Space: 1999 (1976). During the early 1980s, Dicks served once more as script editor to producer Barry Letts on the BBC's Sunday Classics strand of period dramas and literary adaptations.
When Letts returned to directing in 1985, Dicks succeeded him as the producer of the Sunday Classics, overseeing productions such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Vanity Fair, before retiring from the BBC in 1988 to resume his career as a novelist.
Children's fiction and non-fiction
It was through his work on Doctor Who books that Dicks became a writer of children's fiction, penning many successful titles during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, he wrote a trilogy for Target Books, The Mounties, concerning a Royal Canadian Mounted Police recruit. They were followed from 1979 to 1983 another trilogy, Star Quest, which was later re-printed by Big Finish Productions.
Beginning in 1978, Dicks penned The Baker Street Irregulars inspired by the Sherlock Holmes characters; the series eventually ran to 10 books, the last published in 1987. In 1981, he commenced work on a series of six children's horror novels with Cry Vampire. In 1987, Dicks started a new series for very young children titled T. R. Bear, resulting in a further seven books. There followed the Sally Ann series, about a ragdoll, Magnificent Max, about a cat, and The Adventures of Goliath (Dicks' longest series, at 18 books), about a golden retriever. Another five books concerning a St. Bernard dog make up the Harvey series.
Jonathan's Ghost and its three sequels were published in 1988, and the three-part MacMagic series followed in 1990. The Littlest Dinosaur was published in 1993 and The Littlest on Guard in 1994. Other works that Dicks published in 1994 include Woof! The Never Ending Tale, the Cold Blood series and the Chronicles of a Computer Game Addict series (both in four parts). Between 1998 and 2000, Dicks penned Changing Universe trilogy. In 2000 and 2001, Dicks produced the 12-book series, The Unexplained.
As well as his numerous fictional works, Dicks also penned several non-fiction books for children, including Europe United, A Riot of Writers, Uproar in the House, A Right Royal History and The Good, the Bad and the Ghastly.
Personal life
Dicks lived in Hampstead, London. In 1963, he married Elsa (née Germaney), a teacher and later a Quaker recording clerk. They had three sons: Stephen, Jonathan and Oliver.
Dicks died in London on 29 August 2019 after a short illness.
Bibliography
Great March West (1976)
Massacre in the Hills (1976)
War Drums of the Blackfoot (1976)
The Case of the Missing Masterpiece (1978)
Spacejack (1978)
The Case of the Blackmail Boys (1979)
Roboworld (1979)
The Case of the Cinema Swindle (1980)
The Case of the Crooked Kids (1980)
The Case of the Ghost Grabbers (1980)
Cry Vampire! (1981)
The Case of the Cop Catchers (1981)
Terrorsaur! (1981)
Ask Oliver (1982)
Marvin's Monster (1982)
Wereboy! (1982)
The Mystery of the Missing Diamond (1983)
Demon of the Dark (1983)
The Fireworks Mystery (1984)
The Mystery of the Missing Train (1984)
Goliath and the Dognappers (1984)
Ghosts of Gallows Cross (1984)
Gupta's Christmas (1985)
Goliath on Holiday (1985)
Goliath at the Dog Show (1986)
Goliath's Christmas (1986)
T.R. Afloat (1986)
T.R.'s Hallowe'en (1986)
In the Money (1986)
The Disappearing Diplomat (1986)
The Case of the Fagin File (1987)
Goliath and the Burglar (1987)
Goliath and the Buried Treasure (1987)
Goliath Goes to Summer School (1987)
Goliath on Vacation (1987)
Goliath's Easter Parade (1987)
Goliath at the Seaside (1988)
T.R's Big Game (1987)
T.R.'s Festival (1987)
Sally Ann, on Her Own (1987)
By the Sea (1987)
School Fair (1987)
The Criminal Computer (1988)
The Haunted Holiday (1988)
Goliath Cub Scouts (1989)
Enter T.R. (1988)
T.R. Bear: Enter T.R., T.R. Goes to School, T.R.'s Day Out, T.R.'s Halloween (1988)
T.R. Goes Skiing (1988)
T.R. Goes to Hollywood (1988)
T.R. Goes to School (1988)
T.R.'s Day Out (1988)
The Picnic (1988)
Sally Ann Goes to Hospital (1988)
Sally Ann's School Play (1988)
In Trouble (1988)
A New Beginning (1988)
Goliath's Sports Day (1989)
T.R. Down Under (1989)
T.R. in New York (1989)
At the Ballet (1989)
The River Rats (1989)
The School Spirit (1989)
Spitfire Summer (1989)
Magnificent Max (1989)
Goliath and the Cub Scouts (1990)
Goliath's Birthday (1990)
Teacher's Pet (1990)
T.R. Bear at the Zoo (1990)
The Pony (1990)
Majestic Max (1990)
Max and the Quiz Kids (1990)
Meet the MacMagics (1990)
My Brother the Vampire (1990)
Lost Property (1990)
Prisoners of War (1990)
The Winjin' Pom (1991)
The Big Match (1991)
Goliath Gets a Job (1991)
Jonathan and the Superstar (1991)
Jonathan's Ghost (1991)
Max's Amazing Summer (1991)
A Spell for My Sister (1991)
George and the Dragon (1991)
What's Going On William (1991)
The Comic Capers (1992)
Sally Ann and the School Show (1992)
Max and the Cat Burglar (1992)
Max and the Missing Megastar (1992)
Steaming Sam (1992)
Knightschool (1992)
War of the Witches (1992)
On Their Own (1993)
Goliath and the School Bully (1993)
Sally Ann and the Mystery Picnic (1993)
Max's Old-fashioned Christmas (1993)
The Littlest Dinosaur (1993)
Nurse Sally Ann (1994)
The Ultimate Game (1994)
Killing Time: Cold Blood 2 (1994)
Littlest on Guard (1994)
Cyberspace Adventure (1994)
Woof! the Never Ending Tale (1994)
Terror in the Swamp (1994)
World War Two (1995)
Harvey to the Rescue (1995)
Escape from Everytown (1995)
Littlest Disappears (1995)
Virtual Unreality (1995)
The Wild West (1996)
World War One (1996)
Harvey and the Beast of Bodmin (1996)
Harvey on Holiday (1996)
The Wollagong Incident (1996)
Murder on the Net (1996)
Jonathan's Ghost: Spitfire Summer, The School Spirit and Jonathan and the Superstar: A Spine-chilling Trilogy (1997)
Harvey and the Swindlers (1997)
Harvey Goes to School (1997)
The Bermuda Triangle Incident (1997)
The Circle of Death Incident (1997)
Stella's Wedding (1990)
Internet Danger (1998)
The Transylvanian Incident (1998)
SS World (1998)
Mets O Hyd (1998)
The Borley Rectory Incident (1998)
The Easter Island Incident (1999)
Mafia Incident (1999)
The Pyramid Incident (1999)
Eco Crash (1999)
Sam the Detective (1999)
The Chinese Ghost Incident (2000)
The Mars Project (2000)
Cassie and the Devil's Charm (2000)
Sci-Fi Danger: Set of 6 (2000)
Endgame (2000)
The Bombay Deaths Incident (2001)
The Inca Alien Incident (2001)
The Nazi Dagger Incident (2001)
Cassie and the Conway Curse: Second Sight II (2001)
Cassie and the Cornish Ghost: Second Sight III (2001)
Cassie and the Riviera Crime (2002)
Nikki and the Drugs Queen Murder (2002)
Star Quest (2003)
Doctor Who
Novelisations
Most of Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations incorporated the prefix "Doctor Who and..." before the title, as did most of the series' novelisations prior to 1981. Several of his novels were subsequently re-printed in omnibus editions, such as The Adventures of Doctor Who and The Dalek Omnibus. In the late 1980s, Star Books issued "2-in-1" collections of selected Target Books novelisations, which included several of Dicks' works.
The Auton Invasion (1974)
The Day of the Daleks (1974)
Terror of the Autons (1975)
The Planet of the Spiders (1975)
The Three Doctors (1975)
The Planet of the Daleks (1976)
The Carnival of Monsters (1977)
The Claws of Axos (1977)
The Mutants (1977)
The Time Warrior (1978; with Robert Holmes, who is uncredited)
Death to the Daleks (1978)
The Monster of Peladon (1980)
Inferno (1984)
The Mind of Evil (1985)
The Time Monster (1985)
Ambassadors of Death (1987)
The Abominable Snowmen (1974)
The Web of Fear (1976)
The Krotons (1985)
The Faceless Ones (1986)
The Seeds of Death (1986)
The Wheel in Space (1988)
The Space Pirates (1990)
The Giant Robot (1975; re-titled Robot for the 1992 edition; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, which was published in 1980)
The Loch Ness Monster (1976; re-titled Terror of the Zygons for the 1993 edition)
The Pyramids of Mars (1976)
The Revenge of the Cybermen (1976)
The Genesis of the Daleks (1976)
The Face of Evil (1977)
The Brain of Morbius (1977; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius, which was published in 1980)
The Planet of Evil (1977)
The Deadly Assassin (1977)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977)
The Horror of Fang Rock (1978)
The Android Invasion (1978)
The Hand of Fear (1979)
The Invisible Enemy (1979)
The Robots of Death (1979)
The Image of the Fendahl (1979)
The Destiny of the Daleks (1979)
Underworld (1980)
The Invasion of Time (1980)
The Stones of Blood (1980)
The Androids of Tara (1980)
The Power of Kroll (1980)
The Armageddon Factor (1980)
The Nightmare of Eden (1980)
The Horns of Nimon (1980)
The State of Decay (1981)
The Keeper of Traken (1982)
The Sun Makers (1982)
Meglos (1983)
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1977)
An Unearthly Child (1981)
The Smugglers (1988)
Planet of Giants (1990)
Four to Doomsday (1983)
Arc of Infinity (1983)
The Five Doctors (1983)
Kinda (1983)
Snakedance (1984)
Warriors of the Deep (1984)
The Caves of Androzani (1984)
The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet (1987)
Sarah Jane Adventures – Invasion of the Bane (2007)
Original novels
Virgin New Adventures (the Doctor):
Timewyrm: Exodus (1991)
Blood Harvest (1994)
Shakedown (1995)
Virgin New Adventures (Bernice Summerfield):
Mean Streets (1997)
Eighth Doctor Adventures:
The Eight Doctors (1997)
Endgame (2000)
Past Doctor Adventures:
Catastrophea (1998)
Players (1999)
Warmonger (2002)
Deadly Reunion (2003) (with Barry Letts)
World Game (2005)
New Series Adventures (Quick Reads):
Made of Steel (2007)
Revenge of the Judoon (2008)
Original short story
"Save Yourself" in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook (2019)
Non-fiction
The Making of Doctor Who (1972; co-written with Malcolm Hulke; updated and re-issued in 1976)
Stage plays
Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974)
Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure (1989)
Big Finish audio productions
Sarah Jane Smith audio series
Comeback (2002)
Big Finish stage play adaptations
Seven Keys to Doomsday (2008)
The Ultimate Adventure (2008)
Companion Chronicles
Beyond the Ultimate Adventure (2010)
Bernice Summerfield Short Stories
A Mutual Friend (2011)
Writing credits
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Biography and Interview at BBC Online
Biography at on Target
1935 births
2019 deaths
20th-century British Army personnel
20th-century English male writers
21st-century English male writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
21st-century English writers
Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
BBC television producers
British male screenwriters
British television writers
English book editors
English children's writers
English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male novelists
English non-fiction writers
English radio writers
English science fiction writers
English television producers
English television writers
British male television writers
People from East Ham
People from Hampstead
Writers from London
Writers of Doctor Who novels
20th-century pseudonymous writers
21st-century pseudonymous writers | false | [
"The Long Earth is a collaborative science fiction novel series by British authors Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. \n\nAt the time of Pratchett's death (12 March 2015), three novels had been released, with a fourth published on 23 June 2015 and the fifth published on 30 June 2016.\n\nDevelopment\nThe original basis for the series was Pratchett's then-unpublished short story \"The High Meggas\", which he wrote as a starting point for a potential series while his first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was undergoing publication. The success of The Colour of Magic prompted Pratchett to put the story aside in favour of working on The Light Fantastic. The idea resurfaced in late 2010 following a dinner conversation with his assistant and American agent, and discussion with Stephen Baxter prompted the development of the first book in the series, The Long Earth, and the collaboration between the two authors. Both authors signed contracts for a total of five books in the series.\n\nPratchett and Baxter primarily write in different fields of literature. Baxter has written in fields of 'hard science', evolutionary speculation and alternative history. Although Pratchett has written some science fiction, he is primarily known for his fantasy series of Discworld novels. Although both authors spoke publicly about the outline for the novel, no public readings of any material were given (something which Pratchett frequently did at Discworld conventions).\n\nIn 2010, they planned only two books but following the completion of the first draft of the first volume in December 2011, they split it in two, and presented their publishers with a plan for a pentalogy.\nPratchett announced on Twitter the completion of the first draft of The Long Earth in December 2011. The book was released in the United States on 19 June 2012. A sequel titled The Long War was released on 20 June 2013, and The Long Mars was published on 17 June 2014. The third sequel The Long Utopia was released on 18 June 2015, and the final book in the pentalogy, The Long Cosmos, was published on 30 June 2016.\n\nSeries summary\nThe \"Long Earth\" is a name given to a possibly infinite series of parallel worlds that are similar to Earth, which can be reached by using an inexpensive device called a \"Stepper\". The \"close\" worlds are almost identical to \"our\" Earth (referred to as \"Datum Earth\"), while others differ in greater and greater details. All share one similarity: on none are there, or have there ever been, Homo sapiens - although the same cannot be said for earlier hominid species, especially Homo habilis.\n\nThe books explore the theme of how humanity might develop when freed from resource constraints: one example Pratchett has cited is that wars result from lack of land, and he was curious as to what would happen if there was no shortage of land or other resources.\n\nReception \nThe series has been discussed by Lauren J. Lacey as an example of a work dealing with the concept of heterotopia.\n\nBooks\n\n The Long Earth (June 2012)\n The Long War (June 2013)\n The Long Mars (June 2014)\n The Long Utopia (June 2015)\n The Long Cosmos (June 2016)\n\nSee also\nSliders\nLiving Space\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter talking about The Long Earth, Royal Institution video, 21 June 2012\n\nBook series introduced in 2012\n \nScience fiction book series\nScience fantasy novels\nCollaborative book series\nAlternate history novels",
"Craftsmen at Work was a British television series which first aired in 1938 on the BBC. Hosted by S.P.B. Mais, the series presented short 10-minute demonstrations of people at work, including whisket making, tattooing, and cricket bat making.\n\nTwo additional episodes -- with different hosts -- aired in 1946, one on how to make a mink coat and another on lithography.\n\nThe series is lost, as it aired live and methods to record live television did not exist until late 1947, and were used very rarely by the BBC until the mid-1950s. However, a still photograph exists of the series, showing a camera aimed at a man tattooing a woman sitting on a chair. The set seen is very basic, consisting of a chair, a small table and a plain background, though an uncomplicated set may have been preferable in the days of small TV screens.\n\nThe basic idea of the series was revived in the post-war era programme Made by Hand.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nCraftsmen at Work on IMDb\n\n1930s British television series\n1938 British television series debuts\n1946 British television series endings\nLost BBC episodes\nBritish documentary television series\nBritish live television series\nBlack-and-white British television shows"
]
|
[
"Terrance Dicks",
"Doctor Who",
"What is Doctor Who?",
"I don't know.",
"The section is entitled Doctor Who. I am askin what is Doctor Who.",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who.",
"How long did he work on the series?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_3965809363894f11aaa30962314a4a6c_1 | Has he been quotes as saying anything about his time on Doctor Who? | 5 | Has Dicks been quotes as saying anything about his time on Doctor Who? | Terrance Dicks | In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year, and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death, having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts. Dicks went on to form a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts' five seasons as head of the programme from 1970 to 1974. In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke. After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym "Robin Bland" after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980). State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. Dicks penned his final Doctor Who script in 1983, when he wrote the programme's 20th anniversary special episode, The Five Doctors. Dicks' other work for Doctor Who includes two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, working as a writer and also serving as the programme's script editor from 1968 to 1974. The Doctor Who News Page described him as "arguably the most prolific contributor to Doctor Who". He later became a script editor and producer of classic serials for the BBC.
Dicks wrote many children's books during the 1970s and 1980s. He also maintained his association with Doctor Who by adapting televised stories into novelisations for Target Books and in later years contributing to many documentaries and DVD commentaries for the series.
Early career
Born in East Ham, Essex (now part of Greater London), Dicks was the only son of William, a tailor's salesman and Nellie (née Ambler), a waitress. His parents later ran a pub, the Fox and Hounds, in Forest Gate. He excelled in English at East Ham Grammar School and consumed literature ranging from classics to pulp thrillers and adventure stories. He won a scholarship to study English at Downing College, Cambridge, and later performed two years of National Service in the British Army with the Royal Fusiliers. Following his discharge from the armed forces, he worked for five years as an advertising copywriter, and started to write radio play scripts for the BBC in his spare time.
His breakthrough into television came when friend Malcolm Hulke, whom he met when he rented a room from him, asked for his help with the scripting of "The Mauritius Penny", an episode of the second series of ABC action-adventure The Avengers, for which Dicks was awarded a co-writer's credit. Dicks went on to co-write a further two Avengers episodes with Hulke: the second, "Intercrime", was later re-worked for the sixth and final series.
Doctor Who
In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He was appointed head script editor the following year and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serial The War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. The serial introduced the concept of the Time Lords and initiated the Doctor's exile to Earth, which would be a major theme of the Third Doctor's tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death (1969), having extensively re-written Brian Hayles' original scripts.
Dicks formed a highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts's five seasons as series producer from 1970 to 1974. During his tenure as script editor on Doctor Who, Dicks oversaw a number of additions to the program's mythology that still exist in the modern era including the following:
The development of the Time Lords and their society.
The name Gallifrey (augmented from Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes' "Galfrey").
The creation of companions Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, and Sarah Jane Smith.
The term "regeneration". (Planet of the Spiders)
Sontarans (from writer Robert Holmes).
The Dematerialisation Circuit is vital for the operation of the TARDIS.
The concept that the TARDIS is indestructible.
The TARDIS can be remote controlled.
The TARDIS has a Telepathic Circuit (in The Time Monster)
The TARDIS might be sentient (The Time Monster and Planet of the Spiders)
The Blinovitch Limitation Effect used as a plot device to explain away paradoxes. (Day of the Daleks)
Multi-Doctor stories. (The Three Doctors)
During Dicks' tenure, the program also delved into social and political concepts. Sometimes these were straightforward and other times they were metaphors. Concepts and topics included the respect for all life (The Silurians), Great Britain joining the European Economic Community (in metaphor in The Curse of Peladon), apartheid (The Mutants), global pollution (The Green Death) and equality for women (with the inclusion of Sarah Jane Smith as companion).
In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke.
After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes: these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker's first outing as the Fourth Doctor), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym Robin Bland after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980).
State of Decay was in fact a re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations, which had been due for production during season 15 until the BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock. His final Doctor Who script was The Five Doctors (1983), a feature-length episode for the programme's 20th anniversary.
His other work for Doctor Who included two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. He went on to contribute several additional scripts to Big Finish including audio adaptations of his two-stage plays, a Sixth Doctor-era story for the "Companion Chronicle" range, and a Bernice Summerfield story, in 2011, which was the final script of his career.
The first serial aired after his death, the 2020 Thirteenth Doctor-era story "Spyfall", was dedicated to him.
Books
Dicks contributed heavily to Target Books' series of novelisations of the Doctor Who TV serials, writing 67 of the titles published by the company. As Dicks explains in an interview in the documentary Built for War (included on the 2006 DVD release of The Sontaran Experiment), he served as the unofficial editor of the Target Books range. In this role, he would attempt to enlist the author of the original scripts to write the novelisation whenever possible, but if they refused or had other commitments, Dicks would usually undertake the work himself (although he also recruited other writers, including former Doctor Who actor Ian Marter and former series producer Philip Hinchcliffe).
On one occasion, he enlisted Robert Holmes to novelise his script for The Time Warrior, but when Holmes gave up after writing only one chapter, it was left to Dicks to complete the work. Dicks would have better success in recruiting the original writers for the later Doctor Who serials, and was required to adapt only one Sixth Doctor story himself (The Mysterious Planet; he again replaced Holmes, who had died in 1986). Dicks' name appears on the cover of no Seventh Doctor novelisations. His plans to publish a novelisation of his stage play Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure were not realised.
As of September, 1980, Terrance Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations had sold three-and-a-half million copies and had been translated into ten different languages.
During the 1990s, Dicks contributed to Virgin Publishing's line of full-length, officially licensed, original Doctor Who novels, New Adventures, which continued the series' storyline following the TV cancellation in 1989. Dicks wrote three Doctor Who novels for Virgin, and continued to write occasionally for the franchise after BBC Books assumed the licence in 1997. He wrote the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, titled The Eight Doctors, which was, for a time, the best-selling original Doctor Who novel. World Game, featuring the Second Doctor, is set during the so-called "Season 6B". Later contributions to the range were the Quick Reads books Made of Steel and Revenge of the Judoon, both featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones.
His final Doctor Who short story, "Save Yourself", was published posthumously by BBC Books in October 2019.
A compilation of his work chosen by fans entitled The Essential Terrance Dicks Volumes 1 & 2 was published in August 2021.
Other television work
Dicks also wrote for the ATV soap opera Crossroads. He co-created and wrote for the short-lived BBC science-fiction TV series Moonbase 3 (1973), and wrote for the ITC science-fiction series Space: 1999 (1976). During the early 1980s, Dicks served once more as script editor to producer Barry Letts on the BBC's Sunday Classics strand of period dramas and literary adaptations.
When Letts returned to directing in 1985, Dicks succeeded him as the producer of the Sunday Classics, overseeing productions such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Vanity Fair, before retiring from the BBC in 1988 to resume his career as a novelist.
Children's fiction and non-fiction
It was through his work on Doctor Who books that Dicks became a writer of children's fiction, penning many successful titles during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, he wrote a trilogy for Target Books, The Mounties, concerning a Royal Canadian Mounted Police recruit. They were followed from 1979 to 1983 another trilogy, Star Quest, which was later re-printed by Big Finish Productions.
Beginning in 1978, Dicks penned The Baker Street Irregulars inspired by the Sherlock Holmes characters; the series eventually ran to 10 books, the last published in 1987. In 1981, he commenced work on a series of six children's horror novels with Cry Vampire. In 1987, Dicks started a new series for very young children titled T. R. Bear, resulting in a further seven books. There followed the Sally Ann series, about a ragdoll, Magnificent Max, about a cat, and The Adventures of Goliath (Dicks' longest series, at 18 books), about a golden retriever. Another five books concerning a St. Bernard dog make up the Harvey series.
Jonathan's Ghost and its three sequels were published in 1988, and the three-part MacMagic series followed in 1990. The Littlest Dinosaur was published in 1993 and The Littlest on Guard in 1994. Other works that Dicks published in 1994 include Woof! The Never Ending Tale, the Cold Blood series and the Chronicles of a Computer Game Addict series (both in four parts). Between 1998 and 2000, Dicks penned Changing Universe trilogy. In 2000 and 2001, Dicks produced the 12-book series, The Unexplained.
As well as his numerous fictional works, Dicks also penned several non-fiction books for children, including Europe United, A Riot of Writers, Uproar in the House, A Right Royal History and The Good, the Bad and the Ghastly.
Personal life
Dicks lived in Hampstead, London. In 1963, he married Elsa (née Germaney), a teacher and later a Quaker recording clerk. They had three sons: Stephen, Jonathan and Oliver.
Dicks died in London on 29 August 2019 after a short illness.
Bibliography
Great March West (1976)
Massacre in the Hills (1976)
War Drums of the Blackfoot (1976)
The Case of the Missing Masterpiece (1978)
Spacejack (1978)
The Case of the Blackmail Boys (1979)
Roboworld (1979)
The Case of the Cinema Swindle (1980)
The Case of the Crooked Kids (1980)
The Case of the Ghost Grabbers (1980)
Cry Vampire! (1981)
The Case of the Cop Catchers (1981)
Terrorsaur! (1981)
Ask Oliver (1982)
Marvin's Monster (1982)
Wereboy! (1982)
The Mystery of the Missing Diamond (1983)
Demon of the Dark (1983)
The Fireworks Mystery (1984)
The Mystery of the Missing Train (1984)
Goliath and the Dognappers (1984)
Ghosts of Gallows Cross (1984)
Gupta's Christmas (1985)
Goliath on Holiday (1985)
Goliath at the Dog Show (1986)
Goliath's Christmas (1986)
T.R. Afloat (1986)
T.R.'s Hallowe'en (1986)
In the Money (1986)
The Disappearing Diplomat (1986)
The Case of the Fagin File (1987)
Goliath and the Burglar (1987)
Goliath and the Buried Treasure (1987)
Goliath Goes to Summer School (1987)
Goliath on Vacation (1987)
Goliath's Easter Parade (1987)
Goliath at the Seaside (1988)
T.R's Big Game (1987)
T.R.'s Festival (1987)
Sally Ann, on Her Own (1987)
By the Sea (1987)
School Fair (1987)
The Criminal Computer (1988)
The Haunted Holiday (1988)
Goliath Cub Scouts (1989)
Enter T.R. (1988)
T.R. Bear: Enter T.R., T.R. Goes to School, T.R.'s Day Out, T.R.'s Halloween (1988)
T.R. Goes Skiing (1988)
T.R. Goes to Hollywood (1988)
T.R. Goes to School (1988)
T.R.'s Day Out (1988)
The Picnic (1988)
Sally Ann Goes to Hospital (1988)
Sally Ann's School Play (1988)
In Trouble (1988)
A New Beginning (1988)
Goliath's Sports Day (1989)
T.R. Down Under (1989)
T.R. in New York (1989)
At the Ballet (1989)
The River Rats (1989)
The School Spirit (1989)
Spitfire Summer (1989)
Magnificent Max (1989)
Goliath and the Cub Scouts (1990)
Goliath's Birthday (1990)
Teacher's Pet (1990)
T.R. Bear at the Zoo (1990)
The Pony (1990)
Majestic Max (1990)
Max and the Quiz Kids (1990)
Meet the MacMagics (1990)
My Brother the Vampire (1990)
Lost Property (1990)
Prisoners of War (1990)
The Winjin' Pom (1991)
The Big Match (1991)
Goliath Gets a Job (1991)
Jonathan and the Superstar (1991)
Jonathan's Ghost (1991)
Max's Amazing Summer (1991)
A Spell for My Sister (1991)
George and the Dragon (1991)
What's Going On William (1991)
The Comic Capers (1992)
Sally Ann and the School Show (1992)
Max and the Cat Burglar (1992)
Max and the Missing Megastar (1992)
Steaming Sam (1992)
Knightschool (1992)
War of the Witches (1992)
On Their Own (1993)
Goliath and the School Bully (1993)
Sally Ann and the Mystery Picnic (1993)
Max's Old-fashioned Christmas (1993)
The Littlest Dinosaur (1993)
Nurse Sally Ann (1994)
The Ultimate Game (1994)
Killing Time: Cold Blood 2 (1994)
Littlest on Guard (1994)
Cyberspace Adventure (1994)
Woof! the Never Ending Tale (1994)
Terror in the Swamp (1994)
World War Two (1995)
Harvey to the Rescue (1995)
Escape from Everytown (1995)
Littlest Disappears (1995)
Virtual Unreality (1995)
The Wild West (1996)
World War One (1996)
Harvey and the Beast of Bodmin (1996)
Harvey on Holiday (1996)
The Wollagong Incident (1996)
Murder on the Net (1996)
Jonathan's Ghost: Spitfire Summer, The School Spirit and Jonathan and the Superstar: A Spine-chilling Trilogy (1997)
Harvey and the Swindlers (1997)
Harvey Goes to School (1997)
The Bermuda Triangle Incident (1997)
The Circle of Death Incident (1997)
Stella's Wedding (1990)
Internet Danger (1998)
The Transylvanian Incident (1998)
SS World (1998)
Mets O Hyd (1998)
The Borley Rectory Incident (1998)
The Easter Island Incident (1999)
Mafia Incident (1999)
The Pyramid Incident (1999)
Eco Crash (1999)
Sam the Detective (1999)
The Chinese Ghost Incident (2000)
The Mars Project (2000)
Cassie and the Devil's Charm (2000)
Sci-Fi Danger: Set of 6 (2000)
Endgame (2000)
The Bombay Deaths Incident (2001)
The Inca Alien Incident (2001)
The Nazi Dagger Incident (2001)
Cassie and the Conway Curse: Second Sight II (2001)
Cassie and the Cornish Ghost: Second Sight III (2001)
Cassie and the Riviera Crime (2002)
Nikki and the Drugs Queen Murder (2002)
Star Quest (2003)
Doctor Who
Novelisations
Most of Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations incorporated the prefix "Doctor Who and..." before the title, as did most of the series' novelisations prior to 1981. Several of his novels were subsequently re-printed in omnibus editions, such as The Adventures of Doctor Who and The Dalek Omnibus. In the late 1980s, Star Books issued "2-in-1" collections of selected Target Books novelisations, which included several of Dicks' works.
The Auton Invasion (1974)
The Day of the Daleks (1974)
Terror of the Autons (1975)
The Planet of the Spiders (1975)
The Three Doctors (1975)
The Planet of the Daleks (1976)
The Carnival of Monsters (1977)
The Claws of Axos (1977)
The Mutants (1977)
The Time Warrior (1978; with Robert Holmes, who is uncredited)
Death to the Daleks (1978)
The Monster of Peladon (1980)
Inferno (1984)
The Mind of Evil (1985)
The Time Monster (1985)
Ambassadors of Death (1987)
The Abominable Snowmen (1974)
The Web of Fear (1976)
The Krotons (1985)
The Faceless Ones (1986)
The Seeds of Death (1986)
The Wheel in Space (1988)
The Space Pirates (1990)
The Giant Robot (1975; re-titled Robot for the 1992 edition; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, which was published in 1980)
The Loch Ness Monster (1976; re-titled Terror of the Zygons for the 1993 edition)
The Pyramids of Mars (1976)
The Revenge of the Cybermen (1976)
The Genesis of the Daleks (1976)
The Face of Evil (1977)
The Brain of Morbius (1977; Dicks also wrote a version for younger readers, Junior Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius, which was published in 1980)
The Planet of Evil (1977)
The Deadly Assassin (1977)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977)
The Horror of Fang Rock (1978)
The Android Invasion (1978)
The Hand of Fear (1979)
The Invisible Enemy (1979)
The Robots of Death (1979)
The Image of the Fendahl (1979)
The Destiny of the Daleks (1979)
Underworld (1980)
The Invasion of Time (1980)
The Stones of Blood (1980)
The Androids of Tara (1980)
The Power of Kroll (1980)
The Armageddon Factor (1980)
The Nightmare of Eden (1980)
The Horns of Nimon (1980)
The State of Decay (1981)
The Keeper of Traken (1982)
The Sun Makers (1982)
Meglos (1983)
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1977)
An Unearthly Child (1981)
The Smugglers (1988)
Planet of Giants (1990)
Four to Doomsday (1983)
Arc of Infinity (1983)
The Five Doctors (1983)
Kinda (1983)
Snakedance (1984)
Warriors of the Deep (1984)
The Caves of Androzani (1984)
The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet (1987)
Sarah Jane Adventures – Invasion of the Bane (2007)
Original novels
Virgin New Adventures (the Doctor):
Timewyrm: Exodus (1991)
Blood Harvest (1994)
Shakedown (1995)
Virgin New Adventures (Bernice Summerfield):
Mean Streets (1997)
Eighth Doctor Adventures:
The Eight Doctors (1997)
Endgame (2000)
Past Doctor Adventures:
Catastrophea (1998)
Players (1999)
Warmonger (2002)
Deadly Reunion (2003) (with Barry Letts)
World Game (2005)
New Series Adventures (Quick Reads):
Made of Steel (2007)
Revenge of the Judoon (2008)
Original short story
"Save Yourself" in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook (2019)
Non-fiction
The Making of Doctor Who (1972; co-written with Malcolm Hulke; updated and re-issued in 1976)
Stage plays
Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974)
Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure (1989)
Big Finish audio productions
Sarah Jane Smith audio series
Comeback (2002)
Big Finish stage play adaptations
Seven Keys to Doomsday (2008)
The Ultimate Adventure (2008)
Companion Chronicles
Beyond the Ultimate Adventure (2010)
Bernice Summerfield Short Stories
A Mutual Friend (2011)
Writing credits
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Biography and Interview at BBC Online
Biography at on Target
1935 births
2019 deaths
20th-century British Army personnel
20th-century English male writers
21st-century English male writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
21st-century English writers
Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
BBC television producers
British male screenwriters
British television writers
English book editors
English children's writers
English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male novelists
English non-fiction writers
English radio writers
English science fiction writers
English television producers
English television writers
British male television writers
People from East Ham
People from Hampstead
Writers from London
Writers of Doctor Who novels
20th-century pseudonymous writers
21st-century pseudonymous writers | false | [
"{{Infobox comics creator\n| name = Tom Spilsbury\n| birth_name =\n| birth_date = \n| birth_place = Swindon, England\n| death_date =\n| death_place =\n| nationality = British\n| write = yes\n| edit = yes\n| alias =\n| notable works = Doctor Who MagazineTV ZoneInside SoapSFX'''TV ChoiceTotal TV Guide\n| awards =\n| website =\n| nonUS =\n| sortkey =\n| subcat =\n}}Tom Spilsbury (born 1976) is a British writer, magazine editor and journalist. As of 2021, he is a feature writer for TV Choice and Total TV Guide magazines. A former pupil of Bristol Cathedral School, he was, for ten years, editor of Doctor Who Magazine (DWM).\n\nTV Zone and Visual Imagination\nSpilsbury started his career in journalism with Visual Imagination in 1999, where he contributed to many of the company's publications, including TV Zone, Starburst, Shivers, Film Review, Ultimate DVD, and Cult Times. He was then promoted to editor of TV Zone in 2001, which he edited for two years until 2003.\n\nDoctor Who Magazine\nSpilsbury joined Doctor Who Magazine in March 2003, on Issue 330, becoming deputy editor to Clayton Hickman. He later took over from Hickman as editor in August 2007, with Issue 387. He redesigned and revamped the magazine with Issue 390, persuading Kylie Minogue to pose with a Dalek for the cover of the new look magazine in December 2007.\n\nSpilsbury later became the first person to clock up 100 consecutive issues on DWM's staff with Issue 429 in December 2010, and later became the longest-serving editor of the title, overtaking Hickman in May 2013, and editing his 100th edition with Issue 486 in April 2015. He also oversaw the 500th issue of the magazine, and recreated the cover of the very first issue, explaining that he wanted 'something which somehow paid tribute to the past, as well as celebrating the present.' Reflecting on his long tenure on the magazine, Spilsbury said that \"I just enjoy being a magazine editor. So I'd happily be a magazine editor for a different magazine! I don't suppose I'll be editing Doctor Who Magazine for the rest of my life\" and noted that \"you must never get complacent about it. Never ever think that these are the only people buying it.\"\n\nWhile editing the magazine, Spilsbury interviewed subjects such as Freema Agyeman (Issues 392 and 393), Nicholas Courtney (Issue 402), Graeme Harper (Issues 380 and 392), and Steven Moffat (Issues 417/418, 447, 468/469, 484 and 515), amongst others. He also served as co-editor of the magazine's comic strip with Scott Gray, and wrote the regular Public Image column, which reports on the series' ratings, which he has continued to provide since his departure as editor.\n\nSpilsbury has admitted to being greatly influenced by Radio Times, paying tribute to covers of the listings magazine on several occasions.\n\nIn 2015 Spilsbury appeared on BBC Worldwide's Doctor Who: The Fan Show, where he was complimentary about the episode The Witch's Familiar, and confirmed that the story he first remembered watching was Destiny of the Daleks A further episode in 2016 saw Spilsbury and his team appear as themselves in a spoof documentary, showing the production of Issue 500 of DWM.\n\nOn 12 July 2017 Panini UK announced Tom Spilsbury was stepping down as Doctor Who Magazine'''s editor after Issue 515 and would be succeeded by Marcus Hearn.\n\nInside Soap\nSpilsbury's first freelance work for Inside Soap magazine was an interview with director Graeme Harper in November 2010, about the tram crash seen in the 50th anniversary episodes of Coronation Street,. Since leaving Doctor Who Magazine in 2017, Spilsbury has mainly worked for Inside Soap, initially contributing as a writer, before joining the full-time staff in 2018 as a regular writer and sub-editor, contributing stories on EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks. In March 2020, he took over editing Inside TV, the television section of the magazine, providing features on Red Dwarf, We Hunt Together, and Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow, among others.\n\nTV Choice and Total TV Guide\nSpilsbury left Inside Soap in July 2021, and since then he has been a regular feature writer and interviewer for sister listings magazines TV Choice and Total TV Guide, published by Bauer Media Group.\n\nOther magazines\nSpilsbury has occasionally contributed freelance articles to other magazines, including SFX features on Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek in issue 324 (published February 2020) and an interview with Carole Ann Ford in issue 327 (published May 2020).\n\nDoctor Who DVD appearances\nSpilsbury was a regular contributor to BBC Worldwide/2 entertain Ltd's Doctor Who DVD range, appearing as a talking head on documentaries for the Region 2 DVD releases of The Androids of Tara and The Armageddon Factor in 2007, The Rescue, The Deadly Assassin, The War Games and Enlightenment in 2009, Doctor Who (Doctor Who: The Movie) in 2010, and Inferno in 2013 – on which he appeared talking about the 'Other Eighth Doctor', David Burton, who allegedly made a new series of Doctor Who in the early 1990s, despite there being no photographic evidence of the production ever having been made. Spilsbury wryly noted that Burton's main claim to fame seemed to be that he possessed a car with the words 'the new Doctor Who' written on the side – but pointed out that anyone could have put that on the side of their car! \n\nTelevision and Radio appearances\nSpilsbury has often been called on as a Doctor Who expert, appearing on BBC News and BBC Breakfast on several occasions. He was called on to comment on the departure of Matt Smith by BBC News on 1 June 2013, where he was asked about the controversial 'regeneration limit' of only 13 Doctors being allowed. Spilsbury commented that the writers had \"just made that up,\" and so the writers could \"make up something else.\" He later appeared in a discussion on BBC Breakfast over the identity of the new Doctor, revealed on 4 August 2013. When asked by presenter Naga Munchetty who he thought might be in the frame, Spilsbury praised names such as Olivia Colman. He also quipped that the reveal of a new Doctor was \"like the Royal baby for sci-fi fans,\" with all the same speculation as to whether it would be a boy or a girl. When pushed who he thought would be cast, Spilsbury remained on the fence, confirming that he was as in the dark over the new Doctor's identity as everyone else. He stated that he wouldn't be surprised if a woman was cast in the role in the future, but doubted it would happen on this occasion. The same day he was the special guest on the BBC Radio Manchester show hosted by Eamon O'Neill and Jimmy Wagg, where they discussed the arrival of the new Doctor, and Tom suggested that he might be keeping it secret because he himself had taken the job! Later that evening, Peter Capaldi was revealed as the Twelfth Doctor. The next morning, Spilsbury was widely quoted saying that Capaldi \"was brilliant already.\" A year later, when Capaldi made his full début as the Doctor in August 2014, Spilsbury returned to BBC Breakfast to give his full verdict, giving the new Doctor a thumbs up. BBC Radio Wales interviewed Spilsbury about the imminent series 10 of Doctor Who on 30 March 2017.\n\nWhen Jodie Whittaker was cast as the Thirteenth Doctor in July 2017, Spilsbury appeared on numerous BBC local radio programmes to talk about her casting. He was challenged by Nicholas Pegg to include a William Hartnell-era episode title into each interview without the presenter noticing. Spilsbury accepted the challenge, culminating with the unlikely observation on BBC Radio Suffolk that Whittaker was like a Rider from Shang-Tu.\n\nOn 29 May 2012, he appeared in La Nuit Doctor Who, a television documentary for the French channel France 4.\n\nOn stage, Spilsbury hosted the Doctor Who Night at Ciné Lumiere on 19 January 2013, interviewing Toby Whithouse about his writing career.\n\nIn May 2018, Spilsbury hosted the first ever on-screen joint interview with former Doctor Who showrunners Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat for the BBC's official Doctor Who YouTube channel, as the two writers talked about their book adaptations of Rose and The Day of the Doctor.\n\nIn June 2018, he took part on a panel of Doctor Who experts to introduce a new audience to the 1963-89 run of the series, which was streaming on Twitch.\n\nNewspaper interviews\nAs a commentator on Doctor Who (he was assistant editor of Doctor Who Magazine at the time), Spilsbury was among the first to get to see the relaunch of the show in 2005. He commented on the revival starring Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper to The Guardian, saying \"I really enjoyed it. Chris and Billie were great. It was great to see everyone else enjoying it. They laughed at the funny bits and were scared by the scary bits. It bodes very well for the series. I think kids will love it. It's exactly the sort of thing I fell in love with as a child. Christopher Eccleston still feels like a Doctor Who. He'll be looked back on by kids in 20 years' time as their doctor.\"\nIn September 2015, Spilsbury was again interviewed by The Guardian about the new series of Doctor Who, commenting \"I think it's a stronger run than last year. There are more two-part stories than we've had recently, which means the whole pace of the storytelling is a bit different. They've shaken it up, which is quite exciting.\"\n\nPopular culture\nIn the 50th anniversary Doctor Who story The Day of the Doctor the character of Coal Hill School teacher Tom (played by Tristan Beint) was named after Tom Spilsbury, a tribute by his close friend and writer of the episode Steven Moffat. The recurring character of Walford Gazette journalist Sarah-Jane Spilsbury, who first appeared in the 23 April 2018 episode of EastEnders played by Shannon Murray, was named after both Tom Spilsbury and the Doctor Who character Sarah Jane Smith, as both are also journalists. The episode was written by Johnny Candon, who had previously written articles for Spilsbury in Doctor Who Magazine.\n\nAwards\nIn May 2012, Spilsbury accepted the Eagle Award for Favourite British Comicbook (Colour) for his editorship of Doctor Who Magazine. Doctor Whos executive producer Steven Moffat tweeted his joy: \"Punching the air @TomSpilsbury and team with an Eagle Award for Doctor Who Magazine! AMAZING!\" Spilsbury himself tweeted his shock: \"OH MY GOD, WE WON!!!\" \n\nIn May 2016, Spilsbury accepted the certificate from the Guinness Book of Records, on behalf of Doctor Who Magazine, of World Record for the longest-running magazine based on a TV series, which it had been since 2010.\n\nOther media\nSpilsbury assisted Nicholas Pegg on his book The Complete David Bowie, and was thanked for his contribution in the book.\nIn September 2017 Spilsbury recorded a short audio contribution to mark the official 11th YouTube anniversary of colourisation artist Stuart Humphryes.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Tom Spilsbury on Twitter\n Tom Spilsbury on YouTube\n Tom Spilsbury on Instagram\n\nBritish magazine editors\nLiving people\n1976 births",
"Karvanista is a recurring character in British science fiction series Doctor Who. The character made his first appearance during the episode \"The Halloween Apocalypse\" in the thirteenth series otherwise entitled as Flux. Karvanista is played by actor Craige Els. It was revealed how Karvanista was a companion to the Fugitive Doctor.\n\nCharacter \nKarvanista is a Lupari, a canine-like warrior race which is species-bonded to humanity which is regarded as their obligation and honour. He had a close relationship with his mother and was particularly angered when Dan Lewis mentioned her. Over the years, Karvanista earned himself the title \"Vanquisher of the Thousand Civilisations\". \n\nAt some point in the past, Karvanista was a companion of the Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin) when she was part of a Time Lord organisation known as \"The Division\" who went up against Ravagers called Swarm (Matthew Needham/Sam Spruell) and Azure (Rochenda Sandall). After the Doctor had left him, the Division erased her memories and installed an implant in Karvanista’s brain that would poison him if he would tell the Doctor more about their connected past.\n\nIn the present of the thirteenth series Karvanista’s designated human to save is Dan Lewis (John Bishop). While he fulfills this task with determination, he expresses disdain of humans, and Dan especially as well as the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) who tries to intervene, as useless and annoying.\n\nStoryline \nKarvanista is first seen in the series threatening the Doctor and Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) with acid and a number of other booby traps which they ultimately escape. Karvanista then attacks Dan Lewis, kidnapping him and taking him to his spaceship. Upon the Doctor arriving to rescue Dan, she confronts him about any information that he may have about a group called the Division. Karvanista explains his reason for kidnapping Dan: members of his race are bound to a human on Earth. He later assists in getting the Lupari to help shield Earth from the Flux.\n\nDays later when Dan infiltrates a Sontaran ship and is about to be killed, Karvanista comes to his rescue and together they destroy Sontaran ships being built all over Albert Dock. Karvanista expresses joy when Dan chooses to travel with the Doctor.\n\nSometime later, Karvanista takes control of a rogue Lupari ship that is piloted by a young woman Bel (Thaddea Graham) and is annoyed about her not being one of his species. He boards her ship with the intent on either killing or capturing her. They are both attacked by Sontarans who were set on destroying all the Lupari. Eventually a version of the Doctor shows up to help both and then takes command of the ship to ram a Sontaran base. The Doctor and Karvanista willingly allow themselves to be captured where Karvanista learns that the Sontarans destroyed the rest of his race. During a conversation with the Doctor he reveals that if he ever gives her the answers she seeks about her time in the Division, an implant in his brain will poison him, but he confirms he was her companion at one time and it deeply hurt him when she left him. Later on with the help of Bel and Vinder (Jacob Anderson) they defeat the Sontarans who had led both the Daleks and Cybermen to their demise by letting the Flux consume all the Sontaran ships. After the fight is over, Vinder and Bel decide to join him on his ship travelling in space over which Karvanista expresses disgust.\n\nDevelopment\nEls had already portrayed a work friend of Dan Lewis in a promo introducing Dan as the next companion on New Years Day 2021, but it was later announced that he would play the character of Karvanista.\n\nHuw Fullerton of RadioTimes theorised that Karvanista could have been a villain from the first look footage of the character, saying \"But there's also a new baddie on the block, as revealed in the first-look footage – a creature called Karvanista (pictured), who looks set to be joining the other alien nasties in giving Jodie Whittaker's Doctor a hard time this autumn. Furry, dog-faced and armed with a pretty snazzy sci-fi axe, Karvanista looks like he's the Whoniverse version of a Wookiee – Whobacca, if you will – though only time will tell is he's on the side of angels or devils in the new series.\"\n\nIn an interview, Els expressed interest in reprising his role as Karvinista in Big Finish audio stories, saying that he would \"absolutely\" be open to return: \"I'm living for it. I'm waiting for the phone call. \"It's a Dog's Life\", starring Karvanista and Bel and Vinder. [laughs] Bring it on!\"\n\nReception\nHarry Fletcher from Metro commented how the Lupari have \"endeared themselves to fans\". Upon first look of the character Fullerton from RadioTimes had made a comment about the potential for plushie toys based on Karvanista by saying \"one thing’s for sure – someone, somewhere, is already planning the Karvanista plushy toy. And we’re not not already clearing some space on the shelf for it.\"\n\nReferences\n\nDoctor Who companions\nTelevision characters introduced in 2021\nFictional sole survivors"
]
|
[
"Lord Voldemort",
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
]
| C_e1dce95f334b494096220fc2c296fae0_0 | Does Voldemort appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? | 1 | Does Lord Voldemort appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? | Lord Voldemort | Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance. Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died, just hours after giving birth. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who takes sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of "Muggles", his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the prejudicial circumstances under which he was brought into the world. In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so. CANNOTANSWER | Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, | Lord Voldemort (, in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.
Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord". He attempts to murder the boy, but instead kills his parents, Lily and James Potter, and leaves Harry with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. Nearly every witch or wizard dares not utter his name and refers to him instead with such monikers as "You-Know-Who", "He Who Must Not Be Named", or "the Dark Lord". Voldemort's obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of the wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of Muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.
Character development
In a 1999 interview, Rowling said Voldemort was invented as a nemesis for Harry Potter, and she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea [was that Harry] didn't know he was a wizard ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And—so—but for some mysterious reason the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since."
In the second book, Rowling establishes that Voldemort hates non-pure-blood wizards, despite being a half-blood himself. In a 2000 interview with the BBC, Rowling described Voldemort as a self-hating bully: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does." In the same year, Rowling became more precise about Voldemort. She began to link him to real-life tyrants, describing him as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering". In 2004, though, Rowling said that she did not base Voldemort on any real person. In 2006, Rowling told an interviewer that Voldemort at his core has a human fear: the fear of death. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death."
Throughout the series, Rowling establishes that Voldemort is so feared in the wizarding world that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a "taboo" spell is placed upon the name, such that Voldemort or his followers may trace anyone who utters it. By this means, his followers eventually find and capture Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the second book, Rowling reveals that I am Lord Voldemort is an anagram of the character's birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. According to the author, Voldemort's name is an invented word. The name Voldemort is derived from the French vol de mort which means "flight of death" or "theft of death".
Appearances
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who tried to kill Harry Potter because the boy was prophesied to destroy him. Voldemort murdered Harry's parents, James and Lily, but as a result of his mother's love and willingness to sacrifice herself for him, baby Harry survived when Voldemort tried to murder him with a Killing Curse. Voldemort was disembodied, and Harry was left with a mysterious, lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as a result.
In the book, Voldemort unsuccessfully tries to regain his dissolved body by stealing the titular Philosopher's Stone. To achieve his objective, Voldemort uses Professor Quirrell's aid by latching onto the back of the latter's head. However, at the climax of the book, Harry manages to prevent Voldemort from stealing the stone.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
In the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of a teenage Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, when Riddle rearranges the letters in his name to write "I am Lord Voldemort", Riddle is revealed as a magical manifestation of the boy who would later grow up to become the Dark Lord. Riddle states he has grown strong on Ginny's fears and eventually possesses her, using her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, whence a basilisk is set free and petrifies several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats the manifestation of Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Voldemort does not appear in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, either in person or as a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the harsh effects of a Dementor. Towards the end of the story, Sybill Trelawney, the Divination professor, makes a rare genuine prophecy: "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..." Though it is initially implied that the prophecy refers to Sirius Black, the book's ostensible antagonist, the servant is eventually revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, for the 12 years since Voldemort's fall, has been disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the fourth instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort reappears at the start and the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry's favour. Voldemort's goal is to teleport Harry under Dumbledore's watch as a reluctant participant to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family is buried. Harry is captured and, after Pettigrew uses Harry's blood to fulfil a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to his full power. For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils". Rowling writes that his "hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness". It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry. After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort creates a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed. Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his Death Eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, when Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands. Because of a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem, ghost-like manifestations of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via Portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Voldemort appears at the climax of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, having again plotted against Harry. In this book, Harry goes through extreme emotional stress, and according to Rowling, it was necessary to prove that Harry is emotionally vulnerable and thus human, in contrast to his nemesis Voldemort, who is emotionally invulnerable and thus inhuman: "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, there's a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. […] and Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down." In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that he has returned. Voldemort engineers a plot to free Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarks on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries regarding Harry and himself. He sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where the Order of the Phoenix meets them. All but Bellatrix are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Dumbledore. When Dumbledore gets the upper hand, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds incomprehensible, and which he detests as weakness: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister for Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge in the next book.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance.
Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who took sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of Muggles, his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the coercive circumstances under which he was brought into the world.
In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to kill Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort furthers his quest for ultimate power. He disposes of the Minister for Magic and replaces him with Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse. Establishing a totalitarian police state, he has Muggle-borns persecuted and arrested for "stealing magic" from the "pure blood" wizards. After failing to kill Harry with Draco's father Lucius Malfoy's borrowed wand (to avoid the effect of Priori Incantatem), he goes on a murderous search for the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand ever created, seeing it as the weapon he needs to overcome Harry's wand and make him truly invincible. He goes on a quest that takes him out of the country to Gregorovitch's wand shop, where he kills the old wandmaker. His journey also takes him to Nurmengard, the prison where Gellert Grindelwald is kept, and he kills Grindelwald as well. He finally locates the Elder Wand and steals it from Dumbledore's tomb.
Later, Voldemort finds out that Harry and his friends are hunting and destroying his Horcruxes when informed of their heist on the Lestranges' vault at Gringotts in search for Hufflepuff's Cup. After offering the occupants of Hogwarts mercy if they give up Harry, he assembles a large army and launches an invasion of the castle, where Harry is searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem. Voldemort orders his pet snake Nagini to execute Snape, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand, since Snape killed Dumbledore. He then calls an hour's armistice, in exchange for Harry. When Harry willingly walks into Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort strikes him down with the Elder Wand. However, the use of Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort's body proves to be a major setback: while Harry's blood runs in Voldemort's veins, Harry cannot be killed as his mother's protection lives on now in Voldemort too. Instead, Voldemort destroys the part of his own soul that resides in Harry's body. Voldemort forces Rubeus Hagrid to carry Harry's apparently lifeless body back to the castle as a trophy, sparking another battle during which Nagini, his last Horcrux, is destroyed by Neville Longbottom. The battle then moves into the Great Hall, where Voldemort fights Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Horace Slughorn simultaneously. Harry then reveals himself and explains to Voldemort that Draco became the true master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Dumbledore; Harry, in turn, won the wand's allegiance when he took Draco's wand. Refusing to believe this, Voldemort casts the Killing Curse with the Elder Wand while Harry uses a Disarming Charm with Draco's, but the Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and the spell rebounds on Voldemort who, with all of his Horcruxes destroyed, finally dies. His body is laid in a different chamber from all the others who died battling him.
Rowling stated that after his death, Voldemort is forced to exist in the stunted infant-like form that Harry sees in the King's Cross-like Limbo after his confrontation with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. Rowling also mentioned that, despite his extreme fear of death, he cannot become a ghost.
Appearances in other material
In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is revealed that Bellatrix gave birth to Voldemort's daughter Delphi in Malfoy Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts. Twenty-two years later, Delphi poses as Cedric's cousin and manipulates Harry and Ginny's second son Albus Severus Potter and his friend, Draco and Astoria Greengrass's son Scorpius Malfoy, into stealing a prototype Time Turner with which she hopes to resurrect her father. Using the Time Turner, Scorpius accidentally creates an alternative timeline where Voldemort killed Harry at the battle and now rules the wizarding world. In an attempt to achieve this future, Delphi travels to Godric's Hollow on the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents, hoping to avert the prophecy that led to her father's downfall. After receiving a message from his son, Harry, together with Ron, Hermione and Draco (who by now has become friends with Harry after they join forces to save their respective sons) transfigures himself into Voldemort so that he can distract Delphi, allowing them to overpower her. The real Voldemort kills Harry's parents as prophesied, and Delphi is sent to Azkaban.
Portrayals within films
Voldemort appears in every Harry Potter film, with the exception of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Several actors have portrayed him in his varying incarnations and ages.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort's manifestation is as a face on the back of Quirrell's head, an effect achieved by computer generated imagery. Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell in the same film, provided the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen drinking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Richard Bremmer, though his face is never seen. His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the 16-year-old Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. As in the book, Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and emaciated, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the book, his pupils are not cat-like and his eyes are blue, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). As in the book, the film version of Voldemort has snake-like slit nostrils with the flesh of his nose significantly pressed back. Ralph Fiennes' nose was not covered in makeup on the set, but was digitally removed in post-production. In this first appearance, Voldemort also has a forked tongue, but this element was removed for the subsequent films.
Fiennes stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climactic showdown scene where he is gloating over a terrified Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded: "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research." Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.
Fiennes's nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, portrayed Tom Riddle as a child in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. By the time filming arrived Christian Coulson was 29, and not considered suitable to return as the adolescent Riddle. Thomas James Longley was originally scheduled to take over the role, but last minute renegotiations saw Frank Dillane cast instead.
Characterisation
Outward appearance
After he regains his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort as having pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. As mentioned in the first chapter of the seventh book, he also has no hair or lips. Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle was handsome and tall with pale skin, jet black hair, and dark brown eyes. He could charm many people with his looks. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes and becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul. In the films, Voldemort's eyes are blue with round pupils.
Personality
Rowling described Voldemort as "the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years". She elaborated that he is a "raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering", and whose only ambition in life is to become all-powerful and immortal. He is also a sadist who hurts and murders people—especially Muggles—for his own amusement. He has no conscience, feels no remorse or empathy, and does not recognise the worth and humanity of anybody except himself.
He feels no need for human companionship or friendship, and cannot comprehend love or affection for another. He believes he is superior to everyone around him, to the point that he frequently refers to himself in the third person as "Lord Voldemort". Rowling also stated that Voldemort is "incredibly power hungry. Racist, really", and that if Voldemort were to look into the Mirror of Erised, in which one sees one's greatest desire, he would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants."
Rowling also stated that Voldemort's conception by influence of Amortentia—a love potion administered by his mother, a witch named Merope Gaunt, to the Muggle Tom Riddle—is related to his inability to understand love; it is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union—but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can't be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".
Like most archetypical villains, Voldemort's arrogance leads to his downfall. He also suffers from a pathological fear of death, which he regards as a shameful and ignominious human weakness. According to Rowling, his Boggart would be his own corpse. Rowling also said that the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry accepts mortality, and thus Harry is, in the end, stronger than his nemesis.
Magical abilities and skills
Rowling establishes Voldemort throughout the series as an extremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless dark wizard, described as the greatest and most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. He is known as one of the greatest Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens; he can read minds and shield his own from penetration. Besides Dumbledore, he is also the only wizard ever known to be able to apparate silently. Voldemort was also said to fear one wizard alone, Dumbledore.
In the final book, Voldemort flies unsupported, something that amazes those who see it. Voldemort, like his ancestral family, the Gaunts, is a Parselmouth, meaning he can converse with serpents. This skill was inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The Gaunt family speak Parseltongue among themselves. This highly unusual trait may be preserved through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family to maintain their blood's purity. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of the former's soul. After that bit of soul is destroyed, Harry loses this ability. In a flashback in the sixth novel, Voldemort boasts to Dumbledore during a job interview that he has "pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they had ever before". Dumbledore states that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is more extensive than any wizard alive and that even Dumbledore's most powerful protective spells and charms would likely be insufficient if Voldemort returned to full power. Dumbledore also said that Voldemort was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Although Voldemort remains highly accomplished and prodigious in skill, he is enormously lacking and highly inept in the most powerful magic, love. This inability to love and trust others proves to be Voldemort's greatest weakness in the series. Voldemort initially voices scepticism that his own magic might not be the most powerful, but upon returning to power, he admits to his Death Eaters that he had overlooked the ancient and powerful magic which Lily Potter invoked and that would protect Harry from harm.
On her website, Rowling wrote that Voldemort's wand is made of yew, whose sap is poisonous and which symbolises death. It forms a deliberate contrast to Harry's wand, which is made of holly, which she chose because holly is alleged to repel evil.
Rowling establishes in the books that Voldemort is magically connected to Harry via Harry's forehead scar. He disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry rebounds on him, leaving the scar on Harry's forehead. In the books, and to a lesser extent in the films, Harry's scar serves as an indicator of Voldemort's presence: it burns when the Dark Lord is near or when Voldemort is feeling murderous or exultant. According to Rowling, by attacking Harry when he was a baby Voldemort gave him "tools [that] no other wizard possessed—the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind".
Family
Notes: The names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films. The Potter Family is not shown.
Riddle family
The Riddle family, an old gentry family, consisted of Thomas and Mary Riddle and their son, Tom Riddle, Esq. They owned over half of the valley that the town of Little Hangleton lay in, and Thomas was the most prominent inhabitant of that town. They lived in a large house with fine gardens, but were unpopular amongst the local residents due to their snobbish attitudes. Tom, the only child of Thomas and Mary, was known as a playboy, his main interests being womanizing and horse-riding.
Rowling revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that young Merope Gaunt fell in love with Riddle, peering at him through the windows and bushes at every opportunity. Merope's brother Morfin disapproved of his sister's affection for Tom and hexed him as he rode by, covering him in hives. This breach of wizarding law, and the ensuing violent struggle with Ministry of Magic officials, led to Marvolo and Morfin being imprisoned in Azkaban. As surmised by Dumbledore, once Merope was alone and no longer dominated by her father, she could make her move for Tom. She offered him a drink laced with a love potion, and he became infatuated with her; they soon eloped and, within three months of the marriage, Merope became pregnant. Merope decided to stop giving Tom the love potion, having come to the belief such enchantment of a man was tantamount to slavery. She also revealed her witch status to Tom, believing either that he had fallen in love with her on his own or he would at least stay for their unborn child. She was wrong, and Tom quickly left his pregnant wife and went home to his parents, claiming to have been "hoodwinked" and tricked into marrying Merope. Tom Marvolo Riddle, their son, was born on 31 December 1926 Merope died in childbirth, leaving the baby to grow up alone in an orphanage.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is revealed that Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents, leaving himself the only surviving member of the Riddle family.
House of Gaunt
Most of the exposition of the House of Gaunts background occurs in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, through the medium of Dumbledore's Pensieve. The Gaunts were once a powerful and influential family, and are the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin. However, a vein of mental instability and violence within the family, reinforced through cousin marriages intended to preserve the pureblood line, had reduced them to poverty and squalor, as shown in the Pensieve's "memory" that Harry and Dumbledore witnessed. Like Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunts spoke Parseltongue. At the time of the story, the Gaunts' only material asset is a ramshackle shanty in Little Hangleton, that stood in a thicket in a valley opposite the Riddle House. Like the Riddles, the Gaunts were also unpopular with the local residents, with a reputation for being vulgar and intimidating.
Marvolo Gaunt was the last family patriarch. He was sentenced to a short term in Azkaban for his and his son's assault upon a Ministry of Magic official; this affected his health and he died soon after returning home. His signet ring passed to his son, Morfin Gaunt, who was convicted of assaulting a Muggle, and later died in Azkaban, convicted this time as a party to the murder of Tom Riddle Jr. and Riddle's parents.
Dumbledore discovers the real culprit while visiting Morfin in Azkaban to gather information about Voldemort. After Dumbledore successfully extracts Morfin's memory of his encounter with his nephew, he tries to use the evidence to have Morfin released, but Morfin dies before the decision can be made. The House of Gaunt ended with Morfin's death.
Merope Gaunt () was the daughter of Marvolo, and sister of Morfin. Harry's first impression of her was that she looked "like the most defeated person he had ever seen". She married Tom Riddle Jr and became pregnant within three months of the wedding. It is suggested that she tricked her husband into loving her by using a love potion, but when she became pregnant, she chose to stop administering the potion. It is implied that Merope had grown tired of living the lie and thought that her husband might have grown to love her, or that he might have stayed for the sake of their unborn child; however, he left her. Desperate, Merope wandered through the streets of London. The only thing she had left was the heavy gold locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of her family's most treasured items, which she sold for a small amount. When she was due to give birth, she stumbled into a Muggle orphanage, where she gave birth to her only son. She died within the next hour.
Gormlaith Gaunt was a 17th-century descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and like Salazar, a Parselmouth. Her wand was that which once belonged to Salazar himself. Educated at Hogwarts, Gormlaith lived in Ireland in the early 1600s. In about 1608, Gormlaith killed her estranged unnamed sister, and her sister's husband, William Sayre (a descendant of the Irish witch Morrigan), and kidnapped their five-year-old daughter, Isolt Sayre, raising her in the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee, or "Hag's Glen", because she felt that her parents' association with Muggles would badly influence Isolt. Fanatical and cruel, Gormlaith used Dark magic to isolate Isolt from others, forbade her a wand, and did not allow her to attend Hogwarts as she herself had, disgusted that it was now filled with Muggle-borns. After twelve years with Gormlaith, Isolt stole Gormlaith's wand and fled to the Colonies and settled in Massachusetts, where she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Gormlaith learned of the school, she pursued her niece in Massachusetts, where she was killed by Isolt's friend, William the Pukwudgie, with a venom-tipped arrow.
The Gaunts, including Voldemort, are distantly related to Harry because they are descendants of the Peverell brothers.
Reception
Several people have drawn a parallel between Voldemort and some politicians. Rowling has said that Voldemort was "a sort of" Adolf Hitler, and that there is some parallel with Nazism in her books. Rowling also compared Voldemort to Joseph Stalin. Alfonso Cuarón, director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban compared Voldemort to George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, who he said "...have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people." Andrew Slack and the Harry Potter Alliance compare media consolidation in the US to Voldemort's regime in Deathly Hallows and its control over the Daily Prophet and other media saying that "Once Voldemort took over every form of media in the wizarding world, Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix formed an independent media movement called 'Potterwatch'. Now the HP Alliance and Wizard Rock have come together to fight for a Potterwatch movement in the real world to fight back against Big VoldeMedia from further pushing out local and foreign news, minority representation, and the right to a Free Press." Julia Turner of Slate Magazine also noted similarities between the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the War on Terror. She said that Voldemort commits acts of terrorism such as destroying bridges, murdering innocents, and forcing children to kill their elders.
Voldemort has also been compared with other characters within fiction, for example Sauron from The Lord of the Rings; they are, during the time when the main plot takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat, and are also so feared that they are sometimes unnamed.
IGN listed Voldemort as their seventh favourite Harry Potter character, calling him "truly frightening".
In popular culture
Several campaigns have used Voldemort to compare his evil to the influence of politicians, large media and corporations. "Lord Voldemort" is a nickname sometimes used for Peter Mandelson. Voldemort is also a recurring theme among wizard rock bands. Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! is the second album from Harry and the Potters, and the character is mentioned in songs such as "The Dark Lord Lament" and "Flesh, Blood, and Bone".
Voldemort has been parodied in various venues. In The Simpsons 13th season's premiere, "Treehouse of Horror XII", Montgomery Burns appears as "Lord Montymort". A parody of Voldemort appears in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as "Lord Moldybutt", an enemy of Nigel Planter (a parody of Harry). Voldemort also appears in the Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. One of the episodes including him was the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for "Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.
"Continuing the Magic", an article in the 21 May 2007 issue of Time, includes mock book covers designed by author Lon Tweeten, laced with pop culture references. One of them, the "Dark Lord of the Dance", shows Voldemort teaming up with Harry on Broadway. In the MAD Magazine parodies of the films, the character is called Lord Druckermort, a backwards reference to the magazine's longtime caricaturist Mort Drucker. In Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969, a young Tom Marvolo Riddle (introduced as "Tom", whose middle name is a "marvel" and last name is a "conundrum") appears, and becomes the new avatar of Oliver Haddo at the story's conclusion. In A Very Potter Musical, Voldemort is played by actor Joe Walker.
In a segment celebrating British children's literature at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London, an inflatable Voldemort appeared alongside other villains, The Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil, to haunt children's dreams, before the arrival of a group of over thirty Mary Poppins who descended with their umbrellas to defeat them.
During the 2016 United States elections, Daniel Radcliffe was asked by Sky News journalist Craig Dillon if he would compare Donald Trump to Lord Voldemort; Radcliffe responded, "Trump is worse".
Voldemort appears in The Lego Batman Movie as one of the prisoners in the Phantom Zone that Joker recruits to take over Gotham City. Though Ralph Fiennes is featured in this movie as the voice of the British butler Alfred Pennyworth, he does not reprise his role as Voldemort. Instead, Voldemort is voiced by Eddie Izzard.
Outside of the Harry Potter video games, Voldemort is also a playable character in Lego Dimensions, with archive audio of Fiennes' portrayal in the films used for his voiceovers.
A 2018 Italian fan film titled Voldemort: Origins of the Heir depicts the story of Tom Riddle's rise to power.
Voldemort appears in Space Jam: A New Legacy, in the crowd for the game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
An upcoming French fan-made short-film titled The House of Gaunt - Lord Voldemort Origins explores the origin story of Voldemort and The Gaunt family.
Notes
References
External links
Lord Voldemort at Harry Potter Lexicon
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"Bellatrix Lestrange () is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. She evolved from an unnamed periphery character in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire into a major antagonist in subsequent novels. In the final instalment of the story, Rowling established her as Lord Voldemort's \"last, best lieutenant\". Bellatrix was the first female Death Eater introduced in the books, and remained the only woman explicitly identified as such until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.\n\nShe is portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter in four Harry Potter films, from Order of the Phoenix (2007) to Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011).\n\nName\n\nHer given name derives from Latin as the feminine form of the noun \"warrior\". Like many members of the Black family, Bellatrix is named after a celestial body or astronomic structure, in this case one of the brightest stars in the constellation Orion.\n\nBellatrix's name has been translated into other languages in a variety of ways. Many of the changes accentuate the evil nature of her character, such as the Dutch \"Bellatrix van Detta\".\n\nCharacter background\nBellatrix Black was born to Cygnus and Druella (Rosier) Black in 1951. \n\nBellatrix is related by blood and marriage to many characters in the novels (although in the fifth book it is specified that all pure-blood families are related to each other): she has two younger sisters, Narcissa and Andromeda, and is first cousin to Sirius. She married Rodolphus Lestrange after leaving Hogwarts \"because it was expected of her\" to marry a pure-blood. However, Rowling stated in an interview that Bellatrix truly loved Voldemort. Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, and was subsequently disowned by the Blacks, whereas Narcissa, conversely, married Lucius Malfoy, heir of a wealthy pure-blood family; thus, Bellatrix is the aunt of both Nymphadora Tonks and Draco Malfoy, respectively. \n\nAt Hogwarts, she, along with her sisters, was sorted into Slytherin. It is suggested in the novels that, as a student, Bellatrix associated with a group of students – including Rodolphus Lestrange, Severus Snape, Avery, Evan Rosier and Wilkes – who nearly all became Death Eaters. It is assumed Bellatrix was at least initially drawn to Lord Voldemort because they both believe in an ideology that favors pure-blood wizards and witches over other members of the community. This elitism, shared by the Malfoy and Lestrange clans, was instilled in Bellatrix since childhood. The Black family motto, toujours pur (French for \"always pure\"), reflects this steadfast belief in blood purity. Bellatrix, her husband, and her brother-in-law, were active Death Eaters during Voldemort's rise to power, and evaded capture and suspicion until after the Dark Lord's downfall.\n\nAppearances\n\nHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire\nIn this book, Rowling used Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve as a plot device to reveal that Bellatrix, rather than deserting her leader like many other Death Eaters, was part of the group of dark wizards – along with Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Barty Crouch Jr – that tortured well-known aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom in an attempt to gain information about Voldemort's location. For using the Unforgivable Cruciatus Curse to torture the Longbottoms until they went insane, Bellatrix and her three associates were sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. At her trial, Bellatrix proudly and defiantly proclaimed that Voldemort would rise again. Later in that book, during his rebirthing ritual, Voldemort stated that the Lestranges were amongst the most faithful members of his inner circle.\n\nHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix\nFourteen years after Voldemort's fall, Bellatrix was one of the many Death Eaters who escaped Azkaban and rejoined him. After escaping from prison, she was present at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in the climax of the book, in which a group of Death Eaters attempted to steal Sybill Trelawney's prophecy pertaining to Voldemort's downfall. Rowling let Bellatrix prove her magical prowess during the mission when she overpowered her niece Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt in one-on-one duels, killed her cousin Sirius by blasting him through the veil in the Death Chamber, and deflected one of Dumbledore's spells as she made her escape. Harry attempted to use the Cruciatus Curse on her in revenge for killing Sirius, but the curse was ineffective due to the lack of real cruelty behind it. Before she could do any more, Bellatrix was joined by her master, who ignored her warning that Dumbledore was in the building. Bellatrix was subdued by Dumbledore in the Ministry of Magic's Atrium while he duelled Voldemort. Voldemort interceded on Bellatrix's behalf, grabbing her and taking her with him as he Disapparated, though not before being glimpsed by Ministry officials.\n\nHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince\nAt the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bellatrix attempts to keep Narcissa from confiding Draco's secret mission to Snape at Spinner's End. Rowling used the conversation between Snape and Bellatrix to imply that Voldemort is still furious at Bellatrix's failure in the previous book. That conversation also suggests that Bellatrix mistrusts Snape not only because of his low birth, but also for many valid questions about his loyalty to the Dark Lord. Snape surprises Bellatrix by replying to each of her arguments and by agreeing to create an Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa to assist Draco in his mission to kill Dumbledore. Later in the book, it is mentioned by Snape that Bellatrix had been teaching Occlumency to Draco, in an effort to aid him with his mission. In the film, she and Fenrir Greyback arrive at the Burrow, the Weasleys' home, and burn it down. Ginny Weasley and Harry chase after them, with Bellatrix taunting them over her murder of Sirius.\n\nHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows\nThe first chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows implies that Voldemort is still angry with Bellatrix, as evidenced when he makes fun of the fact that her niece Tonks married werewolf Remus Lupin. However, Voldemort gives Bellatrix a chance to \"prune\" her family tree during the Death Eaters' attempt to capture Harry as the boy departs from the Dursleys' home, during which Bellatrix unsuccessfully tries to kill Tonks. In this book, Rowling reveals that Bellatrix is the guardian of Helga Hufflepuff's cup (though she is unaware that it is a Horcrux), which Voldemort has entrusted the Lestranges to keep in their Gringotts vault. Bellatrix and the Malfoys detain Harry, Ron, and Hermione at Malfoy Manor, and Hermione is tortured by Bellatrix when she suspects the trio has broken into her vault, but Dobby appears and saves the prisoners, though not before being hit by a knife thrown by Bellatrix as they disapparate to safety. Later in the book, Harry, Ron, and Hermione use a stray hair of Bellatrix's to disguise Hermione as Bellatrix using Polyjuice Potion, in order to gain access to the Lestrange's Gringotts vault. Though Voldemort apparently punishes Bellatrix and the Malfoys severely for interrupting his Elder Wand side quest only to have Potter escape and steal the cup, she nevertheless fights for her master in the Battle of Hogwarts towards the end of the novel. When the battle resumes inside the Great Hall after Harry's supposed death, Bellatrix simultaneously duels with Hermione, Ginny, and Luna Lovegood, none of whom is a match for Bellatrix, who nearly hits Ginny with a Killing Curse. An enraged Molly Weasley engages Bellatrix in a duel and fires a curse that hits Bellatrix right over the heart, killing her. Rowling revealed that, though there was speculation that Neville would kill Bellatrix, she had always intended Molly to do so because the author wanted to match Bellatrix's obsessive love with Molly's maternal love.\n\nAppearances in other media\n\nHarry Potter and the Cursed Child\nIn this play, which takes place over 19 years after The Deathly Hallows, it is revealed that Bellatrix is the mother of the story's antagonist Delphini, whom she had with Lord Voldemort during their stay at Malfoy Manor prior to the Battle of Hogwarts.\n\nProduction\n\nActress Helen McCrory was originally cast as Bellatrix in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix but dropped out due to pregnancy and was replaced with Helena Bonham Carter. Coincidentally, McCrory was later cast as Bellatrix's sister Narcissa in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, during the filming of which Bonham Carter learned that she was pregnant. McCrory was also cast as Narcissa after Naomi Watts was unavailable for the role. Elizabeth Hurley was also reportedly linked to the role of Bellatrix at one point. While filming the scene in the Department of Mysteries in Order of the Phoenix, Bonham Carter accidentally ruptured the eardrum of Matthew Lewis, the actor who portrayed Neville Longbottom, with her wand.\n\nFamily\n\nBellatrix is a member of the Black Family and is the cousin of Sirius Black. Bellatrix is the daughter of Cygnus and Druella Black and sister to Andromeda (mother of Nymphadora Tonks) and Narcissa (mother of Draco Malfoy).\n\nReception\nIGN listed Bellatrix Lestrange as their tenth top Harry Potter character, and IGN's Joe Utichi listed Bellatrix as his fourth favourite Harry Potter character, calling her the \"most pitiable\" of Voldemort's servants. In NextMovie.com's Harry Potter Mega Poll, Bellatrix was voted as the No. 1 villain in the series. Helena Bonham Carter received much praise for her portrayal of the character. Famed horror author Stephen King was a fan of the character, and claimed that reading Molly Weasley calling the character \"a bitch\" in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was \"the most shocking bitch in recent fiction\" and showed how mature the books had become.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\nHarry Potter characters\nLiterary characters introduced in 2003\nFemale film villains\nFemale literary villains\nFictional British people\nFictional witches\nFictional torturers\nFictional murderers\nFictional female assassins\nFictional prison escapees\nFictional terrorists\nFictional henchmen\nFemale characters in film\nFemale characters in literature",
"The Death Eaters are characters featured in the Harry Potter series of novels and films. They are a terrorist group of wizards and witches, led by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who seek to purify the wizarding community by eliminating wizards and witches born to non-magical parents. They attempt to create a new order within the Ministry of Magic by spreading fear through the wizarding community and murdering those who speak out against them. Their primary opposition is the Order of the Phoenix.\n\nDeath Eaters recognise one another by the Dark Mark, a sigil branded on each of their left forearms that allows Voldemort to summon any of them instantly. Their typical attire includes black hooded robes and masks. The Death Eaters as a group first appeared in the novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, although individual members of the group, such as Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, and Peter Pettigrew had appeared in earlier books in the series. The group had also been mentioned indirectly in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when followers of Voldemort were mentioned. They were mentioned the first time directly in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.\n\nSynopsis\n\nPre-Harry Potter \nThe Death Eaters first existed over 11 years before the events of the books, torturing and murdering Muggles (people without magical abilities), as well as anyone who opposed them, including wizards who support Muggles (such as the Weasley family). Around 10 years after the Death Eaters first surfaced, a Seer named Sybill Trelawney made a prophecy about a boy who would have the power to defeat Voldemort forever. The prophecy could have referred to two different boys, Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom; however, Voldemort chose Harry as said in the prophecy, that \"the Dark Lord would mark him as his equal\". As Voldemort was a half-blood, he chose his \"equal\", Harry, whose mother was a Muggle-born witch, instead of Neville, who came from a long line of pure-blooded wizards. Acting on information from James and Lily Potter's Secret-Keeper Peter Pettigrew, Voldemort attempted to complete the prophecy and kill his infant rival. Due to Harry's mother's sacrifice to save her son, Voldemort's deadly curse rebounded off Harry and disembodied Voldemort.\n\nWith Voldemort vanquished after failing to kill Harry Potter, the Death Eaters largely disbanded and vanished. The Ministry rounded many of them up and imprisoned them in the Wizarding prison Azkaban, but some eluded justice by claiming they were bewitched by the Imperius Curse (it is implied that Lucius Malfoy did so) or by turning in other Death Eaters, as Igor Karkaroff did; Harry witnesses Karkaroff's testimony against former Death Eaters in Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve during the course of the series. It appears that very few Death Eaters stood for their fallen master and proudly went to Azkaban for him (like Bellatrix Lestrange), since, in the sixth book, Snape states that if Voldemort had refused to welcome back all those who turned their backs on him when he fell, then he would have very few followers. The Lestranges are the only Death Eaters known to have willingly sacrificed their freedom for Voldemort. Voldemort takes notice of this and claims that they will be rewarded above all others for their great loyalty. Snape's position as a Death Eater is unique – during the books he convinces all (with the exception of Dumbledore) that he is working for whichever side requires it at that time. This is due to his skill at Occlumency allowing him to disguise his true motive – a love for Lily Potter – from Voldemort.\n\nRe-emergence \nEarly in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire a group of Death Eaters rallied after the Quidditch World Cup. They gathered to form a large spectacle and disturbance which spread instant chaos and fear amongst the wizarding community. Their appearance alone created hysteria, and their numbers grew while they tortured Muggles and Muggle-borns on site. It concluded when the Dark Mark was produced in the sky by Barty Crouch Jr, frightening Death Eaters and Ministry officials alike.\nVoldemort, having regained his full strength at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, summoned his followers to him by touching Peter Pettigrew's Dark Mark. Except for Severus Snape (who was staying at Hogwarts to \"maintain his cover\") and those dead, imprisoned, or afraid to return, the majority returned to his service as Voldemort began his second attempt to claim all power.\n\nVoldemort states at his rebirth, \"And here we have six missing Death Eaters...three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return...he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever...he will be killed, of course...and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service.\"\nBased on mentions and later happenings in the books, it can be deduced that the one \"too cowardly to return\" is Igor Karkaroff. The one \"who I believe has left me forever\" is Severus Snape, who returns two hours later to explain his absence and convince Voldemort that he is a spy for him. The \"most faithful servant\" is Barty Crouch Jr., who has already been in place at Hogwarts working for Voldemort. The three dead include Evan Rosier, Wilkes and Regulus Black.\n\nThe Minister for Magic (Cornelius Fudge) deluded himself into believing that Voldemort could not have come back and that it was all a lie cooked up by Dumbledore, who Fudge believed had designs on his political office. The Death Eaters use this tactical advantage throughout Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to maintain their secrecy. Because of the Ministry's refusal to remove the Dementors from Azkaban, which Dumbledore advised immediately following Voldemort's return, the Death Eaters recruited the Dementors to their cause and made similar progress with the giants; the Dementors' revolt against the Ministry of Magic also allowed the Death Eaters to bolster their ranks with the mass break-out of several imprisoned Death Eaters, including Bellatrix Lestrange.\n\nIn Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort sent a group of Death Eaters, led by Lucius Malfoy, into the Department of Mysteries, where he expected them to secure a prophecy of vital importance to him: having originally attacked Harry Potter based upon a partial recounting of it, he now wanted to hear the full version to better, or even fully, understand the connection between Harry and himself. The raid on the Department failed, however; Harry Potter and his friends delayed the Death Eaters and kept the prophecy out of their hands, finally destroying it, and were eventually aided by Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore captured all of the Death Eaters except for Bellatrix, sending Voldemort and her fleeing after a fierce duel with the former, and ending the Death Eaters' enjoyed secrecy. Lucius, who had been important both to the Death Eaters and within the Ministry, was captured and imprisoned. However, the Death Eaters regrouped, assassinating and kidnapping important wizards, killing Muggles, and in general spreading terror and chaos through the Wizarding world. Soon after Lucius' capture, his son Draco Malfoy is given the task of killing Albus Dumbledore, although this task is eventually performed by Severus Snape.\n\nTowards the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts for the first time, leading to the death of Albus Dumbledore and injuries to several of the school's defenders. A second, more deadly attack near the conclusion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows resulted in over 50 deaths, including Voldemort, who died when the Killing Curse he threw at Harry rebounded on him. Voldemort's death signalled the end of all Death Eaters.\n\nIdeology \nVoldemort's Death Eaters practise illegal and dangerous spells known as dark magic. They follow a racist ideology that places pure-blooded wizards at the top of a racial hierarchy, above all other magical or non-magical people and entities. They believe wizards are, as a genealogy book within the story phrases it, \"Nature's Nobility\"; other magical creatures and the non-magical are inferior and should be subjugated. Within the wizarding community, only those who are born to wizard parents are worthy of magical power, despite the fact that parentage does not in fact determine who possess such powers. They categorise wizards according to blood purity; \"pure bloods\" (those with only wizards as parents) out-rank \"half-bloods\" (mixed parentage) and \"mudbloods\", a derogatory name for those born to non-magical parents (Muggles). Death Eaters have also attacked pure-bloods who oppose them. Examples of this are pure-blooded members of the Order of the Phoenix such as Sirius Black, the Prewett brothers, who were murdered because of their loyalties, and the entire Weasley family. Such people are often called \"blood traitors\" by those who subscribe to Death Eater ideologies.\n\nIn reality, the idea of blood purity is a misnomer – Voldemort himself is a half-blood – and it is unlikely that all of them could be pure-bloods, as very few, if any, such people could exist given the small gene pool. In Half-Blood Prince, Rowling depicts the Gaunts as a family who are obsessed with their ancestry and driven to inbreeding to preserve its integrity. Rowling has stated on her website that there are no true pure-blood families left but that those who call themselves such simply strike Muggles, Squibs, and half-bloods from their family records. On the other hand, \"in rare circumstances\" a Muggle-born wizard can become a Death Eater. They are also not above recruiting creatures they deem inferior, as proven by werewolf Fenrir Greyback and the giant clan from continental Europe, as long as they help further the larger Death Eater agenda.\n\nThe Death Eaters seek complete power and control over the entire Wizarding world, wishing to restrict leadership to a small band of pure-bloods. The Death Eaters not only seek the restoration of pure-blood rule over the Wizarding community, but also the eventual subjugation of the Muggle community under Wizarding rule. During their control over the Ministry of Magic, they severely persecuted Muggle-born wizards, sending them to Azkaban for life or feeding them to Dementors.\n\nDeath Eaters and their crimes \n\nThe following characters are Death Eaters identified by name during the series, and the crimes they committed.\n\nNotable Death Eaters\n\nAlecto and Amycus Carrow \nAlecto and Amycus Carrow are siblings who participate in the assault on Hogwarts at the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Amycus is described as being squat and lumpy, with a lopsided leer and a wheezy giggle; Alecto is described as a \"stocky little woman\" and shares her brother's squatness and laugh. It is said that after Voldemort's first downfall, they believed that he was gone forever.\n\nIn Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Alecto and Amycus become \"teachers\" at Hogwarts, severely disciplining students who oppose Voldemort. Amycus teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts, but as Neville Longbottom puts it, it becomes just \"The Dark Arts\" in which students are forced to perform the Cruciatus Curse against students who have been assigned to detention. Alecto teaches Muggle Studies, which becomes a compulsory subject, and teaches students that Muggles are like animals. Right before the Battle of Hogwarts, Alecto waits in Ravenclaw Tower on Voldemort's orders, preparing to capture Harry, but is stunned by Luna Lovegood after touching her Dark Mark to summon Voldemort. Amycus, after seeing what happened, tries to conspire with Minerva McGonagall who helped him into the room to offer some Ravenclaw students as sacrifices to Voldemort while planning to use the lie that Ravenclaws had ambushed Alecto and forced her to press her Dark Mark. McGonagall refuses and argues with Amycus, who spits in her face. Enraged at this, Harry casts the Cruciatus Curse, with such power that Amycus passes out. Later, McGonagall places the Imperius Curse on him, then binds him with his sister and places him inside a net.\n\nRalph Ineson plays Amycus, and Suzie Toase appears as Alecto in the films, wherein they are reduced to non-speaking roles. In the second part of the final film, Snape deflects a spell from McGonagall which hits the Carrows, possibly to protect the students from their abuses and to show his allegiance to Dumbledore.\n\nBarty Crouch Jr\n\nBartemius \"Barty\" Crouch, Junior was captured with Bellatrix Lestrange and Rodolphus Lestrange, who tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom, parents of Neville Longbottom, into insanity. His father, Barty Crouch Sr., who headed the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the time, sentenced him to life imprisonment in Azkaban. However, he later rescues his son as a favour to his dying wife. When they visit him in Azkaban, Mrs. Crouch used Polyjuice Potion to switch appearances with her son, enabling him to escape while she remains in his place. When she dies, she is buried under his identity. Crouch Jr. is nursed back to health by Winky, the family's house-elf.\n\nTo prevent him from returning to Voldemort's service, Crouch Sr. controls his son with the Imperius Curse and keeps him hidden under an invisibility cloak. When Bertha Jorkins discovers the truth, the news reaches Voldemort, who rescues Crouch Jr. and puts Crouch Sr. under the Imperius Curse. Crouch Jr. then imprisons Alastor \"Mad-Eye\" Moody, a famous auror, and using Polyjuice Potion, assumes Moody's appearance and position to infiltrate Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Despite not being a real teacher, Crouch Jr. does a fair job and the class learns vast amounts from him, including valuable knowledge related to the three \"unforgivable curses\". Crouch Sr. escapes and, exhausted and delirious from the Imperius Curse, reaches Hogwarts to tell Dumbledore about Voldemort's return; but his loyal Death-Eater son murders him on the castle grounds, transfigures the body into a bone, and buries the bone in freshly turned earth in front of Hagrid's cabin.\n\nThe revived Triwizard Tournament is held at Hogwarts, and Voldemort tasks Crouch Jr. with making sure Harry wins. To do so, he puts Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire, bewitches Viktor Krum to attack Cedric Diggory in the maze, and stuns Fleur Delacour. When Harry and Cedric simultaneously touch the Triwizard Cup, which is a portkey, it transports them to the graveyard in Little Hangleton, home of the Riddle family. There, after killing Cedric, Death Eater Peter Pettigrew uses Harry's blood in a ritual that re-embodies Voldemort. The Dark Lord attempts to kill Harry, but with the help of the ghost-echoes from Voldemort's wand, Harry escapes via the Portkey.\n\nWhen Harry reappears at Hogwarts, the still-disguised Crouch Jr. hopes to succeed where his master failed; but Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall foil his plot. Under the effects of Veritaserum, he recounts his plan to them. Although he is closely guarded so he can later repeat his testimony, a Dementor acting as bodyguard to Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge attacks Crouch and sucks out his soul before anyone can stop it. Crouch lives bereft of his memories or sense of self.\n\nHe is played by David Tennant in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.\n\nAntonin Dolohov \nAntonin Dolohov has a long, pale, and twisted face, with a name that suggests he is of Slavic descent. He is confirmed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to be one of Voldemort's first Death Eaters, being present at the Hog's Head when Voldemort comes to Hogwarts to request a teaching position and hide the diadem Horcrux, c. 1956. This makes him at least sixty years old at the time of the battle in the Department of Mysteries. Dolohov is one of the five Death Eaters who murder Gideon and Fabian Prewett (Molly Weasley's brothers). He also tortures many Muggles and opponents of Voldemort during the first war. Dolohov is imprisoned in Azkaban but escapes during the mass break-out.\n\nHe participates in the battle of the Department of Mysteries, where he causes injury to Hermione, but is imprisoned again, and returns to Azkaban prison. He escapes once more some time before the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He tracks Harry, Ron, and Hermione to a Muggle cafe after they use Voldemort's name (which had recently been made taboo). He and his companion Rowle are stunned, and have their memories erased by Hermione and then are punished by Voldemort. Dolohov participates in the Battle of Hogwarts, killing Remus Lupin, whom Aberforth Dumbledore last sees fighting with him. He is also seen dueling with Dean Thomas until Parvati Patil uses the Body-bind Curse on him. Dolohov and Yaxley are later sent to look for Harry, and they mistakenly thought the boy would not give himself up. When the battle recommences, Professor Flitwick finally defeats him.\n\nHe is portrayed by Arben Bajraktaraj in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.\n\nFenrir Greyback \nFenrir Greyback is a werewolf who is involved with the Death Eaters. He works alongside Lord Voldemort because Lord Voldemort promises fairness to werewolves around the country. He does not carry the Dark Mark as he is not a Death Eater. He is known as the most savage werewolf ever to live and is greatly feared throughout the wizarding world. He positions himself close to his victims when the moon is almost full. To fulfil his agenda of creating as many werewolves as possible, Greyback has infected scores of people including the young Remus Lupin, when Lupin's father had angered Greyback. Greyback is known for targeting young children. Unlike most werewolves, Greyback thirsts for blood even in his human form. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Greyback first appears on the night of Dumbledore's death, when he attacks Harry and badly scars Bill Weasley. Although Greyback does not transmit his lycanthropy because he was in human form at the time, Bill is subsequently shown to display a preference for very rare meat.\n\nIn Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Greyback leads a Snatcher gang – Dark wizards looking for Muggle-borns and \"Undesirables\" in exchange for gold. When Harry accidentally uses Voldemort's name after it has been made taboo, Greyback is alerted and his gang attacks their camp. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are kidnapped by the Snatchers and are taken to Malfoy Manor. Bellatrix Lestrange promises Hermione to Greyback in return for his services, but the prisoners fight their way out and escape, Greyback being hit by a triple Stunning Spell. Greyback is the main werewolf within the pack that agrees to aid Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts. During the battle, Hermione, using a blasting curse, prevents Greyback from attacking injured Lavender Brown, and a crystal ball thrown by Professor Trelawney stuns him. He rejoins the battle in time for the Death Eaters' last stand, when Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom combine forces to take him down by magic.\n\nDave Legeno portrayed Greyback in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He reprised the role in both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.\n\nIgor Karkaroff \nIgor Karkaroff (Cyrillic: Игорь Каркаров) is the Headmaster at Durmstrang Institute, one of the three schools (together with Hogwarts and Beauxbatons Academy) that enter the Triwizard Tournament. As Headmaster, Karkaroff is also one of the judges. He is described as a neat, fussy-looking man with an oily voice and manner who sports a small grey goatee. While unctuously pleasant most of the time, he is capable of violent rage. He is also described as \"a man with yellowish teeth whose smile does not reach his cold stare\". Karkaroff is angered and threatens to withdraw from the tournament when Harry is selected as a fourth champion and second representative for Hogwarts. Although he is talked down and agrees to stay, he nevertheless shows evident favouritism towards the Durmstrang champion, Bulgarian Quidditch player Viktor Krum.\nSirius Black later identifies Karkaroff as a former Death Eater. Karkaroff was captured by Auror Alastor Moody and imprisoned in Azkaban. Karkaroff later told the Ministry of Magic that he had seen the error of his ways, and \"named names\", putting many people in Azkaban in exchange for his freedom. Karkaroff is thus also hated by the Death Eaters. Karkaroff's history gives him a connection with Snape, also a former Death Eater. Karkaroff interrupts a Potions lesson demanding to talk to Snape, and shows him his Dark Mark reappearing. He also apparently has an unpleasant history with Alastor Moody, and tries to avoid him unsuccessfully for the entirety of the tournament, not knowing that it is Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise. At the end of the novel, following Voldemort's return, Karkaroff goes into hiding, leaving behind his student charges at Durmstrang. In the sixth novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Remus Lupin states that Karkaroff was found dead in a shack with the Dark Mark hovering over it, an indication that he was killed by other Death Eaters. Lupin also expresses surprise that Karkaroff managed to live even a year after deserting Voldemort and that no one else has been known to avoid capture quite as long.\n\nPredrag Bjelac appeared as Karkaroff in the film adaptation of Goblet of Fire.\n\nBellatrix Lestrange \n\nBellatrix Lestrange (née Black) is the first female Death Eater introduced in the books. Aunt of Draco Malfoy and Nyphadora Tonks. She was introduced in Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix. She is the most faithful member of Voldemort's inner circle. She is described as being highly attractive yet emaciated due to her time in Azkaban. Bellatrix is portrayed as paranoid, insane, sadistic, and fanatically devoted to Voldemort, seeing service to him as the noblest duty for any true wizard or witch. Bellatrix takes an obvious pleasure in acts of torture and cruelty, as demonstrated when she kills her cousin, Sirius Black and niece Nymphadora Tonks, and tortures Hermione and Griphook at Malfoy manor. She is a witch of prodigious ability, as demonstrated by her many victories in duels against other characters, and as noted by Harry in the final book.\n\nDraco Malfoy \n Draco Malfoy is the pure blooded son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. He was a notorious bully to Harry Potter and his friends because Hermione has Muggle parents, Draco was also assigned to kill Dumbledore, but his heart told him otherwise and Snape had to do it for him. Draco, like his family, is part of Slytherin house.\n\nLucius Malfoy\nLucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, head of a wealthy pure-blood wizarding family. He lives with his wife Narcissa Malfoy (née Black) and their son Draco at the Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire. Lucius was a school governor of Hogwarts before being sacked, and has very close connections at the Ministry of Magic. To maintain his reputation and influence, he makes donations to the Ministry, to charity, and to St Mungo's Hospital. He was educated at Hogwarts, where he was a prefect in Slytherin House.\n\nHe debuts as the main antagonist in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in which just before Draco and Harry's second year at Hogwarts, Lucius plants Tom Riddle's diary in Ginny Weasley's potions cauldron while she is shopping for school supplies at Flourish & Blotts, in a plot to use her to reopen the Chamber of Secrets, which would lead to attacks on Muggle-born students.\n\nLucius knows the diary is cleverly enchanted, but is not aware that it is a horcrux containing a part of Voldemort's soul. He is careless with it and punished by Voldemort himself. Lucius intends to use the opening of the Chamber of Secrets by Ginny to discredit her father, Arthur Weasley, and Dumbledore. Lucius' plans are ultimately thwarted with the help of the Malfoys' house-elf Dobby, and Harry, but not before the Chamber is opened and Lucius uses the ensuing terror (and threats to attack their families) to influence the school's Board of Governors to discredit and dismiss Dumbledore as Headmaster.\n\nSubsequently, Harry tricks Lucius into setting Dobby free. Upon this, Lucius attempts to attack Harry with his wand but Dobby disarms him before he can do any harm. Lucius is ultimately stripped of his title as a Hogwarts school governor. Despite his sacking, he still maintains strong ties with the Ministry of Magic.\n\nLucius next appears in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire during the Quidditch World Cup, sharing prime seats in the Top Box with Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge. Later in that book, when Voldemort rises again and summons his Death Eaters, Malfoy rejoins him and asserts that he had done everything he could to help his master, who however remains unimpressed. Harry reports Malfoy's declarations to Minister Fudge, who refuses to believe him. Thus, the wealthy Malfoy continues to maintain strong ties with the Ministry.\n\nDuring the climax of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Malfoy is the leader of the Death Eaters who are sent to retrieve the prophecy from Harry in the Hall of Prophecy. Lucius tries several ways to get the prophecy from Harry without breaking it, but the boy and his friends manage to escape from the Hall. Malfoy finally meets him in the Death Chamber, where Harry is about to give it to Malfoy when the Order of the Phoenix breaks into the Ministry and begins to duel with the Death Eaters. Dumbledore himself arrives at the end of the battle and Malfoy is captured and sent to Azkaban.\n\nBy the final book, Voldemort has given Malfoy his freedom, though he looks significantly the worse for wear, having lost Voldemort's favour. Voldemort treats him with great contempt by hijacking his house for Headquarters, and is forcing his son to do dark deeds against his nature, sparking sympathy for the notorious family for the first time in the series. Voldemort borrows Lucius' wand which is accidentally destroyed by Harry Potter. Later in the book, Lucius, along with his wife and sister-in-law, accidentally allow Harry and his friends to escape from Malfoy Manor. Voldemort punishes them severely, eventually putting them under house arrest.\n\nDespite his long-standing position as a Death Eater and Voldemort's advocate of pure-blood supremacy, Lucius decides his love for his family is more important than his involvement in the war. During the Battle of Hogwarts, he pleads with Voldemort to let him onto the battlefield to locate his son. He and the rest of his family are reunited at the end of the book. Following Voldemort's death, Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco all manage to \"weasel their way out\" of being sent to Azkaban due to Narcissa's aiding Harry in the Forbidden Forest.\n\nLucius's ultimate fate after Deathly Hallows is unknown, but actor Jason Isaacs stated in an interview with Syfy Wire that he believes Lucius would not feel like a member of wizarding society again after Voldemort's fall, as society would shun him. Isaacs also states that Lucius would become a shell of his former self, lose the respect of his wife and son, protect himself with his money, and drink himself into an early death.\n\nAccording to Forbes magazine, in 2006, Lucius Malfoy was number 12 on their Forbes Fictional 15 list.\n\nIn the film series, Lucius is portrayed by Jason Isaacs as an adult. Scenes with Tony Coburn as a teenage Lucius were cut from the final movie.\n\nPeter Pettigrew \nPeter Pettigrew, (a.k.a Wormtail), is the only Death Eater known to have been in a House other than Slytherin (Gryffindor) while at Hogwarts. There, he was a close friend of Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin, although he was the least intelligent and least talented of the group. With Sirius and James' help, Pettigrew becomes an Animagus, with the ability to transform at will into a rat. After leaving Hogwarts, Pettigrew joins forces with Voldemort, and in exchange for his own life becomes Voldemort's spy within the Order of the Phoenix, of which Pettigrew is a member. When the Potters know that their son, Harry, is Voldemort's target, Sirius suggests to them to use Pettigrew as Secret-Keeper because he does not believe Voldemort would ever suspect a \"weak, talentless thing\" like Pettigrew. Pettigrew betrays the secret to Voldemort, an act that leads to James and Lily's death (and, ironically, Voldemort's near-destruction). Sirius seeks revenge on Pettigrew, but during the confrontation, Pettigrew publicly accuses Sirius of the Potters' deaths, murders twelve Muggles, and cuts off his own index finger before transforming into a rat, thereby framing Sirius for the betrayal of the Potters, as well as for his own murder and that of the bystanders. Despite having done these above treacherous acts, Pettigrew genuinely felt remorse to a certain extent for his betrayal. Pettigrew is (seemingly posthumously) awarded the Order of Merlin, and hides during the next twelve years. Wanting to keep an eye on the wizarding world, he masquerades as a rat, first as Percy Weasley's pet, and then as Ron Weasley's. In this form (named \"Scabbers\" by the family), he is missing a toe from one paw due to the finger he cut off.\n\nAlthough Pettigrew appears in the first two books in the form of Scabbers, his identity is not revealed until Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is the main antagonist. When a photograph of the Weasley family appears in the Daily Prophet newspaper, Sirius recognises Pettigrew's Animagus form and escapes from Azkaban to track him down. The two confront each other in the Shrieking Shack, where Lupin and Black compel Scabbers to resume his human form. Pettigrew confesses his treachery, claiming to have committed it only to save his own life. With Sirius and Lupin about to take their revenge, Harry begs Sirius to turn Pettigrew over to the Ministry of Magic instead, to prove Sirius' innocence. Pettigrew escapes while being led out of the Shack when Lupin transforms into a werewolf. Harry's actions result in Pettigrew owing him a life debt, and Pettigrew had in fact shown gratitude to Harry for sparing his life. This would be the reason behind Pettigrew (fruitlessly) trying to convince Voldemort to use the blood of another wizard when Voldemort wanted to use Harry's blood to restore his corporeal form in the next book.\n\nPettigrew returns to the service of Voldemort, seeking him out in the forests of Albania and helping him to return to a feeble baby's body. He abducts a Ministry of Magic employee named Bertha Jorkins, who is able to provide Voldemort with valuable information. Pettigrew (almost always referred to as \"Wormtail\" hereafter) assists Barty Crouch Jr. in overpowering Mad-Eye Moody, setting up the events in the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In the climactic confrontation in that book, Pettigrew murders Cedric Diggory on Voldemort's orders, and brews the complex potion to regenerate Voldemort, severing his hand as one of the ingredients. Upon his return to corporeal form, Voldemort replaces Pettigrew's missing hand with a silver one that possesses five intact fingers and great strength. Despite his actions, Pettigrew's fortunes remain low; in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Snape treats him as a servant, and in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows he is tasked with keeping watch over prisoners in the cellar of Malfoy Manor. While Harry and Ron are being kept there, Pettigrew checks on the prisoners and is attacked. Pettigrew begins strangling Harry with the silver hand, but when reminded by Harry that he once saved his life, Pettigrew hesitates for a moment. The silver hand turns against him and strangles him to death as punishment for his moment of pity.\n\nPettigrew is portrayed by Timothy Spall as an adult, and by Charles Hughes as a teenager in the films. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Pettigrew is not strangled to death by his own silver hand in Malfoy Manor as in the book; he is instead struck by Dobby and collapses. It is unknown whether he was simply stunned or killed. He only appears in a flashback in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.\n\nSeverus Snape \n\nSeverus Snape is characterised as a person of considerable complexity, whose coldly sarcastic and controlled exterior conceals deep emotions and anguish. In the first novel of the series, Snape is a teacher who is hostile from the start toward Harry and is built up to be the primary antagonist until the final chapters. As the series progresses, Snape's portrayal evolves from that of a malicious and partisan teacher to that of a complex, pivotal character of moral ambiguity, whose true loyalties are not revealed until the end. Snape is, as revealed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, actually a spy in Voldemort's ranks for Dumbledore.\n\nCorban Yaxley \nCorban Yaxley is the brutal-faced Death Eater who is present in the battle in which Snape killed Dumbledore. He is one of the more prominent Death Eaters, and one of Voldemort's spies in the Ministry of Magic. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Yaxley is invited to Malfoy Manor to witness the murder of Charity Burbage, and argues with Snape about the correct date of Harry's departure from the Dursleys', but John Dawlish, an Auror who is tricked by an Order member, gives him incorrect information. Yaxley announces to an impressed assemblage of Death Eaters that he has placed the Imperius Curse upon Pius Thicknesse, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He uses Thicknesse to Imperius the other major department heads and they allow Voldemort to murder Rufus Scrimgeour; thus Thicknesse becomes Minister for Magic.\n\nWhen Harry, Ron, and Hermione, disguised as ministry officials, enter the Ministry to find Slytherin's locket, it is revealed that Yaxley has become Head of Magical Law Enforcement. He also assists Dolores Umbridge in leading the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, and the two seem to have a good relationship, together humiliating the Muggle-borns. Both are immobilised by Harry, but Yaxley recovers and grabs Hermione while she is Apparating her friends to safety. Yaxley arrives with them at Grimmauld Place, allowing him to reveal their headquarters to the Death Eaters, but not to the location that the trio subsequently Apparate to.\n\nHe participates in the Battle of Hogwarts, where he duels with Professor Flitwick and is later seen among those who wait with Voldemort for Harry Potter to come to him, mistakenly believing that Harry would not come within the allotted time. When the battle resumes, he is defeated by George Weasley and Lee Jordan.\n\nPeter Mullan plays Yaxley in the film adaptation of Deathly Hallows.\n\nIn popular culture \n\nMexican heavy metal band Velvet Darkness released the song \"Death Eaters\" in 2015 as part of their debut EP Delusion. It was later rerecorded in 2018 as bonus track for their debut LP Nothing But Glory, and a music video for the song was released in 2019 with a live recording of it.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n The Harry Potter Lexicon item on Death Eaters\n How to pronounce Bellatrix's name at the official Scholastic website\n PotterCast #40: Bag of 'trix – A podcast debating Bellatrix's role in the series\n When Harry Met Osama. Terrorism comes to Hogwarts.\n\nFictional cults\nFictional henchmen\nFictional organized crime groups\nFictional terrorist organizations\nFictional outlaws\nFictional witches\nWizards in fiction\nFictional prison escapees\nFictional murderers\nFictional torturers\nHarry Potter organisations\nLists of villains\nLiterary villains"
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"Lord Voldemort",
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince",
"Does Voldemort appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,"
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| C_e1dce95f334b494096220fc2c296fae0_0 | Was there any flashbacks? | 2 | Was in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Princ any flashbacks? | Lord Voldemort | Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance. Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died, just hours after giving birth. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who takes sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of "Muggles", his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the prejudicial circumstances under which he was brought into the world. In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so. CANNOTANSWER | In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, | Lord Voldemort (, in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.
Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord". He attempts to murder the boy, but instead kills his parents, Lily and James Potter, and leaves Harry with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. Nearly every witch or wizard dares not utter his name and refers to him instead with such monikers as "You-Know-Who", "He Who Must Not Be Named", or "the Dark Lord". Voldemort's obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of the wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of Muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.
Character development
In a 1999 interview, Rowling said Voldemort was invented as a nemesis for Harry Potter, and she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea [was that Harry] didn't know he was a wizard ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And—so—but for some mysterious reason the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since."
In the second book, Rowling establishes that Voldemort hates non-pure-blood wizards, despite being a half-blood himself. In a 2000 interview with the BBC, Rowling described Voldemort as a self-hating bully: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does." In the same year, Rowling became more precise about Voldemort. She began to link him to real-life tyrants, describing him as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering". In 2004, though, Rowling said that she did not base Voldemort on any real person. In 2006, Rowling told an interviewer that Voldemort at his core has a human fear: the fear of death. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death."
Throughout the series, Rowling establishes that Voldemort is so feared in the wizarding world that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a "taboo" spell is placed upon the name, such that Voldemort or his followers may trace anyone who utters it. By this means, his followers eventually find and capture Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the second book, Rowling reveals that I am Lord Voldemort is an anagram of the character's birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. According to the author, Voldemort's name is an invented word. The name Voldemort is derived from the French vol de mort which means "flight of death" or "theft of death".
Appearances
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who tried to kill Harry Potter because the boy was prophesied to destroy him. Voldemort murdered Harry's parents, James and Lily, but as a result of his mother's love and willingness to sacrifice herself for him, baby Harry survived when Voldemort tried to murder him with a Killing Curse. Voldemort was disembodied, and Harry was left with a mysterious, lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as a result.
In the book, Voldemort unsuccessfully tries to regain his dissolved body by stealing the titular Philosopher's Stone. To achieve his objective, Voldemort uses Professor Quirrell's aid by latching onto the back of the latter's head. However, at the climax of the book, Harry manages to prevent Voldemort from stealing the stone.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
In the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of a teenage Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, when Riddle rearranges the letters in his name to write "I am Lord Voldemort", Riddle is revealed as a magical manifestation of the boy who would later grow up to become the Dark Lord. Riddle states he has grown strong on Ginny's fears and eventually possesses her, using her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, whence a basilisk is set free and petrifies several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats the manifestation of Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Voldemort does not appear in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, either in person or as a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the harsh effects of a Dementor. Towards the end of the story, Sybill Trelawney, the Divination professor, makes a rare genuine prophecy: "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..." Though it is initially implied that the prophecy refers to Sirius Black, the book's ostensible antagonist, the servant is eventually revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, for the 12 years since Voldemort's fall, has been disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the fourth instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort reappears at the start and the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry's favour. Voldemort's goal is to teleport Harry under Dumbledore's watch as a reluctant participant to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family is buried. Harry is captured and, after Pettigrew uses Harry's blood to fulfil a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to his full power. For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils". Rowling writes that his "hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness". It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry. After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort creates a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed. Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his Death Eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, when Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands. Because of a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem, ghost-like manifestations of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via Portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Voldemort appears at the climax of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, having again plotted against Harry. In this book, Harry goes through extreme emotional stress, and according to Rowling, it was necessary to prove that Harry is emotionally vulnerable and thus human, in contrast to his nemesis Voldemort, who is emotionally invulnerable and thus inhuman: "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, there's a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. […] and Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down." In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that he has returned. Voldemort engineers a plot to free Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarks on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries regarding Harry and himself. He sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where the Order of the Phoenix meets them. All but Bellatrix are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Dumbledore. When Dumbledore gets the upper hand, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds incomprehensible, and which he detests as weakness: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister for Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge in the next book.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance.
Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who took sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of Muggles, his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the coercive circumstances under which he was brought into the world.
In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to kill Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort furthers his quest for ultimate power. He disposes of the Minister for Magic and replaces him with Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse. Establishing a totalitarian police state, he has Muggle-borns persecuted and arrested for "stealing magic" from the "pure blood" wizards. After failing to kill Harry with Draco's father Lucius Malfoy's borrowed wand (to avoid the effect of Priori Incantatem), he goes on a murderous search for the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand ever created, seeing it as the weapon he needs to overcome Harry's wand and make him truly invincible. He goes on a quest that takes him out of the country to Gregorovitch's wand shop, where he kills the old wandmaker. His journey also takes him to Nurmengard, the prison where Gellert Grindelwald is kept, and he kills Grindelwald as well. He finally locates the Elder Wand and steals it from Dumbledore's tomb.
Later, Voldemort finds out that Harry and his friends are hunting and destroying his Horcruxes when informed of their heist on the Lestranges' vault at Gringotts in search for Hufflepuff's Cup. After offering the occupants of Hogwarts mercy if they give up Harry, he assembles a large army and launches an invasion of the castle, where Harry is searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem. Voldemort orders his pet snake Nagini to execute Snape, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand, since Snape killed Dumbledore. He then calls an hour's armistice, in exchange for Harry. When Harry willingly walks into Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort strikes him down with the Elder Wand. However, the use of Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort's body proves to be a major setback: while Harry's blood runs in Voldemort's veins, Harry cannot be killed as his mother's protection lives on now in Voldemort too. Instead, Voldemort destroys the part of his own soul that resides in Harry's body. Voldemort forces Rubeus Hagrid to carry Harry's apparently lifeless body back to the castle as a trophy, sparking another battle during which Nagini, his last Horcrux, is destroyed by Neville Longbottom. The battle then moves into the Great Hall, where Voldemort fights Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Horace Slughorn simultaneously. Harry then reveals himself and explains to Voldemort that Draco became the true master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Dumbledore; Harry, in turn, won the wand's allegiance when he took Draco's wand. Refusing to believe this, Voldemort casts the Killing Curse with the Elder Wand while Harry uses a Disarming Charm with Draco's, but the Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and the spell rebounds on Voldemort who, with all of his Horcruxes destroyed, finally dies. His body is laid in a different chamber from all the others who died battling him.
Rowling stated that after his death, Voldemort is forced to exist in the stunted infant-like form that Harry sees in the King's Cross-like Limbo after his confrontation with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. Rowling also mentioned that, despite his extreme fear of death, he cannot become a ghost.
Appearances in other material
In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is revealed that Bellatrix gave birth to Voldemort's daughter Delphi in Malfoy Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts. Twenty-two years later, Delphi poses as Cedric's cousin and manipulates Harry and Ginny's second son Albus Severus Potter and his friend, Draco and Astoria Greengrass's son Scorpius Malfoy, into stealing a prototype Time Turner with which she hopes to resurrect her father. Using the Time Turner, Scorpius accidentally creates an alternative timeline where Voldemort killed Harry at the battle and now rules the wizarding world. In an attempt to achieve this future, Delphi travels to Godric's Hollow on the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents, hoping to avert the prophecy that led to her father's downfall. After receiving a message from his son, Harry, together with Ron, Hermione and Draco (who by now has become friends with Harry after they join forces to save their respective sons) transfigures himself into Voldemort so that he can distract Delphi, allowing them to overpower her. The real Voldemort kills Harry's parents as prophesied, and Delphi is sent to Azkaban.
Portrayals within films
Voldemort appears in every Harry Potter film, with the exception of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Several actors have portrayed him in his varying incarnations and ages.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort's manifestation is as a face on the back of Quirrell's head, an effect achieved by computer generated imagery. Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell in the same film, provided the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen drinking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Richard Bremmer, though his face is never seen. His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the 16-year-old Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. As in the book, Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and emaciated, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the book, his pupils are not cat-like and his eyes are blue, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). As in the book, the film version of Voldemort has snake-like slit nostrils with the flesh of his nose significantly pressed back. Ralph Fiennes' nose was not covered in makeup on the set, but was digitally removed in post-production. In this first appearance, Voldemort also has a forked tongue, but this element was removed for the subsequent films.
Fiennes stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climactic showdown scene where he is gloating over a terrified Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded: "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research." Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.
Fiennes's nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, portrayed Tom Riddle as a child in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. By the time filming arrived Christian Coulson was 29, and not considered suitable to return as the adolescent Riddle. Thomas James Longley was originally scheduled to take over the role, but last minute renegotiations saw Frank Dillane cast instead.
Characterisation
Outward appearance
After he regains his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort as having pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. As mentioned in the first chapter of the seventh book, he also has no hair or lips. Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle was handsome and tall with pale skin, jet black hair, and dark brown eyes. He could charm many people with his looks. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes and becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul. In the films, Voldemort's eyes are blue with round pupils.
Personality
Rowling described Voldemort as "the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years". She elaborated that he is a "raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering", and whose only ambition in life is to become all-powerful and immortal. He is also a sadist who hurts and murders people—especially Muggles—for his own amusement. He has no conscience, feels no remorse or empathy, and does not recognise the worth and humanity of anybody except himself.
He feels no need for human companionship or friendship, and cannot comprehend love or affection for another. He believes he is superior to everyone around him, to the point that he frequently refers to himself in the third person as "Lord Voldemort". Rowling also stated that Voldemort is "incredibly power hungry. Racist, really", and that if Voldemort were to look into the Mirror of Erised, in which one sees one's greatest desire, he would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants."
Rowling also stated that Voldemort's conception by influence of Amortentia—a love potion administered by his mother, a witch named Merope Gaunt, to the Muggle Tom Riddle—is related to his inability to understand love; it is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union—but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can't be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".
Like most archetypical villains, Voldemort's arrogance leads to his downfall. He also suffers from a pathological fear of death, which he regards as a shameful and ignominious human weakness. According to Rowling, his Boggart would be his own corpse. Rowling also said that the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry accepts mortality, and thus Harry is, in the end, stronger than his nemesis.
Magical abilities and skills
Rowling establishes Voldemort throughout the series as an extremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless dark wizard, described as the greatest and most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. He is known as one of the greatest Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens; he can read minds and shield his own from penetration. Besides Dumbledore, he is also the only wizard ever known to be able to apparate silently. Voldemort was also said to fear one wizard alone, Dumbledore.
In the final book, Voldemort flies unsupported, something that amazes those who see it. Voldemort, like his ancestral family, the Gaunts, is a Parselmouth, meaning he can converse with serpents. This skill was inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The Gaunt family speak Parseltongue among themselves. This highly unusual trait may be preserved through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family to maintain their blood's purity. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of the former's soul. After that bit of soul is destroyed, Harry loses this ability. In a flashback in the sixth novel, Voldemort boasts to Dumbledore during a job interview that he has "pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they had ever before". Dumbledore states that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is more extensive than any wizard alive and that even Dumbledore's most powerful protective spells and charms would likely be insufficient if Voldemort returned to full power. Dumbledore also said that Voldemort was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Although Voldemort remains highly accomplished and prodigious in skill, he is enormously lacking and highly inept in the most powerful magic, love. This inability to love and trust others proves to be Voldemort's greatest weakness in the series. Voldemort initially voices scepticism that his own magic might not be the most powerful, but upon returning to power, he admits to his Death Eaters that he had overlooked the ancient and powerful magic which Lily Potter invoked and that would protect Harry from harm.
On her website, Rowling wrote that Voldemort's wand is made of yew, whose sap is poisonous and which symbolises death. It forms a deliberate contrast to Harry's wand, which is made of holly, which she chose because holly is alleged to repel evil.
Rowling establishes in the books that Voldemort is magically connected to Harry via Harry's forehead scar. He disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry rebounds on him, leaving the scar on Harry's forehead. In the books, and to a lesser extent in the films, Harry's scar serves as an indicator of Voldemort's presence: it burns when the Dark Lord is near or when Voldemort is feeling murderous or exultant. According to Rowling, by attacking Harry when he was a baby Voldemort gave him "tools [that] no other wizard possessed—the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind".
Family
Notes: The names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films. The Potter Family is not shown.
Riddle family
The Riddle family, an old gentry family, consisted of Thomas and Mary Riddle and their son, Tom Riddle, Esq. They owned over half of the valley that the town of Little Hangleton lay in, and Thomas was the most prominent inhabitant of that town. They lived in a large house with fine gardens, but were unpopular amongst the local residents due to their snobbish attitudes. Tom, the only child of Thomas and Mary, was known as a playboy, his main interests being womanizing and horse-riding.
Rowling revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that young Merope Gaunt fell in love with Riddle, peering at him through the windows and bushes at every opportunity. Merope's brother Morfin disapproved of his sister's affection for Tom and hexed him as he rode by, covering him in hives. This breach of wizarding law, and the ensuing violent struggle with Ministry of Magic officials, led to Marvolo and Morfin being imprisoned in Azkaban. As surmised by Dumbledore, once Merope was alone and no longer dominated by her father, she could make her move for Tom. She offered him a drink laced with a love potion, and he became infatuated with her; they soon eloped and, within three months of the marriage, Merope became pregnant. Merope decided to stop giving Tom the love potion, having come to the belief such enchantment of a man was tantamount to slavery. She also revealed her witch status to Tom, believing either that he had fallen in love with her on his own or he would at least stay for their unborn child. She was wrong, and Tom quickly left his pregnant wife and went home to his parents, claiming to have been "hoodwinked" and tricked into marrying Merope. Tom Marvolo Riddle, their son, was born on 31 December 1926 Merope died in childbirth, leaving the baby to grow up alone in an orphanage.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is revealed that Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents, leaving himself the only surviving member of the Riddle family.
House of Gaunt
Most of the exposition of the House of Gaunts background occurs in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, through the medium of Dumbledore's Pensieve. The Gaunts were once a powerful and influential family, and are the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin. However, a vein of mental instability and violence within the family, reinforced through cousin marriages intended to preserve the pureblood line, had reduced them to poverty and squalor, as shown in the Pensieve's "memory" that Harry and Dumbledore witnessed. Like Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunts spoke Parseltongue. At the time of the story, the Gaunts' only material asset is a ramshackle shanty in Little Hangleton, that stood in a thicket in a valley opposite the Riddle House. Like the Riddles, the Gaunts were also unpopular with the local residents, with a reputation for being vulgar and intimidating.
Marvolo Gaunt was the last family patriarch. He was sentenced to a short term in Azkaban for his and his son's assault upon a Ministry of Magic official; this affected his health and he died soon after returning home. His signet ring passed to his son, Morfin Gaunt, who was convicted of assaulting a Muggle, and later died in Azkaban, convicted this time as a party to the murder of Tom Riddle Jr. and Riddle's parents.
Dumbledore discovers the real culprit while visiting Morfin in Azkaban to gather information about Voldemort. After Dumbledore successfully extracts Morfin's memory of his encounter with his nephew, he tries to use the evidence to have Morfin released, but Morfin dies before the decision can be made. The House of Gaunt ended with Morfin's death.
Merope Gaunt () was the daughter of Marvolo, and sister of Morfin. Harry's first impression of her was that she looked "like the most defeated person he had ever seen". She married Tom Riddle Jr and became pregnant within three months of the wedding. It is suggested that she tricked her husband into loving her by using a love potion, but when she became pregnant, she chose to stop administering the potion. It is implied that Merope had grown tired of living the lie and thought that her husband might have grown to love her, or that he might have stayed for the sake of their unborn child; however, he left her. Desperate, Merope wandered through the streets of London. The only thing she had left was the heavy gold locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of her family's most treasured items, which she sold for a small amount. When she was due to give birth, she stumbled into a Muggle orphanage, where she gave birth to her only son. She died within the next hour.
Gormlaith Gaunt was a 17th-century descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and like Salazar, a Parselmouth. Her wand was that which once belonged to Salazar himself. Educated at Hogwarts, Gormlaith lived in Ireland in the early 1600s. In about 1608, Gormlaith killed her estranged unnamed sister, and her sister's husband, William Sayre (a descendant of the Irish witch Morrigan), and kidnapped their five-year-old daughter, Isolt Sayre, raising her in the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee, or "Hag's Glen", because she felt that her parents' association with Muggles would badly influence Isolt. Fanatical and cruel, Gormlaith used Dark magic to isolate Isolt from others, forbade her a wand, and did not allow her to attend Hogwarts as she herself had, disgusted that it was now filled with Muggle-borns. After twelve years with Gormlaith, Isolt stole Gormlaith's wand and fled to the Colonies and settled in Massachusetts, where she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Gormlaith learned of the school, she pursued her niece in Massachusetts, where she was killed by Isolt's friend, William the Pukwudgie, with a venom-tipped arrow.
The Gaunts, including Voldemort, are distantly related to Harry because they are descendants of the Peverell brothers.
Reception
Several people have drawn a parallel between Voldemort and some politicians. Rowling has said that Voldemort was "a sort of" Adolf Hitler, and that there is some parallel with Nazism in her books. Rowling also compared Voldemort to Joseph Stalin. Alfonso Cuarón, director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban compared Voldemort to George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, who he said "...have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people." Andrew Slack and the Harry Potter Alliance compare media consolidation in the US to Voldemort's regime in Deathly Hallows and its control over the Daily Prophet and other media saying that "Once Voldemort took over every form of media in the wizarding world, Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix formed an independent media movement called 'Potterwatch'. Now the HP Alliance and Wizard Rock have come together to fight for a Potterwatch movement in the real world to fight back against Big VoldeMedia from further pushing out local and foreign news, minority representation, and the right to a Free Press." Julia Turner of Slate Magazine also noted similarities between the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the War on Terror. She said that Voldemort commits acts of terrorism such as destroying bridges, murdering innocents, and forcing children to kill their elders.
Voldemort has also been compared with other characters within fiction, for example Sauron from The Lord of the Rings; they are, during the time when the main plot takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat, and are also so feared that they are sometimes unnamed.
IGN listed Voldemort as their seventh favourite Harry Potter character, calling him "truly frightening".
In popular culture
Several campaigns have used Voldemort to compare his evil to the influence of politicians, large media and corporations. "Lord Voldemort" is a nickname sometimes used for Peter Mandelson. Voldemort is also a recurring theme among wizard rock bands. Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! is the second album from Harry and the Potters, and the character is mentioned in songs such as "The Dark Lord Lament" and "Flesh, Blood, and Bone".
Voldemort has been parodied in various venues. In The Simpsons 13th season's premiere, "Treehouse of Horror XII", Montgomery Burns appears as "Lord Montymort". A parody of Voldemort appears in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as "Lord Moldybutt", an enemy of Nigel Planter (a parody of Harry). Voldemort also appears in the Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. One of the episodes including him was the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for "Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.
"Continuing the Magic", an article in the 21 May 2007 issue of Time, includes mock book covers designed by author Lon Tweeten, laced with pop culture references. One of them, the "Dark Lord of the Dance", shows Voldemort teaming up with Harry on Broadway. In the MAD Magazine parodies of the films, the character is called Lord Druckermort, a backwards reference to the magazine's longtime caricaturist Mort Drucker. In Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969, a young Tom Marvolo Riddle (introduced as "Tom", whose middle name is a "marvel" and last name is a "conundrum") appears, and becomes the new avatar of Oliver Haddo at the story's conclusion. In A Very Potter Musical, Voldemort is played by actor Joe Walker.
In a segment celebrating British children's literature at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London, an inflatable Voldemort appeared alongside other villains, The Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil, to haunt children's dreams, before the arrival of a group of over thirty Mary Poppins who descended with their umbrellas to defeat them.
During the 2016 United States elections, Daniel Radcliffe was asked by Sky News journalist Craig Dillon if he would compare Donald Trump to Lord Voldemort; Radcliffe responded, "Trump is worse".
Voldemort appears in The Lego Batman Movie as one of the prisoners in the Phantom Zone that Joker recruits to take over Gotham City. Though Ralph Fiennes is featured in this movie as the voice of the British butler Alfred Pennyworth, he does not reprise his role as Voldemort. Instead, Voldemort is voiced by Eddie Izzard.
Outside of the Harry Potter video games, Voldemort is also a playable character in Lego Dimensions, with archive audio of Fiennes' portrayal in the films used for his voiceovers.
A 2018 Italian fan film titled Voldemort: Origins of the Heir depicts the story of Tom Riddle's rise to power.
Voldemort appears in Space Jam: A New Legacy, in the crowd for the game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
An upcoming French fan-made short-film titled The House of Gaunt - Lord Voldemort Origins explores the origin story of Voldemort and The Gaunt family.
Notes
References
External links
Lord Voldemort at Harry Potter Lexicon
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Psychopathy in fiction
Film supervillains | true | [
"Flashbacks: A Personal and Cultural History of an Era is Timothy Leary's autobiography, published in 1983. It was reprinted in 1990 and 1997. The new edition has a foreword by William S. Burroughs, and a new afterword by Leary.\n\nA double cassette album which contains Leary reading selections of Flashbacks was published under the same name in 1989 by Dove Books on Tape, Inc.\n\nPublishing details\n\nFlashbacks was published by Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., Los Angeles, on May 1, 1983 (hardcover, ). It was reprinted in 1990 by Tarcher (paperback, ), and reprinted by Tarcher again in 1997 (paperback, ).\n\nReception\nThe celebrity doctor Andrew Weil described the book as having, '...solid information about the psychedelic revolution of the Sixties' while the psychiatrist Rick Strassman said he used the book, '...to avoid repeating Leary's mistakes in his own research'.\n\n“I hid from the press,\" Strassman said, \"kept religion and spirituality out of my writings while I was doing research, avoided studying undergraduates, studied no more than one student per department if I did use students as volunteers… and made certain my data were more important than anything else”.\n\nJohn Higgs suggests that Flashbacks contains, '...embellishments, point scoring and omissions'. He suggests however, that 'despite its flaws, there is still much about the book to praise'. Leary's biographer Robert Greenfield writes that much of what Leary \"reported as fact in Flashbacks is pure fantasy\".\n\nReferences\n\n1983 non-fiction books\nBooks by Timothy Leary\nEnglish-language books",
"\"Flashbacks\" is a song recorded by Romanian singer Inna for her seventh studio album, Heartbreaker (2020). It was written by Inna and Minelli alongside its producers Sebastian Barac, Marcel Botezan, David Ciente and Alexandru Cotoi. In February 2021, the song was serviced as the lead single of the album. An electropop and EDM-inspired electro dance and dance-pop track, it is driven by a piano loop and slap bass. Lyrically, the song talks about a woman struggling to let go of her love interest who is far away.\n\nTwo music critics gave positive reviews of \"Flashbacks\" upon release, with one singling it out as his favorite track on Heartbreaker. An accompanying music video was directed by Bogdan Păun and uploaded to the singer's YouTube channel on 26 February 2021. Filmed at the Palazzo Versace Dubai and at Domeniul Manasia in Romania, it portrays Inna in various settings, wearing a sparkling silver outfit. Commercially, the song experienced success, reaching the top position in Russia and Belarus, and the top ten in Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and the Commonwealth of Independent States.\n\nBackground and release\n\"Flashbacks\" was written by Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (Inna) and Minelli alongside its producers Sebastian Barac, Marcel Botezan, David Ciente and Alexandru Cotoi. It is part of Inna's seventh studio album Heartbreaker, which was recorded during a three-week period in November 2020 at a rented Bucharest mansion with two recording studios in which Inna resided with the songwriters and producers mentioned.\n\n\"Flashbacks\" was released as part of the album for streaming to YouTube and SoundCloud by Global Records on 27 November 2020, while being issued to fellow platforms and released for digital download a week later under the same label. On the later occasion, Global Records also released all of the album's songs—including \"Flashbacks\"—as promotional singles. In February 2021, several publications began referring to the track as a single, suggesting that it served as the lead single for Heartbreaker. It was eventually serviced to Italian contemporary radio on 19 March 2021 by CDF Records. Eleven remixes of the song were further made available.\n\nComposition and reception\nMusic critics described \"Flashbacks\" as an electro dance and dance-pop song with elements of electropop and EDM. Dance-Charts' Manuel Probst singled the track out as his favorite song on Heartbreaker and noticed \"atmospheric\" sounds, a piano loop and slap bass in its composition. Zangba Thomson from Bong Mines Entertainment described the song as a \"heartfelt tune\" containing \"ear-welcoming vocals\" and \"tuneful melodies\", while saying it tells an \"intriguing\" tale about an insecure and confused woman who struggles to let go of a special person in her life that she is miles apart from and shares memories with.\n\nLyrics from the song include: \"I'm on the road, empty and cold to a distant destination I don't know / Been thinking about you, we back in days of all / It's hard to admit it, I still miss you, miss you so\" and \"Flashbacks of our memories, the past is my enemy, and I'm drowning in a sad melody / Flashbacks of our memory, the past is my enemy / It keeps holding, holding on me / Come break the silence.\" Upon entering the Shazam chart in Russia, the song experienced commercial success on the radio ranking in the region, peaking at number one. It also topped the charts in Belarus, reached number two in the Commonwealth of Independent States, number three in Ukraine, number four in Romania, and number seven in Bulgaria.\n\nMusic video and promotion\nA music video for \"Flashbacks\" was uploaded to Inna's YouTube channel on 26 February 2021. It was directed by Bogdan Păun and filmed in early 2021 at the Palazzo Versace Dubai and at Domeniul Manasia in Romania. The production was handled by Loops Production, while Alexandru Mureșan acted as the director of photography. Make-up, hair and outfits were done by Anca Buldur, Adonis Enache and RDStyling, respectively. The video switches between color and sepia scenes and shows Inna wearing a sparkling silver dress and boots in different settings—lying on a couch and in a bathtub, walking inside a hotel, placing her head outside of the window of a moving car in traffic, and frustratingly screwing up her make-up in front of a mirror. For further promotion, Inna performed \"Flashbacks\" live for Radio ZU on 15 April, as well as during her Summer Live Sessions series on YouTube on 3 August 2021. For Pro TV's 2021 New Year's Eve televised event ProTevelion, Inna performed the track live along with \"De dragul tău\" (2021).\n\nTrack listing\nOfficial versions\n\"Flashbacks\" — 2:57\n\"Flashbacks (Maesic Remix)\" — 2:33\n\"Flashbacks (Robert Cristian Remix)\" — 3:13\n\"Flashbacks (DJ Tuncay Albayrak Remix)\" — 2:46\n\"Flashbacks (Nomad Digital Remix)\" — 3:31\n\"Flashbacks (SYDE x NVRMIND Remix)\" — 3:23\n\"Flashbacks (Yalçın Aşan Remix)\" — 2:58\n\"Flashbacks (Gldn, Five and Last60 Remix)\" — 2:14\n\"Flashbacks (Suark Remix)\" — 2:44\n\"Flashbacks (Danny Burg Remix)\" — 2:55\n\"Flashbacks (Asher Remix)\" — 3:32\n\"Flashbacks (DFM Remix)\" — 3:47\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nMonthly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nInna songs\nEnglish-language Romanian songs\nSongs written by Inna\n2020 songs\n2021 singles\nNumber-one singles in Russia\nSongs written by Alexandru Cotoi"
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"Lord Voldemort",
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince",
"Does Voldemort appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,",
"Was there any flashbacks?",
"In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device,"
]
| C_e1dce95f334b494096220fc2c296fae0_0 | Who was the author of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? | 3 | Who was the author of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? | Lord Voldemort | Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance. Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died, just hours after giving birth. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who takes sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of "Muggles", his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the prejudicial circumstances under which he was brought into the world. In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so. CANNOTANSWER | Rowling | Lord Voldemort (, in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.
Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord". He attempts to murder the boy, but instead kills his parents, Lily and James Potter, and leaves Harry with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. Nearly every witch or wizard dares not utter his name and refers to him instead with such monikers as "You-Know-Who", "He Who Must Not Be Named", or "the Dark Lord". Voldemort's obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of the wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of Muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.
Character development
In a 1999 interview, Rowling said Voldemort was invented as a nemesis for Harry Potter, and she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea [was that Harry] didn't know he was a wizard ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And—so—but for some mysterious reason the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since."
In the second book, Rowling establishes that Voldemort hates non-pure-blood wizards, despite being a half-blood himself. In a 2000 interview with the BBC, Rowling described Voldemort as a self-hating bully: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does." In the same year, Rowling became more precise about Voldemort. She began to link him to real-life tyrants, describing him as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering". In 2004, though, Rowling said that she did not base Voldemort on any real person. In 2006, Rowling told an interviewer that Voldemort at his core has a human fear: the fear of death. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death."
Throughout the series, Rowling establishes that Voldemort is so feared in the wizarding world that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a "taboo" spell is placed upon the name, such that Voldemort or his followers may trace anyone who utters it. By this means, his followers eventually find and capture Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the second book, Rowling reveals that I am Lord Voldemort is an anagram of the character's birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. According to the author, Voldemort's name is an invented word. The name Voldemort is derived from the French vol de mort which means "flight of death" or "theft of death".
Appearances
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who tried to kill Harry Potter because the boy was prophesied to destroy him. Voldemort murdered Harry's parents, James and Lily, but as a result of his mother's love and willingness to sacrifice herself for him, baby Harry survived when Voldemort tried to murder him with a Killing Curse. Voldemort was disembodied, and Harry was left with a mysterious, lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as a result.
In the book, Voldemort unsuccessfully tries to regain his dissolved body by stealing the titular Philosopher's Stone. To achieve his objective, Voldemort uses Professor Quirrell's aid by latching onto the back of the latter's head. However, at the climax of the book, Harry manages to prevent Voldemort from stealing the stone.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
In the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of a teenage Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, when Riddle rearranges the letters in his name to write "I am Lord Voldemort", Riddle is revealed as a magical manifestation of the boy who would later grow up to become the Dark Lord. Riddle states he has grown strong on Ginny's fears and eventually possesses her, using her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, whence a basilisk is set free and petrifies several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats the manifestation of Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Voldemort does not appear in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, either in person or as a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the harsh effects of a Dementor. Towards the end of the story, Sybill Trelawney, the Divination professor, makes a rare genuine prophecy: "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..." Though it is initially implied that the prophecy refers to Sirius Black, the book's ostensible antagonist, the servant is eventually revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, for the 12 years since Voldemort's fall, has been disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the fourth instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort reappears at the start and the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry's favour. Voldemort's goal is to teleport Harry under Dumbledore's watch as a reluctant participant to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family is buried. Harry is captured and, after Pettigrew uses Harry's blood to fulfil a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to his full power. For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils". Rowling writes that his "hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness". It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry. After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort creates a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed. Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his Death Eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, when Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands. Because of a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem, ghost-like manifestations of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via Portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Voldemort appears at the climax of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, having again plotted against Harry. In this book, Harry goes through extreme emotional stress, and according to Rowling, it was necessary to prove that Harry is emotionally vulnerable and thus human, in contrast to his nemesis Voldemort, who is emotionally invulnerable and thus inhuman: "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, there's a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. […] and Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down." In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that he has returned. Voldemort engineers a plot to free Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarks on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries regarding Harry and himself. He sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where the Order of the Phoenix meets them. All but Bellatrix are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Dumbledore. When Dumbledore gets the upper hand, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds incomprehensible, and which he detests as weakness: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister for Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge in the next book.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance.
Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who took sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of Muggles, his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the coercive circumstances under which he was brought into the world.
In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to kill Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort furthers his quest for ultimate power. He disposes of the Minister for Magic and replaces him with Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse. Establishing a totalitarian police state, he has Muggle-borns persecuted and arrested for "stealing magic" from the "pure blood" wizards. After failing to kill Harry with Draco's father Lucius Malfoy's borrowed wand (to avoid the effect of Priori Incantatem), he goes on a murderous search for the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand ever created, seeing it as the weapon he needs to overcome Harry's wand and make him truly invincible. He goes on a quest that takes him out of the country to Gregorovitch's wand shop, where he kills the old wandmaker. His journey also takes him to Nurmengard, the prison where Gellert Grindelwald is kept, and he kills Grindelwald as well. He finally locates the Elder Wand and steals it from Dumbledore's tomb.
Later, Voldemort finds out that Harry and his friends are hunting and destroying his Horcruxes when informed of their heist on the Lestranges' vault at Gringotts in search for Hufflepuff's Cup. After offering the occupants of Hogwarts mercy if they give up Harry, he assembles a large army and launches an invasion of the castle, where Harry is searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem. Voldemort orders his pet snake Nagini to execute Snape, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand, since Snape killed Dumbledore. He then calls an hour's armistice, in exchange for Harry. When Harry willingly walks into Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort strikes him down with the Elder Wand. However, the use of Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort's body proves to be a major setback: while Harry's blood runs in Voldemort's veins, Harry cannot be killed as his mother's protection lives on now in Voldemort too. Instead, Voldemort destroys the part of his own soul that resides in Harry's body. Voldemort forces Rubeus Hagrid to carry Harry's apparently lifeless body back to the castle as a trophy, sparking another battle during which Nagini, his last Horcrux, is destroyed by Neville Longbottom. The battle then moves into the Great Hall, where Voldemort fights Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Horace Slughorn simultaneously. Harry then reveals himself and explains to Voldemort that Draco became the true master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Dumbledore; Harry, in turn, won the wand's allegiance when he took Draco's wand. Refusing to believe this, Voldemort casts the Killing Curse with the Elder Wand while Harry uses a Disarming Charm with Draco's, but the Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and the spell rebounds on Voldemort who, with all of his Horcruxes destroyed, finally dies. His body is laid in a different chamber from all the others who died battling him.
Rowling stated that after his death, Voldemort is forced to exist in the stunted infant-like form that Harry sees in the King's Cross-like Limbo after his confrontation with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. Rowling also mentioned that, despite his extreme fear of death, he cannot become a ghost.
Appearances in other material
In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is revealed that Bellatrix gave birth to Voldemort's daughter Delphi in Malfoy Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts. Twenty-two years later, Delphi poses as Cedric's cousin and manipulates Harry and Ginny's second son Albus Severus Potter and his friend, Draco and Astoria Greengrass's son Scorpius Malfoy, into stealing a prototype Time Turner with which she hopes to resurrect her father. Using the Time Turner, Scorpius accidentally creates an alternative timeline where Voldemort killed Harry at the battle and now rules the wizarding world. In an attempt to achieve this future, Delphi travels to Godric's Hollow on the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents, hoping to avert the prophecy that led to her father's downfall. After receiving a message from his son, Harry, together with Ron, Hermione and Draco (who by now has become friends with Harry after they join forces to save their respective sons) transfigures himself into Voldemort so that he can distract Delphi, allowing them to overpower her. The real Voldemort kills Harry's parents as prophesied, and Delphi is sent to Azkaban.
Portrayals within films
Voldemort appears in every Harry Potter film, with the exception of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Several actors have portrayed him in his varying incarnations and ages.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort's manifestation is as a face on the back of Quirrell's head, an effect achieved by computer generated imagery. Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell in the same film, provided the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen drinking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Richard Bremmer, though his face is never seen. His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the 16-year-old Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. As in the book, Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and emaciated, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the book, his pupils are not cat-like and his eyes are blue, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). As in the book, the film version of Voldemort has snake-like slit nostrils with the flesh of his nose significantly pressed back. Ralph Fiennes' nose was not covered in makeup on the set, but was digitally removed in post-production. In this first appearance, Voldemort also has a forked tongue, but this element was removed for the subsequent films.
Fiennes stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climactic showdown scene where he is gloating over a terrified Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded: "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research." Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.
Fiennes's nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, portrayed Tom Riddle as a child in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. By the time filming arrived Christian Coulson was 29, and not considered suitable to return as the adolescent Riddle. Thomas James Longley was originally scheduled to take over the role, but last minute renegotiations saw Frank Dillane cast instead.
Characterisation
Outward appearance
After he regains his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort as having pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. As mentioned in the first chapter of the seventh book, he also has no hair or lips. Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle was handsome and tall with pale skin, jet black hair, and dark brown eyes. He could charm many people with his looks. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes and becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul. In the films, Voldemort's eyes are blue with round pupils.
Personality
Rowling described Voldemort as "the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years". She elaborated that he is a "raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering", and whose only ambition in life is to become all-powerful and immortal. He is also a sadist who hurts and murders people—especially Muggles—for his own amusement. He has no conscience, feels no remorse or empathy, and does not recognise the worth and humanity of anybody except himself.
He feels no need for human companionship or friendship, and cannot comprehend love or affection for another. He believes he is superior to everyone around him, to the point that he frequently refers to himself in the third person as "Lord Voldemort". Rowling also stated that Voldemort is "incredibly power hungry. Racist, really", and that if Voldemort were to look into the Mirror of Erised, in which one sees one's greatest desire, he would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants."
Rowling also stated that Voldemort's conception by influence of Amortentia—a love potion administered by his mother, a witch named Merope Gaunt, to the Muggle Tom Riddle—is related to his inability to understand love; it is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union—but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can't be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".
Like most archetypical villains, Voldemort's arrogance leads to his downfall. He also suffers from a pathological fear of death, which he regards as a shameful and ignominious human weakness. According to Rowling, his Boggart would be his own corpse. Rowling also said that the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry accepts mortality, and thus Harry is, in the end, stronger than his nemesis.
Magical abilities and skills
Rowling establishes Voldemort throughout the series as an extremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless dark wizard, described as the greatest and most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. He is known as one of the greatest Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens; he can read minds and shield his own from penetration. Besides Dumbledore, he is also the only wizard ever known to be able to apparate silently. Voldemort was also said to fear one wizard alone, Dumbledore.
In the final book, Voldemort flies unsupported, something that amazes those who see it. Voldemort, like his ancestral family, the Gaunts, is a Parselmouth, meaning he can converse with serpents. This skill was inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The Gaunt family speak Parseltongue among themselves. This highly unusual trait may be preserved through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family to maintain their blood's purity. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of the former's soul. After that bit of soul is destroyed, Harry loses this ability. In a flashback in the sixth novel, Voldemort boasts to Dumbledore during a job interview that he has "pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they had ever before". Dumbledore states that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is more extensive than any wizard alive and that even Dumbledore's most powerful protective spells and charms would likely be insufficient if Voldemort returned to full power. Dumbledore also said that Voldemort was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Although Voldemort remains highly accomplished and prodigious in skill, he is enormously lacking and highly inept in the most powerful magic, love. This inability to love and trust others proves to be Voldemort's greatest weakness in the series. Voldemort initially voices scepticism that his own magic might not be the most powerful, but upon returning to power, he admits to his Death Eaters that he had overlooked the ancient and powerful magic which Lily Potter invoked and that would protect Harry from harm.
On her website, Rowling wrote that Voldemort's wand is made of yew, whose sap is poisonous and which symbolises death. It forms a deliberate contrast to Harry's wand, which is made of holly, which she chose because holly is alleged to repel evil.
Rowling establishes in the books that Voldemort is magically connected to Harry via Harry's forehead scar. He disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry rebounds on him, leaving the scar on Harry's forehead. In the books, and to a lesser extent in the films, Harry's scar serves as an indicator of Voldemort's presence: it burns when the Dark Lord is near or when Voldemort is feeling murderous or exultant. According to Rowling, by attacking Harry when he was a baby Voldemort gave him "tools [that] no other wizard possessed—the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind".
Family
Notes: The names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films. The Potter Family is not shown.
Riddle family
The Riddle family, an old gentry family, consisted of Thomas and Mary Riddle and their son, Tom Riddle, Esq. They owned over half of the valley that the town of Little Hangleton lay in, and Thomas was the most prominent inhabitant of that town. They lived in a large house with fine gardens, but were unpopular amongst the local residents due to their snobbish attitudes. Tom, the only child of Thomas and Mary, was known as a playboy, his main interests being womanizing and horse-riding.
Rowling revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that young Merope Gaunt fell in love with Riddle, peering at him through the windows and bushes at every opportunity. Merope's brother Morfin disapproved of his sister's affection for Tom and hexed him as he rode by, covering him in hives. This breach of wizarding law, and the ensuing violent struggle with Ministry of Magic officials, led to Marvolo and Morfin being imprisoned in Azkaban. As surmised by Dumbledore, once Merope was alone and no longer dominated by her father, she could make her move for Tom. She offered him a drink laced with a love potion, and he became infatuated with her; they soon eloped and, within three months of the marriage, Merope became pregnant. Merope decided to stop giving Tom the love potion, having come to the belief such enchantment of a man was tantamount to slavery. She also revealed her witch status to Tom, believing either that he had fallen in love with her on his own or he would at least stay for their unborn child. She was wrong, and Tom quickly left his pregnant wife and went home to his parents, claiming to have been "hoodwinked" and tricked into marrying Merope. Tom Marvolo Riddle, their son, was born on 31 December 1926 Merope died in childbirth, leaving the baby to grow up alone in an orphanage.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is revealed that Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents, leaving himself the only surviving member of the Riddle family.
House of Gaunt
Most of the exposition of the House of Gaunts background occurs in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, through the medium of Dumbledore's Pensieve. The Gaunts were once a powerful and influential family, and are the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin. However, a vein of mental instability and violence within the family, reinforced through cousin marriages intended to preserve the pureblood line, had reduced them to poverty and squalor, as shown in the Pensieve's "memory" that Harry and Dumbledore witnessed. Like Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunts spoke Parseltongue. At the time of the story, the Gaunts' only material asset is a ramshackle shanty in Little Hangleton, that stood in a thicket in a valley opposite the Riddle House. Like the Riddles, the Gaunts were also unpopular with the local residents, with a reputation for being vulgar and intimidating.
Marvolo Gaunt was the last family patriarch. He was sentenced to a short term in Azkaban for his and his son's assault upon a Ministry of Magic official; this affected his health and he died soon after returning home. His signet ring passed to his son, Morfin Gaunt, who was convicted of assaulting a Muggle, and later died in Azkaban, convicted this time as a party to the murder of Tom Riddle Jr. and Riddle's parents.
Dumbledore discovers the real culprit while visiting Morfin in Azkaban to gather information about Voldemort. After Dumbledore successfully extracts Morfin's memory of his encounter with his nephew, he tries to use the evidence to have Morfin released, but Morfin dies before the decision can be made. The House of Gaunt ended with Morfin's death.
Merope Gaunt () was the daughter of Marvolo, and sister of Morfin. Harry's first impression of her was that she looked "like the most defeated person he had ever seen". She married Tom Riddle Jr and became pregnant within three months of the wedding. It is suggested that she tricked her husband into loving her by using a love potion, but when she became pregnant, she chose to stop administering the potion. It is implied that Merope had grown tired of living the lie and thought that her husband might have grown to love her, or that he might have stayed for the sake of their unborn child; however, he left her. Desperate, Merope wandered through the streets of London. The only thing she had left was the heavy gold locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of her family's most treasured items, which she sold for a small amount. When she was due to give birth, she stumbled into a Muggle orphanage, where she gave birth to her only son. She died within the next hour.
Gormlaith Gaunt was a 17th-century descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and like Salazar, a Parselmouth. Her wand was that which once belonged to Salazar himself. Educated at Hogwarts, Gormlaith lived in Ireland in the early 1600s. In about 1608, Gormlaith killed her estranged unnamed sister, and her sister's husband, William Sayre (a descendant of the Irish witch Morrigan), and kidnapped their five-year-old daughter, Isolt Sayre, raising her in the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee, or "Hag's Glen", because she felt that her parents' association with Muggles would badly influence Isolt. Fanatical and cruel, Gormlaith used Dark magic to isolate Isolt from others, forbade her a wand, and did not allow her to attend Hogwarts as she herself had, disgusted that it was now filled with Muggle-borns. After twelve years with Gormlaith, Isolt stole Gormlaith's wand and fled to the Colonies and settled in Massachusetts, where she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Gormlaith learned of the school, she pursued her niece in Massachusetts, where she was killed by Isolt's friend, William the Pukwudgie, with a venom-tipped arrow.
The Gaunts, including Voldemort, are distantly related to Harry because they are descendants of the Peverell brothers.
Reception
Several people have drawn a parallel between Voldemort and some politicians. Rowling has said that Voldemort was "a sort of" Adolf Hitler, and that there is some parallel with Nazism in her books. Rowling also compared Voldemort to Joseph Stalin. Alfonso Cuarón, director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban compared Voldemort to George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, who he said "...have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people." Andrew Slack and the Harry Potter Alliance compare media consolidation in the US to Voldemort's regime in Deathly Hallows and its control over the Daily Prophet and other media saying that "Once Voldemort took over every form of media in the wizarding world, Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix formed an independent media movement called 'Potterwatch'. Now the HP Alliance and Wizard Rock have come together to fight for a Potterwatch movement in the real world to fight back against Big VoldeMedia from further pushing out local and foreign news, minority representation, and the right to a Free Press." Julia Turner of Slate Magazine also noted similarities between the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the War on Terror. She said that Voldemort commits acts of terrorism such as destroying bridges, murdering innocents, and forcing children to kill their elders.
Voldemort has also been compared with other characters within fiction, for example Sauron from The Lord of the Rings; they are, during the time when the main plot takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat, and are also so feared that they are sometimes unnamed.
IGN listed Voldemort as their seventh favourite Harry Potter character, calling him "truly frightening".
In popular culture
Several campaigns have used Voldemort to compare his evil to the influence of politicians, large media and corporations. "Lord Voldemort" is a nickname sometimes used for Peter Mandelson. Voldemort is also a recurring theme among wizard rock bands. Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! is the second album from Harry and the Potters, and the character is mentioned in songs such as "The Dark Lord Lament" and "Flesh, Blood, and Bone".
Voldemort has been parodied in various venues. In The Simpsons 13th season's premiere, "Treehouse of Horror XII", Montgomery Burns appears as "Lord Montymort". A parody of Voldemort appears in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as "Lord Moldybutt", an enemy of Nigel Planter (a parody of Harry). Voldemort also appears in the Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. One of the episodes including him was the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for "Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.
"Continuing the Magic", an article in the 21 May 2007 issue of Time, includes mock book covers designed by author Lon Tweeten, laced with pop culture references. One of them, the "Dark Lord of the Dance", shows Voldemort teaming up with Harry on Broadway. In the MAD Magazine parodies of the films, the character is called Lord Druckermort, a backwards reference to the magazine's longtime caricaturist Mort Drucker. In Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969, a young Tom Marvolo Riddle (introduced as "Tom", whose middle name is a "marvel" and last name is a "conundrum") appears, and becomes the new avatar of Oliver Haddo at the story's conclusion. In A Very Potter Musical, Voldemort is played by actor Joe Walker.
In a segment celebrating British children's literature at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London, an inflatable Voldemort appeared alongside other villains, The Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil, to haunt children's dreams, before the arrival of a group of over thirty Mary Poppins who descended with their umbrellas to defeat them.
During the 2016 United States elections, Daniel Radcliffe was asked by Sky News journalist Craig Dillon if he would compare Donald Trump to Lord Voldemort; Radcliffe responded, "Trump is worse".
Voldemort appears in The Lego Batman Movie as one of the prisoners in the Phantom Zone that Joker recruits to take over Gotham City. Though Ralph Fiennes is featured in this movie as the voice of the British butler Alfred Pennyworth, he does not reprise his role as Voldemort. Instead, Voldemort is voiced by Eddie Izzard.
Outside of the Harry Potter video games, Voldemort is also a playable character in Lego Dimensions, with archive audio of Fiennes' portrayal in the films used for his voiceovers.
A 2018 Italian fan film titled Voldemort: Origins of the Heir depicts the story of Tom Riddle's rise to power.
Voldemort appears in Space Jam: A New Legacy, in the crowd for the game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
An upcoming French fan-made short-film titled The House of Gaunt - Lord Voldemort Origins explores the origin story of Voldemort and The Gaunt family.
Notes
References
External links
Lord Voldemort at Harry Potter Lexicon
Fictional characters with disfigurements
Fictional characters with immortality
Fictional characters with spirit possession or body swapping abilities
Fictional dictators
Fictional English people
Fictional hypnotists and indoctrinators
Fictional illeists
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional necromancers
Fictional offspring of rape
Fictional patricides
Fictional terrorists
Fictional torturers
Harry Potter characters
Literary characters introduced in 1997
Male film villains
Male literary villains
Orphan characters in film
Orphan characters in literature
Psychopathy in fiction
Film supervillains | true | [
"Manjul Publishing House Pvt. Ltd (also known as Manjul Publications) is a publishing house in Bhopal, India. It is well known for the translation of the \"Harry Potter\" novels into Hindi. It was established in 1999.\n\nMajor published books \nHarry Potter Series\n हैरी पॉटर और पारस पत्थर Harry Potter aur Paaras Pathar (2002, November)(eng) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone\n हैरी पॉटर और रहस्यमयी तहख़ाना Harry Potter aur Rahasyamayi Tehkhana (2005, July)(eng) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets\n हैरी पॉटर और अज़्काबान का क़ैदी Harry Potter aur Azkaabaan ka Qaidi (2006, February)(eng) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban\n हैरी पॉटर और आग का प्याला Harry Potter aur Aag ka Pyaala (2006, July)(eng) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire\n हैरी पॉटर और मयापंछी का समूह Harry Potter aur Mayapanchhi ka Samooh (July, 2007)(eng) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix\n हैरी पॉटर और हाफ़ ब्लड प्रिंस Harry Potter aur Half-Blood Prince (September, 2007)(eng) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince\n हैरी पॉटर और मौत के तोहफ़े Harry Potter aur Maut Ke Tohfe (June 2008)(eng) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows\nOther notable novels:\n Dictionary of Philosophy\n The Wisdom of Gandhi\n The Odyssey of Enlightenment\n Worldwide Laws of Life\n\nManjul Publishings recently also translated Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Gujarati, a regional language of India. It was named as Harry Potter aur Parasmani. Manjul Publishings also translated Harry Potter novels in Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam.\n\nHarry Potter books in Hindi \nIn India, most children, especially those that live in cities and large towns, are quite familiar with Harry Potter and most of them buy the English Bloomsbury; but not all children can read international style English, and some knew the character only through movies dubbed into Hindi. They want to read the books in Hindi. To reach these children, Manjul Publications published Harry Potter books in simple Hindi. The magic spells are translated into Sanskrit for effect, echoing the fact that in the English edition, spells are rendered in Latin.\n According to Sudhir Dixit, who translated the books:\n\nThe book covers of the Hindi series are identical to the covers of the American Scholastic edition, as stipulated by the rights owners.\n\nSee also \nHarry Potter in translation\n\nReferences\n\n na\n\nHarry Potter in translation\nOrganisations based in Bhopal\nBook publishing companies of India\nPublishing companies established in 1999\n1999 establishments in Madhya Pradesh\nCompanies based in Madhya Pradesh",
"Nicolas Aithadi (born April 23, 1972, in Saint-Denis, France) is a French visual effects supervisor working in London, Vancouver and Los Angeles.\n\nCareer\nAithadi began his career from low-budget films to blockbusters such as Troy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and four Harry Potter films. For Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award and an Oscar.\n\nHe was nominated at the 87th Academy Awards for his work on the film Guardians of the Galaxy as the Marvel Visual Effects Supervisor. This was in the category of Best Visual Effects. His nomination was shared with Stephane Ceretti, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould. With them he was also nominated at the 68th British Academy Film Awards\n\nAwards and nominations\n 2010: BAFTA Award: Best Visual Effects - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Nominated \n 2011: BAFTA Award: Best Visual Effects - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 - Nominated \n 2010: Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 - Nominated \n 2014: BAFTA Award: Best Visual Effects - Guardians of the Galaxy - Nominated \n 2014: Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects - Guardians of the Galaxy- Nominated\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n www.instagram.com/casqu8\n\nLiving people\n1972 births\nSpecial effects people"
]
|
[
"Lord Voldemort",
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince",
"Does Voldemort appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,",
"Was there any flashbacks?",
"In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device,",
"Who was the author of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Rowling"
]
| C_e1dce95f334b494096220fc2c296fae0_0 | Did Voldemort have to assault anyone? | 4 | Did Lord Voldemort have to assault anyone in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? | Lord Voldemort | Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance. Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died, just hours after giving birth. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who takes sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of "Muggles", his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the prejudicial circumstances under which he was brought into the world. In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so. CANNOTANSWER | He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, | Lord Voldemort (, in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.
Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord". He attempts to murder the boy, but instead kills his parents, Lily and James Potter, and leaves Harry with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. Nearly every witch or wizard dares not utter his name and refers to him instead with such monikers as "You-Know-Who", "He Who Must Not Be Named", or "the Dark Lord". Voldemort's obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of the wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of Muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.
Character development
In a 1999 interview, Rowling said Voldemort was invented as a nemesis for Harry Potter, and she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea [was that Harry] didn't know he was a wizard ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And—so—but for some mysterious reason the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since."
In the second book, Rowling establishes that Voldemort hates non-pure-blood wizards, despite being a half-blood himself. In a 2000 interview with the BBC, Rowling described Voldemort as a self-hating bully: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does." In the same year, Rowling became more precise about Voldemort. She began to link him to real-life tyrants, describing him as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering". In 2004, though, Rowling said that she did not base Voldemort on any real person. In 2006, Rowling told an interviewer that Voldemort at his core has a human fear: the fear of death. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death."
Throughout the series, Rowling establishes that Voldemort is so feared in the wizarding world that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a "taboo" spell is placed upon the name, such that Voldemort or his followers may trace anyone who utters it. By this means, his followers eventually find and capture Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the second book, Rowling reveals that I am Lord Voldemort is an anagram of the character's birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. According to the author, Voldemort's name is an invented word. The name Voldemort is derived from the French vol de mort which means "flight of death" or "theft of death".
Appearances
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who tried to kill Harry Potter because the boy was prophesied to destroy him. Voldemort murdered Harry's parents, James and Lily, but as a result of his mother's love and willingness to sacrifice herself for him, baby Harry survived when Voldemort tried to murder him with a Killing Curse. Voldemort was disembodied, and Harry was left with a mysterious, lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as a result.
In the book, Voldemort unsuccessfully tries to regain his dissolved body by stealing the titular Philosopher's Stone. To achieve his objective, Voldemort uses Professor Quirrell's aid by latching onto the back of the latter's head. However, at the climax of the book, Harry manages to prevent Voldemort from stealing the stone.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
In the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of a teenage Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, when Riddle rearranges the letters in his name to write "I am Lord Voldemort", Riddle is revealed as a magical manifestation of the boy who would later grow up to become the Dark Lord. Riddle states he has grown strong on Ginny's fears and eventually possesses her, using her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, whence a basilisk is set free and petrifies several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats the manifestation of Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Voldemort does not appear in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, either in person or as a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the harsh effects of a Dementor. Towards the end of the story, Sybill Trelawney, the Divination professor, makes a rare genuine prophecy: "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..." Though it is initially implied that the prophecy refers to Sirius Black, the book's ostensible antagonist, the servant is eventually revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, for the 12 years since Voldemort's fall, has been disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the fourth instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort reappears at the start and the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry's favour. Voldemort's goal is to teleport Harry under Dumbledore's watch as a reluctant participant to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family is buried. Harry is captured and, after Pettigrew uses Harry's blood to fulfil a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to his full power. For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils". Rowling writes that his "hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness". It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry. After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort creates a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed. Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his Death Eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, when Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands. Because of a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem, ghost-like manifestations of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via Portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Voldemort appears at the climax of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, having again plotted against Harry. In this book, Harry goes through extreme emotional stress, and according to Rowling, it was necessary to prove that Harry is emotionally vulnerable and thus human, in contrast to his nemesis Voldemort, who is emotionally invulnerable and thus inhuman: "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, there's a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. […] and Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down." In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that he has returned. Voldemort engineers a plot to free Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarks on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries regarding Harry and himself. He sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where the Order of the Phoenix meets them. All but Bellatrix are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Dumbledore. When Dumbledore gets the upper hand, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds incomprehensible, and which he detests as weakness: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister for Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge in the next book.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance.
Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who took sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of Muggles, his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the coercive circumstances under which he was brought into the world.
In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to kill Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort furthers his quest for ultimate power. He disposes of the Minister for Magic and replaces him with Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse. Establishing a totalitarian police state, he has Muggle-borns persecuted and arrested for "stealing magic" from the "pure blood" wizards. After failing to kill Harry with Draco's father Lucius Malfoy's borrowed wand (to avoid the effect of Priori Incantatem), he goes on a murderous search for the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand ever created, seeing it as the weapon he needs to overcome Harry's wand and make him truly invincible. He goes on a quest that takes him out of the country to Gregorovitch's wand shop, where he kills the old wandmaker. His journey also takes him to Nurmengard, the prison where Gellert Grindelwald is kept, and he kills Grindelwald as well. He finally locates the Elder Wand and steals it from Dumbledore's tomb.
Later, Voldemort finds out that Harry and his friends are hunting and destroying his Horcruxes when informed of their heist on the Lestranges' vault at Gringotts in search for Hufflepuff's Cup. After offering the occupants of Hogwarts mercy if they give up Harry, he assembles a large army and launches an invasion of the castle, where Harry is searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem. Voldemort orders his pet snake Nagini to execute Snape, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand, since Snape killed Dumbledore. He then calls an hour's armistice, in exchange for Harry. When Harry willingly walks into Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort strikes him down with the Elder Wand. However, the use of Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort's body proves to be a major setback: while Harry's blood runs in Voldemort's veins, Harry cannot be killed as his mother's protection lives on now in Voldemort too. Instead, Voldemort destroys the part of his own soul that resides in Harry's body. Voldemort forces Rubeus Hagrid to carry Harry's apparently lifeless body back to the castle as a trophy, sparking another battle during which Nagini, his last Horcrux, is destroyed by Neville Longbottom. The battle then moves into the Great Hall, where Voldemort fights Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Horace Slughorn simultaneously. Harry then reveals himself and explains to Voldemort that Draco became the true master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Dumbledore; Harry, in turn, won the wand's allegiance when he took Draco's wand. Refusing to believe this, Voldemort casts the Killing Curse with the Elder Wand while Harry uses a Disarming Charm with Draco's, but the Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and the spell rebounds on Voldemort who, with all of his Horcruxes destroyed, finally dies. His body is laid in a different chamber from all the others who died battling him.
Rowling stated that after his death, Voldemort is forced to exist in the stunted infant-like form that Harry sees in the King's Cross-like Limbo after his confrontation with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. Rowling also mentioned that, despite his extreme fear of death, he cannot become a ghost.
Appearances in other material
In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is revealed that Bellatrix gave birth to Voldemort's daughter Delphi in Malfoy Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts. Twenty-two years later, Delphi poses as Cedric's cousin and manipulates Harry and Ginny's second son Albus Severus Potter and his friend, Draco and Astoria Greengrass's son Scorpius Malfoy, into stealing a prototype Time Turner with which she hopes to resurrect her father. Using the Time Turner, Scorpius accidentally creates an alternative timeline where Voldemort killed Harry at the battle and now rules the wizarding world. In an attempt to achieve this future, Delphi travels to Godric's Hollow on the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents, hoping to avert the prophecy that led to her father's downfall. After receiving a message from his son, Harry, together with Ron, Hermione and Draco (who by now has become friends with Harry after they join forces to save their respective sons) transfigures himself into Voldemort so that he can distract Delphi, allowing them to overpower her. The real Voldemort kills Harry's parents as prophesied, and Delphi is sent to Azkaban.
Portrayals within films
Voldemort appears in every Harry Potter film, with the exception of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Several actors have portrayed him in his varying incarnations and ages.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort's manifestation is as a face on the back of Quirrell's head, an effect achieved by computer generated imagery. Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell in the same film, provided the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen drinking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Richard Bremmer, though his face is never seen. His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the 16-year-old Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. As in the book, Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and emaciated, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the book, his pupils are not cat-like and his eyes are blue, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). As in the book, the film version of Voldemort has snake-like slit nostrils with the flesh of his nose significantly pressed back. Ralph Fiennes' nose was not covered in makeup on the set, but was digitally removed in post-production. In this first appearance, Voldemort also has a forked tongue, but this element was removed for the subsequent films.
Fiennes stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climactic showdown scene where he is gloating over a terrified Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded: "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research." Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.
Fiennes's nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, portrayed Tom Riddle as a child in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. By the time filming arrived Christian Coulson was 29, and not considered suitable to return as the adolescent Riddle. Thomas James Longley was originally scheduled to take over the role, but last minute renegotiations saw Frank Dillane cast instead.
Characterisation
Outward appearance
After he regains his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort as having pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. As mentioned in the first chapter of the seventh book, he also has no hair or lips. Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle was handsome and tall with pale skin, jet black hair, and dark brown eyes. He could charm many people with his looks. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes and becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul. In the films, Voldemort's eyes are blue with round pupils.
Personality
Rowling described Voldemort as "the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years". She elaborated that he is a "raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering", and whose only ambition in life is to become all-powerful and immortal. He is also a sadist who hurts and murders people—especially Muggles—for his own amusement. He has no conscience, feels no remorse or empathy, and does not recognise the worth and humanity of anybody except himself.
He feels no need for human companionship or friendship, and cannot comprehend love or affection for another. He believes he is superior to everyone around him, to the point that he frequently refers to himself in the third person as "Lord Voldemort". Rowling also stated that Voldemort is "incredibly power hungry. Racist, really", and that if Voldemort were to look into the Mirror of Erised, in which one sees one's greatest desire, he would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants."
Rowling also stated that Voldemort's conception by influence of Amortentia—a love potion administered by his mother, a witch named Merope Gaunt, to the Muggle Tom Riddle—is related to his inability to understand love; it is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union—but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can't be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".
Like most archetypical villains, Voldemort's arrogance leads to his downfall. He also suffers from a pathological fear of death, which he regards as a shameful and ignominious human weakness. According to Rowling, his Boggart would be his own corpse. Rowling also said that the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry accepts mortality, and thus Harry is, in the end, stronger than his nemesis.
Magical abilities and skills
Rowling establishes Voldemort throughout the series as an extremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless dark wizard, described as the greatest and most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. He is known as one of the greatest Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens; he can read minds and shield his own from penetration. Besides Dumbledore, he is also the only wizard ever known to be able to apparate silently. Voldemort was also said to fear one wizard alone, Dumbledore.
In the final book, Voldemort flies unsupported, something that amazes those who see it. Voldemort, like his ancestral family, the Gaunts, is a Parselmouth, meaning he can converse with serpents. This skill was inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The Gaunt family speak Parseltongue among themselves. This highly unusual trait may be preserved through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family to maintain their blood's purity. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of the former's soul. After that bit of soul is destroyed, Harry loses this ability. In a flashback in the sixth novel, Voldemort boasts to Dumbledore during a job interview that he has "pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they had ever before". Dumbledore states that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is more extensive than any wizard alive and that even Dumbledore's most powerful protective spells and charms would likely be insufficient if Voldemort returned to full power. Dumbledore also said that Voldemort was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Although Voldemort remains highly accomplished and prodigious in skill, he is enormously lacking and highly inept in the most powerful magic, love. This inability to love and trust others proves to be Voldemort's greatest weakness in the series. Voldemort initially voices scepticism that his own magic might not be the most powerful, but upon returning to power, he admits to his Death Eaters that he had overlooked the ancient and powerful magic which Lily Potter invoked and that would protect Harry from harm.
On her website, Rowling wrote that Voldemort's wand is made of yew, whose sap is poisonous and which symbolises death. It forms a deliberate contrast to Harry's wand, which is made of holly, which she chose because holly is alleged to repel evil.
Rowling establishes in the books that Voldemort is magically connected to Harry via Harry's forehead scar. He disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry rebounds on him, leaving the scar on Harry's forehead. In the books, and to a lesser extent in the films, Harry's scar serves as an indicator of Voldemort's presence: it burns when the Dark Lord is near or when Voldemort is feeling murderous or exultant. According to Rowling, by attacking Harry when he was a baby Voldemort gave him "tools [that] no other wizard possessed—the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind".
Family
Notes: The names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films. The Potter Family is not shown.
Riddle family
The Riddle family, an old gentry family, consisted of Thomas and Mary Riddle and their son, Tom Riddle, Esq. They owned over half of the valley that the town of Little Hangleton lay in, and Thomas was the most prominent inhabitant of that town. They lived in a large house with fine gardens, but were unpopular amongst the local residents due to their snobbish attitudes. Tom, the only child of Thomas and Mary, was known as a playboy, his main interests being womanizing and horse-riding.
Rowling revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that young Merope Gaunt fell in love with Riddle, peering at him through the windows and bushes at every opportunity. Merope's brother Morfin disapproved of his sister's affection for Tom and hexed him as he rode by, covering him in hives. This breach of wizarding law, and the ensuing violent struggle with Ministry of Magic officials, led to Marvolo and Morfin being imprisoned in Azkaban. As surmised by Dumbledore, once Merope was alone and no longer dominated by her father, she could make her move for Tom. She offered him a drink laced with a love potion, and he became infatuated with her; they soon eloped and, within three months of the marriage, Merope became pregnant. Merope decided to stop giving Tom the love potion, having come to the belief such enchantment of a man was tantamount to slavery. She also revealed her witch status to Tom, believing either that he had fallen in love with her on his own or he would at least stay for their unborn child. She was wrong, and Tom quickly left his pregnant wife and went home to his parents, claiming to have been "hoodwinked" and tricked into marrying Merope. Tom Marvolo Riddle, their son, was born on 31 December 1926 Merope died in childbirth, leaving the baby to grow up alone in an orphanage.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is revealed that Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents, leaving himself the only surviving member of the Riddle family.
House of Gaunt
Most of the exposition of the House of Gaunts background occurs in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, through the medium of Dumbledore's Pensieve. The Gaunts were once a powerful and influential family, and are the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin. However, a vein of mental instability and violence within the family, reinforced through cousin marriages intended to preserve the pureblood line, had reduced them to poverty and squalor, as shown in the Pensieve's "memory" that Harry and Dumbledore witnessed. Like Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunts spoke Parseltongue. At the time of the story, the Gaunts' only material asset is a ramshackle shanty in Little Hangleton, that stood in a thicket in a valley opposite the Riddle House. Like the Riddles, the Gaunts were also unpopular with the local residents, with a reputation for being vulgar and intimidating.
Marvolo Gaunt was the last family patriarch. He was sentenced to a short term in Azkaban for his and his son's assault upon a Ministry of Magic official; this affected his health and he died soon after returning home. His signet ring passed to his son, Morfin Gaunt, who was convicted of assaulting a Muggle, and later died in Azkaban, convicted this time as a party to the murder of Tom Riddle Jr. and Riddle's parents.
Dumbledore discovers the real culprit while visiting Morfin in Azkaban to gather information about Voldemort. After Dumbledore successfully extracts Morfin's memory of his encounter with his nephew, he tries to use the evidence to have Morfin released, but Morfin dies before the decision can be made. The House of Gaunt ended with Morfin's death.
Merope Gaunt () was the daughter of Marvolo, and sister of Morfin. Harry's first impression of her was that she looked "like the most defeated person he had ever seen". She married Tom Riddle Jr and became pregnant within three months of the wedding. It is suggested that she tricked her husband into loving her by using a love potion, but when she became pregnant, she chose to stop administering the potion. It is implied that Merope had grown tired of living the lie and thought that her husband might have grown to love her, or that he might have stayed for the sake of their unborn child; however, he left her. Desperate, Merope wandered through the streets of London. The only thing she had left was the heavy gold locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of her family's most treasured items, which she sold for a small amount. When she was due to give birth, she stumbled into a Muggle orphanage, where she gave birth to her only son. She died within the next hour.
Gormlaith Gaunt was a 17th-century descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and like Salazar, a Parselmouth. Her wand was that which once belonged to Salazar himself. Educated at Hogwarts, Gormlaith lived in Ireland in the early 1600s. In about 1608, Gormlaith killed her estranged unnamed sister, and her sister's husband, William Sayre (a descendant of the Irish witch Morrigan), and kidnapped their five-year-old daughter, Isolt Sayre, raising her in the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee, or "Hag's Glen", because she felt that her parents' association with Muggles would badly influence Isolt. Fanatical and cruel, Gormlaith used Dark magic to isolate Isolt from others, forbade her a wand, and did not allow her to attend Hogwarts as she herself had, disgusted that it was now filled with Muggle-borns. After twelve years with Gormlaith, Isolt stole Gormlaith's wand and fled to the Colonies and settled in Massachusetts, where she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Gormlaith learned of the school, she pursued her niece in Massachusetts, where she was killed by Isolt's friend, William the Pukwudgie, with a venom-tipped arrow.
The Gaunts, including Voldemort, are distantly related to Harry because they are descendants of the Peverell brothers.
Reception
Several people have drawn a parallel between Voldemort and some politicians. Rowling has said that Voldemort was "a sort of" Adolf Hitler, and that there is some parallel with Nazism in her books. Rowling also compared Voldemort to Joseph Stalin. Alfonso Cuarón, director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban compared Voldemort to George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, who he said "...have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people." Andrew Slack and the Harry Potter Alliance compare media consolidation in the US to Voldemort's regime in Deathly Hallows and its control over the Daily Prophet and other media saying that "Once Voldemort took over every form of media in the wizarding world, Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix formed an independent media movement called 'Potterwatch'. Now the HP Alliance and Wizard Rock have come together to fight for a Potterwatch movement in the real world to fight back against Big VoldeMedia from further pushing out local and foreign news, minority representation, and the right to a Free Press." Julia Turner of Slate Magazine also noted similarities between the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the War on Terror. She said that Voldemort commits acts of terrorism such as destroying bridges, murdering innocents, and forcing children to kill their elders.
Voldemort has also been compared with other characters within fiction, for example Sauron from The Lord of the Rings; they are, during the time when the main plot takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat, and are also so feared that they are sometimes unnamed.
IGN listed Voldemort as their seventh favourite Harry Potter character, calling him "truly frightening".
In popular culture
Several campaigns have used Voldemort to compare his evil to the influence of politicians, large media and corporations. "Lord Voldemort" is a nickname sometimes used for Peter Mandelson. Voldemort is also a recurring theme among wizard rock bands. Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! is the second album from Harry and the Potters, and the character is mentioned in songs such as "The Dark Lord Lament" and "Flesh, Blood, and Bone".
Voldemort has been parodied in various venues. In The Simpsons 13th season's premiere, "Treehouse of Horror XII", Montgomery Burns appears as "Lord Montymort". A parody of Voldemort appears in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as "Lord Moldybutt", an enemy of Nigel Planter (a parody of Harry). Voldemort also appears in the Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. One of the episodes including him was the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for "Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.
"Continuing the Magic", an article in the 21 May 2007 issue of Time, includes mock book covers designed by author Lon Tweeten, laced with pop culture references. One of them, the "Dark Lord of the Dance", shows Voldemort teaming up with Harry on Broadway. In the MAD Magazine parodies of the films, the character is called Lord Druckermort, a backwards reference to the magazine's longtime caricaturist Mort Drucker. In Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969, a young Tom Marvolo Riddle (introduced as "Tom", whose middle name is a "marvel" and last name is a "conundrum") appears, and becomes the new avatar of Oliver Haddo at the story's conclusion. In A Very Potter Musical, Voldemort is played by actor Joe Walker.
In a segment celebrating British children's literature at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London, an inflatable Voldemort appeared alongside other villains, The Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil, to haunt children's dreams, before the arrival of a group of over thirty Mary Poppins who descended with their umbrellas to defeat them.
During the 2016 United States elections, Daniel Radcliffe was asked by Sky News journalist Craig Dillon if he would compare Donald Trump to Lord Voldemort; Radcliffe responded, "Trump is worse".
Voldemort appears in The Lego Batman Movie as one of the prisoners in the Phantom Zone that Joker recruits to take over Gotham City. Though Ralph Fiennes is featured in this movie as the voice of the British butler Alfred Pennyworth, he does not reprise his role as Voldemort. Instead, Voldemort is voiced by Eddie Izzard.
Outside of the Harry Potter video games, Voldemort is also a playable character in Lego Dimensions, with archive audio of Fiennes' portrayal in the films used for his voiceovers.
A 2018 Italian fan film titled Voldemort: Origins of the Heir depicts the story of Tom Riddle's rise to power.
Voldemort appears in Space Jam: A New Legacy, in the crowd for the game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
An upcoming French fan-made short-film titled The House of Gaunt - Lord Voldemort Origins explores the origin story of Voldemort and The Gaunt family.
Notes
References
External links
Lord Voldemort at Harry Potter Lexicon
Fictional characters with disfigurements
Fictional characters with immortality
Fictional characters with spirit possession or body swapping abilities
Fictional dictators
Fictional English people
Fictional hypnotists and indoctrinators
Fictional illeists
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional necromancers
Fictional offspring of rape
Fictional patricides
Fictional terrorists
Fictional torturers
Harry Potter characters
Literary characters introduced in 1997
Male film villains
Male literary villains
Orphan characters in film
Orphan characters in literature
Psychopathy in fiction
Film supervillains | true | [
"Voldemort is a distributed data store that was designed as a key-value store used by LinkedIn for highly-scalable storage. It is named after the fictional Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort.\n\nOverview\nVoldemort does not try to satisfy arbitrary relations and the ACID properties, but rather is a big, distributed, persistent hash table.\nA 2012 study comparing systems for storing application performance management data reported that Voldemort, Apache Cassandra, and HBase all offered linear scalability in most cases, with Voldemort having the lowest latency and Cassandra having the highest throughput.\n\nIn the parlance of Eric Brewer's CAP theorem, Voldemort is an AP type system.\n\nVoldemort's creator and primary corporate contributor, LinkedIn, has migrated all of their systems off of Voldemort as of approximately August 2018, with no replacement sponsor .\n\nProperties\nVoldemort uses in-memory caching to eliminate a separate caching tier. It has a storage layer that is possible to emulate. Voldemort reads and writes scale horizontally. The API decides data replication and placement and accommodates a wide range of application-specific strategies.\n\nThe Voldemort distributed data store supports pluggable placement strategies for distribution across data centers. Data is automatically replicated across servers. Data is partitioned meaning a single server contains only a portion of the total data. Each data node is independent to avoid central point of failure. Pluggable serialization allows rich keys and values including lists and tuples with named fields, as well as the integration with common serialisation frameworks such as Avro, Java Serialization, Protocol Buffers, and Thrift. Server failures are handled transparently. Data items are versioned, which maximizes data integrity.\n\nSee also\n\n Distributed data store\n NoSQL\n Riak\n Redis\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Project Voldemort - A distributed database\n Project Voldemort Real Time Discussions\n\nDistributed data stores\nLinkedIn software\nNoSQL\nMicrosoft free software\nSoftware using the Apache license\n2009 software",
"The Death Eaters are characters featured in the Harry Potter series of novels and films. They are a terrorist group of wizards and witches, led by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who seek to purify the wizarding community by eliminating wizards and witches born to non-magical parents. They attempt to create a new order within the Ministry of Magic by spreading fear through the wizarding community and murdering those who speak out against them. Their primary opposition is the Order of the Phoenix.\n\nDeath Eaters recognise one another by the Dark Mark, a sigil branded on each of their left forearms that allows Voldemort to summon any of them instantly. Their typical attire includes black hooded robes and masks. The Death Eaters as a group first appeared in the novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, although individual members of the group, such as Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, and Peter Pettigrew had appeared in earlier books in the series. The group had also been mentioned indirectly in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when followers of Voldemort were mentioned. They were mentioned the first time directly in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.\n\nSynopsis\n\nPre-Harry Potter \nThe Death Eaters first existed over 11 years before the events of the books, torturing and murdering Muggles (people without magical abilities), as well as anyone who opposed them, including wizards who support Muggles (such as the Weasley family). Around 10 years after the Death Eaters first surfaced, a Seer named Sybill Trelawney made a prophecy about a boy who would have the power to defeat Voldemort forever. The prophecy could have referred to two different boys, Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom; however, Voldemort chose Harry as said in the prophecy, that \"the Dark Lord would mark him as his equal\". As Voldemort was a half-blood, he chose his \"equal\", Harry, whose mother was a Muggle-born witch, instead of Neville, who came from a long line of pure-blooded wizards. Acting on information from James and Lily Potter's Secret-Keeper Peter Pettigrew, Voldemort attempted to complete the prophecy and kill his infant rival. Due to Harry's mother's sacrifice to save her son, Voldemort's deadly curse rebounded off Harry and disembodied Voldemort.\n\nWith Voldemort vanquished after failing to kill Harry Potter, the Death Eaters largely disbanded and vanished. The Ministry rounded many of them up and imprisoned them in the Wizarding prison Azkaban, but some eluded justice by claiming they were bewitched by the Imperius Curse (it is implied that Lucius Malfoy did so) or by turning in other Death Eaters, as Igor Karkaroff did; Harry witnesses Karkaroff's testimony against former Death Eaters in Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve during the course of the series. It appears that very few Death Eaters stood for their fallen master and proudly went to Azkaban for him (like Bellatrix Lestrange), since, in the sixth book, Snape states that if Voldemort had refused to welcome back all those who turned their backs on him when he fell, then he would have very few followers. The Lestranges are the only Death Eaters known to have willingly sacrificed their freedom for Voldemort. Voldemort takes notice of this and claims that they will be rewarded above all others for their great loyalty. Snape's position as a Death Eater is unique – during the books he convinces all (with the exception of Dumbledore) that he is working for whichever side requires it at that time. This is due to his skill at Occlumency allowing him to disguise his true motive – a love for Lily Potter – from Voldemort.\n\nRe-emergence \nEarly in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire a group of Death Eaters rallied after the Quidditch World Cup. They gathered to form a large spectacle and disturbance which spread instant chaos and fear amongst the wizarding community. Their appearance alone created hysteria, and their numbers grew while they tortured Muggles and Muggle-borns on site. It concluded when the Dark Mark was produced in the sky by Barty Crouch Jr, frightening Death Eaters and Ministry officials alike.\nVoldemort, having regained his full strength at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, summoned his followers to him by touching Peter Pettigrew's Dark Mark. Except for Severus Snape (who was staying at Hogwarts to \"maintain his cover\") and those dead, imprisoned, or afraid to return, the majority returned to his service as Voldemort began his second attempt to claim all power.\n\nVoldemort states at his rebirth, \"And here we have six missing Death Eaters...three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return...he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever...he will be killed, of course...and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service.\"\nBased on mentions and later happenings in the books, it can be deduced that the one \"too cowardly to return\" is Igor Karkaroff. The one \"who I believe has left me forever\" is Severus Snape, who returns two hours later to explain his absence and convince Voldemort that he is a spy for him. The \"most faithful servant\" is Barty Crouch Jr., who has already been in place at Hogwarts working for Voldemort. The three dead include Evan Rosier, Wilkes and Regulus Black.\n\nThe Minister for Magic (Cornelius Fudge) deluded himself into believing that Voldemort could not have come back and that it was all a lie cooked up by Dumbledore, who Fudge believed had designs on his political office. The Death Eaters use this tactical advantage throughout Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to maintain their secrecy. Because of the Ministry's refusal to remove the Dementors from Azkaban, which Dumbledore advised immediately following Voldemort's return, the Death Eaters recruited the Dementors to their cause and made similar progress with the giants; the Dementors' revolt against the Ministry of Magic also allowed the Death Eaters to bolster their ranks with the mass break-out of several imprisoned Death Eaters, including Bellatrix Lestrange.\n\nIn Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort sent a group of Death Eaters, led by Lucius Malfoy, into the Department of Mysteries, where he expected them to secure a prophecy of vital importance to him: having originally attacked Harry Potter based upon a partial recounting of it, he now wanted to hear the full version to better, or even fully, understand the connection between Harry and himself. The raid on the Department failed, however; Harry Potter and his friends delayed the Death Eaters and kept the prophecy out of their hands, finally destroying it, and were eventually aided by Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore captured all of the Death Eaters except for Bellatrix, sending Voldemort and her fleeing after a fierce duel with the former, and ending the Death Eaters' enjoyed secrecy. Lucius, who had been important both to the Death Eaters and within the Ministry, was captured and imprisoned. However, the Death Eaters regrouped, assassinating and kidnapping important wizards, killing Muggles, and in general spreading terror and chaos through the Wizarding world. Soon after Lucius' capture, his son Draco Malfoy is given the task of killing Albus Dumbledore, although this task is eventually performed by Severus Snape.\n\nTowards the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts for the first time, leading to the death of Albus Dumbledore and injuries to several of the school's defenders. A second, more deadly attack near the conclusion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows resulted in over 50 deaths, including Voldemort, who died when the Killing Curse he threw at Harry rebounded on him. Voldemort's death signalled the end of all Death Eaters.\n\nIdeology \nVoldemort's Death Eaters practise illegal and dangerous spells known as dark magic. They follow a racist ideology that places pure-blooded wizards at the top of a racial hierarchy, above all other magical or non-magical people and entities. They believe wizards are, as a genealogy book within the story phrases it, \"Nature's Nobility\"; other magical creatures and the non-magical are inferior and should be subjugated. Within the wizarding community, only those who are born to wizard parents are worthy of magical power, despite the fact that parentage does not in fact determine who possess such powers. They categorise wizards according to blood purity; \"pure bloods\" (those with only wizards as parents) out-rank \"half-bloods\" (mixed parentage) and \"mudbloods\", a derogatory name for those born to non-magical parents (Muggles). Death Eaters have also attacked pure-bloods who oppose them. Examples of this are pure-blooded members of the Order of the Phoenix such as Sirius Black, the Prewett brothers, who were murdered because of their loyalties, and the entire Weasley family. Such people are often called \"blood traitors\" by those who subscribe to Death Eater ideologies.\n\nIn reality, the idea of blood purity is a misnomer – Voldemort himself is a half-blood – and it is unlikely that all of them could be pure-bloods, as very few, if any, such people could exist given the small gene pool. In Half-Blood Prince, Rowling depicts the Gaunts as a family who are obsessed with their ancestry and driven to inbreeding to preserve its integrity. Rowling has stated on her website that there are no true pure-blood families left but that those who call themselves such simply strike Muggles, Squibs, and half-bloods from their family records. On the other hand, \"in rare circumstances\" a Muggle-born wizard can become a Death Eater. They are also not above recruiting creatures they deem inferior, as proven by werewolf Fenrir Greyback and the giant clan from continental Europe, as long as they help further the larger Death Eater agenda.\n\nThe Death Eaters seek complete power and control over the entire Wizarding world, wishing to restrict leadership to a small band of pure-bloods. The Death Eaters not only seek the restoration of pure-blood rule over the Wizarding community, but also the eventual subjugation of the Muggle community under Wizarding rule. During their control over the Ministry of Magic, they severely persecuted Muggle-born wizards, sending them to Azkaban for life or feeding them to Dementors.\n\nDeath Eaters and their crimes \n\nThe following characters are Death Eaters identified by name during the series, and the crimes they committed.\n\nNotable Death Eaters\n\nAlecto and Amycus Carrow \nAlecto and Amycus Carrow are siblings who participate in the assault on Hogwarts at the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Amycus is described as being squat and lumpy, with a lopsided leer and a wheezy giggle; Alecto is described as a \"stocky little woman\" and shares her brother's squatness and laugh. It is said that after Voldemort's first downfall, they believed that he was gone forever.\n\nIn Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Alecto and Amycus become \"teachers\" at Hogwarts, severely disciplining students who oppose Voldemort. Amycus teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts, but as Neville Longbottom puts it, it becomes just \"The Dark Arts\" in which students are forced to perform the Cruciatus Curse against students who have been assigned to detention. Alecto teaches Muggle Studies, which becomes a compulsory subject, and teaches students that Muggles are like animals. Right before the Battle of Hogwarts, Alecto waits in Ravenclaw Tower on Voldemort's orders, preparing to capture Harry, but is stunned by Luna Lovegood after touching her Dark Mark to summon Voldemort. Amycus, after seeing what happened, tries to conspire with Minerva McGonagall who helped him into the room to offer some Ravenclaw students as sacrifices to Voldemort while planning to use the lie that Ravenclaws had ambushed Alecto and forced her to press her Dark Mark. McGonagall refuses and argues with Amycus, who spits in her face. Enraged at this, Harry casts the Cruciatus Curse, with such power that Amycus passes out. Later, McGonagall places the Imperius Curse on him, then binds him with his sister and places him inside a net.\n\nRalph Ineson plays Amycus, and Suzie Toase appears as Alecto in the films, wherein they are reduced to non-speaking roles. In the second part of the final film, Snape deflects a spell from McGonagall which hits the Carrows, possibly to protect the students from their abuses and to show his allegiance to Dumbledore.\n\nBarty Crouch Jr\n\nBartemius \"Barty\" Crouch, Junior was captured with Bellatrix Lestrange and Rodolphus Lestrange, who tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom, parents of Neville Longbottom, into insanity. His father, Barty Crouch Sr., who headed the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the time, sentenced him to life imprisonment in Azkaban. However, he later rescues his son as a favour to his dying wife. When they visit him in Azkaban, Mrs. Crouch used Polyjuice Potion to switch appearances with her son, enabling him to escape while she remains in his place. When she dies, she is buried under his identity. Crouch Jr. is nursed back to health by Winky, the family's house-elf.\n\nTo prevent him from returning to Voldemort's service, Crouch Sr. controls his son with the Imperius Curse and keeps him hidden under an invisibility cloak. When Bertha Jorkins discovers the truth, the news reaches Voldemort, who rescues Crouch Jr. and puts Crouch Sr. under the Imperius Curse. Crouch Jr. then imprisons Alastor \"Mad-Eye\" Moody, a famous auror, and using Polyjuice Potion, assumes Moody's appearance and position to infiltrate Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Despite not being a real teacher, Crouch Jr. does a fair job and the class learns vast amounts from him, including valuable knowledge related to the three \"unforgivable curses\". Crouch Sr. escapes and, exhausted and delirious from the Imperius Curse, reaches Hogwarts to tell Dumbledore about Voldemort's return; but his loyal Death-Eater son murders him on the castle grounds, transfigures the body into a bone, and buries the bone in freshly turned earth in front of Hagrid's cabin.\n\nThe revived Triwizard Tournament is held at Hogwarts, and Voldemort tasks Crouch Jr. with making sure Harry wins. To do so, he puts Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire, bewitches Viktor Krum to attack Cedric Diggory in the maze, and stuns Fleur Delacour. When Harry and Cedric simultaneously touch the Triwizard Cup, which is a portkey, it transports them to the graveyard in Little Hangleton, home of the Riddle family. There, after killing Cedric, Death Eater Peter Pettigrew uses Harry's blood in a ritual that re-embodies Voldemort. The Dark Lord attempts to kill Harry, but with the help of the ghost-echoes from Voldemort's wand, Harry escapes via the Portkey.\n\nWhen Harry reappears at Hogwarts, the still-disguised Crouch Jr. hopes to succeed where his master failed; but Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall foil his plot. Under the effects of Veritaserum, he recounts his plan to them. Although he is closely guarded so he can later repeat his testimony, a Dementor acting as bodyguard to Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge attacks Crouch and sucks out his soul before anyone can stop it. Crouch lives bereft of his memories or sense of self.\n\nHe is played by David Tennant in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.\n\nAntonin Dolohov \nAntonin Dolohov has a long, pale, and twisted face, with a name that suggests he is of Slavic descent. He is confirmed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to be one of Voldemort's first Death Eaters, being present at the Hog's Head when Voldemort comes to Hogwarts to request a teaching position and hide the diadem Horcrux, c. 1956. This makes him at least sixty years old at the time of the battle in the Department of Mysteries. Dolohov is one of the five Death Eaters who murder Gideon and Fabian Prewett (Molly Weasley's brothers). He also tortures many Muggles and opponents of Voldemort during the first war. Dolohov is imprisoned in Azkaban but escapes during the mass break-out.\n\nHe participates in the battle of the Department of Mysteries, where he causes injury to Hermione, but is imprisoned again, and returns to Azkaban prison. He escapes once more some time before the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He tracks Harry, Ron, and Hermione to a Muggle cafe after they use Voldemort's name (which had recently been made taboo). He and his companion Rowle are stunned, and have their memories erased by Hermione and then are punished by Voldemort. Dolohov participates in the Battle of Hogwarts, killing Remus Lupin, whom Aberforth Dumbledore last sees fighting with him. He is also seen dueling with Dean Thomas until Parvati Patil uses the Body-bind Curse on him. Dolohov and Yaxley are later sent to look for Harry, and they mistakenly thought the boy would not give himself up. When the battle recommences, Professor Flitwick finally defeats him.\n\nHe is portrayed by Arben Bajraktaraj in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.\n\nFenrir Greyback \nFenrir Greyback is a werewolf who is involved with the Death Eaters. He works alongside Lord Voldemort because Lord Voldemort promises fairness to werewolves around the country. He does not carry the Dark Mark as he is not a Death Eater. He is known as the most savage werewolf ever to live and is greatly feared throughout the wizarding world. He positions himself close to his victims when the moon is almost full. To fulfil his agenda of creating as many werewolves as possible, Greyback has infected scores of people including the young Remus Lupin, when Lupin's father had angered Greyback. Greyback is known for targeting young children. Unlike most werewolves, Greyback thirsts for blood even in his human form. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Greyback first appears on the night of Dumbledore's death, when he attacks Harry and badly scars Bill Weasley. Although Greyback does not transmit his lycanthropy because he was in human form at the time, Bill is subsequently shown to display a preference for very rare meat.\n\nIn Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Greyback leads a Snatcher gang – Dark wizards looking for Muggle-borns and \"Undesirables\" in exchange for gold. When Harry accidentally uses Voldemort's name after it has been made taboo, Greyback is alerted and his gang attacks their camp. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are kidnapped by the Snatchers and are taken to Malfoy Manor. Bellatrix Lestrange promises Hermione to Greyback in return for his services, but the prisoners fight their way out and escape, Greyback being hit by a triple Stunning Spell. Greyback is the main werewolf within the pack that agrees to aid Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts. During the battle, Hermione, using a blasting curse, prevents Greyback from attacking injured Lavender Brown, and a crystal ball thrown by Professor Trelawney stuns him. He rejoins the battle in time for the Death Eaters' last stand, when Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom combine forces to take him down by magic.\n\nDave Legeno portrayed Greyback in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He reprised the role in both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.\n\nIgor Karkaroff \nIgor Karkaroff (Cyrillic: Игорь Каркаров) is the Headmaster at Durmstrang Institute, one of the three schools (together with Hogwarts and Beauxbatons Academy) that enter the Triwizard Tournament. As Headmaster, Karkaroff is also one of the judges. He is described as a neat, fussy-looking man with an oily voice and manner who sports a small grey goatee. While unctuously pleasant most of the time, he is capable of violent rage. He is also described as \"a man with yellowish teeth whose smile does not reach his cold stare\". Karkaroff is angered and threatens to withdraw from the tournament when Harry is selected as a fourth champion and second representative for Hogwarts. Although he is talked down and agrees to stay, he nevertheless shows evident favouritism towards the Durmstrang champion, Bulgarian Quidditch player Viktor Krum.\nSirius Black later identifies Karkaroff as a former Death Eater. Karkaroff was captured by Auror Alastor Moody and imprisoned in Azkaban. Karkaroff later told the Ministry of Magic that he had seen the error of his ways, and \"named names\", putting many people in Azkaban in exchange for his freedom. Karkaroff is thus also hated by the Death Eaters. Karkaroff's history gives him a connection with Snape, also a former Death Eater. Karkaroff interrupts a Potions lesson demanding to talk to Snape, and shows him his Dark Mark reappearing. He also apparently has an unpleasant history with Alastor Moody, and tries to avoid him unsuccessfully for the entirety of the tournament, not knowing that it is Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise. At the end of the novel, following Voldemort's return, Karkaroff goes into hiding, leaving behind his student charges at Durmstrang. In the sixth novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Remus Lupin states that Karkaroff was found dead in a shack with the Dark Mark hovering over it, an indication that he was killed by other Death Eaters. Lupin also expresses surprise that Karkaroff managed to live even a year after deserting Voldemort and that no one else has been known to avoid capture quite as long.\n\nPredrag Bjelac appeared as Karkaroff in the film adaptation of Goblet of Fire.\n\nBellatrix Lestrange \n\nBellatrix Lestrange (née Black) is the first female Death Eater introduced in the books. Aunt of Draco Malfoy and Nyphadora Tonks. She was introduced in Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix. She is the most faithful member of Voldemort's inner circle. She is described as being highly attractive yet emaciated due to her time in Azkaban. Bellatrix is portrayed as paranoid, insane, sadistic, and fanatically devoted to Voldemort, seeing service to him as the noblest duty for any true wizard or witch. Bellatrix takes an obvious pleasure in acts of torture and cruelty, as demonstrated when she kills her cousin, Sirius Black and niece Nymphadora Tonks, and tortures Hermione and Griphook at Malfoy manor. She is a witch of prodigious ability, as demonstrated by her many victories in duels against other characters, and as noted by Harry in the final book.\n\nDraco Malfoy \n Draco Malfoy is the pure blooded son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. He was a notorious bully to Harry Potter and his friends because Hermione has Muggle parents, Draco was also assigned to kill Dumbledore, but his heart told him otherwise and Snape had to do it for him. Draco, like his family, is part of Slytherin house.\n\nLucius Malfoy\nLucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, head of a wealthy pure-blood wizarding family. He lives with his wife Narcissa Malfoy (née Black) and their son Draco at the Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire. Lucius was a school governor of Hogwarts before being sacked, and has very close connections at the Ministry of Magic. To maintain his reputation and influence, he makes donations to the Ministry, to charity, and to St Mungo's Hospital. He was educated at Hogwarts, where he was a prefect in Slytherin House.\n\nHe debuts as the main antagonist in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in which just before Draco and Harry's second year at Hogwarts, Lucius plants Tom Riddle's diary in Ginny Weasley's potions cauldron while she is shopping for school supplies at Flourish & Blotts, in a plot to use her to reopen the Chamber of Secrets, which would lead to attacks on Muggle-born students.\n\nLucius knows the diary is cleverly enchanted, but is not aware that it is a horcrux containing a part of Voldemort's soul. He is careless with it and punished by Voldemort himself. Lucius intends to use the opening of the Chamber of Secrets by Ginny to discredit her father, Arthur Weasley, and Dumbledore. Lucius' plans are ultimately thwarted with the help of the Malfoys' house-elf Dobby, and Harry, but not before the Chamber is opened and Lucius uses the ensuing terror (and threats to attack their families) to influence the school's Board of Governors to discredit and dismiss Dumbledore as Headmaster.\n\nSubsequently, Harry tricks Lucius into setting Dobby free. Upon this, Lucius attempts to attack Harry with his wand but Dobby disarms him before he can do any harm. Lucius is ultimately stripped of his title as a Hogwarts school governor. Despite his sacking, he still maintains strong ties with the Ministry of Magic.\n\nLucius next appears in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire during the Quidditch World Cup, sharing prime seats in the Top Box with Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge. Later in that book, when Voldemort rises again and summons his Death Eaters, Malfoy rejoins him and asserts that he had done everything he could to help his master, who however remains unimpressed. Harry reports Malfoy's declarations to Minister Fudge, who refuses to believe him. Thus, the wealthy Malfoy continues to maintain strong ties with the Ministry.\n\nDuring the climax of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Malfoy is the leader of the Death Eaters who are sent to retrieve the prophecy from Harry in the Hall of Prophecy. Lucius tries several ways to get the prophecy from Harry without breaking it, but the boy and his friends manage to escape from the Hall. Malfoy finally meets him in the Death Chamber, where Harry is about to give it to Malfoy when the Order of the Phoenix breaks into the Ministry and begins to duel with the Death Eaters. Dumbledore himself arrives at the end of the battle and Malfoy is captured and sent to Azkaban.\n\nBy the final book, Voldemort has given Malfoy his freedom, though he looks significantly the worse for wear, having lost Voldemort's favour. Voldemort treats him with great contempt by hijacking his house for Headquarters, and is forcing his son to do dark deeds against his nature, sparking sympathy for the notorious family for the first time in the series. Voldemort borrows Lucius' wand which is accidentally destroyed by Harry Potter. Later in the book, Lucius, along with his wife and sister-in-law, accidentally allow Harry and his friends to escape from Malfoy Manor. Voldemort punishes them severely, eventually putting them under house arrest.\n\nDespite his long-standing position as a Death Eater and Voldemort's advocate of pure-blood supremacy, Lucius decides his love for his family is more important than his involvement in the war. During the Battle of Hogwarts, he pleads with Voldemort to let him onto the battlefield to locate his son. He and the rest of his family are reunited at the end of the book. Following Voldemort's death, Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco all manage to \"weasel their way out\" of being sent to Azkaban due to Narcissa's aiding Harry in the Forbidden Forest.\n\nLucius's ultimate fate after Deathly Hallows is unknown, but actor Jason Isaacs stated in an interview with Syfy Wire that he believes Lucius would not feel like a member of wizarding society again after Voldemort's fall, as society would shun him. Isaacs also states that Lucius would become a shell of his former self, lose the respect of his wife and son, protect himself with his money, and drink himself into an early death.\n\nAccording to Forbes magazine, in 2006, Lucius Malfoy was number 12 on their Forbes Fictional 15 list.\n\nIn the film series, Lucius is portrayed by Jason Isaacs as an adult. Scenes with Tony Coburn as a teenage Lucius were cut from the final movie.\n\nPeter Pettigrew \nPeter Pettigrew, (a.k.a Wormtail), is the only Death Eater known to have been in a House other than Slytherin (Gryffindor) while at Hogwarts. There, he was a close friend of Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin, although he was the least intelligent and least talented of the group. With Sirius and James' help, Pettigrew becomes an Animagus, with the ability to transform at will into a rat. After leaving Hogwarts, Pettigrew joins forces with Voldemort, and in exchange for his own life becomes Voldemort's spy within the Order of the Phoenix, of which Pettigrew is a member. When the Potters know that their son, Harry, is Voldemort's target, Sirius suggests to them to use Pettigrew as Secret-Keeper because he does not believe Voldemort would ever suspect a \"weak, talentless thing\" like Pettigrew. Pettigrew betrays the secret to Voldemort, an act that leads to James and Lily's death (and, ironically, Voldemort's near-destruction). Sirius seeks revenge on Pettigrew, but during the confrontation, Pettigrew publicly accuses Sirius of the Potters' deaths, murders twelve Muggles, and cuts off his own index finger before transforming into a rat, thereby framing Sirius for the betrayal of the Potters, as well as for his own murder and that of the bystanders. Despite having done these above treacherous acts, Pettigrew genuinely felt remorse to a certain extent for his betrayal. Pettigrew is (seemingly posthumously) awarded the Order of Merlin, and hides during the next twelve years. Wanting to keep an eye on the wizarding world, he masquerades as a rat, first as Percy Weasley's pet, and then as Ron Weasley's. In this form (named \"Scabbers\" by the family), he is missing a toe from one paw due to the finger he cut off.\n\nAlthough Pettigrew appears in the first two books in the form of Scabbers, his identity is not revealed until Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is the main antagonist. When a photograph of the Weasley family appears in the Daily Prophet newspaper, Sirius recognises Pettigrew's Animagus form and escapes from Azkaban to track him down. The two confront each other in the Shrieking Shack, where Lupin and Black compel Scabbers to resume his human form. Pettigrew confesses his treachery, claiming to have committed it only to save his own life. With Sirius and Lupin about to take their revenge, Harry begs Sirius to turn Pettigrew over to the Ministry of Magic instead, to prove Sirius' innocence. Pettigrew escapes while being led out of the Shack when Lupin transforms into a werewolf. Harry's actions result in Pettigrew owing him a life debt, and Pettigrew had in fact shown gratitude to Harry for sparing his life. This would be the reason behind Pettigrew (fruitlessly) trying to convince Voldemort to use the blood of another wizard when Voldemort wanted to use Harry's blood to restore his corporeal form in the next book.\n\nPettigrew returns to the service of Voldemort, seeking him out in the forests of Albania and helping him to return to a feeble baby's body. He abducts a Ministry of Magic employee named Bertha Jorkins, who is able to provide Voldemort with valuable information. Pettigrew (almost always referred to as \"Wormtail\" hereafter) assists Barty Crouch Jr. in overpowering Mad-Eye Moody, setting up the events in the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In the climactic confrontation in that book, Pettigrew murders Cedric Diggory on Voldemort's orders, and brews the complex potion to regenerate Voldemort, severing his hand as one of the ingredients. Upon his return to corporeal form, Voldemort replaces Pettigrew's missing hand with a silver one that possesses five intact fingers and great strength. Despite his actions, Pettigrew's fortunes remain low; in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Snape treats him as a servant, and in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows he is tasked with keeping watch over prisoners in the cellar of Malfoy Manor. While Harry and Ron are being kept there, Pettigrew checks on the prisoners and is attacked. Pettigrew begins strangling Harry with the silver hand, but when reminded by Harry that he once saved his life, Pettigrew hesitates for a moment. The silver hand turns against him and strangles him to death as punishment for his moment of pity.\n\nPettigrew is portrayed by Timothy Spall as an adult, and by Charles Hughes as a teenager in the films. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Pettigrew is not strangled to death by his own silver hand in Malfoy Manor as in the book; he is instead struck by Dobby and collapses. It is unknown whether he was simply stunned or killed. He only appears in a flashback in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.\n\nSeverus Snape \n\nSeverus Snape is characterised as a person of considerable complexity, whose coldly sarcastic and controlled exterior conceals deep emotions and anguish. In the first novel of the series, Snape is a teacher who is hostile from the start toward Harry and is built up to be the primary antagonist until the final chapters. As the series progresses, Snape's portrayal evolves from that of a malicious and partisan teacher to that of a complex, pivotal character of moral ambiguity, whose true loyalties are not revealed until the end. Snape is, as revealed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, actually a spy in Voldemort's ranks for Dumbledore.\n\nCorban Yaxley \nCorban Yaxley is the brutal-faced Death Eater who is present in the battle in which Snape killed Dumbledore. He is one of the more prominent Death Eaters, and one of Voldemort's spies in the Ministry of Magic. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Yaxley is invited to Malfoy Manor to witness the murder of Charity Burbage, and argues with Snape about the correct date of Harry's departure from the Dursleys', but John Dawlish, an Auror who is tricked by an Order member, gives him incorrect information. Yaxley announces to an impressed assemblage of Death Eaters that he has placed the Imperius Curse upon Pius Thicknesse, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He uses Thicknesse to Imperius the other major department heads and they allow Voldemort to murder Rufus Scrimgeour; thus Thicknesse becomes Minister for Magic.\n\nWhen Harry, Ron, and Hermione, disguised as ministry officials, enter the Ministry to find Slytherin's locket, it is revealed that Yaxley has become Head of Magical Law Enforcement. He also assists Dolores Umbridge in leading the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, and the two seem to have a good relationship, together humiliating the Muggle-borns. Both are immobilised by Harry, but Yaxley recovers and grabs Hermione while she is Apparating her friends to safety. Yaxley arrives with them at Grimmauld Place, allowing him to reveal their headquarters to the Death Eaters, but not to the location that the trio subsequently Apparate to.\n\nHe participates in the Battle of Hogwarts, where he duels with Professor Flitwick and is later seen among those who wait with Voldemort for Harry Potter to come to him, mistakenly believing that Harry would not come within the allotted time. When the battle resumes, he is defeated by George Weasley and Lee Jordan.\n\nPeter Mullan plays Yaxley in the film adaptation of Deathly Hallows.\n\nIn popular culture \n\nMexican heavy metal band Velvet Darkness released the song \"Death Eaters\" in 2015 as part of their debut EP Delusion. It was later rerecorded in 2018 as bonus track for their debut LP Nothing But Glory, and a music video for the song was released in 2019 with a live recording of it.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n The Harry Potter Lexicon item on Death Eaters\n How to pronounce Bellatrix's name at the official Scholastic website\n PotterCast #40: Bag of 'trix – A podcast debating Bellatrix's role in the series\n When Harry Met Osama. Terrorism comes to Hogwarts.\n\nFictional cults\nFictional henchmen\nFictional organized crime groups\nFictional terrorist organizations\nFictional outlaws\nFictional witches\nWizards in fiction\nFictional prison escapees\nFictional murderers\nFictional torturers\nHarry Potter organisations\nLists of villains\nLiterary villains"
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[
"Lord Voldemort",
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince",
"Does Voldemort appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,",
"Was there any flashbacks?",
"In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device,",
"Who was the author of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Rowling",
"Did Voldemort have to assault anyone?",
"He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement,"
]
| C_e1dce95f334b494096220fc2c296fae0_0 | Did he have to fight any hogwarts? | 5 | Did Lord Voldemort have to fight any hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? | Lord Voldemort | Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance. Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died, just hours after giving birth. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who takes sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of "Muggles", his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the prejudicial circumstances under which he was brought into the world. In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so. CANNOTANSWER | In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, | Lord Voldemort (, in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.
Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord". He attempts to murder the boy, but instead kills his parents, Lily and James Potter, and leaves Harry with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. Nearly every witch or wizard dares not utter his name and refers to him instead with such monikers as "You-Know-Who", "He Who Must Not Be Named", or "the Dark Lord". Voldemort's obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of the wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of Muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.
Character development
In a 1999 interview, Rowling said Voldemort was invented as a nemesis for Harry Potter, and she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea [was that Harry] didn't know he was a wizard ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And—so—but for some mysterious reason the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since."
In the second book, Rowling establishes that Voldemort hates non-pure-blood wizards, despite being a half-blood himself. In a 2000 interview with the BBC, Rowling described Voldemort as a self-hating bully: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does." In the same year, Rowling became more precise about Voldemort. She began to link him to real-life tyrants, describing him as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering". In 2004, though, Rowling said that she did not base Voldemort on any real person. In 2006, Rowling told an interviewer that Voldemort at his core has a human fear: the fear of death. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death."
Throughout the series, Rowling establishes that Voldemort is so feared in the wizarding world that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a "taboo" spell is placed upon the name, such that Voldemort or his followers may trace anyone who utters it. By this means, his followers eventually find and capture Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the second book, Rowling reveals that I am Lord Voldemort is an anagram of the character's birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. According to the author, Voldemort's name is an invented word. The name Voldemort is derived from the French vol de mort which means "flight of death" or "theft of death".
Appearances
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who tried to kill Harry Potter because the boy was prophesied to destroy him. Voldemort murdered Harry's parents, James and Lily, but as a result of his mother's love and willingness to sacrifice herself for him, baby Harry survived when Voldemort tried to murder him with a Killing Curse. Voldemort was disembodied, and Harry was left with a mysterious, lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as a result.
In the book, Voldemort unsuccessfully tries to regain his dissolved body by stealing the titular Philosopher's Stone. To achieve his objective, Voldemort uses Professor Quirrell's aid by latching onto the back of the latter's head. However, at the climax of the book, Harry manages to prevent Voldemort from stealing the stone.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
In the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of a teenage Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, when Riddle rearranges the letters in his name to write "I am Lord Voldemort", Riddle is revealed as a magical manifestation of the boy who would later grow up to become the Dark Lord. Riddle states he has grown strong on Ginny's fears and eventually possesses her, using her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, whence a basilisk is set free and petrifies several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats the manifestation of Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Voldemort does not appear in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, either in person or as a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the harsh effects of a Dementor. Towards the end of the story, Sybill Trelawney, the Divination professor, makes a rare genuine prophecy: "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..." Though it is initially implied that the prophecy refers to Sirius Black, the book's ostensible antagonist, the servant is eventually revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, for the 12 years since Voldemort's fall, has been disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the fourth instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort reappears at the start and the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry's favour. Voldemort's goal is to teleport Harry under Dumbledore's watch as a reluctant participant to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family is buried. Harry is captured and, after Pettigrew uses Harry's blood to fulfil a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to his full power. For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils". Rowling writes that his "hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness". It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry. After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort creates a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed. Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his Death Eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, when Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands. Because of a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem, ghost-like manifestations of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via Portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Voldemort appears at the climax of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, having again plotted against Harry. In this book, Harry goes through extreme emotional stress, and according to Rowling, it was necessary to prove that Harry is emotionally vulnerable and thus human, in contrast to his nemesis Voldemort, who is emotionally invulnerable and thus inhuman: "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, there's a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. […] and Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down." In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that he has returned. Voldemort engineers a plot to free Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarks on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries regarding Harry and himself. He sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where the Order of the Phoenix meets them. All but Bellatrix are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Dumbledore. When Dumbledore gets the upper hand, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds incomprehensible, and which he detests as weakness: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister for Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge in the next book.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance.
Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who took sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of Muggles, his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the coercive circumstances under which he was brought into the world.
In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to kill Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort furthers his quest for ultimate power. He disposes of the Minister for Magic and replaces him with Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse. Establishing a totalitarian police state, he has Muggle-borns persecuted and arrested for "stealing magic" from the "pure blood" wizards. After failing to kill Harry with Draco's father Lucius Malfoy's borrowed wand (to avoid the effect of Priori Incantatem), he goes on a murderous search for the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand ever created, seeing it as the weapon he needs to overcome Harry's wand and make him truly invincible. He goes on a quest that takes him out of the country to Gregorovitch's wand shop, where he kills the old wandmaker. His journey also takes him to Nurmengard, the prison where Gellert Grindelwald is kept, and he kills Grindelwald as well. He finally locates the Elder Wand and steals it from Dumbledore's tomb.
Later, Voldemort finds out that Harry and his friends are hunting and destroying his Horcruxes when informed of their heist on the Lestranges' vault at Gringotts in search for Hufflepuff's Cup. After offering the occupants of Hogwarts mercy if they give up Harry, he assembles a large army and launches an invasion of the castle, where Harry is searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem. Voldemort orders his pet snake Nagini to execute Snape, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand, since Snape killed Dumbledore. He then calls an hour's armistice, in exchange for Harry. When Harry willingly walks into Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort strikes him down with the Elder Wand. However, the use of Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort's body proves to be a major setback: while Harry's blood runs in Voldemort's veins, Harry cannot be killed as his mother's protection lives on now in Voldemort too. Instead, Voldemort destroys the part of his own soul that resides in Harry's body. Voldemort forces Rubeus Hagrid to carry Harry's apparently lifeless body back to the castle as a trophy, sparking another battle during which Nagini, his last Horcrux, is destroyed by Neville Longbottom. The battle then moves into the Great Hall, where Voldemort fights Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Horace Slughorn simultaneously. Harry then reveals himself and explains to Voldemort that Draco became the true master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Dumbledore; Harry, in turn, won the wand's allegiance when he took Draco's wand. Refusing to believe this, Voldemort casts the Killing Curse with the Elder Wand while Harry uses a Disarming Charm with Draco's, but the Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and the spell rebounds on Voldemort who, with all of his Horcruxes destroyed, finally dies. His body is laid in a different chamber from all the others who died battling him.
Rowling stated that after his death, Voldemort is forced to exist in the stunted infant-like form that Harry sees in the King's Cross-like Limbo after his confrontation with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. Rowling also mentioned that, despite his extreme fear of death, he cannot become a ghost.
Appearances in other material
In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is revealed that Bellatrix gave birth to Voldemort's daughter Delphi in Malfoy Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts. Twenty-two years later, Delphi poses as Cedric's cousin and manipulates Harry and Ginny's second son Albus Severus Potter and his friend, Draco and Astoria Greengrass's son Scorpius Malfoy, into stealing a prototype Time Turner with which she hopes to resurrect her father. Using the Time Turner, Scorpius accidentally creates an alternative timeline where Voldemort killed Harry at the battle and now rules the wizarding world. In an attempt to achieve this future, Delphi travels to Godric's Hollow on the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents, hoping to avert the prophecy that led to her father's downfall. After receiving a message from his son, Harry, together with Ron, Hermione and Draco (who by now has become friends with Harry after they join forces to save their respective sons) transfigures himself into Voldemort so that he can distract Delphi, allowing them to overpower her. The real Voldemort kills Harry's parents as prophesied, and Delphi is sent to Azkaban.
Portrayals within films
Voldemort appears in every Harry Potter film, with the exception of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Several actors have portrayed him in his varying incarnations and ages.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort's manifestation is as a face on the back of Quirrell's head, an effect achieved by computer generated imagery. Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell in the same film, provided the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen drinking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Richard Bremmer, though his face is never seen. His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the 16-year-old Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. As in the book, Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and emaciated, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the book, his pupils are not cat-like and his eyes are blue, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). As in the book, the film version of Voldemort has snake-like slit nostrils with the flesh of his nose significantly pressed back. Ralph Fiennes' nose was not covered in makeup on the set, but was digitally removed in post-production. In this first appearance, Voldemort also has a forked tongue, but this element was removed for the subsequent films.
Fiennes stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climactic showdown scene where he is gloating over a terrified Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded: "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research." Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.
Fiennes's nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, portrayed Tom Riddle as a child in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. By the time filming arrived Christian Coulson was 29, and not considered suitable to return as the adolescent Riddle. Thomas James Longley was originally scheduled to take over the role, but last minute renegotiations saw Frank Dillane cast instead.
Characterisation
Outward appearance
After he regains his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort as having pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. As mentioned in the first chapter of the seventh book, he also has no hair or lips. Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle was handsome and tall with pale skin, jet black hair, and dark brown eyes. He could charm many people with his looks. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes and becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul. In the films, Voldemort's eyes are blue with round pupils.
Personality
Rowling described Voldemort as "the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years". She elaborated that he is a "raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering", and whose only ambition in life is to become all-powerful and immortal. He is also a sadist who hurts and murders people—especially Muggles—for his own amusement. He has no conscience, feels no remorse or empathy, and does not recognise the worth and humanity of anybody except himself.
He feels no need for human companionship or friendship, and cannot comprehend love or affection for another. He believes he is superior to everyone around him, to the point that he frequently refers to himself in the third person as "Lord Voldemort". Rowling also stated that Voldemort is "incredibly power hungry. Racist, really", and that if Voldemort were to look into the Mirror of Erised, in which one sees one's greatest desire, he would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants."
Rowling also stated that Voldemort's conception by influence of Amortentia—a love potion administered by his mother, a witch named Merope Gaunt, to the Muggle Tom Riddle—is related to his inability to understand love; it is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union—but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can't be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".
Like most archetypical villains, Voldemort's arrogance leads to his downfall. He also suffers from a pathological fear of death, which he regards as a shameful and ignominious human weakness. According to Rowling, his Boggart would be his own corpse. Rowling also said that the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry accepts mortality, and thus Harry is, in the end, stronger than his nemesis.
Magical abilities and skills
Rowling establishes Voldemort throughout the series as an extremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless dark wizard, described as the greatest and most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. He is known as one of the greatest Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens; he can read minds and shield his own from penetration. Besides Dumbledore, he is also the only wizard ever known to be able to apparate silently. Voldemort was also said to fear one wizard alone, Dumbledore.
In the final book, Voldemort flies unsupported, something that amazes those who see it. Voldemort, like his ancestral family, the Gaunts, is a Parselmouth, meaning he can converse with serpents. This skill was inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The Gaunt family speak Parseltongue among themselves. This highly unusual trait may be preserved through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family to maintain their blood's purity. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of the former's soul. After that bit of soul is destroyed, Harry loses this ability. In a flashback in the sixth novel, Voldemort boasts to Dumbledore during a job interview that he has "pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they had ever before". Dumbledore states that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is more extensive than any wizard alive and that even Dumbledore's most powerful protective spells and charms would likely be insufficient if Voldemort returned to full power. Dumbledore also said that Voldemort was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Although Voldemort remains highly accomplished and prodigious in skill, he is enormously lacking and highly inept in the most powerful magic, love. This inability to love and trust others proves to be Voldemort's greatest weakness in the series. Voldemort initially voices scepticism that his own magic might not be the most powerful, but upon returning to power, he admits to his Death Eaters that he had overlooked the ancient and powerful magic which Lily Potter invoked and that would protect Harry from harm.
On her website, Rowling wrote that Voldemort's wand is made of yew, whose sap is poisonous and which symbolises death. It forms a deliberate contrast to Harry's wand, which is made of holly, which she chose because holly is alleged to repel evil.
Rowling establishes in the books that Voldemort is magically connected to Harry via Harry's forehead scar. He disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry rebounds on him, leaving the scar on Harry's forehead. In the books, and to a lesser extent in the films, Harry's scar serves as an indicator of Voldemort's presence: it burns when the Dark Lord is near or when Voldemort is feeling murderous or exultant. According to Rowling, by attacking Harry when he was a baby Voldemort gave him "tools [that] no other wizard possessed—the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind".
Family
Notes: The names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films. The Potter Family is not shown.
Riddle family
The Riddle family, an old gentry family, consisted of Thomas and Mary Riddle and their son, Tom Riddle, Esq. They owned over half of the valley that the town of Little Hangleton lay in, and Thomas was the most prominent inhabitant of that town. They lived in a large house with fine gardens, but were unpopular amongst the local residents due to their snobbish attitudes. Tom, the only child of Thomas and Mary, was known as a playboy, his main interests being womanizing and horse-riding.
Rowling revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that young Merope Gaunt fell in love with Riddle, peering at him through the windows and bushes at every opportunity. Merope's brother Morfin disapproved of his sister's affection for Tom and hexed him as he rode by, covering him in hives. This breach of wizarding law, and the ensuing violent struggle with Ministry of Magic officials, led to Marvolo and Morfin being imprisoned in Azkaban. As surmised by Dumbledore, once Merope was alone and no longer dominated by her father, she could make her move for Tom. She offered him a drink laced with a love potion, and he became infatuated with her; they soon eloped and, within three months of the marriage, Merope became pregnant. Merope decided to stop giving Tom the love potion, having come to the belief such enchantment of a man was tantamount to slavery. She also revealed her witch status to Tom, believing either that he had fallen in love with her on his own or he would at least stay for their unborn child. She was wrong, and Tom quickly left his pregnant wife and went home to his parents, claiming to have been "hoodwinked" and tricked into marrying Merope. Tom Marvolo Riddle, their son, was born on 31 December 1926 Merope died in childbirth, leaving the baby to grow up alone in an orphanage.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is revealed that Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents, leaving himself the only surviving member of the Riddle family.
House of Gaunt
Most of the exposition of the House of Gaunts background occurs in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, through the medium of Dumbledore's Pensieve. The Gaunts were once a powerful and influential family, and are the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin. However, a vein of mental instability and violence within the family, reinforced through cousin marriages intended to preserve the pureblood line, had reduced them to poverty and squalor, as shown in the Pensieve's "memory" that Harry and Dumbledore witnessed. Like Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunts spoke Parseltongue. At the time of the story, the Gaunts' only material asset is a ramshackle shanty in Little Hangleton, that stood in a thicket in a valley opposite the Riddle House. Like the Riddles, the Gaunts were also unpopular with the local residents, with a reputation for being vulgar and intimidating.
Marvolo Gaunt was the last family patriarch. He was sentenced to a short term in Azkaban for his and his son's assault upon a Ministry of Magic official; this affected his health and he died soon after returning home. His signet ring passed to his son, Morfin Gaunt, who was convicted of assaulting a Muggle, and later died in Azkaban, convicted this time as a party to the murder of Tom Riddle Jr. and Riddle's parents.
Dumbledore discovers the real culprit while visiting Morfin in Azkaban to gather information about Voldemort. After Dumbledore successfully extracts Morfin's memory of his encounter with his nephew, he tries to use the evidence to have Morfin released, but Morfin dies before the decision can be made. The House of Gaunt ended with Morfin's death.
Merope Gaunt () was the daughter of Marvolo, and sister of Morfin. Harry's first impression of her was that she looked "like the most defeated person he had ever seen". She married Tom Riddle Jr and became pregnant within three months of the wedding. It is suggested that she tricked her husband into loving her by using a love potion, but when she became pregnant, she chose to stop administering the potion. It is implied that Merope had grown tired of living the lie and thought that her husband might have grown to love her, or that he might have stayed for the sake of their unborn child; however, he left her. Desperate, Merope wandered through the streets of London. The only thing she had left was the heavy gold locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of her family's most treasured items, which she sold for a small amount. When she was due to give birth, she stumbled into a Muggle orphanage, where she gave birth to her only son. She died within the next hour.
Gormlaith Gaunt was a 17th-century descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and like Salazar, a Parselmouth. Her wand was that which once belonged to Salazar himself. Educated at Hogwarts, Gormlaith lived in Ireland in the early 1600s. In about 1608, Gormlaith killed her estranged unnamed sister, and her sister's husband, William Sayre (a descendant of the Irish witch Morrigan), and kidnapped their five-year-old daughter, Isolt Sayre, raising her in the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee, or "Hag's Glen", because she felt that her parents' association with Muggles would badly influence Isolt. Fanatical and cruel, Gormlaith used Dark magic to isolate Isolt from others, forbade her a wand, and did not allow her to attend Hogwarts as she herself had, disgusted that it was now filled with Muggle-borns. After twelve years with Gormlaith, Isolt stole Gormlaith's wand and fled to the Colonies and settled in Massachusetts, where she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Gormlaith learned of the school, she pursued her niece in Massachusetts, where she was killed by Isolt's friend, William the Pukwudgie, with a venom-tipped arrow.
The Gaunts, including Voldemort, are distantly related to Harry because they are descendants of the Peverell brothers.
Reception
Several people have drawn a parallel between Voldemort and some politicians. Rowling has said that Voldemort was "a sort of" Adolf Hitler, and that there is some parallel with Nazism in her books. Rowling also compared Voldemort to Joseph Stalin. Alfonso Cuarón, director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban compared Voldemort to George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, who he said "...have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people." Andrew Slack and the Harry Potter Alliance compare media consolidation in the US to Voldemort's regime in Deathly Hallows and its control over the Daily Prophet and other media saying that "Once Voldemort took over every form of media in the wizarding world, Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix formed an independent media movement called 'Potterwatch'. Now the HP Alliance and Wizard Rock have come together to fight for a Potterwatch movement in the real world to fight back against Big VoldeMedia from further pushing out local and foreign news, minority representation, and the right to a Free Press." Julia Turner of Slate Magazine also noted similarities between the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the War on Terror. She said that Voldemort commits acts of terrorism such as destroying bridges, murdering innocents, and forcing children to kill their elders.
Voldemort has also been compared with other characters within fiction, for example Sauron from The Lord of the Rings; they are, during the time when the main plot takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat, and are also so feared that they are sometimes unnamed.
IGN listed Voldemort as their seventh favourite Harry Potter character, calling him "truly frightening".
In popular culture
Several campaigns have used Voldemort to compare his evil to the influence of politicians, large media and corporations. "Lord Voldemort" is a nickname sometimes used for Peter Mandelson. Voldemort is also a recurring theme among wizard rock bands. Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! is the second album from Harry and the Potters, and the character is mentioned in songs such as "The Dark Lord Lament" and "Flesh, Blood, and Bone".
Voldemort has been parodied in various venues. In The Simpsons 13th season's premiere, "Treehouse of Horror XII", Montgomery Burns appears as "Lord Montymort". A parody of Voldemort appears in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as "Lord Moldybutt", an enemy of Nigel Planter (a parody of Harry). Voldemort also appears in the Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. One of the episodes including him was the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for "Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.
"Continuing the Magic", an article in the 21 May 2007 issue of Time, includes mock book covers designed by author Lon Tweeten, laced with pop culture references. One of them, the "Dark Lord of the Dance", shows Voldemort teaming up with Harry on Broadway. In the MAD Magazine parodies of the films, the character is called Lord Druckermort, a backwards reference to the magazine's longtime caricaturist Mort Drucker. In Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969, a young Tom Marvolo Riddle (introduced as "Tom", whose middle name is a "marvel" and last name is a "conundrum") appears, and becomes the new avatar of Oliver Haddo at the story's conclusion. In A Very Potter Musical, Voldemort is played by actor Joe Walker.
In a segment celebrating British children's literature at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London, an inflatable Voldemort appeared alongside other villains, The Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil, to haunt children's dreams, before the arrival of a group of over thirty Mary Poppins who descended with their umbrellas to defeat them.
During the 2016 United States elections, Daniel Radcliffe was asked by Sky News journalist Craig Dillon if he would compare Donald Trump to Lord Voldemort; Radcliffe responded, "Trump is worse".
Voldemort appears in The Lego Batman Movie as one of the prisoners in the Phantom Zone that Joker recruits to take over Gotham City. Though Ralph Fiennes is featured in this movie as the voice of the British butler Alfred Pennyworth, he does not reprise his role as Voldemort. Instead, Voldemort is voiced by Eddie Izzard.
Outside of the Harry Potter video games, Voldemort is also a playable character in Lego Dimensions, with archive audio of Fiennes' portrayal in the films used for his voiceovers.
A 2018 Italian fan film titled Voldemort: Origins of the Heir depicts the story of Tom Riddle's rise to power.
Voldemort appears in Space Jam: A New Legacy, in the crowd for the game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
An upcoming French fan-made short-film titled The House of Gaunt - Lord Voldemort Origins explores the origin story of Voldemort and The Gaunt family.
Notes
References
External links
Lord Voldemort at Harry Potter Lexicon
Fictional characters with disfigurements
Fictional characters with immortality
Fictional characters with spirit possession or body swapping abilities
Fictional dictators
Fictional English people
Fictional hypnotists and indoctrinators
Fictional illeists
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional necromancers
Fictional offspring of rape
Fictional patricides
Fictional terrorists
Fictional torturers
Harry Potter characters
Literary characters introduced in 1997
Male film villains
Male literary villains
Orphan characters in film
Orphan characters in literature
Psychopathy in fiction
Film supervillains | true | [
"5972 Olton Hall is a preserved Great Western Railway Hall class locomotive.\n\nService\n\nBuilt in April 1937 at Swindon Works for the Great Western Railway (GWR), 5972 was first allocated to Carmarthen, South Wales where it remained until 1951. After being fitted with a three row superheater at Swindon Works, it was allocated to Plymouth Laira. Its last shed allocation was to Cardiff East Dock, before it was withdrawn in December 1963, and sold to Woodham Brothers, Barry for scrap in May 1964.\n\nAllocations and history\nThe locations of 5972 on particular dates.\n\nPreservation\nWoodham Brothers sold the locomotive to David Smith and moved to Horbury railway works in Wakefield in May 1981. In 1994 it moved to Carnforth MPD for restoration, being steamed for the first time in 1998.\n\nHarry Potter film series\nIn the Harry Potter films, the locomotive is depicted pulling the Hogwarts Express, a fictional train, made up of four (later five) British Rail Mark 1 carriages. Scenes were filmed at King's Cross railway station, the Glenfinnan Viaduct and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway — along with internal scenes on board the train.\n\nWhen filmed, Olton Hall carried a \"Hogwarts Express\" headboard on the smokebox, featuring the Hogwarts school crest. The same emblem is featured as part of the \"Hogwarts Railways\" sigil on the tender and carriages. It retained its GWR number of 5972, but with alternative nameplates fitted, naming the engine Hogwarts Castle. It is painted in a crimson livery — a non-standard colour, as GWR locomotives traditionally used green.\n\nOlton Hall was not the first locomotive to be re-liveried to appear hauling the Hogwarts Express. To promote the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Southern Railway West Country Class locomotive 34027 Taw Valley was temporarily repainted and renamed. However, it was rejected by film director Chris Columbus as looking \"too modern\" for the film, but it carried the name and colour for some months afterwards.\n\nThe renaming as \"...Castle\" has become a railway preservation joke: \"...the Hall that thinks it's a Castle\"—the Great Western Railway Castle Class engines were different and larger.\n\nThree full-size replicas of the locomotive as 5972 Hogwarts Castle are at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Orlando Resort). Two as part of the Hogwarts Express train ride and the other is a static exhibit in the Hogsmeade area. There are also static models at the other Wizarding World of Harry Potter locations in Hollywood and Japan.\n\nIn 2015 the locomotive was put on static display at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter, near Watford, and will be displayed there until Warner Bros' lease on the locomotive from West Coast Railways expires.\n\nNon-Hogwarts work\n5972 is sometimes used for work other than its \"Hogwarts\" duties. In May 2009 it was moved temporarily to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, and in July 2009 it was based at Tyseley Locomotive Works for use on some of the regular Shakespeare Express trains run by Vintage Trains during the summer. It returned to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway during their annual Wizard's Weekend event in 2010. In late 2011 the locomotive was on static display in Hyde Park, London. In June–July 2014 it worked two final Wizards Express rail tours from Manchester to York before its mainline certificate expired.\n\nModels\nHornby Railways produces a model of Olton Hall in OO gauge. The model is also available decorated as Hogwarts Castle, as part of their Harry Potter film tie-in range. The Harry Potter version has an LED headlight, which the other versions do not.\n\nA previous Hornby model of the locomotive was actually a model of a Castle class locomotive, not a Hall. Tri-ang Hornby had released a model of the Hall class in 1966; however, this model was last offered in 1983 as 4930 Hagley Hall, a preserved locomotive on the Severn Valley Railway. While Hornby (the successor to Tri-ang Hornby) may still have the moulds, they were modified some years ago to produce a Saint class replica. New tooling for a Hall has since been introduced and is available in the current Hornby range (see below).\n\nOther manufacturers have perpetuated this error, with Märklin using a Castle in its Hogwarts Express set. While Bachmann Branchline did produce models of the 'Hall' and 'Modified Hall' class locomotives, they have not offered one as 5972 \"Hogwarts Castle (Olton Hall)\", though Bachmann USA released one in their range.\n\nIn 2015 Hornby introduced an all-new model of Olton Hall as part of their \"Railroad\" range, originally announced in 2012.\n\nIn 2019, Hornby announced a new Harry Potter range, comprising a range of Hogsmeade buildings based on the Goathland range from several years ago, and the Hogwarts Express train set. Also available are two separate Hogwarts Castle locomotives with headlight, one being TTS Sound fitted. This is the first Hogwarts Castle model they have released being correctly of a Hall class. It is based on the same tooling as the 2015 Olton Hall model.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nVintage Trains official site\nShakespeare Express official site\nGloucestershire Warwickshire Railway official site\nWoodham Brothers Limited\n\n5972\nRailway locomotives introduced in 1937\n5972\n4-6-0 locomotives\nIndividual locomotives of Great Britain\nLocomotives saved from Woodham Brothers scrapyard\nStandard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain",
"Dolores Jane Umbridge is a fictional character from the Harry Potter series created by J.K. Rowling. The character is the primary antagonist of the fifth novel Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and was stationed at Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic to take power away from Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore, who were informing the Wizarding World of Lord Voldemort's return. While at Hogwarts, Umbridge grows in power and is appointed \"High Inquisitor\" by the Minister of Magic in an attempt to control the school. Despite being assigned as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Umbridge refuses to teach anything practical in the subject, which leads to the formation of Dumbledore's Army as a way for the students to learn how to defend themselves. Umbridge is described as a fat, toad-like woman, with a wide, slack mouth, and a large bow usually in her hair.\n\nCritics have recognised Umbridge as one of the most hated, as well as the most compelling, villains in the series. Umbridge was portrayed by Imelda Staunton in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.\n\nFictional character biography\nDolores Jane Umbridge was born to a Wizard father and a Muggle mother, and eventually had a younger brother who was a Squib. Under the influence of her father, Dolores grew up despising her mother and brother for their lack of magical abilities. She was sorted into Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and hated her time at the school due to never being given any positions of power. \n\nAfter her time at Hogwarts, Umbridge rose to prominent and influential positions in the Ministry of Magic in the Improper Use of Magic Office. After a while, Umbridge became the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge. Umbridge used this position of power to satisfy her hatred of part-humans, for example through new Anti-Werewolf Legislation which made it nearly impossible for Remus Lupin to find a new job after resigning his post as Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts in 1994. \n\nAfter rumours of Lord Voldemort's return and the increased paranoia of Cornelius Fudge, Umbridge set two dementors on Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley Dursley in Little Whinging in an attempt to get him expelled from Hogwarts for use of magic outside of school. During Harry's trial, Umbridge tried to intimidate him to undermine his defence: that he had used the Patronus Charm only because the dementors were about to permanently incapacitate him and Dudley. In the end, Umbridge, Fudge and a few other members of the court voted for conviction, but Harry was cleared of the charges.\n\nReign over Hogwarts\nAfter the trial, the Ministry of Magic appointed Umbridge as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts to allow the Ministry to monitor the activities within Hogwarts, and particularly the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Fudge had an irrational belief that Dumbledore was attempting to overthrow his position as Minister and was using the students to do so. As a result, Umbridge refused to teach any sort of martial magic and saw her return to the school as an opportunity to gain power over the people who refused to give her any positions of responsibility during her schooling. \n\nUmbridge made a negative impression on the students of Hogwarts at the Start-of-Term Feast, where she rudely interrupted Dumbledore and talked to the students in a condescending manner as if they were toddlers. She began interfering with the students learning at Hogwarts by refusing to teach any practical applications despite her post as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Due to the apparent return of Voldemort that was being silenced by the Ministry, students such as Harry, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Dean Thomas began openly opposing to Umbridge's insistence on theoretical applications. Harry's constant objections in Umbridge's class due to his being present at Voldemort's return and witnessing the murder of Cedric Diggory led him to a detention with Umbridge. She forced him to write \"I must not tell lies\" with a cursed quill that scarred the phrase into his hand permanently. \n\nUmbridge was appointed as Hogwarts \"High Inquisitor\" by the Ministry to evaluate, harass or fire any teacher deemed unsatisfactory by her. This found her often at odds with Transfiguration professor and Head of Gryffindor House Minerva McGonagall. Umbridge abolished all student groups, which included the House Quidditch teams. Eventually Harry, Ron and Hermione formed Dumbledore's Army as a way to teach students how to use defensive spells in a practical format. The group was a secretive organisation that would meet in the Room of Requirement, a hidden room in Hogwarts. \n\nAfter Harry gave an interview with The Quibbler where he discussed Voldemort's return, Umbridge banned the magazine from Hogwarts. She also restricted Harry's privileges. \n\nUmbridge sacked Divination Professor Sybill Trelawney, but was unsuccessful in evicting her from the castle due to Dumbledore's intervention. Dumbledore then purposely appointed centaur Firenze as the new Divination Professor, being aware of Umbridge's hatred towards half-breeds.\n\nDumbledore's Army was eventually betrayed by Ravenclaw student Marietta Edgecombe. She was threatened by Umbridge that if she didn't turn them over, her mother would lose her job at the Ministry. Umbridge attempted to have Harry expelled from Hogwarts, but Dumbledore took the blame for the group's formation and disappeared from Hogwarts to avoid arrest. \n\nUmbridge was appointed as the new Headmistress of Hogwarts by Fudge. She formed the Inquisitorial Squad, composed entirely of Slytherin students such as Draco Malfoy. Despite Dumbledore's Army being banned, the rebellion against Umbridge continued, mainly expressed by the ongoing pranks of Fred and George Weasley. Before Umbridge could catch the twins, they fled Hogwarts on their broomsticks and requested the castle's poltergeist Peeves to continue to torment Umbridge in their absence. The castle itself seemed to recognise that Umbridge was not the true Headmistress, as she was denied access to the Headmaster's Tower. \n\nAfter Umbridge sacked Care of Magical Creatures Professor Rubeus Hagrid due to his half-breed status, Professor McGonagall attempted to intervene, which resulted in Umbridge and a squad of aurors attacking her so severely she was hospitalised at St. Mungo's. She also intercepted all manner of communications to prevent Harry from contacting his godfather Sirius Black and the Order of the Phoenix, even going so far as to injure Harry's pet owl Hedwig.\n\nShe eventually caught Harry attempting to use the Floo Network in her office to contact Sirius. This resulted in Dumbledore's Army members Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood being rounded up by the Inquisitorial Squad and held in her office. When Harry refused to give Umbridge any information, she called Potions Master Severus Snape to provide her with the truth-telling potion Veritaserum, but Snape informed her that she had squandered his entire stock whilst interrogating students. Umbridge then believed that the illegal Cruciatus Curse would cause Harry to loosen his tongue. Hermione attempted to protest, but Umbridge brushed her off and revealed that she had ordered the dementor attack on Harry and Dudley during the summer. \n\nHermione tricked Umbridge into following Harry and herself into the Forbidden Forest to search for Dumbledore's alleged \"secret weapon\". Umbridge was confronted by a herd of centaurs, whom she insulted with racial slurs. She then attacked a centaur. As a result, Umbridge was carried off and nearly killed by the herd. She was saved by Dumbledore, who managed to calm the herd due to their respect for him and brought her out without a scratch but in a severe state of shock. \n\nAfter Voldemort was sighted in the Ministry of Magic by numerous people including Fudge, Dumbledore was reinstated as Headmaster at Hogwarts, and Umbridge was sacked. She attempted to sneak out of the school but encountered Peeves, who chased her out of the school with McGonagall's cane to the delight of students and teachers alike.\n\nReturn to the Ministry\nAfter her dismissal from Hogwarts, Umbridge returned to the Ministry as the Senior Undersecretary to the new Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour. She purposely chose to continue to torment Harry by informing the Minister of Harry's wish to become an auror. Harry refused to trust Scrimgeour or the Ministry of Magic due to the fact that Umbridge was never sacked or arrested for her actions. \n\nUmbridge was later seen at Dumbledore's funeral, attempting to look appropriately somber. She was startled by the appearance of Firenze, clearly having been traumatised by her encounter with the centaurs.\n\nAfter Voldemort's takeover of the Ministry of Magic, Umbridge oversaw the registration and persecution of Muggle-born witches and wizards under the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. In her position, Umbridge conducted biased trials that subjected Muggle-born witches and wizards to dementors and have them sent to Azkaban prison for \"stealing magic from real witches and wizards\". Following Alastor Moody's murder, Umbridge somehow obtained possession of his magical prosthetic eye and had it affixed into the door to her office as a way of terrorising Ministry employees and reminding them she was observing them at all times. \n\nAt some point, Umbridge received a locket as a bribe from thief Mundungus Fletcher. The pendant was actually Salazar Slytherin's locket and was, unbeknownst to her, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Due to Umbridge's twisted nature, the Horcrux actually amplified her magical abilities. \n\nDuring one of her kangaroo court trials, she accused Mary Cattermole of having stolen her wand and alleged she wasn't a true witch. Full of rage, Harry appeared from under his Cloak of Invisibility and attacked Umbridge, allowing Harry and Hermione to take Slytherin's locket from her in order to destroy the Horcrux. Hermione left the fake locket behind with Umbridge to allay suspicion.\n\nAfter Voldemort's defeat by Harry at the Battle of Hogwarts and the restoration of the Ministry of Magic by the new Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Umbridge was sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban for her crimes against Muggle-borns.\n\nCharacterisation\nUmbridge is depicted in the novels as being an evil, cruel, strict, despicable woman who represented the worst of political power, under a saccharine image filled with kittens, fluff, and girlishness. She is implied to be sadistic and overwhelmingly corrupt, to the point of finding joy in torturing students. Harry describes Umbridge to Sirius Black, saying that she's vile enough to be a Death Eater, despite not being one herself. \n\nUmbridge is also depicted to be a prejudiced person, despising half-breeds and Muggle-born witches and wizards to the point of firing Hagrid due to his half-giant status. She displayed her intolerance to the centaur Firenze, shouting racial insults towards the herd of centaurs that confronted her in the Forbidden Forest. Umbridge was a \"pure-blood supremacist\" and attempted to mask her half-blood status, often lambasting her Muggle mother and Squib younger brother. \n\nDolores Umbridge was eventually imprisoned in Azkaban due to her crimes against Muggle-borns during her interrogations, as not everyone she interrogated and tortured survived.\n\nReception and impact\nDolores Umbridge is often cited as being one of the most despised fictional characters of all time, due to her authoritarian stance and her dictator-like presence as well as her racist attitudes and torturing of children. Due to her reputation, Umbridge is often cited as being one of the most hated fictional characters, as well as one of the best literary villains, even occasionally overshadowing Lord Voldemort, the primary antagonist of the series. Charlotte Ahlin from Bustle stated while listing some of the most hated characters in literature:\n\nIGN ranked Umbridge as the 17th best character in the franchise:\n\nIn a review of the Order of the Phoenix novel, author Stephen King hailed Umbridge as one of the best antagonists he has ever read:\n\nReal-life comparisons\nOccasionally, real-life public figures have been compared to Umbridge in a negative light due to their actions. Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were both compared to Umbridge during the 2016 United States presidential election. Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher was an influence on the way the character was portrayed in the film adaptations according to director David Yates and actress Imelda Staunton. Rowling has stated that Umbridge is in fact based on a teacher she once had, and was not directly inspired by Thatcher.\n\nReferences\n\nFictional ministers and secretaries\nFemale literary villains\nHarry Potter characters\nFemale film villains\nFictional British people\nFictional torturers\nFictional schoolteachers\nFictional professors\nFictional witches\nFictional judges\nFictional prisoners and detainees\nLiterary characters introduced in 2003"
]
|
[
"Lord Voldemort",
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince",
"Does Voldemort appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,",
"Was there any flashbacks?",
"In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device,",
"Who was the author of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Rowling",
"Did Voldemort have to assault anyone?",
"He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement,",
"Did he have to fight any hogwarts?",
"In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts,"
]
| C_e1dce95f334b494096220fc2c296fae0_0 | Did the hogwarts have a professor? | 6 | Did the hogwarts have a professor in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Princ? | Lord Voldemort | Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance. Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died, just hours after giving birth. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who takes sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of "Muggles", his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the prejudicial circumstances under which he was brought into the world. In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so. CANNOTANSWER | Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape | Lord Voldemort (, in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.
Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord". He attempts to murder the boy, but instead kills his parents, Lily and James Potter, and leaves Harry with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. Nearly every witch or wizard dares not utter his name and refers to him instead with such monikers as "You-Know-Who", "He Who Must Not Be Named", or "the Dark Lord". Voldemort's obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of the wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of Muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.
Character development
In a 1999 interview, Rowling said Voldemort was invented as a nemesis for Harry Potter, and she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea [was that Harry] didn't know he was a wizard ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And—so—but for some mysterious reason the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since."
In the second book, Rowling establishes that Voldemort hates non-pure-blood wizards, despite being a half-blood himself. In a 2000 interview with the BBC, Rowling described Voldemort as a self-hating bully: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does." In the same year, Rowling became more precise about Voldemort. She began to link him to real-life tyrants, describing him as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering". In 2004, though, Rowling said that she did not base Voldemort on any real person. In 2006, Rowling told an interviewer that Voldemort at his core has a human fear: the fear of death. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death."
Throughout the series, Rowling establishes that Voldemort is so feared in the wizarding world that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a "taboo" spell is placed upon the name, such that Voldemort or his followers may trace anyone who utters it. By this means, his followers eventually find and capture Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the second book, Rowling reveals that I am Lord Voldemort is an anagram of the character's birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. According to the author, Voldemort's name is an invented word. The name Voldemort is derived from the French vol de mort which means "flight of death" or "theft of death".
Appearances
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who tried to kill Harry Potter because the boy was prophesied to destroy him. Voldemort murdered Harry's parents, James and Lily, but as a result of his mother's love and willingness to sacrifice herself for him, baby Harry survived when Voldemort tried to murder him with a Killing Curse. Voldemort was disembodied, and Harry was left with a mysterious, lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as a result.
In the book, Voldemort unsuccessfully tries to regain his dissolved body by stealing the titular Philosopher's Stone. To achieve his objective, Voldemort uses Professor Quirrell's aid by latching onto the back of the latter's head. However, at the climax of the book, Harry manages to prevent Voldemort from stealing the stone.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
In the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of a teenage Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, when Riddle rearranges the letters in his name to write "I am Lord Voldemort", Riddle is revealed as a magical manifestation of the boy who would later grow up to become the Dark Lord. Riddle states he has grown strong on Ginny's fears and eventually possesses her, using her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, whence a basilisk is set free and petrifies several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats the manifestation of Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Voldemort does not appear in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, either in person or as a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the harsh effects of a Dementor. Towards the end of the story, Sybill Trelawney, the Divination professor, makes a rare genuine prophecy: "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..." Though it is initially implied that the prophecy refers to Sirius Black, the book's ostensible antagonist, the servant is eventually revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, for the 12 years since Voldemort's fall, has been disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the fourth instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort reappears at the start and the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry's favour. Voldemort's goal is to teleport Harry under Dumbledore's watch as a reluctant participant to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family is buried. Harry is captured and, after Pettigrew uses Harry's blood to fulfil a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to his full power. For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils". Rowling writes that his "hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness". It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry. After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort creates a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed. Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his Death Eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, when Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands. Because of a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem, ghost-like manifestations of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via Portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Voldemort appears at the climax of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, having again plotted against Harry. In this book, Harry goes through extreme emotional stress, and according to Rowling, it was necessary to prove that Harry is emotionally vulnerable and thus human, in contrast to his nemesis Voldemort, who is emotionally invulnerable and thus inhuman: "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, there's a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. […] and Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down." In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that he has returned. Voldemort engineers a plot to free Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarks on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries regarding Harry and himself. He sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where the Order of the Phoenix meets them. All but Bellatrix are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Dumbledore. When Dumbledore gets the upper hand, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds incomprehensible, and which he detests as weakness: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister for Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge in the next book.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance.
Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who took sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of Muggles, his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the coercive circumstances under which he was brought into the world.
In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to kill Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort furthers his quest for ultimate power. He disposes of the Minister for Magic and replaces him with Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse. Establishing a totalitarian police state, he has Muggle-borns persecuted and arrested for "stealing magic" from the "pure blood" wizards. After failing to kill Harry with Draco's father Lucius Malfoy's borrowed wand (to avoid the effect of Priori Incantatem), he goes on a murderous search for the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand ever created, seeing it as the weapon he needs to overcome Harry's wand and make him truly invincible. He goes on a quest that takes him out of the country to Gregorovitch's wand shop, where he kills the old wandmaker. His journey also takes him to Nurmengard, the prison where Gellert Grindelwald is kept, and he kills Grindelwald as well. He finally locates the Elder Wand and steals it from Dumbledore's tomb.
Later, Voldemort finds out that Harry and his friends are hunting and destroying his Horcruxes when informed of their heist on the Lestranges' vault at Gringotts in search for Hufflepuff's Cup. After offering the occupants of Hogwarts mercy if they give up Harry, he assembles a large army and launches an invasion of the castle, where Harry is searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem. Voldemort orders his pet snake Nagini to execute Snape, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand, since Snape killed Dumbledore. He then calls an hour's armistice, in exchange for Harry. When Harry willingly walks into Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort strikes him down with the Elder Wand. However, the use of Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort's body proves to be a major setback: while Harry's blood runs in Voldemort's veins, Harry cannot be killed as his mother's protection lives on now in Voldemort too. Instead, Voldemort destroys the part of his own soul that resides in Harry's body. Voldemort forces Rubeus Hagrid to carry Harry's apparently lifeless body back to the castle as a trophy, sparking another battle during which Nagini, his last Horcrux, is destroyed by Neville Longbottom. The battle then moves into the Great Hall, where Voldemort fights Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Horace Slughorn simultaneously. Harry then reveals himself and explains to Voldemort that Draco became the true master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Dumbledore; Harry, in turn, won the wand's allegiance when he took Draco's wand. Refusing to believe this, Voldemort casts the Killing Curse with the Elder Wand while Harry uses a Disarming Charm with Draco's, but the Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and the spell rebounds on Voldemort who, with all of his Horcruxes destroyed, finally dies. His body is laid in a different chamber from all the others who died battling him.
Rowling stated that after his death, Voldemort is forced to exist in the stunted infant-like form that Harry sees in the King's Cross-like Limbo after his confrontation with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. Rowling also mentioned that, despite his extreme fear of death, he cannot become a ghost.
Appearances in other material
In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is revealed that Bellatrix gave birth to Voldemort's daughter Delphi in Malfoy Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts. Twenty-two years later, Delphi poses as Cedric's cousin and manipulates Harry and Ginny's second son Albus Severus Potter and his friend, Draco and Astoria Greengrass's son Scorpius Malfoy, into stealing a prototype Time Turner with which she hopes to resurrect her father. Using the Time Turner, Scorpius accidentally creates an alternative timeline where Voldemort killed Harry at the battle and now rules the wizarding world. In an attempt to achieve this future, Delphi travels to Godric's Hollow on the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents, hoping to avert the prophecy that led to her father's downfall. After receiving a message from his son, Harry, together with Ron, Hermione and Draco (who by now has become friends with Harry after they join forces to save their respective sons) transfigures himself into Voldemort so that he can distract Delphi, allowing them to overpower her. The real Voldemort kills Harry's parents as prophesied, and Delphi is sent to Azkaban.
Portrayals within films
Voldemort appears in every Harry Potter film, with the exception of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Several actors have portrayed him in his varying incarnations and ages.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort's manifestation is as a face on the back of Quirrell's head, an effect achieved by computer generated imagery. Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell in the same film, provided the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen drinking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Richard Bremmer, though his face is never seen. His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the 16-year-old Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. As in the book, Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and emaciated, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the book, his pupils are not cat-like and his eyes are blue, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). As in the book, the film version of Voldemort has snake-like slit nostrils with the flesh of his nose significantly pressed back. Ralph Fiennes' nose was not covered in makeup on the set, but was digitally removed in post-production. In this first appearance, Voldemort also has a forked tongue, but this element was removed for the subsequent films.
Fiennes stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climactic showdown scene where he is gloating over a terrified Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded: "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research." Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.
Fiennes's nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, portrayed Tom Riddle as a child in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. By the time filming arrived Christian Coulson was 29, and not considered suitable to return as the adolescent Riddle. Thomas James Longley was originally scheduled to take over the role, but last minute renegotiations saw Frank Dillane cast instead.
Characterisation
Outward appearance
After he regains his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort as having pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. As mentioned in the first chapter of the seventh book, he also has no hair or lips. Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle was handsome and tall with pale skin, jet black hair, and dark brown eyes. He could charm many people with his looks. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes and becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul. In the films, Voldemort's eyes are blue with round pupils.
Personality
Rowling described Voldemort as "the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years". She elaborated that he is a "raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering", and whose only ambition in life is to become all-powerful and immortal. He is also a sadist who hurts and murders people—especially Muggles—for his own amusement. He has no conscience, feels no remorse or empathy, and does not recognise the worth and humanity of anybody except himself.
He feels no need for human companionship or friendship, and cannot comprehend love or affection for another. He believes he is superior to everyone around him, to the point that he frequently refers to himself in the third person as "Lord Voldemort". Rowling also stated that Voldemort is "incredibly power hungry. Racist, really", and that if Voldemort were to look into the Mirror of Erised, in which one sees one's greatest desire, he would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants."
Rowling also stated that Voldemort's conception by influence of Amortentia—a love potion administered by his mother, a witch named Merope Gaunt, to the Muggle Tom Riddle—is related to his inability to understand love; it is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union—but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can't be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".
Like most archetypical villains, Voldemort's arrogance leads to his downfall. He also suffers from a pathological fear of death, which he regards as a shameful and ignominious human weakness. According to Rowling, his Boggart would be his own corpse. Rowling also said that the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry accepts mortality, and thus Harry is, in the end, stronger than his nemesis.
Magical abilities and skills
Rowling establishes Voldemort throughout the series as an extremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless dark wizard, described as the greatest and most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. He is known as one of the greatest Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens; he can read minds and shield his own from penetration. Besides Dumbledore, he is also the only wizard ever known to be able to apparate silently. Voldemort was also said to fear one wizard alone, Dumbledore.
In the final book, Voldemort flies unsupported, something that amazes those who see it. Voldemort, like his ancestral family, the Gaunts, is a Parselmouth, meaning he can converse with serpents. This skill was inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The Gaunt family speak Parseltongue among themselves. This highly unusual trait may be preserved through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family to maintain their blood's purity. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of the former's soul. After that bit of soul is destroyed, Harry loses this ability. In a flashback in the sixth novel, Voldemort boasts to Dumbledore during a job interview that he has "pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they had ever before". Dumbledore states that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is more extensive than any wizard alive and that even Dumbledore's most powerful protective spells and charms would likely be insufficient if Voldemort returned to full power. Dumbledore also said that Voldemort was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Although Voldemort remains highly accomplished and prodigious in skill, he is enormously lacking and highly inept in the most powerful magic, love. This inability to love and trust others proves to be Voldemort's greatest weakness in the series. Voldemort initially voices scepticism that his own magic might not be the most powerful, but upon returning to power, he admits to his Death Eaters that he had overlooked the ancient and powerful magic which Lily Potter invoked and that would protect Harry from harm.
On her website, Rowling wrote that Voldemort's wand is made of yew, whose sap is poisonous and which symbolises death. It forms a deliberate contrast to Harry's wand, which is made of holly, which she chose because holly is alleged to repel evil.
Rowling establishes in the books that Voldemort is magically connected to Harry via Harry's forehead scar. He disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry rebounds on him, leaving the scar on Harry's forehead. In the books, and to a lesser extent in the films, Harry's scar serves as an indicator of Voldemort's presence: it burns when the Dark Lord is near or when Voldemort is feeling murderous or exultant. According to Rowling, by attacking Harry when he was a baby Voldemort gave him "tools [that] no other wizard possessed—the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind".
Family
Notes: The names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films. The Potter Family is not shown.
Riddle family
The Riddle family, an old gentry family, consisted of Thomas and Mary Riddle and their son, Tom Riddle, Esq. They owned over half of the valley that the town of Little Hangleton lay in, and Thomas was the most prominent inhabitant of that town. They lived in a large house with fine gardens, but were unpopular amongst the local residents due to their snobbish attitudes. Tom, the only child of Thomas and Mary, was known as a playboy, his main interests being womanizing and horse-riding.
Rowling revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that young Merope Gaunt fell in love with Riddle, peering at him through the windows and bushes at every opportunity. Merope's brother Morfin disapproved of his sister's affection for Tom and hexed him as he rode by, covering him in hives. This breach of wizarding law, and the ensuing violent struggle with Ministry of Magic officials, led to Marvolo and Morfin being imprisoned in Azkaban. As surmised by Dumbledore, once Merope was alone and no longer dominated by her father, she could make her move for Tom. She offered him a drink laced with a love potion, and he became infatuated with her; they soon eloped and, within three months of the marriage, Merope became pregnant. Merope decided to stop giving Tom the love potion, having come to the belief such enchantment of a man was tantamount to slavery. She also revealed her witch status to Tom, believing either that he had fallen in love with her on his own or he would at least stay for their unborn child. She was wrong, and Tom quickly left his pregnant wife and went home to his parents, claiming to have been "hoodwinked" and tricked into marrying Merope. Tom Marvolo Riddle, their son, was born on 31 December 1926 Merope died in childbirth, leaving the baby to grow up alone in an orphanage.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is revealed that Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents, leaving himself the only surviving member of the Riddle family.
House of Gaunt
Most of the exposition of the House of Gaunts background occurs in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, through the medium of Dumbledore's Pensieve. The Gaunts were once a powerful and influential family, and are the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin. However, a vein of mental instability and violence within the family, reinforced through cousin marriages intended to preserve the pureblood line, had reduced them to poverty and squalor, as shown in the Pensieve's "memory" that Harry and Dumbledore witnessed. Like Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunts spoke Parseltongue. At the time of the story, the Gaunts' only material asset is a ramshackle shanty in Little Hangleton, that stood in a thicket in a valley opposite the Riddle House. Like the Riddles, the Gaunts were also unpopular with the local residents, with a reputation for being vulgar and intimidating.
Marvolo Gaunt was the last family patriarch. He was sentenced to a short term in Azkaban for his and his son's assault upon a Ministry of Magic official; this affected his health and he died soon after returning home. His signet ring passed to his son, Morfin Gaunt, who was convicted of assaulting a Muggle, and later died in Azkaban, convicted this time as a party to the murder of Tom Riddle Jr. and Riddle's parents.
Dumbledore discovers the real culprit while visiting Morfin in Azkaban to gather information about Voldemort. After Dumbledore successfully extracts Morfin's memory of his encounter with his nephew, he tries to use the evidence to have Morfin released, but Morfin dies before the decision can be made. The House of Gaunt ended with Morfin's death.
Merope Gaunt () was the daughter of Marvolo, and sister of Morfin. Harry's first impression of her was that she looked "like the most defeated person he had ever seen". She married Tom Riddle Jr and became pregnant within three months of the wedding. It is suggested that she tricked her husband into loving her by using a love potion, but when she became pregnant, she chose to stop administering the potion. It is implied that Merope had grown tired of living the lie and thought that her husband might have grown to love her, or that he might have stayed for the sake of their unborn child; however, he left her. Desperate, Merope wandered through the streets of London. The only thing she had left was the heavy gold locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of her family's most treasured items, which she sold for a small amount. When she was due to give birth, she stumbled into a Muggle orphanage, where she gave birth to her only son. She died within the next hour.
Gormlaith Gaunt was a 17th-century descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and like Salazar, a Parselmouth. Her wand was that which once belonged to Salazar himself. Educated at Hogwarts, Gormlaith lived in Ireland in the early 1600s. In about 1608, Gormlaith killed her estranged unnamed sister, and her sister's husband, William Sayre (a descendant of the Irish witch Morrigan), and kidnapped their five-year-old daughter, Isolt Sayre, raising her in the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee, or "Hag's Glen", because she felt that her parents' association with Muggles would badly influence Isolt. Fanatical and cruel, Gormlaith used Dark magic to isolate Isolt from others, forbade her a wand, and did not allow her to attend Hogwarts as she herself had, disgusted that it was now filled with Muggle-borns. After twelve years with Gormlaith, Isolt stole Gormlaith's wand and fled to the Colonies and settled in Massachusetts, where she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Gormlaith learned of the school, she pursued her niece in Massachusetts, where she was killed by Isolt's friend, William the Pukwudgie, with a venom-tipped arrow.
The Gaunts, including Voldemort, are distantly related to Harry because they are descendants of the Peverell brothers.
Reception
Several people have drawn a parallel between Voldemort and some politicians. Rowling has said that Voldemort was "a sort of" Adolf Hitler, and that there is some parallel with Nazism in her books. Rowling also compared Voldemort to Joseph Stalin. Alfonso Cuarón, director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban compared Voldemort to George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, who he said "...have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people." Andrew Slack and the Harry Potter Alliance compare media consolidation in the US to Voldemort's regime in Deathly Hallows and its control over the Daily Prophet and other media saying that "Once Voldemort took over every form of media in the wizarding world, Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix formed an independent media movement called 'Potterwatch'. Now the HP Alliance and Wizard Rock have come together to fight for a Potterwatch movement in the real world to fight back against Big VoldeMedia from further pushing out local and foreign news, minority representation, and the right to a Free Press." Julia Turner of Slate Magazine also noted similarities between the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the War on Terror. She said that Voldemort commits acts of terrorism such as destroying bridges, murdering innocents, and forcing children to kill their elders.
Voldemort has also been compared with other characters within fiction, for example Sauron from The Lord of the Rings; they are, during the time when the main plot takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat, and are also so feared that they are sometimes unnamed.
IGN listed Voldemort as their seventh favourite Harry Potter character, calling him "truly frightening".
In popular culture
Several campaigns have used Voldemort to compare his evil to the influence of politicians, large media and corporations. "Lord Voldemort" is a nickname sometimes used for Peter Mandelson. Voldemort is also a recurring theme among wizard rock bands. Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! is the second album from Harry and the Potters, and the character is mentioned in songs such as "The Dark Lord Lament" and "Flesh, Blood, and Bone".
Voldemort has been parodied in various venues. In The Simpsons 13th season's premiere, "Treehouse of Horror XII", Montgomery Burns appears as "Lord Montymort". A parody of Voldemort appears in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as "Lord Moldybutt", an enemy of Nigel Planter (a parody of Harry). Voldemort also appears in the Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. One of the episodes including him was the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for "Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.
"Continuing the Magic", an article in the 21 May 2007 issue of Time, includes mock book covers designed by author Lon Tweeten, laced with pop culture references. One of them, the "Dark Lord of the Dance", shows Voldemort teaming up with Harry on Broadway. In the MAD Magazine parodies of the films, the character is called Lord Druckermort, a backwards reference to the magazine's longtime caricaturist Mort Drucker. In Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969, a young Tom Marvolo Riddle (introduced as "Tom", whose middle name is a "marvel" and last name is a "conundrum") appears, and becomes the new avatar of Oliver Haddo at the story's conclusion. In A Very Potter Musical, Voldemort is played by actor Joe Walker.
In a segment celebrating British children's literature at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London, an inflatable Voldemort appeared alongside other villains, The Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil, to haunt children's dreams, before the arrival of a group of over thirty Mary Poppins who descended with their umbrellas to defeat them.
During the 2016 United States elections, Daniel Radcliffe was asked by Sky News journalist Craig Dillon if he would compare Donald Trump to Lord Voldemort; Radcliffe responded, "Trump is worse".
Voldemort appears in The Lego Batman Movie as one of the prisoners in the Phantom Zone that Joker recruits to take over Gotham City. Though Ralph Fiennes is featured in this movie as the voice of the British butler Alfred Pennyworth, he does not reprise his role as Voldemort. Instead, Voldemort is voiced by Eddie Izzard.
Outside of the Harry Potter video games, Voldemort is also a playable character in Lego Dimensions, with archive audio of Fiennes' portrayal in the films used for his voiceovers.
A 2018 Italian fan film titled Voldemort: Origins of the Heir depicts the story of Tom Riddle's rise to power.
Voldemort appears in Space Jam: A New Legacy, in the crowd for the game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
An upcoming French fan-made short-film titled The House of Gaunt - Lord Voldemort Origins explores the origin story of Voldemort and The Gaunt family.
Notes
References
External links
Lord Voldemort at Harry Potter Lexicon
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Psychopathy in fiction
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"This is a list of characters in the Harry Potter series. They are all characters who have appeared in a Harry Potter-related book by J. K. Rowling.\n\nCharacters by surname\n\nA\nHannah Abbott – Hufflepuff student in Harry Potter's year. Prefect and member of Dumbledore's Army. Married to Neville Longbottom.\n\nB\n\nLudo Bagman – Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports within the Ministry of Magic.\nBathilda Bagshot – Author of A History of Magic, and the great aunt of Gellert Grindelwald.\nKatie Bell – Gryffindor Quidditch Chaser one year above Harry Potter. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nCuthbert Binns – ghost, History of Magic professor. \nPhineas Nigellus Black – Great-great-grandfather of Sirius Black and former Hogwarts headmaster. His painting hangs in the office and assists the current headmaster.\nSirius Black – Harry's godfather who was a close friend of Harry's father James. Escapee from Azkaban prison and member of the Order of the Phoenix. Killed in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange.\n\nAmelia Bones – Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the aunt of Susan Bones. Killed by Lord Voldemort.\nSusan Bones – Hufflepuff student in Harry's year. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nTerry Boot – Ravenclaw student in Harry's year. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nLavender Brown – Gryffindor student in Harry's year and member of Dumbledore's Army. Killed in the Battle of Hogwarts.\nMillicent Bulstrode – Slytherin student in Harry's year. Member of Dolores Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad.\nCharity Burbage – Professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. Killed by Lord Voldemort.\nFrank Bryce – Muggle gardener for the Riddle family. Killed by Lord Voldemort.\n\nC\n\nAlecto Carrow – Death Eater and sister of Amycus Carrow. Professor of Muggle Studies for one year, and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts under Severus Snape. \nAmycus Carrow – Death Eater and brother of Alecto Carrow. Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts for one year, and Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts under Snape. \nReginald Cattermole – Employee of the Magical Maintenance Department for the Ministry of Magic. Impersonated by Ron Weasley.\nCho Chang – Ravenclaw Quidditch Seeker one year above Harry, and his first love interest. Member of Dumbledore's Army. \nPenelope Clearwater – Ravenclaw prefect and girlfriend of Percy Weasley.\nCrabbe – Death Eater and father of Vincent Crabbe.\nVincent Crabbe – Slytherin student in Harry's year and the son of a Death Eater. Slytherin Quidditch Beater and member of the Inquisitorial Squad. Killed by his own Fiendfyre spell.\nColin Creevey – Muggle-born Gryffindor student one year below Harry. Older brother of Dennis Creevey, and member of Dumbledore's Army. Killed during the Battle of Hogwarts.\nDennis Creevey – Muggle-born Gryffindor student three years below Harry. Younger brother of Colin Creevey, and member of Dumbledore's Army.\nDirk Cresswell – Muggle-born Head of the Goblin Liaison Office, went on the run with fellow Muggle-borns Ted Tonks, Dean Thomas and goblins Gornuk and Griphook, during which he is killed.\nBarty Crouch Sr – Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Killed by his son Barty Crouch Jr.\nBarty Crouch Jr – Death Eater credited with facilitating the return of Lord Voldemort. Used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Alastor Moody, and received a Dementor's Kiss.\n\nD\n\nJohn Dawlish – an Auror.\nFleur Delacour – Participant in the Triwizard Tournament as a representative of wizarding school Beauxbatons. Later married Bill Weasley. \nGabrielle Delacour – Fleur's younger sister. Rescued by Harry during the Triwizard Tournament.\nDedalus Diggle – Member of the Order of the Phoenix who took the Dursleys into hiding.\nAmos Diggory – Cedric Diggory's father. Employee of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. \nCedric Diggory – Hufflepuff student and prefect two years above Harry. Quidditch Seeker and captain, and co-winner of the Triwizard Tournament. Killed by Peter Pettigrew on Lord Voldemort's command.\nElphias Doge – A school friend of Albus Dumbledore.\nAntonin Dolohov – Death Eater who killed Fabian Prewett, Gideon Prewett, and Remus Lupin.\nAberforth Dumbledore – Brother of Albus and Ariana Dumbledore. Owner of the Hog's Head tavern.\nAlbus Dumbledore – Transfiguration professor in Tom Riddle's time, and Hogwarts headmaster in Harry Potter's time. Founder of the Order of the Phoenix. Killed by Severus Snape on Dumbledore's request.\nAriana Dumbledore – Sister of Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore, killed in a three-way duel between her brothers and Gellert Grindelwald.\nKendra Dumbledore – Wife of Percival Dumbledore. Mother of Albus, Aberforth, and Ariana Dumbledore.\nPercival Dumbledore – Husband of Kendra Dumbledore, father of Albus, Aberforth, and Ariana Dumbledore.\nDudley Dursley – Muggle son of Vernon Dursley and Petunia Evans, first cousin of Harry Potter.\nMarge Dursley – Muggle sister of Vernon Dursley.\nPetunia Dursley – Harry's aunt, and his mother Lily's sister. Vernon's wife and Dudley's mother.\nVernon Dursley – Harry Potter's Muggle uncle. Petunia's husband and Dudley's father.\n\nE\nMarietta Edgecombe – Ravenclaw student one year above Harry. Member of Dumbledore's Army who later betrays the group to Dolores Umbridge.\n\nF\nArabella Figg – Squib neighbour of the Dursleys. Member of the Order of the Phoenix.\nArgus Filch – Squib caretaker of Hogwarts.\nJustin Finch-Fletchley – Muggle-born Hufflepuff student in Harry's year. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nSeamus Finnigan – Gryffindor student in Harry's year. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nNicolas Flamel – Creator and owner of the Philosopher's Stone.\nMundungus Fletcher – Common thief and shifty Order of the Phoenix member.\nFilius Flitwick – Head of Ravenclaw House and Charms professor at Hogwarts.\nCornelius Fudge – Minister for Magic in the first five books. Sacked after persistently denying Lord Voldemort's return.\n\nG\n\nMarvolo Gaunt – The pure-blood father of Merope and Morfin Gaunt, and grandfather of Tom Marvolo Riddle.\nMerope Gaunt – Tom Riddle's mother who died in childbirth.\nMorfin Gaunt – Marvolo's son and Merope's brother. Framed by his nephew Tom Riddle for Muggle killings, and died in Azkaban.\nAnthony Goldstein – Ravenclaw student in Harry's year. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nGoyle – Death Eater and father of Gregory Goyle.\nGregory Goyle – Slytherin student in Harry's year. Slytherin Quidditch Beater and member of the Inquisitorial Squad.\nHermione Granger – Muggle-born Gryffindor student in Harry's year and one of his best friends. Prefect and co-founder of Dumbledore's Army.\nAstoria Greengrass – Draco Malfoy's wife. She died in 2019 due to her blood curse.\nGregorovitch – highly regarded Eastern European wandmaker.\nFenrir Greyback – Werewolf working for the Death Eaters.\nGellert Grindelwald – Dark wizard who was jailed after Albus Dumbledore defeated him in the 1940s.\nWilhelmina Grubbly-Plank – Substitute Care of Magical Creatures professor during Harry's fourth and fifth years.\nGodric Gryffindor – One of the four founders of Hogwarts. He was a very powerful wizard.\n\nH\nRubeus Hagrid – Half-giant Hogwarts gamekeeper, and Care of Magical Creatures professor starting in Harry's third year. Member of the Order of the Phoenix. As a Hogwarts student, he was expelled in his third year.\nRolanda Hooch – Hogwarts flying instructor and Quidditch referee.\nMafalda Hopkirk – Witch who works in the Ministry of Magic. Impersonated by Hermione Granger.\nHelga Hufflepuff- Founder of Hufflepuff House. Co-founder of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.\n\nJ\nAngelina Johnson – Gryffindor student two years above Harry. Quidditch Chaser and later team captain.\nLee Jordan – Gryffindor student two years above Harry. Hogwarts Quidditch commentator and good friend of Fred and George Weasley.\nBertha Jorkins – Ministry of Magic employee that worked under the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Killed by Voldemort in order to create Nagini as the last horcrux.\n\nK\n\nIgor Karkaroff – Reformed Death Eater. Headmaster of wizarding school Durmstrang.\nViktor Krum – Bulgarian Quidditch Seeker and Durmstrang student who participated in the Triwizard Tournament.\nSilvanus Kettleburn – Care of Magical Creatures teacher until Harry's third year.\n\nL\n\nBellatrix Lestrange – Cousin of Sirius Black. Death Eater who tortured Neville Longbottom's parents Frank and Alice into insanity. Killed by Molly Weasley during the Battle of Hogwarts.\nGilderoy Lockhart – Fraudulent celebrity author and Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Lost his memory after a memory charm backfired and resided in St. Mungo's afterwards.\nAlice and Frank Longbottom – Neville Longbottom's parents. Aurors and members of the original Order of the Phoenix. Tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange.\nAugusta Longbottom – Frank's mother and Neville's grandmother, who raises him after his parents are incapacitated.\nNeville Longbottom – Gryffindor student in Harry's year. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nLuna Lovegood – Xenophilius Lovegood's daughter and Ravenclaw student one year below Harry. Member of Dumbledore's Army and wife of Newt Scamander's grandson Rolf.\nXenophilius Lovegood – Luna's father. Editor of tabloid magazine The Quibbler.\nRemus Lupin – Lycanthropic Gryffindor student before Harry's time who befriended Sirius Black and James Potter. Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts in Harry's third year, and member of the Order of the Phoenix. He and his wife Nymphadora Tonks gave birth to a son, Teddy, before dying in the Battle of Hogwarts.\n\nM\n\nWalden Macnair – Death Eater and Committee of Disposal of Dangerous Creatures' executioner. Injured badly by Hagrid during the Battle of Hogwarts.\nDraco Malfoy – Slytherin student in Harry's year. Quidditch Seeker, prefect, and member of the Inquisitorial Squad. \nLucius Malfoy – Draco's father and an influential Death Eater. Governor of Hogwarts early in the series.\nNarcissa Malfoy – Lucius' wife and Draco's mother. Sister of Bellatrix Lestrange and Andromeda Tonks.\nScorpius Malfoy – Son of Draco Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass. Sorted into Slytherin. Friends with Albus Potter.\nMadam Malkin – Clothing shop owner in Diagon Alley.\nGriselda Marchbanks – Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority which ran the O.W.L, N.E.W.T., and W.O.M.B.A.T. exams. Wizengamot elder.\nOlympe Maxime – Half-giantess. Headmistress of Beauxbatons.\nErnie Macmillan – Hufflepuff student in Harry's year. Prefect and member of Dumbledore's Army.\nMinerva McGonagall – Hogwarts Transfiguration professor, Head of Gryffindor House, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, and member of the Order of the Phoenix. Assumes position of Hogwarts Headmaster for a time after Voldemort's death.\n Eloise Midgen – Gryffindor student that accidentally removed her nose trying to get rid of her acne. Known for her bad case of acne.\nCormac McLaggen – Gryffindor student one year above Harry Potter. Quidditch Keeper and member of Horace Slughorn's Slug Club.\nGraham Montague – Slytherin Quidditch Chaser who became trapped inside a Vanishing Cabinet for a day.\nAlastor (Mad-Eye) Moody – Retired Auror and member of the Order of the Phoenix. Impersonated by Barty Crouch Jr. in his scheme to enter Harry into the Triwizard Tournament. Killed by Voldemort.\n\nN\n\nTheodore Nott – Slytherin student in the same year as Harry Potter, and son of a Death Eater.\n Nott Sr – Theodore Nott's father. Death Eater.\n\nO\n\nBob Ogden – Leader of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Squad in the 1920s. Turned the Gaunt family over to the Wizengamot for using magic in front of a Muggle. Died before Harry Potter's sixth year.\nGarrick Ollivander – Wandmaker and owner of the Ollivanders wand shop. Kidnapped by the Malfoy family for several months until freed by Harry, Ron, and Hermione.\n\nP\n\nPansy Parkinson – Slytherin student in Harry's year. Prefect and member of the Inquisitorial Squad.\nPadma Patil – Ravenclaw student in Harry's year. Identical twin sister of Gryffindor student Parvati Patil, and a member of Dumbledore's Army.\nParvati Patil – Gryffindor student in Harry's year and Padma's identical twin sister. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nPeter Pettigrew – Death Eater and former school friend of James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Betrays Harry's parents James and Lily Potter to Voldemort, resulting in their deaths. Pettigrew is first introduced in the series as Ron Weasley's pet rat Scabbers. He is strangled to death by his own metal prosthetic hand after his loyalty towards Voldemort wavers upon Harry confronting him about having previously spared Pettigrew's life.\nAntioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell – Three brothers who were the original owners of the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak, respectively.\nIrma Pince – Hogwarts librarian.\nSturgis Podmore – Member of the Order of the Phoenix.\nPoppy Pomfrey – Hogwarts school nurse.\nHarry Potter – The main character of the series. Orphaned son of James and Lily Potter. Gryffindor student at Hogwarts, and co-founder and first leader of Dumbledore's Army. The husband of Ginny Weasley, father of James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna Potter.\nJames Potter – Harry Potter's father and member of the Order of the Phoenix. Killed along with his wife Lily by Lord Voldemort prior to the start of the series.\nLily Potter – Harry Potter's mother and member of the Order of the Phoenix. Killed by Lord Voldemort.\nAlbus Severus Potter – Second child of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley.\nJames Sirius Potter – Harry and Ginny's first child.\nLily Luna Potter – Harry and Ginny's third child.\n\nQ\n\nQuirinus Quirrell – Defence Against the Dark Arts professor in Harry Potter's first year. Possessed by Lord Voldemort.\n\nR\n\nHelena Ravenclaw/The Grey Lady – Daughter of house founder Rowena Ravenclaw. Stole and hid her mother's diadem, and became Ravenclaw's house ghost after being killed by the Bloody Baron.\nRowena Ravenclaw – One of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and founder of the Ravenclaw house.\nDelphi Riddle – The main antagonist of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange who tries to bring Voldemort back to life by completing a prophecy. Currently imprisoned in Azkaban.\nMary Riddle – Thomas Riddle Sr.'s Muggle wife, and Thomas Riddle Jr.'s mother. Killed by her grandson, Lord Voldemort.\nThomas Riddle Sr. – Mary's Muggle husband and Thomas Riddle Jr.'s father. Killed by Voldemort.\nThomas Riddle Jr. – Voldemort's Muggle father and Merope Gaunt's husband. Killed by his son, Lord Voldemort.\nThomas Marvolo Riddle – Slytherin student who became Lord Voldemort.\nDemelza Robins – Gryffindor student and Quidditch Chaser.\nAugustus Rookwood – Death Eater and spy working in the Department of Mysteries.\nThorfinn Rowle – Death Eater.\nAlbert Runcorn – Ministry of Magic employee whose chief function was as an investigator of alleged Muggle-borns.\n\nS\n\nNewt Scamander – Magizoologist and author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Main character in the Fantastic Beasts film series. Expelled Hogwarts student who excels in curing different sicknesses. \nRufus Scrimgeour – Head of the Auror Office who replaces Cornelius Fudge as Minister for Magic. Killed by Death Eaters.\nKingsley Shacklebolt – Auror and member of the Order of the Phoenix. Replaces Pius Thicknesse as Minister for Magic.\nStan Shunpike – Conductor of the triple-decker Knight Bus. Jailed in Azkaban on suspicions of being a Death Eater.\nAurora Sinistra – Astronomy professor at Hogwarts.\nRita Skeeter – Reporter and tabloid journalist for the Daily Prophet.\nHorace Slughorn – Former Hogwarts Potions professor and Head of Slytherin House, whose charges included Tom Riddle. Returned to Hogwarts to teach Potions in Harry's sixth year.\nSalazar Slytherin – One of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and founder of the Slytherin house.\nZacharias Smith – Hufflepuff Quidditch Chaser in Harry's year. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nSeverus Snape – Potions and later Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Head of Slytherin House, and member of both the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix as a double agent spying for Dumbledore.\nAlicia Spinnet – Gryffindor student two years above Harry. Quidditch Chaser and member of Dumbledore's Army.\nPomona Sprout – Hogwarts Herbology professor and Head of Hufflepuff House.\n\nT\n\nPius Thicknesse – Minister for Magic while under the Imperius Curse. Replaced by Kingsley Shacklebolt.\nDean Thomas – Gryffindor student in Harry's year. Member of Dumbledore's Army.\nAndromeda Tonks – Sister of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, and the mother of Nymphadora Tonks. Disowned by her family for marrying Muggle-born Ted Tonks.\nNymphadora Tonks – Ted and Andromeda's daughter. Auror and member of the Order of the Phoenix. She marries Remus Lupin and becomes the mother of a son, Teddy, before she and Remus are killed in the Battle of Hogwarts. \nTed Tonks – Andromeda's Muggle-born husband, and the father of Nymphadora Tonks. Killed by Snatchers.\nSybill Trelawney – Hogwarts Divination professor. Predicted the prophecy that prompted Lord Voldemort to go after the Potters.\nWilkie Twycross – Hogwarts Apparition instructor who works in the Department of Magical Transportation.\n\nU\n\nDolores Umbridge – Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, Hogwarts High Inquisitor and temporary Headmistress of Hogwarts. She becomes Defence Against the Dark Arts professor in Harry Potter's fifth year, and joins in the persecution of half-bloods and Muggle-borns under Voldemort. Sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban.\n\nV\nEmmeline Vance – Member of the Order of the Phoenix. Killed by Death Eaters.\nRomilda Vane – Gryffindor student who unsuccessfully tries to romance Harry.\nSeptima Vector – Arithmancy professor at Hogwarts.\nLord Voldemort (Tom Marvolo Riddle) – The villain of the series. Murderer of Harry Potter's parents and many others in his quest for immortality and absolute power.\n\nW\nMyrtle Warren/Moaning Myrtle – Muggle-born Ravenclaw student during Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts. Killed by the Basilisk in a girls' bathroom, which she continued to haunt after her death.\nArthur Weasley – Muggle-obsessed Ministry of Magic employee, and member of the Order of the Phoenix. Husband of Molly Weasley, father of Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny Weasley.\nBill Weasley – Oldest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley, and Gringotts employee. Marries Fleur Delacour.\nCharlie Weasley – Second son of Arthur and Molly Weasley. Member of the Order of the Phoenix. Works with dragons in Romania.\nFred Weasley – Son of Arthur and Molly Weasley and identical twin brother of George Weasley. Gryffindor Quidditch Beater and member of Dumbledore's Army, later co-owner of joke shop Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Killed in the Battle of Hogwarts.\nGeorge Weasley – Son of Arthur and Molly Weasley and identical twin brother of Fred Weasley. Gryffindor Quidditch Beater and member of Dumbledore's Army. Co-owner of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Marries Angelina Johnson. \nGinny Weasley – Only daughter and youngest child of Arthur and Molly Weasley. Gryffindor student one year below Harry, Quidditch Seeker and Chaser, and member of Dumbledore's Army. Married to Harry Potter.\nHugo Weasley – Son of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, brother of Rose Weasley.\nMolly Weasley – Wife of Arthur Weasley and mother of Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. Member of the Order of the Phoenix.\nPercy Weasley – Third son of Arthur and Molly Weasley. Gryffindor prefect and Head Boy, then Ministry of Magic employee, during which he becomes estranged from his family before joining them in fighting the Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts.\nRon Weasley – Youngest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley who is best friends with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Gryffindor Quidditch Keeper, prefect, and co-founder of Dumbledore's Army.\nOliver Wood – Gryffindor Quidditch Keeper and captain four years above Harry.\nRose Weasley – Daughter of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Sister of Hugo Weasley.\n\nY\n\nCorban Yaxley – Death Eater. Head of Magical Law Enforcement under Voldemort's regime.\n\nZ\n\nBlaise Zabini – Slytherin student in Harry's year.\n\nCharacters with no or unknown surname\n\nA\nAragog – Giant spider raised by Rubeus Hagrid and lived in the Forbidden Forest.\n\nB\nBane – Centaur, not very wizard-friendly.\nBeedle the Bard – Author of several wizarding fairy tales including The Tale of the Three Brothers.\nThe Bloody Baron – Slytherin House ghost. Suitor of Helena Ravenclaw before killing her in a fit of blind rage, then commits suicide in remorse.\nBogrod – Head goblin at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Put under the Imperius curse when Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into Gringotts.\nBuckbeak – Hippogriff belonging at various times to Hagrid, Sirius Black and Harry Potter.\n\nC\nSir Cadogan – Armored and somewhat mad knight occupying a painting in Hogwarts.\nCrookshanks – Intelligent cat belonging to Hermione Granger.\n\nD\nDobby – House-elf originally belonging to the Malfoy family until he is set free by Harry in Chamber of Secrets, killed by Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.\n\nE\n\nErrol – Owl belonging to the Weasley family.\n\nF \nFang – Hagrid's pet boarhound.\nThe Fat Friar – Hufflepuff House ghost.\nThe Fat Lady – Witch in the painting concealing the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.\nFawkes – Phoenix belonging to Albus Dumbledore. Saved Harry Potter from the Basilisk inside the Chamber of Secrets.\nFirenze – Centaur and substitute Divination professor at Hogwarts during Harry's fifth year.\nFluffy – Three-headed dog belonging to Hagrid and protector of the Philosopher's Stone.\n\nG\nGornuk – Gringotts goblin who goes on the run from Death Eaters in Deathly Hallows along with fellow goblin Griphook, plus Dean Thomas, Ted Tonks, and Dirk Cresswell.\nGrawp – Giant and Hagrid's half-brother.\nGriphook – Gringotts Bank goblin who helps Harry and his friends steal Helga Hufflepuff's cup from within the Lestrange vault.\n\nH\nHedwig – Harry Potter's pet owl. Killed during the Battle of the Seven Potters.\nHokey – House-elf belonging to Hepzibah Smith.\n\nK\nKreacher – House-elf belonging to the Black family and later Harry Potter. Though at first preferring to serve the pureblood line (including Regulus Black, Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Draco Malfoy), he eventually prefers serving under Harry as he treats him better.\n\nM\nMagorian – A centaur.\nGreat Aunt Muriel – The Weasley children's great-aunt.\n\nN\nNagini – Lord Voldemort's massive pet snake that does his bidding. She is one of Voldemort's Horcruxes who is ultimately slain by Neville Longbottom during the Battle of Hogwarts. \nNearly Headless Nick – Gryffindor house ghost. Full name is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington.\nNorbert – A baby dragon illegally owned by Hagrid who is relocated to a reserve in Romania by friends of Ron's older brother Charlie Weasley.\n\nP\nPeeves – Hogwarts poltergeist, a mischievous magical being.\nPigwidgeon – A tiny mischievous owl belonging to Ron Weasley. Called \"Pig\" for short.\n\nR\nMadam Rosmerta – Proprietor of The Three Broomsticks inn in Hogsmeade village.\nRonan – A centaur living in the Forbidden Forest.\n\nS\nScabbers – Ron Weasley's pet rat in the first three stories who is revealed to be a wizard in animal form: Peter Pettigrew.\nScabior – Snatcher who captures Harry, Ron and Hermione in Deathly Hallows.\n\nT\nTravers – Wizard and Death Eater who escapes from Azkaban after Lord Voldemort's return.\nTrevor – Neville Longbottom's perpetually-misplaced pet toad.\n\nW\nWinky – A female house-elf who belonged to Barty Crouch Sr until he sacked her, then worked in the Hogwarts kitchen.\n\nSee also \n\n Magical creatures in Harry Potter\n Hogwarts staff\n Dumbledore's Army\n Death Eater\n Order of the Phoenix (fictional organisation)\n\nExternal links\nWizards and Witches A to Z from the Harry Potter Lexicon (fansite)\nJ.K. Rowling...A Day in the Life documentary from ITV\n\n \nHarry Potter\nHarry Potter\nHarry Potter lists\nHarry Potter",
"5972 Olton Hall is a preserved Great Western Railway Hall class locomotive.\n\nService\n\nBuilt in April 1937 at Swindon Works for the Great Western Railway (GWR), 5972 was first allocated to Carmarthen, South Wales where it remained until 1951. After being fitted with a three row superheater at Swindon Works, it was allocated to Plymouth Laira. Its last shed allocation was to Cardiff East Dock, before it was withdrawn in December 1963, and sold to Woodham Brothers, Barry for scrap in May 1964.\n\nAllocations and history\nThe locations of 5972 on particular dates.\n\nPreservation\nWoodham Brothers sold the locomotive to David Smith and moved to Horbury railway works in Wakefield in May 1981. In 1994 it moved to Carnforth MPD for restoration, being steamed for the first time in 1998.\n\nHarry Potter film series\nIn the Harry Potter films, the locomotive is depicted pulling the Hogwarts Express, a fictional train, made up of four (later five) British Rail Mark 1 carriages. Scenes were filmed at King's Cross railway station, the Glenfinnan Viaduct and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway — along with internal scenes on board the train.\n\nWhen filmed, Olton Hall carried a \"Hogwarts Express\" headboard on the smokebox, featuring the Hogwarts school crest. The same emblem is featured as part of the \"Hogwarts Railways\" sigil on the tender and carriages. It retained its GWR number of 5972, but with alternative nameplates fitted, naming the engine Hogwarts Castle. It is painted in a crimson livery — a non-standard colour, as GWR locomotives traditionally used green.\n\nOlton Hall was not the first locomotive to be re-liveried to appear hauling the Hogwarts Express. To promote the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Southern Railway West Country Class locomotive 34027 Taw Valley was temporarily repainted and renamed. However, it was rejected by film director Chris Columbus as looking \"too modern\" for the film, but it carried the name and colour for some months afterwards.\n\nThe renaming as \"...Castle\" has become a railway preservation joke: \"...the Hall that thinks it's a Castle\"—the Great Western Railway Castle Class engines were different and larger.\n\nThree full-size replicas of the locomotive as 5972 Hogwarts Castle are at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Orlando Resort). Two as part of the Hogwarts Express train ride and the other is a static exhibit in the Hogsmeade area. There are also static models at the other Wizarding World of Harry Potter locations in Hollywood and Japan.\n\nIn 2015 the locomotive was put on static display at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter, near Watford, and will be displayed there until Warner Bros' lease on the locomotive from West Coast Railways expires.\n\nNon-Hogwarts work\n5972 is sometimes used for work other than its \"Hogwarts\" duties. In May 2009 it was moved temporarily to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, and in July 2009 it was based at Tyseley Locomotive Works for use on some of the regular Shakespeare Express trains run by Vintage Trains during the summer. It returned to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway during their annual Wizard's Weekend event in 2010. In late 2011 the locomotive was on static display in Hyde Park, London. In June–July 2014 it worked two final Wizards Express rail tours from Manchester to York before its mainline certificate expired.\n\nModels\nHornby Railways produces a model of Olton Hall in OO gauge. The model is also available decorated as Hogwarts Castle, as part of their Harry Potter film tie-in range. The Harry Potter version has an LED headlight, which the other versions do not.\n\nA previous Hornby model of the locomotive was actually a model of a Castle class locomotive, not a Hall. Tri-ang Hornby had released a model of the Hall class in 1966; however, this model was last offered in 1983 as 4930 Hagley Hall, a preserved locomotive on the Severn Valley Railway. While Hornby (the successor to Tri-ang Hornby) may still have the moulds, they were modified some years ago to produce a Saint class replica. New tooling for a Hall has since been introduced and is available in the current Hornby range (see below).\n\nOther manufacturers have perpetuated this error, with Märklin using a Castle in its Hogwarts Express set. While Bachmann Branchline did produce models of the 'Hall' and 'Modified Hall' class locomotives, they have not offered one as 5972 \"Hogwarts Castle (Olton Hall)\", though Bachmann USA released one in their range.\n\nIn 2015 Hornby introduced an all-new model of Olton Hall as part of their \"Railroad\" range, originally announced in 2012.\n\nIn 2019, Hornby announced a new Harry Potter range, comprising a range of Hogsmeade buildings based on the Goathland range from several years ago, and the Hogwarts Express train set. Also available are two separate Hogwarts Castle locomotives with headlight, one being TTS Sound fitted. This is the first Hogwarts Castle model they have released being correctly of a Hall class. It is based on the same tooling as the 2015 Olton Hall model.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nVintage Trains official site\nShakespeare Express official site\nGloucestershire Warwickshire Railway official site\nWoodham Brothers Limited\n\n5972\nRailway locomotives introduced in 1937\n5972\n4-6-0 locomotives\nIndividual locomotives of Great Britain\nLocomotives saved from Woodham Brothers scrapyard\nStandard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain"
]
|
[
"Lord Voldemort",
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince",
"Does Voldemort appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,",
"Was there any flashbacks?",
"In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device,",
"Who was the author of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Rowling",
"Did Voldemort have to assault anyone?",
"He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement,",
"Did he have to fight any hogwarts?",
"In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts,",
"Did the hogwarts have a professor?",
"Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape"
]
| C_e1dce95f334b494096220fc2c296fae0_0 | What was the witches name? | 7 | What was the witches name in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? | Lord Voldemort | Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance. Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died, just hours after giving birth. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who takes sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of "Muggles", his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the prejudicial circumstances under which he was brought into the world. In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so. CANNOTANSWER | Merope Gaunt | Lord Voldemort (, in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.
Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord". He attempts to murder the boy, but instead kills his parents, Lily and James Potter, and leaves Harry with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. Nearly every witch or wizard dares not utter his name and refers to him instead with such monikers as "You-Know-Who", "He Who Must Not Be Named", or "the Dark Lord". Voldemort's obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of the wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of Muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.
Character development
In a 1999 interview, Rowling said Voldemort was invented as a nemesis for Harry Potter, and she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea [was that Harry] didn't know he was a wizard ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And—so—but for some mysterious reason the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since."
In the second book, Rowling establishes that Voldemort hates non-pure-blood wizards, despite being a half-blood himself. In a 2000 interview with the BBC, Rowling described Voldemort as a self-hating bully: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does." In the same year, Rowling became more precise about Voldemort. She began to link him to real-life tyrants, describing him as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering". In 2004, though, Rowling said that she did not base Voldemort on any real person. In 2006, Rowling told an interviewer that Voldemort at his core has a human fear: the fear of death. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death."
Throughout the series, Rowling establishes that Voldemort is so feared in the wizarding world that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a "taboo" spell is placed upon the name, such that Voldemort or his followers may trace anyone who utters it. By this means, his followers eventually find and capture Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the second book, Rowling reveals that I am Lord Voldemort is an anagram of the character's birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. According to the author, Voldemort's name is an invented word. The name Voldemort is derived from the French vol de mort which means "flight of death" or "theft of death".
Appearances
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who tried to kill Harry Potter because the boy was prophesied to destroy him. Voldemort murdered Harry's parents, James and Lily, but as a result of his mother's love and willingness to sacrifice herself for him, baby Harry survived when Voldemort tried to murder him with a Killing Curse. Voldemort was disembodied, and Harry was left with a mysterious, lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as a result.
In the book, Voldemort unsuccessfully tries to regain his dissolved body by stealing the titular Philosopher's Stone. To achieve his objective, Voldemort uses Professor Quirrell's aid by latching onto the back of the latter's head. However, at the climax of the book, Harry manages to prevent Voldemort from stealing the stone.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
In the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of a teenage Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, when Riddle rearranges the letters in his name to write "I am Lord Voldemort", Riddle is revealed as a magical manifestation of the boy who would later grow up to become the Dark Lord. Riddle states he has grown strong on Ginny's fears and eventually possesses her, using her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, whence a basilisk is set free and petrifies several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats the manifestation of Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Voldemort does not appear in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, either in person or as a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the harsh effects of a Dementor. Towards the end of the story, Sybill Trelawney, the Divination professor, makes a rare genuine prophecy: "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..." Though it is initially implied that the prophecy refers to Sirius Black, the book's ostensible antagonist, the servant is eventually revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, for the 12 years since Voldemort's fall, has been disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the fourth instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort reappears at the start and the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry's favour. Voldemort's goal is to teleport Harry under Dumbledore's watch as a reluctant participant to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family is buried. Harry is captured and, after Pettigrew uses Harry's blood to fulfil a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to his full power. For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils". Rowling writes that his "hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness". It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry. After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort creates a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed. Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his Death Eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, when Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands. Because of a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem, ghost-like manifestations of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via Portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Voldemort appears at the climax of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, having again plotted against Harry. In this book, Harry goes through extreme emotional stress, and according to Rowling, it was necessary to prove that Harry is emotionally vulnerable and thus human, in contrast to his nemesis Voldemort, who is emotionally invulnerable and thus inhuman: "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, there's a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. […] and Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down." In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that he has returned. Voldemort engineers a plot to free Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarks on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries regarding Harry and himself. He sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where the Order of the Phoenix meets them. All but Bellatrix are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Dumbledore. When Dumbledore gets the upper hand, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds incomprehensible, and which he detests as weakness: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister for Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge in the next book.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance.
Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who took sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of Muggles, his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the coercive circumstances under which he was brought into the world.
In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to kill Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort furthers his quest for ultimate power. He disposes of the Minister for Magic and replaces him with Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse. Establishing a totalitarian police state, he has Muggle-borns persecuted and arrested for "stealing magic" from the "pure blood" wizards. After failing to kill Harry with Draco's father Lucius Malfoy's borrowed wand (to avoid the effect of Priori Incantatem), he goes on a murderous search for the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand ever created, seeing it as the weapon he needs to overcome Harry's wand and make him truly invincible. He goes on a quest that takes him out of the country to Gregorovitch's wand shop, where he kills the old wandmaker. His journey also takes him to Nurmengard, the prison where Gellert Grindelwald is kept, and he kills Grindelwald as well. He finally locates the Elder Wand and steals it from Dumbledore's tomb.
Later, Voldemort finds out that Harry and his friends are hunting and destroying his Horcruxes when informed of their heist on the Lestranges' vault at Gringotts in search for Hufflepuff's Cup. After offering the occupants of Hogwarts mercy if they give up Harry, he assembles a large army and launches an invasion of the castle, where Harry is searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem. Voldemort orders his pet snake Nagini to execute Snape, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand, since Snape killed Dumbledore. He then calls an hour's armistice, in exchange for Harry. When Harry willingly walks into Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort strikes him down with the Elder Wand. However, the use of Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort's body proves to be a major setback: while Harry's blood runs in Voldemort's veins, Harry cannot be killed as his mother's protection lives on now in Voldemort too. Instead, Voldemort destroys the part of his own soul that resides in Harry's body. Voldemort forces Rubeus Hagrid to carry Harry's apparently lifeless body back to the castle as a trophy, sparking another battle during which Nagini, his last Horcrux, is destroyed by Neville Longbottom. The battle then moves into the Great Hall, where Voldemort fights Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Horace Slughorn simultaneously. Harry then reveals himself and explains to Voldemort that Draco became the true master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Dumbledore; Harry, in turn, won the wand's allegiance when he took Draco's wand. Refusing to believe this, Voldemort casts the Killing Curse with the Elder Wand while Harry uses a Disarming Charm with Draco's, but the Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and the spell rebounds on Voldemort who, with all of his Horcruxes destroyed, finally dies. His body is laid in a different chamber from all the others who died battling him.
Rowling stated that after his death, Voldemort is forced to exist in the stunted infant-like form that Harry sees in the King's Cross-like Limbo after his confrontation with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. Rowling also mentioned that, despite his extreme fear of death, he cannot become a ghost.
Appearances in other material
In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is revealed that Bellatrix gave birth to Voldemort's daughter Delphi in Malfoy Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts. Twenty-two years later, Delphi poses as Cedric's cousin and manipulates Harry and Ginny's second son Albus Severus Potter and his friend, Draco and Astoria Greengrass's son Scorpius Malfoy, into stealing a prototype Time Turner with which she hopes to resurrect her father. Using the Time Turner, Scorpius accidentally creates an alternative timeline where Voldemort killed Harry at the battle and now rules the wizarding world. In an attempt to achieve this future, Delphi travels to Godric's Hollow on the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents, hoping to avert the prophecy that led to her father's downfall. After receiving a message from his son, Harry, together with Ron, Hermione and Draco (who by now has become friends with Harry after they join forces to save their respective sons) transfigures himself into Voldemort so that he can distract Delphi, allowing them to overpower her. The real Voldemort kills Harry's parents as prophesied, and Delphi is sent to Azkaban.
Portrayals within films
Voldemort appears in every Harry Potter film, with the exception of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Several actors have portrayed him in his varying incarnations and ages.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort's manifestation is as a face on the back of Quirrell's head, an effect achieved by computer generated imagery. Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell in the same film, provided the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen drinking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Richard Bremmer, though his face is never seen. His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the 16-year-old Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. As in the book, Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and emaciated, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the book, his pupils are not cat-like and his eyes are blue, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). As in the book, the film version of Voldemort has snake-like slit nostrils with the flesh of his nose significantly pressed back. Ralph Fiennes' nose was not covered in makeup on the set, but was digitally removed in post-production. In this first appearance, Voldemort also has a forked tongue, but this element was removed for the subsequent films.
Fiennes stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climactic showdown scene where he is gloating over a terrified Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded: "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research." Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.
Fiennes's nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, portrayed Tom Riddle as a child in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. By the time filming arrived Christian Coulson was 29, and not considered suitable to return as the adolescent Riddle. Thomas James Longley was originally scheduled to take over the role, but last minute renegotiations saw Frank Dillane cast instead.
Characterisation
Outward appearance
After he regains his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort as having pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. As mentioned in the first chapter of the seventh book, he also has no hair or lips. Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle was handsome and tall with pale skin, jet black hair, and dark brown eyes. He could charm many people with his looks. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes and becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul. In the films, Voldemort's eyes are blue with round pupils.
Personality
Rowling described Voldemort as "the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years". She elaborated that he is a "raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering", and whose only ambition in life is to become all-powerful and immortal. He is also a sadist who hurts and murders people—especially Muggles—for his own amusement. He has no conscience, feels no remorse or empathy, and does not recognise the worth and humanity of anybody except himself.
He feels no need for human companionship or friendship, and cannot comprehend love or affection for another. He believes he is superior to everyone around him, to the point that he frequently refers to himself in the third person as "Lord Voldemort". Rowling also stated that Voldemort is "incredibly power hungry. Racist, really", and that if Voldemort were to look into the Mirror of Erised, in which one sees one's greatest desire, he would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants."
Rowling also stated that Voldemort's conception by influence of Amortentia—a love potion administered by his mother, a witch named Merope Gaunt, to the Muggle Tom Riddle—is related to his inability to understand love; it is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union—but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can't be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".
Like most archetypical villains, Voldemort's arrogance leads to his downfall. He also suffers from a pathological fear of death, which he regards as a shameful and ignominious human weakness. According to Rowling, his Boggart would be his own corpse. Rowling also said that the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry accepts mortality, and thus Harry is, in the end, stronger than his nemesis.
Magical abilities and skills
Rowling establishes Voldemort throughout the series as an extremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless dark wizard, described as the greatest and most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. He is known as one of the greatest Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens; he can read minds and shield his own from penetration. Besides Dumbledore, he is also the only wizard ever known to be able to apparate silently. Voldemort was also said to fear one wizard alone, Dumbledore.
In the final book, Voldemort flies unsupported, something that amazes those who see it. Voldemort, like his ancestral family, the Gaunts, is a Parselmouth, meaning he can converse with serpents. This skill was inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The Gaunt family speak Parseltongue among themselves. This highly unusual trait may be preserved through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family to maintain their blood's purity. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of the former's soul. After that bit of soul is destroyed, Harry loses this ability. In a flashback in the sixth novel, Voldemort boasts to Dumbledore during a job interview that he has "pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they had ever before". Dumbledore states that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is more extensive than any wizard alive and that even Dumbledore's most powerful protective spells and charms would likely be insufficient if Voldemort returned to full power. Dumbledore also said that Voldemort was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Although Voldemort remains highly accomplished and prodigious in skill, he is enormously lacking and highly inept in the most powerful magic, love. This inability to love and trust others proves to be Voldemort's greatest weakness in the series. Voldemort initially voices scepticism that his own magic might not be the most powerful, but upon returning to power, he admits to his Death Eaters that he had overlooked the ancient and powerful magic which Lily Potter invoked and that would protect Harry from harm.
On her website, Rowling wrote that Voldemort's wand is made of yew, whose sap is poisonous and which symbolises death. It forms a deliberate contrast to Harry's wand, which is made of holly, which she chose because holly is alleged to repel evil.
Rowling establishes in the books that Voldemort is magically connected to Harry via Harry's forehead scar. He disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry rebounds on him, leaving the scar on Harry's forehead. In the books, and to a lesser extent in the films, Harry's scar serves as an indicator of Voldemort's presence: it burns when the Dark Lord is near or when Voldemort is feeling murderous or exultant. According to Rowling, by attacking Harry when he was a baby Voldemort gave him "tools [that] no other wizard possessed—the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind".
Family
Notes: The names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films. The Potter Family is not shown.
Riddle family
The Riddle family, an old gentry family, consisted of Thomas and Mary Riddle and their son, Tom Riddle, Esq. They owned over half of the valley that the town of Little Hangleton lay in, and Thomas was the most prominent inhabitant of that town. They lived in a large house with fine gardens, but were unpopular amongst the local residents due to their snobbish attitudes. Tom, the only child of Thomas and Mary, was known as a playboy, his main interests being womanizing and horse-riding.
Rowling revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that young Merope Gaunt fell in love with Riddle, peering at him through the windows and bushes at every opportunity. Merope's brother Morfin disapproved of his sister's affection for Tom and hexed him as he rode by, covering him in hives. This breach of wizarding law, and the ensuing violent struggle with Ministry of Magic officials, led to Marvolo and Morfin being imprisoned in Azkaban. As surmised by Dumbledore, once Merope was alone and no longer dominated by her father, she could make her move for Tom. She offered him a drink laced with a love potion, and he became infatuated with her; they soon eloped and, within three months of the marriage, Merope became pregnant. Merope decided to stop giving Tom the love potion, having come to the belief such enchantment of a man was tantamount to slavery. She also revealed her witch status to Tom, believing either that he had fallen in love with her on his own or he would at least stay for their unborn child. She was wrong, and Tom quickly left his pregnant wife and went home to his parents, claiming to have been "hoodwinked" and tricked into marrying Merope. Tom Marvolo Riddle, their son, was born on 31 December 1926 Merope died in childbirth, leaving the baby to grow up alone in an orphanage.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is revealed that Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents, leaving himself the only surviving member of the Riddle family.
House of Gaunt
Most of the exposition of the House of Gaunts background occurs in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, through the medium of Dumbledore's Pensieve. The Gaunts were once a powerful and influential family, and are the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin. However, a vein of mental instability and violence within the family, reinforced through cousin marriages intended to preserve the pureblood line, had reduced them to poverty and squalor, as shown in the Pensieve's "memory" that Harry and Dumbledore witnessed. Like Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunts spoke Parseltongue. At the time of the story, the Gaunts' only material asset is a ramshackle shanty in Little Hangleton, that stood in a thicket in a valley opposite the Riddle House. Like the Riddles, the Gaunts were also unpopular with the local residents, with a reputation for being vulgar and intimidating.
Marvolo Gaunt was the last family patriarch. He was sentenced to a short term in Azkaban for his and his son's assault upon a Ministry of Magic official; this affected his health and he died soon after returning home. His signet ring passed to his son, Morfin Gaunt, who was convicted of assaulting a Muggle, and later died in Azkaban, convicted this time as a party to the murder of Tom Riddle Jr. and Riddle's parents.
Dumbledore discovers the real culprit while visiting Morfin in Azkaban to gather information about Voldemort. After Dumbledore successfully extracts Morfin's memory of his encounter with his nephew, he tries to use the evidence to have Morfin released, but Morfin dies before the decision can be made. The House of Gaunt ended with Morfin's death.
Merope Gaunt () was the daughter of Marvolo, and sister of Morfin. Harry's first impression of her was that she looked "like the most defeated person he had ever seen". She married Tom Riddle Jr and became pregnant within three months of the wedding. It is suggested that she tricked her husband into loving her by using a love potion, but when she became pregnant, she chose to stop administering the potion. It is implied that Merope had grown tired of living the lie and thought that her husband might have grown to love her, or that he might have stayed for the sake of their unborn child; however, he left her. Desperate, Merope wandered through the streets of London. The only thing she had left was the heavy gold locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of her family's most treasured items, which she sold for a small amount. When she was due to give birth, she stumbled into a Muggle orphanage, where she gave birth to her only son. She died within the next hour.
Gormlaith Gaunt was a 17th-century descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and like Salazar, a Parselmouth. Her wand was that which once belonged to Salazar himself. Educated at Hogwarts, Gormlaith lived in Ireland in the early 1600s. In about 1608, Gormlaith killed her estranged unnamed sister, and her sister's husband, William Sayre (a descendant of the Irish witch Morrigan), and kidnapped their five-year-old daughter, Isolt Sayre, raising her in the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee, or "Hag's Glen", because she felt that her parents' association with Muggles would badly influence Isolt. Fanatical and cruel, Gormlaith used Dark magic to isolate Isolt from others, forbade her a wand, and did not allow her to attend Hogwarts as she herself had, disgusted that it was now filled with Muggle-borns. After twelve years with Gormlaith, Isolt stole Gormlaith's wand and fled to the Colonies and settled in Massachusetts, where she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Gormlaith learned of the school, she pursued her niece in Massachusetts, where she was killed by Isolt's friend, William the Pukwudgie, with a venom-tipped arrow.
The Gaunts, including Voldemort, are distantly related to Harry because they are descendants of the Peverell brothers.
Reception
Several people have drawn a parallel between Voldemort and some politicians. Rowling has said that Voldemort was "a sort of" Adolf Hitler, and that there is some parallel with Nazism in her books. Rowling also compared Voldemort to Joseph Stalin. Alfonso Cuarón, director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban compared Voldemort to George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, who he said "...have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people." Andrew Slack and the Harry Potter Alliance compare media consolidation in the US to Voldemort's regime in Deathly Hallows and its control over the Daily Prophet and other media saying that "Once Voldemort took over every form of media in the wizarding world, Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix formed an independent media movement called 'Potterwatch'. Now the HP Alliance and Wizard Rock have come together to fight for a Potterwatch movement in the real world to fight back against Big VoldeMedia from further pushing out local and foreign news, minority representation, and the right to a Free Press." Julia Turner of Slate Magazine also noted similarities between the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the War on Terror. She said that Voldemort commits acts of terrorism such as destroying bridges, murdering innocents, and forcing children to kill their elders.
Voldemort has also been compared with other characters within fiction, for example Sauron from The Lord of the Rings; they are, during the time when the main plot takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat, and are also so feared that they are sometimes unnamed.
IGN listed Voldemort as their seventh favourite Harry Potter character, calling him "truly frightening".
In popular culture
Several campaigns have used Voldemort to compare his evil to the influence of politicians, large media and corporations. "Lord Voldemort" is a nickname sometimes used for Peter Mandelson. Voldemort is also a recurring theme among wizard rock bands. Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! is the second album from Harry and the Potters, and the character is mentioned in songs such as "The Dark Lord Lament" and "Flesh, Blood, and Bone".
Voldemort has been parodied in various venues. In The Simpsons 13th season's premiere, "Treehouse of Horror XII", Montgomery Burns appears as "Lord Montymort". A parody of Voldemort appears in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as "Lord Moldybutt", an enemy of Nigel Planter (a parody of Harry). Voldemort also appears in the Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. One of the episodes including him was the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for "Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.
"Continuing the Magic", an article in the 21 May 2007 issue of Time, includes mock book covers designed by author Lon Tweeten, laced with pop culture references. One of them, the "Dark Lord of the Dance", shows Voldemort teaming up with Harry on Broadway. In the MAD Magazine parodies of the films, the character is called Lord Druckermort, a backwards reference to the magazine's longtime caricaturist Mort Drucker. In Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969, a young Tom Marvolo Riddle (introduced as "Tom", whose middle name is a "marvel" and last name is a "conundrum") appears, and becomes the new avatar of Oliver Haddo at the story's conclusion. In A Very Potter Musical, Voldemort is played by actor Joe Walker.
In a segment celebrating British children's literature at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London, an inflatable Voldemort appeared alongside other villains, The Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil, to haunt children's dreams, before the arrival of a group of over thirty Mary Poppins who descended with their umbrellas to defeat them.
During the 2016 United States elections, Daniel Radcliffe was asked by Sky News journalist Craig Dillon if he would compare Donald Trump to Lord Voldemort; Radcliffe responded, "Trump is worse".
Voldemort appears in The Lego Batman Movie as one of the prisoners in the Phantom Zone that Joker recruits to take over Gotham City. Though Ralph Fiennes is featured in this movie as the voice of the British butler Alfred Pennyworth, he does not reprise his role as Voldemort. Instead, Voldemort is voiced by Eddie Izzard.
Outside of the Harry Potter video games, Voldemort is also a playable character in Lego Dimensions, with archive audio of Fiennes' portrayal in the films used for his voiceovers.
A 2018 Italian fan film titled Voldemort: Origins of the Heir depicts the story of Tom Riddle's rise to power.
Voldemort appears in Space Jam: A New Legacy, in the crowd for the game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
An upcoming French fan-made short-film titled The House of Gaunt - Lord Voldemort Origins explores the origin story of Voldemort and The Gaunt family.
Notes
References
External links
Lord Voldemort at Harry Potter Lexicon
Fictional characters with disfigurements
Fictional characters with immortality
Fictional characters with spirit possession or body swapping abilities
Fictional dictators
Fictional English people
Fictional hypnotists and indoctrinators
Fictional illeists
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional necromancers
Fictional offspring of rape
Fictional patricides
Fictional terrorists
Fictional torturers
Harry Potter characters
Literary characters introduced in 1997
Male film villains
Male literary villains
Orphan characters in film
Orphan characters in literature
Psychopathy in fiction
Film supervillains | true | [
"Baraona (alternative spelling Barahona) is a municipality located in the province of Soria, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 211 inhabitants.\n\nIt was credited in Spanish folklore as being a site where an Akelarre or Witches' Sabbath was held regularly and, as such, was the subject of an inquisition in 1527 (as documented in the trials recorded in the Tribunal de la Inquisición de Cuenca) - the village has the alternative name Barahona de las Brujas (Barahona of the Witches). It is the site of the curious holed stone known as La Piedra de las Brujas or El Confesionario de las Brujas (\"Witches' Stone\" or \"Witches' Confessional\") which bears an incised cross - thought to sanctify a monolith deemed to have unhallowed associations.\n\nMention is made of the village's reputation as a well-known site of the Witches' Sabbath in the Spanish Golden Age play Lo que quería el Marqués de Villena ('What the Marquis of Villena wanted') by Francisco Rojas Zorilla (1607-1648) of Toledo. This takes the form of an exchange concerning the flying ointment between the eponymous Marquis and the character Zambapalo (= 'Yokel' ?)\n\nThe witchcraft associations of the village also form the subject of a late 20th century play by Spanish dramatist Domingo Miras (born 1934), entitled Las Brujas de Barahona ('The Witches of Baraona' ,1978).\n\nSee also\nMên-an-Tol\nAghade Holed Stone\n\nReferences\n\nMunicipalities in the Province of Soria",
"Domen is a mountain on the Varanger Peninsula in eastern Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The tall mountain is located near the coast between the small fishing village Kiberg and the island of Vardøya. Domen is bare and flat-topped, with a steep slope towards the Barents Sea below. The European route E75 highway runs along the western side of the mountain from Svartnes to Kiberg. The road is often closed in the winter due to bad weather.\n\nName\nThe Old Norse name of the Arctic Sea was Dumbshaf . This sea (haf) was named after the mountain Dumbr (an old form of Domen). The name is probably related to the English word dumb, but in what meaning is unclear.\n\nHistory and folklore\nDomen is often associated with the witch trials in Finnmark during the 17th century. Vardø was the site of approximately 70 witch trials between 1601 and 1663. This was a large number, since there were only a couple of hundred inhabitants in the area at that time.\n\nAccording to folklore, Vardø and Domen became infamous as the end of the world, Ultima Thule and the entrance to Hell was said to be somewhere around Domen or Vardø, and so witches flew to Domen to meet the devil for sabbath.\n\nSee also\nBlockula\nVardø witch trials\nVardø witch trials (1621)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nWitchcraft in 17th-century Finnmark\nThe Witches' Sabbath At Yuletide\nWalking In Witches' Footsteps\n\nMountains of_Troms og Finnmark\nVardø\nWitchcraft in folklore and mythology\nWitchcraft in Norway"
]
|
[
"Lord Voldemort",
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince",
"Does Voldemort appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,",
"Was there any flashbacks?",
"In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device,",
"Who was the author of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?",
"Rowling",
"Did Voldemort have to assault anyone?",
"He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement,",
"Did he have to fight any hogwarts?",
"In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts,",
"Did the hogwarts have a professor?",
"Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape",
"What was the witches name?",
"Merope Gaunt"
]
| C_e1dce95f334b494096220fc2c296fae0_0 | Was there a love potion? | 8 | Was there a love potion in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? | Lord Voldemort | Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance. Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died, just hours after giving birth. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who takes sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of "Muggles", his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the prejudicial circumstances under which he was brought into the world. In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so. CANNOTANSWER | Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the prejudicial circumstances under which he was brought into the world. | Lord Voldemort (, in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.
Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord". He attempts to murder the boy, but instead kills his parents, Lily and James Potter, and leaves Harry with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. Nearly every witch or wizard dares not utter his name and refers to him instead with such monikers as "You-Know-Who", "He Who Must Not Be Named", or "the Dark Lord". Voldemort's obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of the wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of Muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.
Character development
In a 1999 interview, Rowling said Voldemort was invented as a nemesis for Harry Potter, and she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea [was that Harry] didn't know he was a wizard ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And—so—but for some mysterious reason the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since."
In the second book, Rowling establishes that Voldemort hates non-pure-blood wizards, despite being a half-blood himself. In a 2000 interview with the BBC, Rowling described Voldemort as a self-hating bully: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does." In the same year, Rowling became more precise about Voldemort. She began to link him to real-life tyrants, describing him as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering". In 2004, though, Rowling said that she did not base Voldemort on any real person. In 2006, Rowling told an interviewer that Voldemort at his core has a human fear: the fear of death. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death."
Throughout the series, Rowling establishes that Voldemort is so feared in the wizarding world that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a "taboo" spell is placed upon the name, such that Voldemort or his followers may trace anyone who utters it. By this means, his followers eventually find and capture Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the second book, Rowling reveals that I am Lord Voldemort is an anagram of the character's birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. According to the author, Voldemort's name is an invented word. The name Voldemort is derived from the French vol de mort which means "flight of death" or "theft of death".
Appearances
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who tried to kill Harry Potter because the boy was prophesied to destroy him. Voldemort murdered Harry's parents, James and Lily, but as a result of his mother's love and willingness to sacrifice herself for him, baby Harry survived when Voldemort tried to murder him with a Killing Curse. Voldemort was disembodied, and Harry was left with a mysterious, lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as a result.
In the book, Voldemort unsuccessfully tries to regain his dissolved body by stealing the titular Philosopher's Stone. To achieve his objective, Voldemort uses Professor Quirrell's aid by latching onto the back of the latter's head. However, at the climax of the book, Harry manages to prevent Voldemort from stealing the stone.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
In the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of a teenage Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, when Riddle rearranges the letters in his name to write "I am Lord Voldemort", Riddle is revealed as a magical manifestation of the boy who would later grow up to become the Dark Lord. Riddle states he has grown strong on Ginny's fears and eventually possesses her, using her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, whence a basilisk is set free and petrifies several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats the manifestation of Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Voldemort does not appear in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, either in person or as a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the harsh effects of a Dementor. Towards the end of the story, Sybill Trelawney, the Divination professor, makes a rare genuine prophecy: "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..." Though it is initially implied that the prophecy refers to Sirius Black, the book's ostensible antagonist, the servant is eventually revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, for the 12 years since Voldemort's fall, has been disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the fourth instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort reappears at the start and the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry's favour. Voldemort's goal is to teleport Harry under Dumbledore's watch as a reluctant participant to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family is buried. Harry is captured and, after Pettigrew uses Harry's blood to fulfil a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to his full power. For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils". Rowling writes that his "hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness". It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry. After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort creates a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed. Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his Death Eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, when Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands. Because of a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem, ghost-like manifestations of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via Portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Voldemort appears at the climax of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, having again plotted against Harry. In this book, Harry goes through extreme emotional stress, and according to Rowling, it was necessary to prove that Harry is emotionally vulnerable and thus human, in contrast to his nemesis Voldemort, who is emotionally invulnerable and thus inhuman: "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, there's a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. […] and Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down." In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that he has returned. Voldemort engineers a plot to free Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarks on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy stored in the Department of Mysteries regarding Harry and himself. He sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where the Order of the Phoenix meets them. All but Bellatrix are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Dumbledore. When Dumbledore gets the upper hand, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds incomprehensible, and which he detests as weakness: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister for Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge in the next book.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although his presence and actions are felt: he once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance.
Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort was the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and a Muggle called Tom Riddle. Riddle abandoned Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope died. After living in an orphanage, young Riddle met Dumbledore, who told him he was a wizard and arranged for him to attend Hogwarts. Riddle was outwardly a model student, but was in reality a psychopath who took sadistic pleasure in using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murdered his father and grandparents as revenge for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of Muggles, his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul to achieve immortality. Rowling stated Voldemort's conception under the influence of a love potion symbolises the coercive circumstances under which he was brought into the world.
In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to kill Dumbledore. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation of Death Eaters into Hogwarts by a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and re-doubled agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco could not force himself to do so.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort furthers his quest for ultimate power. He disposes of the Minister for Magic and replaces him with Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse. Establishing a totalitarian police state, he has Muggle-borns persecuted and arrested for "stealing magic" from the "pure blood" wizards. After failing to kill Harry with Draco's father Lucius Malfoy's borrowed wand (to avoid the effect of Priori Incantatem), he goes on a murderous search for the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand ever created, seeing it as the weapon he needs to overcome Harry's wand and make him truly invincible. He goes on a quest that takes him out of the country to Gregorovitch's wand shop, where he kills the old wandmaker. His journey also takes him to Nurmengard, the prison where Gellert Grindelwald is kept, and he kills Grindelwald as well. He finally locates the Elder Wand and steals it from Dumbledore's tomb.
Later, Voldemort finds out that Harry and his friends are hunting and destroying his Horcruxes when informed of their heist on the Lestranges' vault at Gringotts in search for Hufflepuff's Cup. After offering the occupants of Hogwarts mercy if they give up Harry, he assembles a large army and launches an invasion of the castle, where Harry is searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem. Voldemort orders his pet snake Nagini to execute Snape, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand, since Snape killed Dumbledore. He then calls an hour's armistice, in exchange for Harry. When Harry willingly walks into Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort strikes him down with the Elder Wand. However, the use of Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort's body proves to be a major setback: while Harry's blood runs in Voldemort's veins, Harry cannot be killed as his mother's protection lives on now in Voldemort too. Instead, Voldemort destroys the part of his own soul that resides in Harry's body. Voldemort forces Rubeus Hagrid to carry Harry's apparently lifeless body back to the castle as a trophy, sparking another battle during which Nagini, his last Horcrux, is destroyed by Neville Longbottom. The battle then moves into the Great Hall, where Voldemort fights Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Horace Slughorn simultaneously. Harry then reveals himself and explains to Voldemort that Draco became the true master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Dumbledore; Harry, in turn, won the wand's allegiance when he took Draco's wand. Refusing to believe this, Voldemort casts the Killing Curse with the Elder Wand while Harry uses a Disarming Charm with Draco's, but the Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and the spell rebounds on Voldemort who, with all of his Horcruxes destroyed, finally dies. His body is laid in a different chamber from all the others who died battling him.
Rowling stated that after his death, Voldemort is forced to exist in the stunted infant-like form that Harry sees in the King's Cross-like Limbo after his confrontation with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. Rowling also mentioned that, despite his extreme fear of death, he cannot become a ghost.
Appearances in other material
In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is revealed that Bellatrix gave birth to Voldemort's daughter Delphi in Malfoy Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts. Twenty-two years later, Delphi poses as Cedric's cousin and manipulates Harry and Ginny's second son Albus Severus Potter and his friend, Draco and Astoria Greengrass's son Scorpius Malfoy, into stealing a prototype Time Turner with which she hopes to resurrect her father. Using the Time Turner, Scorpius accidentally creates an alternative timeline where Voldemort killed Harry at the battle and now rules the wizarding world. In an attempt to achieve this future, Delphi travels to Godric's Hollow on the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents, hoping to avert the prophecy that led to her father's downfall. After receiving a message from his son, Harry, together with Ron, Hermione and Draco (who by now has become friends with Harry after they join forces to save their respective sons) transfigures himself into Voldemort so that he can distract Delphi, allowing them to overpower her. The real Voldemort kills Harry's parents as prophesied, and Delphi is sent to Azkaban.
Portrayals within films
Voldemort appears in every Harry Potter film, with the exception of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Several actors have portrayed him in his varying incarnations and ages.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort's manifestation is as a face on the back of Quirrell's head, an effect achieved by computer generated imagery. Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell in the same film, provided the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen drinking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Richard Bremmer, though his face is never seen. His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the 16-year-old Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. As in the book, Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and emaciated, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the book, his pupils are not cat-like and his eyes are blue, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). As in the book, the film version of Voldemort has snake-like slit nostrils with the flesh of his nose significantly pressed back. Ralph Fiennes' nose was not covered in makeup on the set, but was digitally removed in post-production. In this first appearance, Voldemort also has a forked tongue, but this element was removed for the subsequent films.
Fiennes stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climactic showdown scene where he is gloating over a terrified Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded: "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research." Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.
Fiennes's nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, portrayed Tom Riddle as a child in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. By the time filming arrived Christian Coulson was 29, and not considered suitable to return as the adolescent Riddle. Thomas James Longley was originally scheduled to take over the role, but last minute renegotiations saw Frank Dillane cast instead.
Characterisation
Outward appearance
After he regains his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort as having pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. As mentioned in the first chapter of the seventh book, he also has no hair or lips. Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle was handsome and tall with pale skin, jet black hair, and dark brown eyes. He could charm many people with his looks. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes and becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul. In the films, Voldemort's eyes are blue with round pupils.
Personality
Rowling described Voldemort as "the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years". She elaborated that he is a "raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering", and whose only ambition in life is to become all-powerful and immortal. He is also a sadist who hurts and murders people—especially Muggles—for his own amusement. He has no conscience, feels no remorse or empathy, and does not recognise the worth and humanity of anybody except himself.
He feels no need for human companionship or friendship, and cannot comprehend love or affection for another. He believes he is superior to everyone around him, to the point that he frequently refers to himself in the third person as "Lord Voldemort". Rowling also stated that Voldemort is "incredibly power hungry. Racist, really", and that if Voldemort were to look into the Mirror of Erised, in which one sees one's greatest desire, he would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants."
Rowling also stated that Voldemort's conception by influence of Amortentia—a love potion administered by his mother, a witch named Merope Gaunt, to the Muggle Tom Riddle—is related to his inability to understand love; it is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union—but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can't be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".
Like most archetypical villains, Voldemort's arrogance leads to his downfall. He also suffers from a pathological fear of death, which he regards as a shameful and ignominious human weakness. According to Rowling, his Boggart would be his own corpse. Rowling also said that the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry accepts mortality, and thus Harry is, in the end, stronger than his nemesis.
Magical abilities and skills
Rowling establishes Voldemort throughout the series as an extremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless dark wizard, described as the greatest and most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. He is known as one of the greatest Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens; he can read minds and shield his own from penetration. Besides Dumbledore, he is also the only wizard ever known to be able to apparate silently. Voldemort was also said to fear one wizard alone, Dumbledore.
In the final book, Voldemort flies unsupported, something that amazes those who see it. Voldemort, like his ancestral family, the Gaunts, is a Parselmouth, meaning he can converse with serpents. This skill was inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The Gaunt family speak Parseltongue among themselves. This highly unusual trait may be preserved through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family to maintain their blood's purity. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of the former's soul. After that bit of soul is destroyed, Harry loses this ability. In a flashback in the sixth novel, Voldemort boasts to Dumbledore during a job interview that he has "pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they had ever before". Dumbledore states that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is more extensive than any wizard alive and that even Dumbledore's most powerful protective spells and charms would likely be insufficient if Voldemort returned to full power. Dumbledore also said that Voldemort was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Although Voldemort remains highly accomplished and prodigious in skill, he is enormously lacking and highly inept in the most powerful magic, love. This inability to love and trust others proves to be Voldemort's greatest weakness in the series. Voldemort initially voices scepticism that his own magic might not be the most powerful, but upon returning to power, he admits to his Death Eaters that he had overlooked the ancient and powerful magic which Lily Potter invoked and that would protect Harry from harm.
On her website, Rowling wrote that Voldemort's wand is made of yew, whose sap is poisonous and which symbolises death. It forms a deliberate contrast to Harry's wand, which is made of holly, which she chose because holly is alleged to repel evil.
Rowling establishes in the books that Voldemort is magically connected to Harry via Harry's forehead scar. He disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry rebounds on him, leaving the scar on Harry's forehead. In the books, and to a lesser extent in the films, Harry's scar serves as an indicator of Voldemort's presence: it burns when the Dark Lord is near or when Voldemort is feeling murderous or exultant. According to Rowling, by attacking Harry when he was a baby Voldemort gave him "tools [that] no other wizard possessed—the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind".
Family
Notes: The names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films. The Potter Family is not shown.
Riddle family
The Riddle family, an old gentry family, consisted of Thomas and Mary Riddle and their son, Tom Riddle, Esq. They owned over half of the valley that the town of Little Hangleton lay in, and Thomas was the most prominent inhabitant of that town. They lived in a large house with fine gardens, but were unpopular amongst the local residents due to their snobbish attitudes. Tom, the only child of Thomas and Mary, was known as a playboy, his main interests being womanizing and horse-riding.
Rowling revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that young Merope Gaunt fell in love with Riddle, peering at him through the windows and bushes at every opportunity. Merope's brother Morfin disapproved of his sister's affection for Tom and hexed him as he rode by, covering him in hives. This breach of wizarding law, and the ensuing violent struggle with Ministry of Magic officials, led to Marvolo and Morfin being imprisoned in Azkaban. As surmised by Dumbledore, once Merope was alone and no longer dominated by her father, she could make her move for Tom. She offered him a drink laced with a love potion, and he became infatuated with her; they soon eloped and, within three months of the marriage, Merope became pregnant. Merope decided to stop giving Tom the love potion, having come to the belief such enchantment of a man was tantamount to slavery. She also revealed her witch status to Tom, believing either that he had fallen in love with her on his own or he would at least stay for their unborn child. She was wrong, and Tom quickly left his pregnant wife and went home to his parents, claiming to have been "hoodwinked" and tricked into marrying Merope. Tom Marvolo Riddle, their son, was born on 31 December 1926 Merope died in childbirth, leaving the baby to grow up alone in an orphanage.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is revealed that Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents, leaving himself the only surviving member of the Riddle family.
House of Gaunt
Most of the exposition of the House of Gaunts background occurs in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, through the medium of Dumbledore's Pensieve. The Gaunts were once a powerful and influential family, and are the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin. However, a vein of mental instability and violence within the family, reinforced through cousin marriages intended to preserve the pureblood line, had reduced them to poverty and squalor, as shown in the Pensieve's "memory" that Harry and Dumbledore witnessed. Like Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunts spoke Parseltongue. At the time of the story, the Gaunts' only material asset is a ramshackle shanty in Little Hangleton, that stood in a thicket in a valley opposite the Riddle House. Like the Riddles, the Gaunts were also unpopular with the local residents, with a reputation for being vulgar and intimidating.
Marvolo Gaunt was the last family patriarch. He was sentenced to a short term in Azkaban for his and his son's assault upon a Ministry of Magic official; this affected his health and he died soon after returning home. His signet ring passed to his son, Morfin Gaunt, who was convicted of assaulting a Muggle, and later died in Azkaban, convicted this time as a party to the murder of Tom Riddle Jr. and Riddle's parents.
Dumbledore discovers the real culprit while visiting Morfin in Azkaban to gather information about Voldemort. After Dumbledore successfully extracts Morfin's memory of his encounter with his nephew, he tries to use the evidence to have Morfin released, but Morfin dies before the decision can be made. The House of Gaunt ended with Morfin's death.
Merope Gaunt () was the daughter of Marvolo, and sister of Morfin. Harry's first impression of her was that she looked "like the most defeated person he had ever seen". She married Tom Riddle Jr and became pregnant within three months of the wedding. It is suggested that she tricked her husband into loving her by using a love potion, but when she became pregnant, she chose to stop administering the potion. It is implied that Merope had grown tired of living the lie and thought that her husband might have grown to love her, or that he might have stayed for the sake of their unborn child; however, he left her. Desperate, Merope wandered through the streets of London. The only thing she had left was the heavy gold locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, one of her family's most treasured items, which she sold for a small amount. When she was due to give birth, she stumbled into a Muggle orphanage, where she gave birth to her only son. She died within the next hour.
Gormlaith Gaunt was a 17th-century descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and like Salazar, a Parselmouth. Her wand was that which once belonged to Salazar himself. Educated at Hogwarts, Gormlaith lived in Ireland in the early 1600s. In about 1608, Gormlaith killed her estranged unnamed sister, and her sister's husband, William Sayre (a descendant of the Irish witch Morrigan), and kidnapped their five-year-old daughter, Isolt Sayre, raising her in the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee, or "Hag's Glen", because she felt that her parents' association with Muggles would badly influence Isolt. Fanatical and cruel, Gormlaith used Dark magic to isolate Isolt from others, forbade her a wand, and did not allow her to attend Hogwarts as she herself had, disgusted that it was now filled with Muggle-borns. After twelve years with Gormlaith, Isolt stole Gormlaith's wand and fled to the Colonies and settled in Massachusetts, where she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Gormlaith learned of the school, she pursued her niece in Massachusetts, where she was killed by Isolt's friend, William the Pukwudgie, with a venom-tipped arrow.
The Gaunts, including Voldemort, are distantly related to Harry because they are descendants of the Peverell brothers.
Reception
Several people have drawn a parallel between Voldemort and some politicians. Rowling has said that Voldemort was "a sort of" Adolf Hitler, and that there is some parallel with Nazism in her books. Rowling also compared Voldemort to Joseph Stalin. Alfonso Cuarón, director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban compared Voldemort to George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, who he said "...have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people." Andrew Slack and the Harry Potter Alliance compare media consolidation in the US to Voldemort's regime in Deathly Hallows and its control over the Daily Prophet and other media saying that "Once Voldemort took over every form of media in the wizarding world, Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix formed an independent media movement called 'Potterwatch'. Now the HP Alliance and Wizard Rock have come together to fight for a Potterwatch movement in the real world to fight back against Big VoldeMedia from further pushing out local and foreign news, minority representation, and the right to a Free Press." Julia Turner of Slate Magazine also noted similarities between the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the War on Terror. She said that Voldemort commits acts of terrorism such as destroying bridges, murdering innocents, and forcing children to kill their elders.
Voldemort has also been compared with other characters within fiction, for example Sauron from The Lord of the Rings; they are, during the time when the main plot takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat, and are also so feared that they are sometimes unnamed.
IGN listed Voldemort as their seventh favourite Harry Potter character, calling him "truly frightening".
In popular culture
Several campaigns have used Voldemort to compare his evil to the influence of politicians, large media and corporations. "Lord Voldemort" is a nickname sometimes used for Peter Mandelson. Voldemort is also a recurring theme among wizard rock bands. Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! is the second album from Harry and the Potters, and the character is mentioned in songs such as "The Dark Lord Lament" and "Flesh, Blood, and Bone".
Voldemort has been parodied in various venues. In The Simpsons 13th season's premiere, "Treehouse of Horror XII", Montgomery Burns appears as "Lord Montymort". A parody of Voldemort appears in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as "Lord Moldybutt", an enemy of Nigel Planter (a parody of Harry). Voldemort also appears in the Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. One of the episodes including him was the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for "Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.
"Continuing the Magic", an article in the 21 May 2007 issue of Time, includes mock book covers designed by author Lon Tweeten, laced with pop culture references. One of them, the "Dark Lord of the Dance", shows Voldemort teaming up with Harry on Broadway. In the MAD Magazine parodies of the films, the character is called Lord Druckermort, a backwards reference to the magazine's longtime caricaturist Mort Drucker. In Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969, a young Tom Marvolo Riddle (introduced as "Tom", whose middle name is a "marvel" and last name is a "conundrum") appears, and becomes the new avatar of Oliver Haddo at the story's conclusion. In A Very Potter Musical, Voldemort is played by actor Joe Walker.
In a segment celebrating British children's literature at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London, an inflatable Voldemort appeared alongside other villains, The Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil, to haunt children's dreams, before the arrival of a group of over thirty Mary Poppins who descended with their umbrellas to defeat them.
During the 2016 United States elections, Daniel Radcliffe was asked by Sky News journalist Craig Dillon if he would compare Donald Trump to Lord Voldemort; Radcliffe responded, "Trump is worse".
Voldemort appears in The Lego Batman Movie as one of the prisoners in the Phantom Zone that Joker recruits to take over Gotham City. Though Ralph Fiennes is featured in this movie as the voice of the British butler Alfred Pennyworth, he does not reprise his role as Voldemort. Instead, Voldemort is voiced by Eddie Izzard.
Outside of the Harry Potter video games, Voldemort is also a playable character in Lego Dimensions, with archive audio of Fiennes' portrayal in the films used for his voiceovers.
A 2018 Italian fan film titled Voldemort: Origins of the Heir depicts the story of Tom Riddle's rise to power.
Voldemort appears in Space Jam: A New Legacy, in the crowd for the game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
An upcoming French fan-made short-film titled The House of Gaunt - Lord Voldemort Origins explores the origin story of Voldemort and The Gaunt family.
Notes
References
External links
Lord Voldemort at Harry Potter Lexicon
Fictional characters with disfigurements
Fictional characters with immortality
Fictional characters with spirit possession or body swapping abilities
Fictional dictators
Fictional English people
Fictional hypnotists and indoctrinators
Fictional illeists
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional necromancers
Fictional offspring of rape
Fictional patricides
Fictional terrorists
Fictional torturers
Harry Potter characters
Literary characters introduced in 1997
Male film villains
Male literary villains
Orphan characters in film
Orphan characters in literature
Psychopathy in fiction
Film supervillains | false | [
"For Sleepyheads Only is the 2002 debut album by Norwegian electronic band Flunk on Beatservice Records. The original pressing was on CD and vinyl while a later revised version was released only on CD in the US from Guidance Recordings.\n\nTrack listing\n\nBeatservice CD Version\n\"I Love Music\"\n\"Blue Monday\"\n\"Miss World\"\n\"Sugar Planet\"\n\"Honey's In Love\"\n\"Magic Potion\"\n\"Your Koolest Smile\"\n\"Kebab Shop 3 Am\"\n\"See Thru You\"\n\"Sunday People (Don't Bang The Drum)\"\n\"Syrupsniph\"\n\"Distortion\"\n\nBeatservice LP version\n I Love Music\n Blue Monday\n Miss World\n Sugar Planet\n Magic Potion\n Your Koolest Smile\n Kebab Shop 3 Am\n See Thru You\n Syrupsniph\n Honey's In Love\n\nGuidance version\n I Love Music\n Blue Monday\n Miss World\n Honey's In Love\n Magic Potion\n Your Koolest Smile\n Kebab Shop 3 Am\n See Thru You\n Sunday People (Don't Bang The Drum)\n Indian Rope Trick\n Syrupsniph\n Distortion\n\n2002 debut albums\nFlunk albums",
"A potion (from Latin potio \"drink\") is a liquid \"that contains medicine, poison, or something that is supposed to have magic powers.” It derives from the Latin word potus which referred to a drink or drinking. The term philtre is also used, often specifically for a love potion, a potion that is supposed to create feelings of love or attraction in the one who drinks it.\nThroughout history there have been several types of potions for a range of purposes. Reasons for taking potions ranged from curing an illness, to securing immortality to trying to induce love. These potions, while often ineffective or poisonous, occasionally had some degree of medicinal success depending on what they sought to fix and the type and amount of ingredients used. Some popular ingredients used in potions across history include Spanish fly, nightshade plants, cannabis and opium.\n\nDuring the 17th to 19th century, it was common in Europe to see peddlers offering potions for ailments ranging from heartbreak to the plague. These were eventually dismissed as quackery. Individuals unable to afford to buy a potion at an apothecary or from a peddler could go to their local herbalist (often labeled a witch) in their village, or a female member of their household. Prostitutes, courtesans, enchanters and midwives were also known to distribute potions.\n\nEtymology \nThe word potion has its origins in the Latin word potus an irregular past participle of potare which meant \"to drink.” This evolved to the word potionem (nominative potio) meaning either \"a potion, a drinking” or a \"poisonous draught, magic potion.\" In Ancient Greek, the word for both drugs and potions was “pharmaka” or “pharmakon.” In the 12th century, the French had the word pocion meaning \"potion, draught, medicine.\" By the 13th century, this word became pocioun meaning \"medicinal drink, dose of liquid medicine or poison\".\n\nThe word potion can also be sourced from the Spanish words pocion meaning \"potion,\" and ponzoña meaning \"poison.\" The Italian's also had a word pozione meaning \"potion\". The word pozione is the same word for poison in Italian. By the early 15th century in Italy potion began to be known specifically as a magical or enchanted drink.\n\nAdministrators of potions \nThe practice of administering potions has had a long history of being illegalised. Despite these laws, there have been several different administrators of potions across history.\n\nQuacks \n\nQuacks or charlatans refer to people who sell “medical methods that do not work and are only intended to make money”. In Europe in the 15th century it was also common to see long-distance peddlers, who sold supposedly magical healing potions and elixirs. During the Great Plague of London in the 17th century, quacks sold many fake potions promising either cures or immunity. Because pills looked less trustworthy to the public, potions were often the top sellers of quacks. These potions often included bizarre ingredients such as floral pomanders and the smoke of fragrant woods. The well known Wessex quack Vilbert was known to sell love potions made of pigeon hearts. By the 18th century in England, it was common for middle class households to stock potions that claimed to solve a variety of ailments. Quackery grew to its height in the 19th century.\n\nPharmacists \nIn 18th and 19th century Britain, pharmacies or apothecaries were often a cheaper, more accessible option for medical treatment than doctors. Potions distributed by chemists for illnesses were often derived from herbs and plants, and based on old beliefs and remedies.\n\nPrior to The Pharmacy Act 1868 anybody could become a pharmacist or chemist. Since the practice was unregulated, potions were often made by scratch.\n\nPotions were additionally used to cure illness in livestock. One potion found in a 19th-century pharmacist's recipe book was to be used for “lambs of about 7 years old” and contains chalk, pomegranate and opium.\n\nThe role of women in distributing potions \n\nThere was a strict hierarchy in the medical community of Europe during the 12th to 15th centuries. Male doctors were the most respected and paid followed by female apothecaries, barber-surgeons and surgeons. Women were often the main way that individuals who could not afford doctors or apothecaries could gain medical treatment Potions, in addition to calming teas or soup, were a common homemade treatment made by women. When unable to go to a female house member, early modern people would often go to the wise women of their village. Wise women (who were often supposed witches) were knowledgeable in health care and could administer potions, lotions or salves in addition to performing prayers or chants. This was often free of charge or significantly less expensive than the potions of apothecaries.\n\nThe limited jobs available to women during the 17th to 18th century in Europe often involved a knowledge of potions as an additional way to gain a financial income. Jobs that often involved the selling of love potions included prostitutes, courtesans, enchanters and midwives. These practices varied by region. In Rome, up until the period of the civil wars, the only physicians were drug-sellers, enchanters and midwives. In Greece, retired courtesans often both created potions and worked as midwives. Prostitutes in Europe were often expected to be an expert in magic and administer love potions.\n\nSelf-administration \nIn the Middle Ages and the early modern period using potions to induce sterility and abortion was widely practiced in Europe. The majority of abortive potions were made using emmenagogue herbs (herbs used to stimulate menstruation) which were intended to cause a period and end a pregnancy. Additionally abortive potions could also be prepared by infusion of a herb or tree. The willow tree was a common ingredient in these potions, as it was fabled to cause sterility. Several key theological and legal literature of the time condemned this practice, including Visigothic law and the Church.\n\nMany herbal potions containing emmenagogues did not contain abortifacients (substances that induce abortion) and were instead used to cure amenorrhoea (a lack of period). There are several different types of literature in the humoral tradition that propose the use of herbal potions or suppositories to provoke menstruation.\n\nFamous potion makers\n\nGiulia Tofana and Gironima Spana \nGiulia Tofana (1581-1651) was an Italian poisoner, known as the inventor of the famous poison Aqua Tofana. Born in Sicily, she invented and started to sell the poison in Palermo in Sicily. She later established herself in Rome, where she continued the business, specialising in selling to women in abusive marriages who wanted to become widows. She died peacefully in 1651 and left the business to her stepdaughter Gironima Spana, who expanded it to a substantial business in the 1650s. The organization was exposed in 1659 and resulted in the famous Spana Prosecution, which became a subject of sensationalistic mythologization for centuries.\n\nPaula de Eguiluz \nPaula de Eguiluz was born into slavery in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in the 17th Century. Within the area in which she lived, sickness and disease ravaged the towns and major cities. Paula de Eguiluz decided to research and find her own cures to these maladies. Because of this, she is widely known for being involved in health care and healing.\n\nOnce her healing and health care practice took off, she started to sell potions and serums to clients. de Eguiluz's business attracted a following and slowly got her into a bit of trouble.\n\nDue to Paula's healing accomplishments, she was arrested approximately 3 times. During these inquisitions, she was forced to tell the jury that she performed witchcraft. In response to these false confessions, she was imprisoned and whipped several times.\n\nCatherine Monvoisin \n\nCatherine Monvoisin, better known to some as La Voisin, was born within the year 1640 in France.\n\nCatherine Monvoisin married Antoine Monvoisin who was a jeweler in Paris. His business plummeted and Catherine had to find work in order for her and her family to survive. She had a knack for reading people very accurately coupled with chiromancy and utilized her skills in order to make money.\n\nLa Voisin would read people's horoscopes and perform abortions, but she also sold potions and poisons to her clients. Her work quickly became well known throughout France and people would quickly become her clients. Around the year 1665, her fortune telling was questioned by Saint Vincent de Paul's Order, but she was quick to dismiss the allegations of witchcraft.\n\nCatherine would then begin making potions whether it be for love, murder, or everyday life. Her love potion consisted of bones, the teeth of moles, human blood, Spanish fly beetles, and even small amounts of human remains. Her predecessor and major influence was Giulia Tofana.\n\nOn March 12, 1679, Catherine was arrested Notre- Dame Bonne- Nouvelle due to a string of incidences involving her and her potions. She confessed her crimes of murder and told authorities a majority of everything they needed to know about the people she knowingly murdered.\n\nOn February 22, 1680, La Voisin was sentenced to a public death wherein she was to be burned as the stake for witchcraft.\n\nJacqueline Felicie \nJacqueline Felice de Almania was tried in Italy in 1322 for the unlicensed practice of medicine. She was mainly accused of doing a learned male physicians job and accepting a fee. This job involved “examining urine by its physical appearance; touching the body; and prescribing potions, digestives, and laxatives.” Eight witnesses testified to her medical experience and wisdom however as she had not attended university, her knowledge was dismissed. Jacqueline Felice was then found guilty and fined and excommunicated from the church.\n\nPopular types of potions \nEmotions such as anger, fear and sadness are universal and as such potions have been created across history and cultures in response to these human emotions.\n\nLove potion \n\nLove Potions have been used throughout history and cultures. Scandinavians often used love-philtres, which is documented in the Norse poem The Lay of Gudrun.\n\nIn 17th century Cartagena, Afro-Mexican curer (curanderos/as) and other Indigenous healers could gain an income and status from selling spells and love potions to women trying to secure men and financial stability. These love potions were sold to women of all social classes, who often wished to gain sexual agency.\n\nRestorative potion\n\nConfectio Alchermes \nIn the early ninth century, Arab physician Yuhanna ̄ Ibn Masawaih used the dye kermes to create a potion called Confectio Alchermes. The potion was “intended for the caliph and his court and not for commoners.” The potion was intended to cure heart palpitations, restore strength and cure madness and depression.\n\nDuring the Renaissance in Europe, Confectio Alchermes was used widely. Recipes for the potion appeared in the work of the popular English apothecary Nicholas Culpeper and the official pharmacopoeia handbooks of London and Amsterdam. Queen Elizabeth’s French ambassador was even treated with the remedy, however the recipe was altered to include a “unicorn’s horn” (possibly a ground-up narwhal tusk) in addition to the traditional ingredients. The ingredients for the potion mainly included ambergris, cinnamon, aloes, gold leaf, musk, pulverized lapis lazuli and white pearls.\n\nSt Paul's potion \nSt Paul's Potion was intended to cure epilepsy, catalepsy and stomach problems. Many ingredients used in the potion had medicinal value. The list of ingredients included “liquorice, sage, willow, roses, fennel, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cormorant blood, mandrake, dragon’s blood and three kinds of pepper”.\n\nMany of these ingredients still have medicinal value in the 21st century. Liquorice can be used to treat coughs and bronchitis. Sage can help memory and improve blood flow to the brain. Willow contains salicylic acid, which is a component of aspirin. Fennel, cinnamon and ginger are all carminatives, which help relieve gas in the intestines. The cormorant blood adds iron to treat anemia. If used in small doses, Mandrake is a good sleeping draught (though in large doses Mandrake can be poisonous.) Dragon's blood refers to the bright red resin of the tree Dracaena draco. According to Toni Mount “it has antiseptic, antibiotic, anti-viral and wound-healing properties, and it is still used in some parts of the world to treat dysentery.”\n\nImmortality potion \nCreating a potion for immortality, was a common pursuit of alchemists throughout history. The Elixir of Life is a famous potion that aimed to create eternal youth. During the Chinese dynasties, this elixir of life was often recreated and drunk by emperors, nobles and officials. In India, there is a myth of the potion amrita, a drink of immortality made out of nectar.\n\nHallucinogenic potions\n\nAyahuasca \nAyahuasca, is a hallucinogenic plant-based potion used in many parts of the world. It was first created by indigenous South Americans from the Amazon basin as a spiritual medicine. The potion was often administered by a shaman during a ceremony. The potion contains the boiled stems of the ayahuasca vine and leaves from the chacruna plant. Chacruna contains dimethyltryptamine (also known as DMT), a psychedelic drug. The potion caused users to vomit or 'purge' and induced hallucinations.\n\nFolklore \n\nPotions or mixtures are common within many of local mythologies. In particular, references to love potions are common in many cultures. Yusufzai witches, for example, would bathe a recently deceased leatherworker and sell the water to those seeking a male partner; this practice is said to exist in a modified form in modern times.\n\nFamous potions in literature \nPotions have played a critical role in many pieces of literature. Shakespeare wrote potions into many of his plays including a love potion in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, poison in Hamlet, and Juliet takes a potion to fake her death in Romeo and Juliet.\n\nIn the Harry Potter series, potions also play a main role. The students are required to attend potion classes and knowledge of potions often becomes a factor for many of the characters.\n\nIn the fairytale \"The Little Mermaid\" by Hans Christian Andersen, the Little Mermaid wishes to become human and have an immortal soul. She visits the Sea Witch who sells her a potion, in exchange for which she cuts out the Little Mermaid's tongue. The Sea Witch makes the potion using her own blood that she cuts from her breast. She warns the Little Mermaid that it will feel as if she is cut with a sword when her fin becomes legs, that she will never be able to become a mermaid again, and risks turning into seafoam and not having an immortal soul if she fails to win the Prince's love. The Little Mermaid decides to take the potion which successfully turns her into a human so that she can try to win the love of the Prince and an immortal soul.\n\nIn the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Henry Jekyll creates a potion that transforms him into an evil version of himself called Edward Hyde. Dr. Jekyll does not explain how he created this potion because he felt his “discoveries were incomplete,” he only indicates that it requires a “particular salt.” He uses the potion successfully to go back and forth between his normal self, Dr. Jekyll, and his evil self, Mr. Hyde.\n\nPopular ingredients used in potions\n\nSpanish fly \nIn Ancient Greece, the spanish fly (also known as cantharides) was crushed with herbs and used in love potions. It was believed to be effective due to the bodily warmth that resulted from ingesting it, however this was actually a result of inflammation from toxins in the bug. Ferdinand II of Aragon drank many potions and elixir contains the Spanish Fly.\n\nThe nightshade plant \nIn the 11th century, the nightshade plant (also known as Solanaceae) were often used as an ingredient in the potion or ointment of witches and aphrodisiacs. These potions were known as the ‘Pharmaka diabolics’. The henbane plant was the most common form of nightshade used in potions. In large doses it could cause death.\n\nMandrake \n\nThe root of the mandrake (also known as Mandragora oflcinarum) was often used to prepare sleeping potions, however too large an amount could be poisonous.\n\nThe mandrake's origin is set in the Middle East as well as part of the Mediterranean. On record, there are over 2,500 different kinds of strains of mandrake and the containments possess powerful alkaloids. When given in safe doses, the mandrake root can be used for many functions like painkillers, improved fertility, hallucinogenics, and aphrodisiacs.\n\nIt is said that witches were very fond of mandrake and would utilize its properties for their potions. From there, these potions would be used for acts of murder and induce insanity. An example of this would be during the year of 1910 when a man by the name of Dr. Crippen used a potion laced with mandrake in order to murder his wife.\n\nCochineal \nCochineal, another type of dye, replaced kermes as an ingredient in Confectio Alchermes in the 17th and 18th century. Cochineal was also heavily used as an ingredient in potions for jaundice. Jaundice potions were a mix of Cochineal, cream of tartar and Venetian soap and patients were directed to take it three times a day.\n\nCannabis and opium \nOpium and cannabis has been used in potions throughout human history. Potions containing cannabis and/or opium were particularly popular in Arabia, Persia and Muslim India after the arrival of the drugs around the ninth century. Cannabis and opium were a common ingredient used in potions and tinctures sold by apothecaries in 19th century Europe, as the ingredients made patients feel better, and the addictive nature of the drug meant it sold well. Nepenthes pharmakon is a famous type of magical potion recorded in Homer's Odyssey, intended to cure sorrow. Pharmakon was the word for medicine in Ancient Greek. The potion was recreated in the 18th century, and contains both the plant nepenthe and opium.\n\nSee also \n Alchemy in art and entertainment\n Asterix\n Concoction\n Extract\n Herbal medicine\n Herbal tea\n History of pharmacy\n Spagyric\n The Love Potion\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Poisoning in the Middle Ages\n\nAlchemical substances\nAlternative medicine\nFantasy tropes\nHerbalism\nMagic substances\nPoisons\nWitchcraft"
]
|
[
"Chris Jericho",
"World Television Champion (1998-1999)"
]
| C_80c385dd71cd41db8abb719e54c2c991_1 | Who did Chris Jericho defeat to become the World Television Champion? | 1 | Who did Chris Jericho defeat to become the World Television Champion? | Chris Jericho | On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company. On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match. Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the title of the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War. CANNOTANSWER | On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). | Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Inner Circle stable. Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, he has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
During the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico. At the end of 1999, he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night. Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC and Elimination Chamber shows. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010.
Within the WWF/WWE, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the Undisputed WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year.
After his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. Jericho joined AEW in January 2019 and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year. All totalled, between ECW, WCW, WWE, NJPW and AEW, Jericho has held 36 championships (including seven World Championships, and 10 Intercontinental Championships).
In 1999, Jericho became lead vocalist of heavy metal band Fozzy, who released their eponymous debut album the following year. The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions, although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward. Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars. He hosted the ABC game show Downfall, the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
Early life
Christopher Keith Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York on November 9, 1970, the son of a Canadian couple. He is of Scottish descent from his father's side and Ukrainian descent from his mother's side. His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine, had been playing for the New York Rangers at the time of his birth. When his father retired, the family moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Irvine grew up. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenships. Irvine's interest in professional wrestling began when he started watching the local American Wrestling Association (AWA) events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become a professional wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart, then appearing with Stampede Wrestling, performing various high-flying moves. In addition, Irvine also cited Owen's older brother Bret, Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for his becoming a professional wrestler. His first experience with a professional wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of the ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda. He attended Red River College in Winnipeg, graduating in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Creative Communications.
Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (1990–1991)
At the age of 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling, where he met Lance Storm on his first day. He was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young.
Two months after completing training, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta as "Cowboy" Chris Jericho, on October 2, 1990, in a ten-minute time limit draw against Storm. The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called Sudden Impact. According to a February 2019 interview with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show, Jericho stated that his initial name was going to be "Jack Action" however, someone remarked to him that the name was stupid, they then asked him what his name really was, he then got nervous and said "Chris Jericho". He took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween. Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian) and Terry Gerin (Rhino). The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW).
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1991)
In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and other Mexican promotions (1992–1995)
In the winter of 1992, he traveled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro ("Golden Lion", a name that fans voted on for him between "He-Man", "Chris Power", and his preferred choice "Leon D'Oro"), and later Corazón de León ("Lion Heart"), where he wrestled for several small wrestling companies.
From 1993 to 1995, he competed in Mexico's oldest promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King, Negro Casas, and Último Dragón en route to an eleven-month reign as the NWA Middleweight Champion that began in December 1993.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1994)
1994 saw Jericho reunited with Storm, as The Thrillseekers in Jim Cornette's Appalachian Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion, where they feuded with the likes of Well Dunn, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, and The Heavenly Bodies.
Wrestling and Romance/WAR (1994–1996)
In late 1994, Jericho began competing regularly in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling and Romance (later known as Wrestle Association "R") (WAR) promotion as The Lion Heart. In November 1994, Último Dragón defeated him for the NWA World Middleweight Championship, which he had won while wrestling in Mexico.
In March 1995, Jericho lost to Gedo in the final of a tournament to crown the inaugural WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Gedo for the championship in June 1995, losing it to Último Dragón the next month. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Hanzo Nakajima in the first round, but losing to Wild Pegasus in the second round.
In 1995, Jericho joined the heel stable Fuyuki-Gun ("Fuyuki Army") with Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo, and Jado, adopting the name Lion Do. In February 1996, Jericho and Gedo won a tournament for the newly created International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, defeating Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in the final. They lost the championship to Storm and Yasuraoka the following month. Jericho made his final appearances with WAR in July 1996, having wrestled a total of twenty-four tours for the company.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996)
In 1995, thanks in part to recommendations by Benoit, Dave Meltzer and Perry Saturn, to promoter Paul Heyman, and after Mick Foley saw Jericho's match against Último Dragón for the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 1995 and gave a tape of the match to Heyman, Jericho began wrestling for the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, winning the ECW World Television Championship from Pitbull #2 in June 1996 at Hardcore Heaven. While in ECW, Jericho wrestled Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Foley (as Cactus Jack), Shane Douglas, and 2 Cold Scorpio. He made his final appearance at The Doctor Is In in August 1996. It was during this time that he drew the attention of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
World Championship Wrestling (1996 – 1999)
Early appearances (1996–1997)
Jericho debuted for WCW on August 20, 1996 by defeating Mr. JL, which aired on the August 31 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho's televised debut in WCW occurred on the August 26 episode of Monday Nitro against Alex Wright in a match which ended in a no contest. He made his pay-per-view debut on September 15 against Chris Benoit in a losing effort at Fall Brawl. The following month, at Halloween Havoc, Jericho lost to nWo member Syxx due to biased officiating by nWo referee Nick Patrick. This led to a match between Jericho and Patrick at World War 3, which stipulated that Jericho's one arm would be tied behind his back. Despite the odds stacked against him, Jericho won the match. Later that night, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match but failed to win the match.
Jericho represented WCW against nWo Japan member Masahiro Chono in a losing effort at the nWo Souled Out event. At SuperBrawl VII, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Guerrero for the United States Heavyweight Championship.
Cruiserweight Champion (1997–1998)
On June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx at the Saturday Nitro live event in Los Angeles, California to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time, thus winning the first championship of his WCW career. Jericho successfully defended the title against Ultimo Dragon at Bash at the Beach, before losing the title to Alex Wright on the July 28 episode of Monday Nitro. Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Wright for the title at Road Wild, before defeating Wright in a rematch to win his second Cruiserweight Championship on the August 16 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho began feuding with Eddie Guerrero over the title as he successfully defended the title against Guerrero at Clash of the Champions XXXV before losing the title to Guerrero at Fall Brawl. Jericho defeated Gedo at Halloween Havoc. At World War 3, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal but failed to win.
On the January 15, 1998 episode of Thunder, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero to earn a title shot against Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Championship at Souled Out. Jericho won the match by forcing Mysterio to submit to the Liontamer. After the match, Jericho turned heel by assaulting Mysterio's knee with a toolbox. In the storyline, Mysterio needed six months of recovery before he could return to the ring. Jericho then had a short feud with Juventud Guerrera in which Guerrera repeatedly requested a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship, but Jericho constantly rebuffed him. The feud culminated in a title versus mask match at SuperBrawl VIII. Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Following this match, Jericho began his ongoing gimmick of collecting and wearing to the ring trophy items from his defeated opponents, such as Guerrera's mask, Prince Iaukea's Hawaiian dress, and a headband from Disco Inferno.
Jericho then began a long feud with Dean Malenko, in which Jericho repeatedly claimed he was a better wrestler than Malenko, but refused to wrestle him. Because of his mastery of technical wrestling, Malenko was known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", so Jericho claimed to be "The Man of 1,004 Holds"; Jericho mentions in his autobiography that this line originated from an IWA interview he saw as a child, where manager Floyd Creatchman claimed that Leo Burke, the first professional wrestler to be known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", was now known as "The Man of 1,002 Holds", to which Floyd Creatchman stated that "he learned two more".
During the March 30, 1998 episode of Nitro, after defeating Marty Jannetty, Jericho pulled out a long pile of paper that listed each of the 1,004 holds he knew and recited them to the audience. Many of the holds were fictional, and nearly every other hold was an armbar. On the March 12, 1998 episode of Thunder, Malenko defeated a wrestler wearing Juventud Guerrera's mask who appeared to be Jericho. However, the masked wrestler was actually Lenny Lane, whom Jericho bribed to appear in the match. This started a minor feud between Lane and Jericho after Jericho refused to pay Lane. At Uncensored, Jericho finally wrestled Malenko and defeated him, after which Malenko took a leave of absence from wrestling. Jericho then proceeded to bring with him to the ring a portrait of Malenko that he insulted and demeaned. Just prior to Slamboree, J.J. Dillon (referred to by Jericho as "Jo Jo") scheduled a cruiserweight Battle Royal, the winner of which would immediately have a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho accepted on the grounds that whoever he faced would be too tired to win a second match. At Slamboree, Jericho came out to introduce the competitors in an insulting fashion before the match started and then went backstage for coffee. An individual who appeared to be Ciclope won the battle royal after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand and then eliminated himself. The winner was a returning Malenko in disguise. Following one of the loudest crowd reactions in WCW history, Malenko proceeded to defeat Jericho for the championship. Jericho claiming he was the victim of a carefully planned conspiracy to get the belt off of him. He at first blamed the WCW locker room, then added Dillon, Ted Turner, and finally in a vignette, he walked around Washington, D.C. with the sign "conspiracy victim" and accused President Bill Clinton of being one of the conspirators after being rejected from a meeting. Eventually, Malenko vacated the title. Jericho ended up defeating Malenko at The Great American Bash to win the vacant title after Malenko was disqualified after hitting Jericho with a chair. The next night, Malenko was suspended for his actions.
At Bash at the Beach, the recently returned Rey Mysterio Jr. (who had recovered from his knee injury) defeated Jericho in a No Disqualification match after the still-suspended Malenko interfered. Jericho regained the Cruiserweight Championship from Mysterio the next night after he interrupted J.J. Dillon while Dillon was giving the championship to Mysterio. Jericho was again awarded the championship. Eventually, Jericho decisively lost the title to Juventud Guerrera in a match at Road Wild with Malenko as special referee.
World Television Champion (1998–1999)
On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company.
On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois, house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match.
Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1997–1998)
In January 1997, Jericho made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), who had a working agreement with WCW, as Super Liger, the masked nemesis of Jyushin Thunder Liger. According to Jericho, Super Liger's first match against Koji Kanemoto at Wrestling World 1997 was so poorly received that the gimmick was dropped instantly. Jericho botched several moves in the match and complained he had difficulty seeing through the mask. The following six months, Jericho worked for New Japan unmasked, before being called back by WCW. On September 23, 1998, Jericho made a one-night-only return to NJPW at that years Big Wednesday show, teaming with Black Tiger against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a title match, which Jericho and Tiger lost.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1999 – 2005)
WWF Intercontinental Champion (1999–2001)
In the weeks before Jericho's debut, a clock labeled "countdown to the new millennium" appeared on WWF programming. On the home video, Break Down the Walls, Jericho states he was inspired to do this as his entrance when he saw a similar clock in a post office and Vince McMahon approved its use as his introduction to the WWF. The clock finally ran out on the August 9 episode of Raw Is War in Chicago, Illinois while The Rock was in the ring cutting a promo on the Big Show. Jericho entered the arena and proclaimed "Raw Is Jericho" and that he had "come to save the World Wrestling Federation", referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K bug). The Rock proceeded to verbally mock him for his interruption. Later that month, he would interact with several superstars including in particular interrupting a promo that The Undertaker was involved in, Jericho made his in-ring debut as a heel on August 26, losing a match against Road Dogg by disqualification on the inaugural episode of SmackDown! after he performed a powerbomb on Road Dogg through a table.
Jericho's first long-term feud was with Chyna, for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. After losing to Chyna at Survivor Series, Jericho defeated her to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship at Armageddon. This feud included a controversial decision during a rematch in which two separate referees declared each one of them the winner of a match for the title. As a result, they became co-champions, during which Jericho turned face. He attained sole champion status at the Royal Rumble.
Jericho lost the WWF Intercontinental title to then-European Champion Kurt Angle at No Way Out. Jericho competed in a Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Angle at WrestleMania 2000 in a two-falls contest with both of Angle's titles at stake. Jericho won the European Championship by pinning Benoit, who in turn pinned Jericho to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. This was the first of six pay-per-view matches between the pair within twelve months. Jericho was originally supposed to be in the main event of WrestleMania, but was taken out after Mick Foley, who was originally asked by writers to be in the match, took his place. Jericho was even advertised on the event's posters promoting the match. Jericho lost the title the next day to Eddie Guerrero on Raw after Chyna sided with Guerrero.
On the April 17 episode of Raw, Jericho upset Triple H in a WWF Championship match. Referee Earl Hebner made a fast count when Jericho pinned Triple H, causing Jericho to win the title. Hebner later reversed the decision due to pressure from Triple H, and WWE does not recognize Jericho's reign as champion. On April 19, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero at the Gary Albright Memorial Show organized by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). On the May 4 episode of SmackDown!, Jericho defeated Benoit to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship but lost the title to Benoit four days later on Raw. Jericho's feud with Triple H ended at Fully Loaded, when they competed in a Last Man Standing match. Jericho lost the match to Triple H only by one second, despite the repeated assistance Triple H's wife, Stephanie, provided him in the match.
At the 2001 Royal Rumble, Jericho defeated Chris Benoit in a ladder match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time. At WrestleMania X-Seven, he successfully defended his title in a match against William Regal, only to lose it four days later to Triple H. At Judgment Day, Jericho and Benoit won a tag team turmoil match and earned a shot at Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their WWF Tag Team Championship on Raw the next night. Benoit and Jericho won the match, in which Triple H legitimately tore his quadriceps, spending the rest of the year injured. Benoit and Jericho each became a WWF Tag Team Champion for the first time. The team defended their title in the first fatal four-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, where Benoit sustained a year-long injury after missing a diving headbutt through a table. Despite Benoit being carried out on a stretcher, he returned to the match to climb the ladder and retain the championship. The two lost the title one month later to The Dudley Boyz on the June 21 episode of SmackDown!. At King of the Ring, both Benoit and Jericho competed in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF Championship, in which Booker T interfered as the catalyst for The Invasion angle. Despite Booker T's interference, Austin retained the title.
Undisputed WWF Champion (2001–2002)
In the following months, Jericho became a major force in The Invasion storyline in which WCW and ECW joined forces to overtake the WWF. Jericho remained on the side of the WWF despite previously competing in WCW and ECW. However, Jericho began showing jealousy toward fellow WWF member The Rock. They faced each other in a match at No Mercy for the WCW Championship after Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam in a number one contenders match on the October 11 episode of SmackDown!. Jericho won the WCW Championship at No Mercy when he pinned The Rock after debuting a new finisher, the Breakdown, onto a steel chair, winning his first world title in the process. One night later, the two put their differences aside and won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz.
After they lost the titles to Test and Booker T on the November 1 episode of SmackDown!, they continued their feud. On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to regain the WCW Championship. Following the match, Jericho attacked The Rock with a steel chair. At Survivor Series, Jericho turned heel by almost costing Team WWF the victory after he was eliminated in their Winner Take All matchup by once again attacking The Rock. Despite this, Team WWF won the match. At Vengeance, Jericho defeated both The Rock for the World Championship (formerly the WCW Championship) and Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first WWF Championship on the same night to become the first wrestler to hold both championships at the same time, which made him the first-ever Undisputed WWF Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam winner under the original format. He retained the title at the Royal Rumble against The Rock and at No Way Out against Austin. Jericho later lost the title to Royal Rumble winner Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X8. Jericho was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the inaugural WWF draft lottery. He would then appear at Backlash, interfering in Triple H's Undisputed WWF Championship match against Hollywood Hulk Hogan. He was quickly dumped out the ring, but Triple H would go on to lose the match. This would lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Judgment Day in May, where Triple H would emerge victorious. Jericho would then compete in the 2002 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Edge and The Big Valbowski to advance to the semi-finals, where he was defeated by Rob Van Dam at King of the Ring. In July, he began a feud with the debuting John Cena, losing to him at Vengeance.
Teaming and feuding with Christian (2002–2004)
After his feud with Cena ended, Jericho moved to the Raw brand on the July 29 episode of Raw, unwilling to work for SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon. Upon his arrival to the brand, he initiated a feud with Ric Flair, leading to a match at SummerSlam, which Jericho lost. On the September 16 episode of Raw, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time from Rob Van Dam, before losing the title to Kane two weeks later on Raw. He then later formed a tag team with Christian, with whom he won the World Tag Team Championship by defeating Kane and The Hurricane on the October 14 episode of Raw. Christian and Jericho lost the titles to Booker T and Goldust in a fatal four-way elimination match, involving the teams of The Dudley Boyz, and William Regal and Lance Storm at Armageddon.
On the January 13 episode of Raw, Jericho won an over-the-top-rope challenge against Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Batista to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble match. He chose number two in order to start the match with Shawn Michaels, who had challenged him to prove Jericho's claims that he was better than Michaels. After Michaels's entrance, Jericho entered as the second participant. Christian, in Jericho's attire, appeared while the real Jericho attacked Shawn from behind. He eliminated Michaels shortly afterward, but Michaels got his revenge later in the match by causing Test to eliminate Jericho. Jericho spent the most time of any other wrestler in that same Royal Rumble. Jericho simultaneously feuded with Test, Michaels, and Jeff Hardy, defeating Hardy at No Way Out. Jericho and Michaels fought again at WrestleMania XIX, which Michaels won. Jericho, however, attacked Michaels with a low blow after the match following an embrace.
After this match, Jericho entered a rivalry with Goldberg, which was fueled by Goldberg's refusal to fight Jericho in WCW. During Jericho's first episode of the Highlight Reel, an interview segment, where Goldberg was the guest, he complained that no-one wanted Goldberg in WWE and continued to insult him in the following weeks. On the May 12 episode of Raw, a mystery assailant attempted to run over Goldberg with a limousine. A week later, Co-Raw General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, interrogated several Raw superstars to find out who was driving the car. One of the interrogates was Lance Storm, who admitted that he was the assailant. Austin forced Storm into a match with Goldberg, who defeated Storm. After the match, Goldberg forced Storm to admit that Jericho was the superstar who conspired Storm into running him over. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Goldberg was once again a guest on the Highlight Reel. Jericho expressed jealousy towards Goldberg's success in WCW and felt that since joining WWE, he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in his career and all that was left was to defeat Goldberg and challenged him to a match. At Bad Blood, Goldberg settled the score with Jericho and defeated him.
On the October 27 episode of Raw, Jericho won his sixth WWE Intercontinental Championship when he defeated Rob Van Dam. He lost the title back to Van Dam immediately after in a steel cage match. Later in 2003, Jericho started a romance with Trish Stratus while his tag team partner Christian began one with Lita. This, however, turned out to be a bet over who could sleep with their respective paramour first, with a Canadian dollar at stake. Stratus overheard this and ended her relationship with Jericho, who seemingly felt bad for using Stratus. After he saved her from an attack by Kane, Stratus agreed that the two of them could just be "friends", thus turning Jericho face. After Christian put Stratus in the Walls of Jericho while competing against her in a match, Jericho sought revenge on Christian, which led to a match at WrestleMania XX. Christian defeated Jericho after Stratus ran down and "inadvertently" struck Jericho (thinking it was Christian) and Christian got the roll-up. After the match, Stratus turned on Jericho and revealed that she and Christian were a couple. This revelation led to a handicap match at Backlash that Jericho won. Jericho won his record-breaking seventh WWE Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven in a ladder match against Christian, breaking the previous record held by Jeff Jarrett from 1999. Jericho's seventh reign was short lived, as he lost it at Taboo Tuesday to Shelton Benjamin.
World championship pursuits (2004–2005)
Jericho teamed up with Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, and Maven to take on Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky at Survivor Series. The match stipulated that each member of the winning team would be the general manager of Raw over the next four weeks. Jericho's team won, and took turns as general manager. During Jericho's turn as general manager, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated because a Triple Threat match for the title a week earlier ended in a draw. At New Year's Revolution, Jericho competed in the Elimination Chamber against Triple H, Chris Benoit, Batista, Randy Orton, and Edge for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho began the match with Benoit and eliminated Edge, but was eliminated by Batista. Triple H went on to win. At WrestleMania 21, Jericho participated in the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match. Jericho suggested the match concept, and he competed in the match against Benjamin, Benoit, Kane, Christian, and Edge. Jericho lost the match when Edge claimed the briefcase.
At Backlash, Jericho challenged Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but lost the match. Jericho lost to Lance Storm at ECW One Night Stand. Jericho used his old "Lionheart" gimmick, instead of his more well known "Y2J" gimmick. Jericho lost the match after Jason and Justin Credible hit Jericho with a Singapore cane, which allowed Storm to win the match. The next night on Raw, Jericho turned heel by betraying WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Christian and Tyson Tomko in a tag team match. Jericho lost a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Vengeance which also involved Christian and Cena. The feud continued throughout the summer and Jericho lost to Cena in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.
The next night on the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Cena for the WWE Championship again in a rematch, this time in a "You're fired" match. Cena won again, and Jericho was fired by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. Jericho was carried out of the arena by security as Kurt Angle attacked Cena. Jericho's WWE contract expired on August 25.
Return to WWE (2007–2010)
Feud with Shawn Michaels (2007–2008)
After a two-year hiatus, WWE promoted Jericho's return starting on the September 24, 2007 episode of Raw with a viral marketing campaign using a series of 15-second cryptic binary code videos, similar to the matrix digital rain used in The Matrix series. The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho. Jericho made his return to WWE television as a face on the November 19, 2007 episode of Raw when he interrupted Randy Orton during Orton's orchestrated "passing of the torch" ceremony. Jericho revealed his intentions to reclaim the WWE Championship in order to "save" WWE fans from Orton. On the November 26 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Santino Marella and debuted a new finishing move called the Codebreaker. At Armageddon, he competed in a WWE title match against Orton, defeating him by disqualification when SmackDown!s color commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) interfered in the match, but Orton retained the title. He began a feud with JBL and met him at the Royal Rumble. Jericho was disqualified after hitting JBL with a steel chair. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Jericho captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship for a record eighth time when he defeated Jeff Hardy.
In April 2008, Jericho became involved in the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Batista when he suggested that Michaels enjoyed retiring Ric Flair, causing Shawn Michaels to attack him. Jericho thus asked to be inserted into the match between Batista and Michaels at Backlash, but instead, he was appointed as the special guest referee. During the match at Backlash, Michaels feigned a knee injury so that Jericho would give him time to recover and lured Batista in for Sweet Chin Music for the win. After Backlash, Jericho accused Michaels of cheating, but Michaels continued to play up an injury. When Jericho was finally convinced and he apologized to Michaels for not believing him, Michaels then admitted to Jericho that he had faked his injury and he attacked Jericho with Sweet Chin Music. After losing to Michaels at Judgment Day, Jericho initiated a handshake after the match.
On the June 9 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel, interviewing Michaels. Jericho pointed out that Michaels was still cheered by the fans despite Michaels's deceit and attack on Jericho during the previous months, whereas Jericho was booed when he tried to do the right thing. Jericho then assaulted Michaels with a low blow and sent Michaels through the "Jeritron 6000" television, damaging the eye of Michaels, and turning heel in the process. This began what was named by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the "Feud of the Year". At Night of Champions, Jericho lost the WWE Intercontinental title to Kofi Kingston after a distraction by Michaels. In June, Jericho took on Lance Cade as a protégé.
World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2009)
Afterward, Jericho developed a suit-wearing persona inspired by Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh from the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and wrestler Nick Bockwinkel. Jericho and Michaels met at The Great American Bash, which Jericho won after attacking the cut on Michaels's eye. At SummerSlam, Michaels said that his eye damage would force him to retire and insulted Jericho by saying he would never achieve Michaels's success. Jericho tried to attack Michaels, but Michaels ducked, so Jericho punched Michaels's wife, Rebecca, instead. As a result, they fought in an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven, which Jericho lost by referee stoppage. Later that night, Jericho entered the Championship Scramble match as a late replacement for the defending champion CM Punk and subsequently won the World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Batista, John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Kane, and Rey Mysterio. It was announced that Michaels would challenge Jericho for the championship in a ladder match at No Mercy, which Jericho won. At Cyber Sunday on October 26, Jericho lost the title to Batista, but later won it back eight days later on the 800th episode of Raw in a steel cage match. Jericho defeated Michaels in a Last Man Standing match on the November 10 episode of Raw after interference from JBL. Jericho lost the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series to the returning John Cena. On the December 8 episode of Raw, Jericho was awarded the Slammy Award for 2008 Superstar of the Year award. Six days later, he lost his rematch with John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon.
At the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009, Jericho participated in the Royal Rumble match, but he was eliminated by the Undertaker. On February 15 at No Way Out, he competed in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but he failed to win as he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Following this, Jericho began a rivalry with veteran wrestlers Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper, as well as actor Mickey Rourke. Jericho was originally arranged to face Rourke at WrestleMania 25, but Rourke later pulled out of the event. Instead, Jericho defeated Piper, Snuka and Steamboat in a 3-on-1 elimination handicap match at WrestleMania, but was knocked out by Rourke after the match.
On the April 13 episode of Raw, Jericho was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 WWE draft. Jericho then faced Steamboat in a singles match at Backlash, where Jericho was victorious. In May, Jericho started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, leading to a match at Judgment Day, which Jericho lost. However, Jericho defeated Mysterio in a No Holds Barred Match at Extreme Rules to win his ninth Intercontinental Championship, breaking his own record again. At The Bash, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Mysterio in a mask vs. title match.
Jeri-Show and feud with Edge (2009–2010)
Later in the event, Jericho and his partner Edge won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship as surprise entrants in a triple threat tag team match. As a result of this win, Jericho became the first wrestler to win every (original) Grand Slam eligible championship. Shortly thereafter Edge suffered an injury and Jericho revealed a clause in his contract to allow Edge to be replaced and Jericho's reign to continue uninterrupted. At Night of Champions, Jericho revealed Big Show as his new tag team partner, creating a team that would come to called Jeri-Show. The duo defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the championship. Jeri-Show successfully defended the title against Cryme Tyme at SummerSlam, MVP and Mark Henry at Breaking Point and Rey Mysterio and Batista at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series, both Jericho and Big Show took part in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but the Undertaker successfully retained the title. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Jeri-Show lost the tag titles to D-Generation X (D-X) (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. As a member of the SmackDown brand, Jericho could only appear on Raw as a champion and D-X intentionally disqualified themselves in a rematch to force Jericho off the show. On the January 4, 2010 of Raw, D-X defeated Jeri-Show to retain the championship once again, marking the end of Jeri-Show.
Jericho entered the 2010 Royal Rumble match on January 31, but was eliminated by the returning Edge, his former tag team partner, who went on to win the match. At Elimination Chamber, Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, defeating The Undertaker, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and R-Truth following interference from Shawn Michaels. The next night on Raw, Edge used his Royal Rumble win to challenge Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVI. Jericho defeated Edge at WrestleMania to retain the title, but lost the championship to Jack Swagger on the following episode of SmackDown, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Jericho then failed to regain the title from Swagger in a triple-threat match also involving Edge on the April 16 episode of SmackDown. Jericho and Edge continued their feud leading into Extreme Rules, where Jericho was defeated in a steel cage match.
Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2010 WWE draft. He formed a brief tag team with The Miz and unsuccessfully challenged The Hart Dynasty for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at Over the Limit. A month later, Jericho lost to Evan Bourne at Fatal 4-Way, but won a rematch during the following night on Raw, where he put his career on the line. On the July 19 episode of Raw, after being assaulted by The Nexus, Jericho teamed with rivals Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan and Bret Hart in a team led by John Cena to face The Nexus at SummerSlam. Jericho and Cena bickered over leadership of the team, which led to him and Edge attacking Cena during the SummerSlam match that they won.
Jericho was punished for not showing solidarity against Nexus, when he was removed from a Six-Pack Challenge for Sheamus's WWE Championship at Night of Champions. Although he re-earned his place in the match after defeating The Hart Dynasty in a handicap steel cage match, he was the first man eliminated from the match at Night of Champions. On the September 27 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Randy Orton who punted him in the head. This was used to explain Jericho's departure from the company.
Second return to WWE (2011–2018)
Feud with CM Punk (2011–2012)
Beginning in November 2011, WWE aired cryptic vignettes that promoted a wrestler's return on the January 2, 2012 episode of Raw. On his return, after hyping the crowd and relishing their cheers for a prolonged period, Jericho left without verbally addressing his return. After exhibiting similar odd behavior in the proceeding two weeks, Jericho spoke on the January 23 episode of Raw to say, "This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it is going to be the end of the world as you know it", but in the Royal Rumble match, he was eliminated last, by Sheamus. On the January 30 episode of Raw, Jericho began a feud with WWE Champion CM Punk after attacking him during his match with Daniel Bryan. He explained his actions by claiming other wrestlers in WWE were imitating him and named Punk as the worst offender.
At Elimination Chamber, Jericho participated in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, entering last and eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston before being knocked out of the structure by Punk, which injured him and removed him from the match without being eliminated. The following night on Raw, Jericho won a ten-man battle royal to become the number one contender for Punk's WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII. In a bid to psychologically unsettle Punk, Jericho revealed that Punk's father was an alcoholic and Punk's sister was a drug addict, which contradicted Punk's straight edge philosophy; Jericho vowed to make Punk turn to alcohol by winning Punk's title from him. At WrestleMania, a stipulation was added that Punk would lose his WWE Championship if he was disqualified. During the match, Jericho unsuccessfully tried to taunt Punk into disqualifying himself, and Punk won the match.
Jericho continued his feud with Punk in the weeks that followed by attacking and dousing him with alcohol after his matches. At Extreme Rules, Jericho failed again to capture the WWE Championship from Punk in a Chicago Street Fight.
Championship pursuits (2012–2013)
Jericho faced Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus in a fatal four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Over the Limit, where Sheamus retained his title. On May 24 at a WWE live event in Brazil, Jericho wrestled a match against CM Punk, during which Jericho kicked a Brazilian flag, causing local police to intervene and threaten Jericho with arrest. Jericho issued an apology to the audience, enabling the event to resume. The following day, WWE suspended Jericho for 30 days while apologizing to the people and government of Brazil. Jericho returned on the June 25 episode of Raw, and his absence was explained by a European tour with his band Fozzy which happened to coincide with his suspension. At Money in the Bank, Jericho participated in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but failed to win as John Cena won. The following night on Raw, Jericho confronted newly crowned Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler, who claimed that Jericho had lost his touch. Jericho attacked Ziggler with a Codebreaker, thus turning face in the process. At SummerSlam, Jericho defeated Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Ziggler defeated Jericho in a rematch and, as a result, Ziggler retained his Money in the Bank contract and Jericho's WWE contract was terminated as per a pre match stipulation put in place by Raw General Manager, AJ Lee. This was used to write him off so he could tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year.
On January 27, 2013, Jericho returned after a five-month hiatus entering the Royal Rumble match as the second entrant. Jericho lasted over 47 minutes before being eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Jericho later revealed to Ziggler that due to a managerial change on Raw, he had been rehired by Vickie Guerrero, resuming his feud with Ziggler. Guerrero then paired the two in a match against WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). The match ended with Ziggler being pinned by Kane after Jericho framed him for pushing Kane. After beating Daniel Bryan on the February 11 episode of Raw, Jericho qualified for the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber (in which the winner would go on to be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29), where he was the fourth man eliminated. On the March 11 episode of Raw, Jericho faced The Miz in a No. 1 contenders match for Wade Barrett's WWE Intercontinental Championship, but the match was ruled a no contest after Barrett interfered and attacked both men. Both men then faced Barrett the following week on Raw, where he retained his title. Earlier in the episode, Jericho had a run-in with Fandango which led to Fandango costing him his match with Jack Swagger and attacking him four days later on SmackDown. At WrestleMania 29, Jericho was defeated by Fandango. They continued their feud in the following weeks, until Jericho defeated Fandango at Extreme Rules. He then faced the returning CM Punk at Payback, where he was defeated. Jericho then began feuding with Ryback, which led to a singles match on July 14 at Money in the Bank, where Ryback emerged victorious. On the July 19 episode of SmackDown, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Curtis Axel for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and was afterwards attacked by Ryback. This was done to write Jericho off television as he was taking a temporary hiatus to tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year and possibly January and February.
In a November interview for WWE.com, Jericho revealed that he would not be a full-time wrestler due to his musical and acting ventures.
Various sporadic feuds (2014–2016)
After an eleven-month hiatus, Jericho returned on the June 30, 2014 episode of Raw, attacking The Miz, who had also returned minutes earlier. The Wyatt Family then interrupted and ultimately attacked Jericho. Jericho faced Bray Wyatt at Battleground in a winning effort. At SummerSlam, with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan banned from ringside, Wyatt picked up the victory. On the September 8 episode of Raw, Jericho lost to Wyatt in a steel cage match, ending the feud. Jericho then feuded with Randy Orton, who had attacked him the week before after his match against Wyatt in the trainers room. Orton defeated him at Night of Champions. Throughout the rest of October and November, Jericho wrestled exclusively at live events, defeating Bray Wyatt. Jericho returned to WWE television in December as the guest general manager of the December 15 episode of Raw. Jericho booked himself in a street fight against Paul Heyman in the main event, which led to the return of Brock Lesnar. Before the match could begin, Lesnar attacked Jericho with an F-5.
In January 2015, Jericho revealed that he signed an exclusive WWE contract, under which he would compete at 16 house shows only. He later signed a similar contract once the former expired and competed at house shows throughout the rest of 2015. During this time he wrestled against the likes of Luke Harper, Kevin Owens and King Barrett in winning efforts. In May 2015, Jericho was one of the hosts of Tough Enoughs sixth season. Jericho also hosted two Live! With Chris Jericho specials on the WWE Network during 2015; his guests were John Cena and Stephanie McMahon. Jericho made his televised return at The Beast in the East, defeating Neville. At Night of Champions, Jericho was revealed as the mystery partner of Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, facing The Wyatt Family in a losing effort. On October 3, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Live from Madison Square Garden. The match marked 20 years since Jericho's debut with ECW while also celebrating his 25th year as a professional wrestler in total.
On the January 4, 2016 episode of Raw, Jericho returned to in-ring competition full-time and confronted The New Day. At the 2016 Royal Rumble, Jericho entered as the sixth entrant, lasting over 50 minutes, before being eliminated by Dean Ambrose. On the January 25 episode of Raw, Jericho faced the recently debuted AJ Styles in a losing effort. Following the match, after initial hesitation by Jericho, the pair shook hands. On the February 11 episode of SmackDown, Jericho defeated Styles. At Fastlane, Styles was victorious in a third match between the pair. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Jericho and Styles formed a tag team, dubbed Y2AJ. Following their loss against The New Day on the March 7 episode of Raw, Jericho attacked Styles, ending their alliance, claiming that he was sick of the fans chanting for Styles instead of him, turning heel in the process. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 32, where Jericho defeated Styles. However, on the April 4 episode of Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal-four-way match against Styles, Kevin Owens and Cesaro to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort after being pinned by Styles, ending their feud.
The following week on Raw, Dean Ambrose interrupted The Highlight Reel, handing Jericho a note from Shane McMahon replacing the show with The Ambrose Asylum, igniting a feud between the two. During this time, Jericho tweaked his gimmick. He became arrogant and childish while wearing expensive scarfs and calling everyone who appeased him "stupid idiots". At Payback, Jericho faced Ambrose in a losing effort. After attacking one another and Ambrose destroying Jericho's light-up ring jacket, Jericho was challenged by Ambrose to an Asylum match at Extreme Rules, where Ambrose again defeated Jericho after Jericho was thrown in a pile of thumbtacks. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Apollo Crews to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where Jericho was unsuccessful as the match was won by Ambrose. On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand. At Battleground on July 24, Jericho hosted a Highlight Reel segment with the returning Randy Orton, where he took an RKO from Orton after he insulted him. The next night on Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the newly created WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, but he was unsuccessful, as Roman Reigns won the match.
The List of Jericho (2016–2017)
Jericho then entered a feud with Enzo and Cass and on the August 1 episode of Raw, he teamed with Charlotte to defeat Enzo Amore and then WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks in a mixed tag team match, after which Big Cass made the save as Jericho continued the assault on Amore. The following week on Raw, Jericho allied with Kevin Owens and later defeated Amore via disqualification when Cass interfered. This led to a tag team match at SummerSlam, where Jericho and Owens defeated Enzo and Cass. On the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho interfered in Owens's match against Neville, allowing him to qualify for the fatal four-way match to determine the new WWE Universal Champion on the August 29 episode of Raw, which Owens won.
On the September 12 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted an episode of The Highlight Reel with Sami Zayn as his guest, who questioned his alliance with Owens, resulting in Jericho defending Owens and attacking Zayn. On the September 19 episode of Raw, as a result of feeling that he was being treated unjustly by General Manager Mick Foley, as well as other wrestlers beginning to annoy him, Jericho began a list called "The List of Jericho", where he wrote down the name of the person that bothered him and why. If someone annoyed Jericho, he would ask "you know what happens?" before shouting "you just made the list!" and writing the person's name down. The List of Jericho soon became incredibly popular with the fans, with many critics describing Jericho and his list as "easily one of the best moments of Raw's broadcast". At Clash of Champions on September 25, Jericho defeated Zayn and assisted Owens in his Universal Championship defense against Seth Rollins. At Hell in a Cell on October 30, Jericho aided Owens in retaining the Universal Championship against Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match after Owens sprayed a fire extinguisher at the referee, allowing Jericho to enter the cell.
Jericho teamed with Owens, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins as part of Team Raw at Survivor Series on November 20, in a losing effort. The next night on Raw, despite being banned from ringside, Jericho showed up in a Sin Cara mask and attacked Rollins, in another successful title defense for Owens. The following week on Raw, tensions between Jericho and Owens arose after both said that they did not need each other anymore, and Jericho was later attacked by Rollins in the parking lot. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, Jericho lost to Rollins after Owens failed in his attempt to help him, Later that night, Jericho intentionally attacked Owens to prevent Reigns from winning the title. After both Jericho and Owens failed to win the WWE United States Championship from Reigns in multiple singles matches in late 2016, Jericho pinned Reigns in a handicap match also involving Owens on the January 9 episode of Raw to win the WWE United States Championship. Thus, Jericho won his first championship in nearly seven years and also become Grand Slam winner under the current format. Due to interfering multiple times in Owens's matches, Jericho was suspended above the ring in a shark proof cage during Reigns's rematch at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Owens nonetheless retained the championship after Braun Strowman, taking advantage of the added no disqualification stipulation, interfered. Also at the event, Jericho entered as the second entrant in the Royal Rumble match, lasting over an hour (thus breaking the record with a cumulative time of over five hours) and being the third to last before being eliminated by Reigns.
In February, tensions grew between Jericho and Owens after Jericho accepted a Universal Championship challenge from Goldberg on Owens's behalf, much to the latter's dismay. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Jericho held a "Festival of Friendship" for Owens, who was not impressed and viciously attacked Jericho, ending their alliance. Jericho returned at Fastlane on March 5, distracting Owens during his match with Goldberg and causing Owens to lose the Universal Championship, turning face again in the process. This led to a match between Jericho and Owens being arranged for WrestleMania 33 on April 2, with Jericho's United States Championship on the line. At WrestleMania, Jericho lost the United States Championship to Owens. At Payback on April 30, Jericho defeated Owens to regain the title and moved to the SmackDown brand, but lost it back to him two nights later on SmackDown. Following the match, Owens attacked Jericho, who was carried out on a stretcher. Thus, Jericho was written off television so he could fulfill his commitments to tour with and promote his new album with Fozzy. Jericho made a surprise return at a house show in Singapore on June 28, where he lost to Hideo Itami.
Final matches and departure (2017–2018)
On the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Jericho made his televised return, interrupting an altercation between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to get his rematch for Owens' WWE United States Championship. Later that night, Jericho participated in a triple threat match against Owens and Styles for the title in which Jericho was pinned by Styles. Show took place in Richmond, Virginia and was Jericho's last in-ring appearance for WWE in the United States.
On January 22, 2018 during the 25th Anniversary of Raw, Jericho appeared backstage in a segment with Elias, putting him on The List of Jericho. At the Greatest Royal Rumble, Jericho was the last entrant in the 50-man Royal Rumble match, eliminating Shelton Benjamin before being eliminated by the eventual winner Braun Strowman. This event marked Jericho's final appearance with WWE.
In September 2019, during an interview for the Mature Audiences Mayhem Podcast, Jericho revealed the exact point when he decided he was going to leave the WWE. Even though Jericho was with the WWE for 15 years, the final insult came at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Despite the fact that Jericho and Kevin Owens had the best feud of the year, their match was demoted by placing it on the second place on the WrestleMania match card. The decision made by Vince McMahon was a big insult for Jericho and that prompted him to seek work elsewhere. Jericho reflecting his WWE departure stated:
"Originally, that was going to be the main event for the world title. Kevin Owens was the champion and I was going to beat him in the main event of WrestleMania as a babyface." Instead of having Jericho and Owens as the main event, Vince decided to put Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar on the main card. "Vince said that it’s going to be me versus Kevin Owens for the world title at WrestleMania and you are going to win the title, f*** yeah! Next week, he doesn’t tell me, but I hear that it’s changed to Brock Lesnar versus Bill Goldberg for the title. And not only did they take us out of the main event – and, once again, just because I was told I have no right to it and things change all the time, I’m a big boy, I can handle it. But to take us from the main event slot and then move us to the second match on the card on a card that has 12 matches on it? I was like, that’s a f***ing insult."
Return to NJPW (2017–2020)
Feud with Kenny Omega (2017–2018)
On November 5, 2017, Jericho returned to NJPW in a pre-taped vignette, challenging Kenny Omega to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. The challenge was immediately accepted by Omega and made official by NJPW the following day as a title match for Omega's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The match, dubbed "Alpha vs. Omega", was Jericho's first match outside of WWE since he left WCW in July 1999. Journalist Dave Meltzer wrote that Jericho's WWE contract had expired and that he was a "free agent". NJPW also referred to Jericho as a free agent. In contrast, the Tokyo Sports newspaper described an anonymous NJPW official saying that Jericho is still under contract with WWE, and that WWE chairman Vince McMahon had given him permission to wrestle this match in NJPW. This was his first NJPW match in nearly 20 years. Jericho returned in person at the December 11 World Tag League show, attacking and bloodying Omega after his match, while also laying out a referee, a young lion and color commentator Don Callis, establishing himself as a heel. The following day at the Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome press conference, Jericho and Omega would get into a second physical altercation. Because of the two incidents, NJPW turned the January 4 match into a no disqualification match. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Omega. It was later revealed that the match was awarded a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This was the first of his career.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion (2018–2019)
The night after Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome at New Year Dash!! 2018, Jericho attacked Tetsuya Naito. On May 4, Jericho once again attacked Naito at Wrestling Dontaku, leading to a match between the two at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, in which he defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. At King of Pro-Wrestling, Jericho attacked Evil before his match against Zack Sabre Jr. Backstage, Jericho challenged Evil to an IWGP Intercontinental Championship title match at Power Struggle. At the event, Jericho made Evil submit to the Liontamer to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Jericho refused to release the hold until Tetsuya Naito ran in for the save and challenged Jericho. Despite Jericho stating that Naito would not receive a rematch, the match was made official for Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. On December 15, NJPW held a press conference for Jericho and Naito's IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. The press conference ended when Naito spat water in Jericho's face, which resulted in the two then brawling before being separated. Later that same day during a Road to Tokyo Dome show, Jericho laid out Naito with steel chair shots, and after stated that at Wrestle Kingdom 13 he would end Tetsuya Naito's career. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Naito, losing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the process.
Sporadic appearances (2019–2020)
At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jericho challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was defeated. Following the match, Jericho attacked Okada, leading to Hiroshi Tanahashi making the save. Jericho returned at Power Struggle on November 3 and challenged Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14. On December 28, it was announced that if Tanahashi were to defeat Jericho, he would be granted an AEW World Championship match at a later date. During the second night of Wrestle Kingdom on January 5, 2020, Jericho defeated Tanahashi.
Return to the independent circuit (2018–2019)
On September 1, 2018, Jericho (disguised as Penta El Zero) appeared at the All In show promoted by Cody and The Young Bucks, where he attacked Kenny Omega following Omega's victory over Penta to promote his upcoming Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise.
In October 2018, Jericho organized Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a series of professional wrestling matches originating from Jericho's cruise ship, which embarked from Miami, Florida and featured wrestlers from Ring of Honor.
On May 3, 2019, Jericho appeared at a Southern Honor Wrestling event, where he was attacked by Kenny Omega.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)
Inaugural AEW World Champion (2019–2020)
On January 8, 2019, Jericho made a surprise appearance at a media event organized by the upstart All Elite Wrestling (AEW) promotion. Shortly afterwards, Jericho was filmed signing a full-time performers three-year contract with AEW and shaking hands with the company's President Tony Khan. Jericho defeated Kenny Omega at the promotion's inaugural event Double or Nothing on May 25, and went on to defeat Adam Page at All Out to become the inaugural AEW World Champion.
On the premiere episode of Dynamite on October 2, Jericho allied himself with Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz, creating a stable that would be known as The Inner Circle. Jericho would make successful title defences against Darby Allin on the October 16 episode of Dynamite and Cody at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9. On the episode of Dynamite after Full Gear, Jericho and Guevara challenged SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win when Sky pinned Jericho with a small package, thus suffering his first loss in AEW. Jericho would successfully retain the AEW World Championship against Sky on the November 27 episode of Dynamite.
In December, The Inner Circle began to attempt to entice Jon Moxley to join the group. On the January 8, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Moxley initially joined the group, however, this was later revealed to be a ruse from Moxley as he attacked Jericho and Sammy Guevara. Moxley then became the number one contender for Jericho's championship at Revolution on February 29, where Moxley defeated Jericho to win the title, ending his inaugural AEW World Championship reign at 182 days.
Feud with MJF (2020–2021)
After losing the championship, Jericho and The Inner Circle began a feud with The Elite (Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks), who recruited the debuting Matt Hardy to oppose them. At Double or Nothing on May 23, The Inner Circle were defeated by Page, Omega, The Young Bucks and Hardy in a Stadium Stampede match. Jericho next began a rivalry with Orange Cassidy, with Jericho defeating him at Fyter Fest on July 8, but losing a rematch on the August 12 episode of Dynamite. The two faced once again at All Out on September 5, in a Mimosa Mayhem match, which Jericho lost.
Beginning in October, Jericho began a feud with MJF, who requested to join the Inner Circle, despite disapproval from Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz. Jericho and MJF wrestled in a match at the Full Gear event on November 7, which MJF won, thus allowing him to join the Inner Circle. At Beach Break on February 3, 2021, Jericho and MJF won a tag team battle royal to become the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the Revolution event against The Young Bucks, which they were unsuccessful in winning. On the March 10 episode of Dynamite, MJF betrayed and left The Inner Circle after revealing he had been secretly plotting against them and building his own stable, The Pinnacle—consisting of Wardlow, Shawn Spears and FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood). At Blood and Guts on May 5, The Inner Circle lost to The Pinnacle in the inaugural Blood and Guts match. However, in the main event of Double or Nothing later that month, The Inner Circle defeated The Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match, after Sammy Guevara pinned Shawn Spears. Jericho then began pursuing another match with MJF, who stated that he would first have to defeat a gauntlet of opponents selected by MJF, in a series dubbed the "Labors of Jericho". Jericho would defeat each of MJF's handpicked opponents (Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow) and faced MJF in the final labor on the August 18 episode of Dynamite, but he was defeated. Jericho demanded one more match, stipulating that if he lost, he would retire from in-ring competition, which MJF accepted. At All Out on September 5, Jericho defeated MJF to maintain his career and end their feud.
Various feuds (2021–present)
Following All Out, The Inner Circle started a rivalry with Men of the Year (Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky), and their ally, mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Dan Lambert. Lambert also brought in members of his MMA team American Top Team (ATT) to oppose The Inner Circle, including Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos. At the Full Gear event on November 13, The Inner Circle defeated Men of the Year and ATT in a Minneapolis Street Fight.
Legacy
Known for his over-the-top, rock star persona, Jericho has been described by multiple industry commentators as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Journalist Chris Van Vliet noted that his name is "always thrown around as the GOAT [greatest of all time], or at least one of the GOATs", with Van Vliet himself asserting that Jericho is "if not the best, certainly one of the best". Todd Martin of the Pro Wrestling Torch remarked, to agreement from editor Wade Keller, that Jericho is "one of the great wrestlers of all time" and in "a lofty category", while likening his oeuvre to those of WWE Hall of Famers Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase and Dory Funk Jr. Praised for his ability to continually evolve his gimmick, Jericho was dubbed by KC Joyner of ESPN as "wrestling's David Bowie".
Various outlets have included Jericho in lists of the greatest wrestlers ever. Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Eck, who has also served as editor of WCW Magazine and a WWE producer, featured Jericho in his "Top 10 favorite wrestlers of all time" and "Top 10 all-around performers"—the former piece noting that Jericho is "regarded as one of the very best talkers in the business". Keisha Hatchett in TV Guide wrote that Jericho "owns the mic with cerebral insults" and is set apart from peers by "his charismatic presence, which is highlighted by a laundry list of unforgettable catchphrases". He was voted by Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) readers as "Best on Interviews" for the 2000s decade, coinciding with his 2010 induction into the WON Hall of Fame. Fans also named Jericho the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champion of all time in a 2013 WWE poll, affording him a landslide 63% victory over the other four contenders (Mr. Perfect, The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude and Pat Patterson).
A number of Jericho's industry colleagues have hailed him as one of the greatest wrestlers in history. Stone Cold Steve Austin lauded his consistently "dynamic" promos and in-ring work, while arguing that he should be considered among the 10 best ever. Kenny Omega asserted that Jericho "has a legit argument for being the best of all time", based on his ability to achieve success and notoriety across numerous territories. Jon Moxley said, "Jericho is really making a case for being the greatest of all time... he's doing it again, he's doing something completely new, and breaking new barriers still here in 2020." Matt Striker pointed to Jericho's "magnanimous" nature as a contributing factor to his status as an all-time great; his willingness to impart knowledge was commended by James Ellsworth, who described Jericho as an "outstanding human being" and a childhood favorite. Kevin Owens stated that "Jericho was always someone I looked up to", while The Miz affirmed that he was part of a generation of young wrestlers who sought to "emulate" Jericho.
WWE declared Jericho a "marquee draw" with a "reputation as one of the best ever". As of 2019, he is one of the ten most prolific pay-per-view performers in company history.
After Jericho signed with All Elite Wrestling, it was said his role was similar to Terry Funk in ECW, as an experienced veteran bringing credibility to a younger promotion. Jericho was credited as one of the key attractions of AEW's weekly television broadcasts, leading to him adopting the nickname "The Demo God" due to many of the segments he appeared in being some of the highest viewed in the key demographics. He was voted as the Best Box Office Draw by readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2019.
Music career
Jericho is the lead singer for the heavy metal band Fozzy. Since their debut album in 2000, Fozzy have released seven studio albums; Fozzy, Happenstance, All That Remains, Chasing the Grail, Sin and Bones, Do You Wanna Start a War, Judas, and one live album, Remains Alive.
In 2005, Jericho performed vocals on a cover of "The Evil That Men Do" on the Iron Maiden tribute album, Numbers from the Beast. He made a guest appearance on Dream Theater's album, Systematic Chaos on the song "Repentance", as one of several musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings in the past.
In the mid-1990s, Jericho wrote a monthly column for Metal Edge magazine focused on the heavy metal scene. The column ran for about a year. He started his own weekly XM Satellite Radio show in March 2005 called The Rock of Jericho, which aired Sunday nights on XM 41 The Boneyard.
Discography
Albums with Fozzy
Fozzy (2000)
Happenstance (2002)
All That Remains (2005)
Chasing the Grail (2010)
Sin and Bones (2012)
Do You Wanna Start a War (2014)
Judas (2017)
Live albums
Remains Alive (2009)
As guest
Don't You Wish You Were Me? - WWE Originals (2004)
King of the Night Time World - Spin the Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to Kiss (2004) * With Rich Ward, Mike Inez, Fred Coury
Bullet for My Valentine – Temper Temper – Dead to the World (2013)
Devin Townsend – Dark Matters (2014)
Michael Sweet – I'm Not Your Suicide – Anybody Else (2014)
Other endeavors
Film, theater, comedy, and writing
In 2000, a WWE produced VHS tape documenting Jericho's career titled Break Down the Walls was released. He later received two three disc sets profiling matches and interviews.
On June 24, 2006, Jericho premiered in his first Sci-Fi Channel movie Android Apocalypse alongside Scott Bairstow and Joey Lawrence.
Jericho debuted as a stage actor in a comedy play Opening Night, which premiered at the Toronto Centre for the Arts during July 20–22, 2006 in Toronto. During his stay in Toronto, Jericho hosted the sketch comedy show Sunday Night Live with sketch troupe The Sketchersons at The Brunswick House.
Jericho was also the first wrestler attached and interviewed for the wrestling documentary, Bloodstained Memoirs. The interview was recorded in the UK during a Fozzy tour in 2006.
Jericho wrote his autobiography, A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex, which was released on October 25, 2007 and became a New York Times bestseller. It covers Jericho's life and wrestling career up to his debut in the WWE. Jericho's second autobiography, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, was released on February 16, 2011, and covers his wrestling career since his WWE debut. On October 14, 2014 Jericho's third book, The Best In The World...At What I Have No Idea, was released. It covers some untold stories of the "Save Us" era, his Fozzy career, and his multiple returns from 2011 to 2013. Jericho's fourth book, No Is a Four-Letter Word: How I Failed Spelling but Succeeded in Life, was released on August 29, 2017 and details twenty valuable lessons Jericho learned throughout his career as a wrestler and musician.
Jericho appeared in the 2009 film Albino Farm. In the film MacGruber, released May 21, 2010, he briefly appeared as Frank Korver, a former military teammate of the eponymous Green Beret, Navy Seal, and Army Ranger.
Jericho released a comedy web series on October 29, 2013 that is loosely based on his life entitled But I'm Chris Jericho! Jericho plays a former wrestler, struggling to make it big as an actor. A second season was produced in 2017 by CBC and distributed over CBC's television app and CBC.ca.
In 2016, Jericho starred in the documentary film Nine Legends alongside Mike Tyson and other wrestlers.
In August 2018, Jericho was confirmed to star in the film Killroy Was Here.
On March 14, 2019, filmmaker Kevin Smith cast Jericho as a KKK Grand Wizard in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Television
Jericho was a contributor to the VH1 pop culture shows Best Week Ever, I Love the '80s, and VH1's top 100 artists.
Jericho also hosted the five-part, five-hour VH1 special 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, an update of the original special 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock N' Roll first hosted by Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray.
On July 12, 2006, he made an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show!; he made a second appearance on August 21, 2009. In May 2006, Jericho appeared on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and Heavy: The Story of Metal as a commentator.
He was one of eight celebrities in the 2006 Fox Television singing reality show Celebrity Duets, produced by Simon Cowell, and was the first contestant eliminated. Jericho worked at a McDonald's to show off his skills while prepping for the show.
Jericho hosted his own reality show in 2008 titled Redemption Song, in which 11 women tried their hand at getting into the music scene. It was shown on Fuse TV.
He guest starred as Billy "The Body Bag" Cobb in "Xero Control", an episode of the Disney XD 2009 original series Aaron Stone.
He hosted VH1's 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, which began airing in December 2009. In June 2010, Jericho was named the host of the ABC prime-time game show Downfall.
On March 1, 2011, Chris Jericho was named one of the contestants on the 2011 lineup of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was two-time champion Cheryl Burke. This led to a wave of publicity, including an interview with Jay Leno. On April 26, Jericho was the fifth contestant eliminated on the show.
On May 5, Jericho made his third appearance as a guest on Attack of the Show! where he depicted Thor. He promoted Undisputed and hosted the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on May 28 on VH1 Classic. On January 17, 2012, Jericho made his fourth appearance on Attack of the Show! in a segment called "Twitter Twister" where he portrayed a character called "The Twistercutioner" and read tweets as instructions for a game of Twister between Kevin and Candace. Jericho hosted the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
On February 26, 2013, Jericho began hosting a robot combat competition program on SyFy titled Robot Combat League the series ended on April 23, 2015.
Talk Is Jericho podcast
In December 2013, Jericho began hosting his own podcast, Talk is Jericho. Episodes usually include a loosely scripted monolog before an interview, typically with a wrestler, rock musician or paranormal expert. The show originally appeared on PodcastOne, before moving to the WestwoodOne network in 2018. Notable guests on the show include Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Lemmy from Motörhead, Paul Stanley from KISS, Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures, pornographic actress Asa Akira, writer/director Kevin Smith and many former and current wrestlers.
In April 2015, Jericho hosted his own video podcast on the WWE Network, Live! with Chris Jericho, with John Cena as his first guest, followed by Stephanie McMahon as his guest later that same month.
Once he signed with AEW, he was no longer allowed WWE performers as guests on the podcast.
Web
On August 10, 2019, Jericho launched his own dirtsheet website called WebIsJericho.com. The website is dedicated to the memory of Axl Rotten.
In May 2020, Jericho officially joined as a competitor of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown under manager Roxy Striar in the Roxstars faction. Jericho first expressed interest in the Schmoedown following an appearance on Collider Live with Striar and Schmoedown commissioner Kristian Harloff. He became friends with Striar following the interview and kept in contact. During the 2020 season, Jericho contacted Striar, asking to be a part of the league. Striar formally drafted Jericho into her faction during the first free-agent period following the season-opening draft. His first match is scheduled for August 27 against Kevin Smith.
Cruises
In 2017, Jericho launched Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a cruise "combining the worlds of rock and wrestling with a once in a lifetime amazing vacation experience". The cruise featured live band performances, artist-hosted activities and a Sea of Honor Tournament with over a dozen Ring of Honor wrestlers competing. Guests had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Chris and his closest wrestling, comedian, and musician friends including Jim Ross, Diamond Dallas Page and Jim Breuer, among others. The cruise sailed October 27–31, 2018 from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas.
Jericho hosted a second cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave, which run from January 20–24, 2020. A third cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Triple Whammy, is scheduled for October 21–25, 2021.
Video games
Jericho has appeared in numerous video games. They include WCW/nWo Revenge, WCW Nitro, WCW/nWo Thunder, WCW Mayhem, WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown!, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWF Raw, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE All Stars, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19 and the upcoming All Elite Wrestling video game.
Personal life
Irvine married Jessica Lockhart on July 30, 2000. They reside in Odessa, Florida, with their three children: son Ash Edward Irvine (born 2003) and identical twin daughters Sierra Loretta "SiSi" Irvine and Cheyenne Lee "Chey" Irvine (born 2006). All three have been guests on his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, with his son discussing fish and his daughters discussing literature. Irvine owns three cats. In October 2020, Irvine reportedly donated $3,000 to Donald Trump's presidential re-election campaign.
Irvine is a Christian. He has a tattoo of his wife's name on his ring finger. He has the letter F, representing Fozzy, on the back of his hand. Since 2012, he has gradually gotten a sleeve over his left arm. His tattoos include: the artwork of Fozzy's album Sin and Bones, a Jack-o'-lantern (Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, who collaborated with Fozzy on the track "Sandpaper" from Sin and Bones, also got a matching tattoo), a lake monster, and himself from his WWF debut in 1999.
On July 5, 2004, Irvine was awarded Manitoba's The Order of the Buffalo Hunt, for his achievements in wrestling and his commitment to working with underprivileged children. – "After that, Gary Doer, the premier of Manitoba, awarded me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, which was the province's highest honor. It was quite the prestigious prize, which has been given to such dignitaries such as Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Pope John Paul II, and now Chris Jericho." / caption: "Manitoba Premier Gary Doer presents me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, along with a tiny bronze buffalo. I'm thinking, 'That's all I get?'"
Since January 2012, Irvine (along with former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow, former NFL player Derrick Brooks, and former Atlanta Braves player Chipper Jones) has been the co-owner of a sports training facility in Tampa, a franchise site of D1 Sports Training and Therapy.
Irvine is a fan of Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, which Irvine would frequently shop at when he wrestled in Japan in the 1990s. Irvine still visits Lawson whenever he returns to Japan, whether to wrestle or if he is touring with Fozzy.https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCwN9vjtO_/
Legal issues
On February 7, 2009, a fan accused Irvine of punching her after she spat at him with fans outside Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia after a live event. Video footage, however, clearly showed he did not make contact with the woman. As a result of the incident, police detained them, but released them without charge. Police did not press charges against anyone in the brawl as it was "hard to determine who provoked whom".
On January 27, 2010, Irvine and fellow wrestler Gregory Helms were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky after leaving a bar. A police report stated that Helms punched Irvine and the other passengers in the cab. Fellow wrestlers Christian and CM Punk bailed them out later.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Championships and accomplishments
All Elite Wrestling AEW World Championship (1 time)
AEW Dynamite Awards (2 times)
Bleacher Report PPV Moment of the Year (2021) –
Biggest Beatdown (2021) –
The Baltimore Sun
Feud of the Year (2008)
Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling
CRMW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
CRMW North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Lance Storm
CRMW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
Extreme Championship Wrestling
ECW World Television Championship (1 time)
International Wrestling Alliance
IWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Faction of the Year (2021) – with The Inner Circle
Feud of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Feud of the Year (2021)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2008)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009
Rolling Stone
Ranked No. 3 of the 10 best WWE wrestlers of 2016
World Championship Wrestling
WCW Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)
WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
Undisputed WWF Championship (1 time)
World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
WCW/World Championship (2 times)
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Championship (9 times)
WWE United States Championship (2 times)
WWF European Championship (1 time)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Edge (1) and Big Show (1)
WWF/World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Chris Benoit (1), The Rock (1), Christian (1), Edge (1), and Big Show (1)
Bragging Rights Trophy (2009) – with Team SmackDown
WWF Undisputed Championship Tournament (2001)
Fourth Grand Slam Champion
Ninth Triple Crown Champion
Slammy Award (3 times)
Extreme Moment of the Year (2014)
Superstar of the Year (2008)
Tag Team of the Year (2009) – with Big Show
Wrestle Association "R"
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gedo
World Wrestling Association
WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Dandy
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestler of the Year (2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews (2003, 2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2008)
Most Underrated Wrestler (1999, 2000)
Readers' Favorite Wrestler (1999)
United States/Canada MVP (2019)
Most Charismatic (2019)
Best Box Office Draw (2019)
Best Pro Wrestling Book (2011)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)
Luchas de Apuestas record
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
1970 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American singers
21st-century Canadian male actors
21st-century Canadian male singers
AEW World Champions
All Elite Wrestling personnel
American Christians
American color commentators
American game show hosts
American hard rock musicians
American heavy metal singers
American male film actors
American male professional wrestlers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American memoirists
American men podcasters
American people of Scottish descent
American people of Ukrainian descent
American podcasters
American radio personalities
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American YouTubers
Canadian Christians
Canadian colour commentators
Canadian expatriate professional wrestlers in the United States
Canadian game show hosts
Canadian hard rock musicians
Canadian heavy metal singers
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male professional wrestlers
Canadian male singers
Canadian male singer-songwriters
Canadian male television actors
Canadian memoirists
Canadian men podcasters
Canadian people of Scottish descent
Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
Canadian podcasters
Canadian radio personalities
Canadian rock singers
Canadian YouTubers
Christians from New York (state)
ECW World Television Champions
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Mexico
Fozzy members
IWGP Intercontinental champions
Living people
Male actors from New York (state)
Male actors from Winnipeg
Male YouTubers
Musicians from Winnipeg
NWA/WCW World Television Champions
NWA/WCW/WWE United States Heavyweight Champions
Participants in American reality television series
People from Manhasset, New York
Professional wrestlers from Manitoba
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
Professional wrestling podcasters
Red River College alumni
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Sportspeople from Winnipeg
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
World Heavyweight Champions (WWE)
WWE Champions
WWE Grand Slam champions
WWF European Champions
WWF/WWE Hardcore Champions
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champions | true | [
"The AEW World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Unveiled on May 25, 2019, it is the top championship of the promotion. The inaugural champion was Chris Jericho. The current champion is “Hangman” Adam Page, who is in his first reign.\n\nHistory\n\nOn January 1, 2019, the professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was founded and its inaugural event, Double or Nothing, was scheduled for May 25. The unveiling of the promotion's world championship was first teased on AEW's YouTube channel on May 22, where actor and comedian Jack Whitehall humorously attempted to reveal the title belt but struggled to get the championship out of its bag. During that same video, Whitehall revealed that the winner of Double or Nothing's Buy In pre-show battle royal, called the Casino Battle Royale, would face the winner of Double or Nothing's main event at a future date to determine the inaugural AEW World Champion. The Casino Battle Royale was won by Adam Page, while Chris Jericho defeated Kenny Omega in the main event, setting up the inaugural championship match. During Double or Nothing, pro wrestling veteran Bret Hart unveiled the AEW World Championship belt.\n\nShortly after Double or Nothing, the inaugural championship match was scheduled for AEW's event All Out on August 31. At the pay-per-view, Jericho defeated Page in the main event to become the inaugural champion. The following day, it was reported by Tallahassee Police that the physical championship belt was stolen from Jericho's limousine while he was travelling; it was recovered on September 4.\n\nBelt design\nThe AEW World Championship belt has five plates on a black leather strap. The large center plate prominently has the AEW logo at the center, with a diamond outline behind the logo. Above the logo is a banner that reads \"WORLD\" while below the logo is another banner that reads \"CHAMPION\". Below this banner is a name plate to display the current champion's name. The two inner side plates are tall and skinny, with the AEW logo again at the center. Above this logo is one half of the globe, while below the logo is the other half of the globe. The two outer side plates are similar to the inner ones, but slightly smaller. The design of the championship was inspired by the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship. AEW wanted their title to be large like that belt. The belt was created by well-known professional wrestling championship belt maker Dave Millican.\n\nReigns\n\nAs of , , there have been four reigns between four champions. Chris Jericho was the inaugural champion. Kenny Omega's reign is the longest at 346 days, while Jericho's reign is the shortest at 182 days. Jericho is also the oldest champion when he won it at 48 years old while Adam Page is the youngest champion at 30 years old.\n\nAdam Page is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Kenny Omega at Full Gear on November 13, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official AEW World Championship Title History\n\nAll Elite Wrestling championships\nWorld professional wrestling championships\n2019 introductions",
"The 2008 Unforgiven was the 11th annual and final Unforgiven professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on September 7, 2008, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2009, Unforgiven was replaced by Breaking Point.\n\nSeven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card, which featured a supercard. The three brands, Raw, SmackDown, and ECW, were all represented by their respective Championship Scramble match – a 20 minute time limit bout, during which participants can become the temporary champion via pinfall or submission. The main event of the pay-per-view was the Championship Scramble from the Raw brand. It was originally scheduled to feature World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk defending his title; he was replaced by Chris Jericho after Randy Orton attacked CM Punk. Jericho won the match and became World Heavyweight Champion. The Championship Scramble from the ECW brand featured ECW Champion Mark Henry defending, losing the match and title to Matt Hardy. The SmackDown brand's Championship Scramble saw WWE Champion Triple H defeat the other competitors to retain his championship. Another featured match on the undercard was an unsanctioned match, or hardcore match, in which Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Jericho.\n\nThe event marked the first time the Championship Scramble format was used by WWE. The event had an attendance of 8,707. The event received 211,000 pay-per-view buys, more than the previous year's event. When the event was released on DVD, it reached a peak position of second on Billboard's DVD sales chart. It was also the first Unforgiven PPV broadcast in high definition.\n\nProduction\n\nBackground\nUnforgiven was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the 21st In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in April 1998. Following the discontinuation of the In Your House series in February 1999, Unforgiven branched off as its own PPV in September that year, becoming WWE's annual September PPV. The 2008 event was the 11th event in the Unforgiven chronology and took place on September 7 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.\n\nStorylines\nThe event featured seven professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by WWE script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during and after the event. All wrestlers were from one of the WWE's brands – SmackDown, Raw, or ECW – the three storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees. The event also marked the first time that the Championship Scramble format was used by the WWE.\n\nWrestlers from Raw were featured in the main event at Unforgiven: a Championship Scramble match, a 20 minute time limit bout, during which participants enter at five-minute intervals and can become the temporary champion via pinfall or submission. The match was contested for the World Heavyweight Championship, and was originally scheduled to be CM Punk defending the title against John \"Bradshaw\" Layfield (JBL), Batista, Rey Mysterio, and Kane. During the event, however, Randy Orton attacked CM Punk and he was replaced in the match by Chris Jericho. The build up to the match began on the August 18 episode of Raw, when Raw General Manager Mike Adamle, who portrays an on screen authority figure, announced the match and its rules, stating that JBL, Batista, John Cena, Kane, and World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk would participate. The following week on Raw, Adamle announced that John Cena had been injured after his match against Batista at SummerSlam, and would be unable to compete in the Championship Scramble. Adamle then announced Rey Mysterio as Cena's replacement. On the September 1 episode of Raw, a preview of the Championship Scramble match was featured, in which the five men fighting in the Championship Scramble competed in a traditional battle royal, which Kane won.\n\nThe other predominant match from Raw was an unsanctioned match between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. At SummerSlam, Michaels came to the ring to announce his retirement. However, Jericho interrupted the announcement and, in an attempt to punch Michaels, accidentally struck Michaels' wife Rebecca. On the August 18 episode of Raw, Jericho stated that he had no remorse for punching Michaels wife, claiming that Michaels \"had it coming\". The next week on Raw, Michaels announced he would not retire and asked Jericho for an unsanctioned match, which Jericho accepted. The following week on Raw a contract was signed for the match. The signing ended with both men attacking each other.\n\nThe predominant match from SmackDown was a Championship Scramble for the WWE Championship, in which title holder Triple H faced Jeff Hardy, The Brian Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin, and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). On the August 22 episode of SmackDown!, General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced that SmackDown would have a Championship Scramble match and that the competitors would include WWE Champion Triple H and four men to be decided later in the night through a series of qualifying matches. The first qualifying match was a ten man battle royal, which saw The Big Show disrupt the match and throw all the competitors over the top rope. The Brian Kendrick, however, was saved by his bodyguard, Ezekiel Jackson, who caught Kendrick and put him back in the ring after the Big Show had eliminated all other competitors. Thus, Kendrick qualified for the Championship Scramble. The second qualifying match saw MVP defeat Festus by count out, qualifying for the match. The third qualifying match was Shelton Benjamin versus Finlay, which Benjamin won. The final qualifying match was Jeff Hardy versus The Great Khali, which Hardy won.\n\nThe predominant match from ECW was a third Championship Scramble, in which Mark Henry defended against Matt Hardy, The Miz, Chavo Guerrero, and Finlay. On the August 26 episode of ECW, General Manager Theodore Long announced that the ECW Championship would be defended in a Championship Scramble and that there would be qualifying matches that night to determine the participants. The first qualifying match saw Matt Hardy defeat John Morrison to qualify. In the second match, The Miz defeated Evan Bourne to qualify. The third qualifying match saw Chavo Guerrero defeat Tommy Dreamer to qualify, and the fourth match was Finlay versus Mike Knox, which Finlay won. On the September 1 episode of Raw, there was a preview of the Championship Scramble, in which the five participants took part in a traditional battle royal. The winner was ECW Champion Mark Henry.\n\nEvent\n\nBefore the event aired live on pay-per-view, a dark match was featured in which Evan Bourne defeated John Morrison with a shooting star press.\n\nPreliminary matches\nThe pay-per-view event began with Mark Henry defending the ECW Championship Championship Scramble against Matt Hardy, The Miz, Chavo Guerrero, and Finlay. The match began with The Miz and Matt Hardy, who performed a variety of wrestling maneuvers including The Miz performing the \"Reality Check\". After the first five minutes had passed, Chavo Guerrero entered the ring and quickly performed a body splash on Hardy and covered him for a pinfall, making him the interim champion. Guerrero continued with a variety of offensive maneuvers until Matt Hardy performed a Side Effect on Guerrero and covered him for a pinfall, making him the temporary champion. After the next five minutes had passed, Mark Henry entered the ring. The other three men attacked him, but Henry overpowered them and performed the World's Strongest Slam on Chavo Guerrero, covering him and scoring a pinfall to become the interim champion. After the next series of five minutes had passed, Finlay entered the ring. He attacked Henry and his storyline son Hornswoggle distracted Henry, allowing Finlay to strike him with a shillelagh, followed by a Celtic Cross on Hardy to become temporary champion. The match continued until Matt Hardy performed a Twist of Fate on The Miz. He covered The Miz and became the interim champion. Hardy continued to break up pinfall attempts until the end of the 20-minute time limit, at which time Hardy officially won the ECW Championship.\n\nIn the next match, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase defended the World Tag Team Championship against Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG). The match began with Cryme Tyme in control, and Shad threw JTG over the top rope onto Rhodes and DiBiase. Rhodes and DiBiase, however, isolated JTG in their corner and performed a number of offensive maneuvers on him. Rhodes attempted a moonsault onto JTG, but missed, allowing JTG to tag in Shad at the same time Rhodes tagged in DiBiase. Shad performed a back body drop on DiBiase, but while the referee was distracted, Rhodes performed a DDT on Shad. DiBiase attempted to cover Shad, but was forced to break the cover as Shad placed his foot on the bottom rope. JTG attempted an inside cradle pin on Rhodes, but Shad accidentally pushed DiBiase on Rhodes, reversing the pinfall attempt so that Rhodes scored the pin over JTG, retaining his and DiBiase's title in the process.\n\nIn the third match, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho fought in an unsanctioned match. The match also saw Lance Cade interfere on Jericho's behalf, but Michaels ultimately gained the advantage over both men, leading to him placing both men on an announcer's table and performing a Diving Elbow Drop through the table. After returning Jericho to the ring, Michaels continued to attack Jericho. The referee ended the match when he determined that Jericho could no longer defend himself against Michaels, making Michaels the victor by referee stoppage.\nNext, Triple H defended the WWE Championship in a Championship Scramble against Jeff Hardy, The Brian Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin, and Montel Vontavious Porter. The match began with Jeff Hardy and Shelton Benjamin, with both men wrestling inconclusively until the first five-minute interval had passed, and Brian Kendrick entered the match. Soon after his entrance, Hardy performed a reverse powerbomb on Benjamin, covering him & scoring a pinfall to become the interim WWE Champion. Later, Kendrick performed The Kendrick on Hardy and covered him for a pinfall, becoming the temporary WWE Champion. Shortly after, the second five-minute interval expired and MVP entered the match. All four men in the match continued to fight, with no pinfalls being scored until the third five-minute interval expired, at which point Triple H entered the match. Soon after his entrance, he performed a spinebuster, followed by a Pedigree on Kendrick, pinning him to become the interim champion. Hardy returned to the ring and performed a Twist of Fate on MVP, pinning him to become the temporary champion. After disrupting Hardy's attempt to perform a maneuver off the top turnbuckle, Triple H performed Pedigree on Kendrick to become interim champion again. Shortly after, however, Hardy performed a Swanton Bomb on Kendrick and again became temporary champion after a cover. At the end, Triple H performed a Pedigree on MVP and Hardy performing a Swanton Bomb on Benjamin; however, Triple H covered MVP faster and scored the pinfall with one second remaining on the clock. The time limit expired and Triple H retained the WWE Championship.\n\nA backstage segment occurred where CM Punk was interviewed regarding his title defense in the Championship Scramble later in the evening. Randy Orton interrupted the interview, and as he spoke with Punk, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, and Manu attacked Punk. Kofi Kingston tried to help Punk. After they had attacked both Punk and Kingston, Orton used his chance to perform a running punt on Punk.\n\nThe fifth contest was a standard match in which WWE Divas Champion Michelle McCool defended her title against Maryse. Maryse began the match attacking McCool's knee, but McCool soon countered by grabbing Maryse's foot and twisting it, a submission hold called a heel hook. Maryse, however, reached the ropes and caused McCool to break the hold. Later in the match, McCool performed the Wings of Love and covered Maryse to retain her championship.\n\nAfter the match, an in ring segment took place in which The Big Show, entered the ring and asked the crowd whether they thought he should have been in the Championship Scramble for the WWE Championship. SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero, who portrays an on-screen authority figure for the SmackDown brand, then came to the ring and proceeded to insult the Big Show, and demanded that he leave the ring. Druids then came to the ring bringing a casket, and The Undertaker appeared on the TitanTron, telling Guerrero to either get in the casket herself or he would put her in it. Guerrero refused to enter the casket voluntarily, so The Undertaker began to come to ringside. The Big Show held back Guerrero as The Undertaker came to the ring. Once he was in the ring, The Undertaker began to choke Guerrero, but the Big Show turned heel, becoming a villainous character, by striking The Undertaker and freeing Guerrero. He proceeded to attack The Undertaker, and restrained him to allow Guerrero to slap him and spit in his face.\n\nMain event matches \n\nThe main event was a Championship Scramble for the World Heavyweight Championship. CM Punk was originally scheduled to defend the World Heavyweight Title against John \"Bradshaw\" Layfield, Batista, Rey Mysterio, and Kane. However, due to the attack on CM Punk earlier in the night by Randy Orton, Punk was unable to compete and was replaced by Chris Jericho (this information was not revealed until the final five minutes of the match, at which point Chris Jericho entered in place of CM Punk). Batista and JBL began the match, performing a variety of offensive maneuvers until the first five-minute interval had passed, and Kane entered the match. Later, JBL attempted to strike Kane with his forearm, a move JBL calls a \"Clothesline from Hell\", but was caught by Kane. Kane then chokeslammed JBL and covered him for a pinfall, becoming the interim champion. Soon after, the second five-minute interval expired and Rey Mysterio entered the match. The match continued for several minutes, until the final five-minute interval expired and Jericho (nearly immobile after his match with Shawn Michaels) entered the match as a replacement for CM Punk, shocking everyone. Soon after Jericho's entrance, Batista performed a spinebuster on Kane, covering him for a pinfall and becoming temporary champion. Batista was left as the only man standing until Jericho returned to the ring and covered the already downed Kane, scoring a pinfall and becoming interim champion. The time limit expired soon after, and Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship.\n\nReception\nDespite the event's promotional build-up, only a reported 6,000 tickets were initially sold for an arena that holds 20,000 people. To fill the arena, local radio stations gave away tickets to the show. The event had a final attendance of 8,707. Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section rated the entire event a 7 out of 10 stars. The rating was higher than the Unforgiven event in 2007, which was rated a 5.5 out of 10 stars. The Championship Scramble main event match from the Raw brand was rated a 6.5 out of 10 stars, while the SmackDown brand's main event, a Championship Scramble for the WWE Championship, was rated an 8 out of 10 stars. \n\nThe event was released on DVD on October 7, 2008 by Sony Music Entertainment. The DVD reached second on Billboard'''s DVD Sales Chart for recreational sports during the week of November 1, 2008, although it fell off the chart thereafter.\n\nAftermath\nOn the September 8 episode of Raw, it was announced that CM Punk would challenge Chris Jericho in an attempt to win back the World Heavyweight Championship, with the two fighting in a steel cage match the following week. On the following week's Raw, Chris Jericho escaped the cage before Punk, and thus retained his championship. Later that night, General Manager Mike Adamle announced that Batista would face JBL in a number one contender's match at No Mercy. Following this announcement, Shawn Michaels announced that he would be facing Chris Jericho in a ladder match at No Mercy. Two weeks later on the September 29 episode of Raw, Chris Jericho and Lance Cade faced a reunited D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in a tag team match, which D-Generation X won via disqualification. At No Mercy, Batista defeated JBL to become number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, and Chris Jericho defeated Shawn Michaels to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.\n\nOn the September 12 episode of SmackDown'', a Fatal 4 Way match was held between Jeff Hardy, The Brian Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin, and MVP, with the stipulation that the winner would go on to face Triple H at No Mercy for the WWE Championship. Jeff Hardy won the match and earned a title match at No Mercy. At No Mercy, Triple H defeated Hardy to retain his championship.\n\nOn the September 16 episode of ECW, it was announced that Matt Hardy would defend the ECW Championship against Mark Henry at No Mercy. At No Mercy, Hardy defeated Henry to retain his championship.\n\nAlmost two and a half years later at the 2011 Royal Rumble, CM Punk prevented Randy Orton from winning the WWE Championship from The Miz. Eventually Punk revealed that he did this to get revenge on Orton for costing him the championship at Unforgiven in 2008.\n\nThe 2008 Unforgiven would be the final Unforgiven event, as the event was discontinued and replaced by Breaking Point in 2009.\n\nResults\n\nECW Championship Scramble Interim Champions\n\nWWE Championship Scramble Interim Champions\n\nWorld Heavyweight Championship Scramble Interim Champions\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe official website of WWE Unforgiven\nThe official website of the Quicken Loans Arena\n\n2008 in Ohio\nEvents in Cleveland\n2008\nProfessional wrestling in Cleveland\n2008 WWE pay-per-view events\nSeptember 2008 events in the United States"
]
|
[
"Chris Jericho",
"World Television Champion (1998-1999)",
"Who did Chris Jericho defeat to become the World Television Champion?",
"On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T)."
]
| C_80c385dd71cd41db8abb719e54c2c991_1 | Which wrestling league was Jericho in during this time period? | 2 | Which wrestling league was Jericho in during World Television Champion period? | Chris Jericho | On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company. On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match. Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the title of the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Inner Circle stable. Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, he has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
During the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico. At the end of 1999, he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night. Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC and Elimination Chamber shows. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010.
Within the WWF/WWE, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the Undisputed WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year.
After his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. Jericho joined AEW in January 2019 and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year. All totalled, between ECW, WCW, WWE, NJPW and AEW, Jericho has held 36 championships (including seven World Championships, and 10 Intercontinental Championships).
In 1999, Jericho became lead vocalist of heavy metal band Fozzy, who released their eponymous debut album the following year. The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions, although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward. Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars. He hosted the ABC game show Downfall, the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
Early life
Christopher Keith Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York on November 9, 1970, the son of a Canadian couple. He is of Scottish descent from his father's side and Ukrainian descent from his mother's side. His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine, had been playing for the New York Rangers at the time of his birth. When his father retired, the family moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Irvine grew up. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenships. Irvine's interest in professional wrestling began when he started watching the local American Wrestling Association (AWA) events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become a professional wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart, then appearing with Stampede Wrestling, performing various high-flying moves. In addition, Irvine also cited Owen's older brother Bret, Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for his becoming a professional wrestler. His first experience with a professional wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of the ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda. He attended Red River College in Winnipeg, graduating in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Creative Communications.
Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (1990–1991)
At the age of 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling, where he met Lance Storm on his first day. He was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young.
Two months after completing training, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta as "Cowboy" Chris Jericho, on October 2, 1990, in a ten-minute time limit draw against Storm. The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called Sudden Impact. According to a February 2019 interview with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show, Jericho stated that his initial name was going to be "Jack Action" however, someone remarked to him that the name was stupid, they then asked him what his name really was, he then got nervous and said "Chris Jericho". He took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween. Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian) and Terry Gerin (Rhino). The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW).
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1991)
In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and other Mexican promotions (1992–1995)
In the winter of 1992, he traveled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro ("Golden Lion", a name that fans voted on for him between "He-Man", "Chris Power", and his preferred choice "Leon D'Oro"), and later Corazón de León ("Lion Heart"), where he wrestled for several small wrestling companies.
From 1993 to 1995, he competed in Mexico's oldest promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King, Negro Casas, and Último Dragón en route to an eleven-month reign as the NWA Middleweight Champion that began in December 1993.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1994)
1994 saw Jericho reunited with Storm, as The Thrillseekers in Jim Cornette's Appalachian Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion, where they feuded with the likes of Well Dunn, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, and The Heavenly Bodies.
Wrestling and Romance/WAR (1994–1996)
In late 1994, Jericho began competing regularly in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling and Romance (later known as Wrestle Association "R") (WAR) promotion as The Lion Heart. In November 1994, Último Dragón defeated him for the NWA World Middleweight Championship, which he had won while wrestling in Mexico.
In March 1995, Jericho lost to Gedo in the final of a tournament to crown the inaugural WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Gedo for the championship in June 1995, losing it to Último Dragón the next month. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Hanzo Nakajima in the first round, but losing to Wild Pegasus in the second round.
In 1995, Jericho joined the heel stable Fuyuki-Gun ("Fuyuki Army") with Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo, and Jado, adopting the name Lion Do. In February 1996, Jericho and Gedo won a tournament for the newly created International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, defeating Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in the final. They lost the championship to Storm and Yasuraoka the following month. Jericho made his final appearances with WAR in July 1996, having wrestled a total of twenty-four tours for the company.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996)
In 1995, thanks in part to recommendations by Benoit, Dave Meltzer and Perry Saturn, to promoter Paul Heyman, and after Mick Foley saw Jericho's match against Último Dragón for the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 1995 and gave a tape of the match to Heyman, Jericho began wrestling for the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, winning the ECW World Television Championship from Pitbull #2 in June 1996 at Hardcore Heaven. While in ECW, Jericho wrestled Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Foley (as Cactus Jack), Shane Douglas, and 2 Cold Scorpio. He made his final appearance at The Doctor Is In in August 1996. It was during this time that he drew the attention of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
World Championship Wrestling (1996 – 1999)
Early appearances (1996–1997)
Jericho debuted for WCW on August 20, 1996 by defeating Mr. JL, which aired on the August 31 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho's televised debut in WCW occurred on the August 26 episode of Monday Nitro against Alex Wright in a match which ended in a no contest. He made his pay-per-view debut on September 15 against Chris Benoit in a losing effort at Fall Brawl. The following month, at Halloween Havoc, Jericho lost to nWo member Syxx due to biased officiating by nWo referee Nick Patrick. This led to a match between Jericho and Patrick at World War 3, which stipulated that Jericho's one arm would be tied behind his back. Despite the odds stacked against him, Jericho won the match. Later that night, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match but failed to win the match.
Jericho represented WCW against nWo Japan member Masahiro Chono in a losing effort at the nWo Souled Out event. At SuperBrawl VII, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Guerrero for the United States Heavyweight Championship.
Cruiserweight Champion (1997–1998)
On June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx at the Saturday Nitro live event in Los Angeles, California to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time, thus winning the first championship of his WCW career. Jericho successfully defended the title against Ultimo Dragon at Bash at the Beach, before losing the title to Alex Wright on the July 28 episode of Monday Nitro. Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Wright for the title at Road Wild, before defeating Wright in a rematch to win his second Cruiserweight Championship on the August 16 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho began feuding with Eddie Guerrero over the title as he successfully defended the title against Guerrero at Clash of the Champions XXXV before losing the title to Guerrero at Fall Brawl. Jericho defeated Gedo at Halloween Havoc. At World War 3, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal but failed to win.
On the January 15, 1998 episode of Thunder, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero to earn a title shot against Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Championship at Souled Out. Jericho won the match by forcing Mysterio to submit to the Liontamer. After the match, Jericho turned heel by assaulting Mysterio's knee with a toolbox. In the storyline, Mysterio needed six months of recovery before he could return to the ring. Jericho then had a short feud with Juventud Guerrera in which Guerrera repeatedly requested a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship, but Jericho constantly rebuffed him. The feud culminated in a title versus mask match at SuperBrawl VIII. Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Following this match, Jericho began his ongoing gimmick of collecting and wearing to the ring trophy items from his defeated opponents, such as Guerrera's mask, Prince Iaukea's Hawaiian dress, and a headband from Disco Inferno.
Jericho then began a long feud with Dean Malenko, in which Jericho repeatedly claimed he was a better wrestler than Malenko, but refused to wrestle him. Because of his mastery of technical wrestling, Malenko was known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", so Jericho claimed to be "The Man of 1,004 Holds"; Jericho mentions in his autobiography that this line originated from an IWA interview he saw as a child, where manager Floyd Creatchman claimed that Leo Burke, the first professional wrestler to be known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", was now known as "The Man of 1,002 Holds", to which Floyd Creatchman stated that "he learned two more".
During the March 30, 1998 episode of Nitro, after defeating Marty Jannetty, Jericho pulled out a long pile of paper that listed each of the 1,004 holds he knew and recited them to the audience. Many of the holds were fictional, and nearly every other hold was an armbar. On the March 12, 1998 episode of Thunder, Malenko defeated a wrestler wearing Juventud Guerrera's mask who appeared to be Jericho. However, the masked wrestler was actually Lenny Lane, whom Jericho bribed to appear in the match. This started a minor feud between Lane and Jericho after Jericho refused to pay Lane. At Uncensored, Jericho finally wrestled Malenko and defeated him, after which Malenko took a leave of absence from wrestling. Jericho then proceeded to bring with him to the ring a portrait of Malenko that he insulted and demeaned. Just prior to Slamboree, J.J. Dillon (referred to by Jericho as "Jo Jo") scheduled a cruiserweight Battle Royal, the winner of which would immediately have a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho accepted on the grounds that whoever he faced would be too tired to win a second match. At Slamboree, Jericho came out to introduce the competitors in an insulting fashion before the match started and then went backstage for coffee. An individual who appeared to be Ciclope won the battle royal after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand and then eliminated himself. The winner was a returning Malenko in disguise. Following one of the loudest crowd reactions in WCW history, Malenko proceeded to defeat Jericho for the championship. Jericho claiming he was the victim of a carefully planned conspiracy to get the belt off of him. He at first blamed the WCW locker room, then added Dillon, Ted Turner, and finally in a vignette, he walked around Washington, D.C. with the sign "conspiracy victim" and accused President Bill Clinton of being one of the conspirators after being rejected from a meeting. Eventually, Malenko vacated the title. Jericho ended up defeating Malenko at The Great American Bash to win the vacant title after Malenko was disqualified after hitting Jericho with a chair. The next night, Malenko was suspended for his actions.
At Bash at the Beach, the recently returned Rey Mysterio Jr. (who had recovered from his knee injury) defeated Jericho in a No Disqualification match after the still-suspended Malenko interfered. Jericho regained the Cruiserweight Championship from Mysterio the next night after he interrupted J.J. Dillon while Dillon was giving the championship to Mysterio. Jericho was again awarded the championship. Eventually, Jericho decisively lost the title to Juventud Guerrera in a match at Road Wild with Malenko as special referee.
World Television Champion (1998–1999)
On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company.
On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois, house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match.
Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1997–1998)
In January 1997, Jericho made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), who had a working agreement with WCW, as Super Liger, the masked nemesis of Jyushin Thunder Liger. According to Jericho, Super Liger's first match against Koji Kanemoto at Wrestling World 1997 was so poorly received that the gimmick was dropped instantly. Jericho botched several moves in the match and complained he had difficulty seeing through the mask. The following six months, Jericho worked for New Japan unmasked, before being called back by WCW. On September 23, 1998, Jericho made a one-night-only return to NJPW at that years Big Wednesday show, teaming with Black Tiger against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a title match, which Jericho and Tiger lost.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1999 – 2005)
WWF Intercontinental Champion (1999–2001)
In the weeks before Jericho's debut, a clock labeled "countdown to the new millennium" appeared on WWF programming. On the home video, Break Down the Walls, Jericho states he was inspired to do this as his entrance when he saw a similar clock in a post office and Vince McMahon approved its use as his introduction to the WWF. The clock finally ran out on the August 9 episode of Raw Is War in Chicago, Illinois while The Rock was in the ring cutting a promo on the Big Show. Jericho entered the arena and proclaimed "Raw Is Jericho" and that he had "come to save the World Wrestling Federation", referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K bug). The Rock proceeded to verbally mock him for his interruption. Later that month, he would interact with several superstars including in particular interrupting a promo that The Undertaker was involved in, Jericho made his in-ring debut as a heel on August 26, losing a match against Road Dogg by disqualification on the inaugural episode of SmackDown! after he performed a powerbomb on Road Dogg through a table.
Jericho's first long-term feud was with Chyna, for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. After losing to Chyna at Survivor Series, Jericho defeated her to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship at Armageddon. This feud included a controversial decision during a rematch in which two separate referees declared each one of them the winner of a match for the title. As a result, they became co-champions, during which Jericho turned face. He attained sole champion status at the Royal Rumble.
Jericho lost the WWF Intercontinental title to then-European Champion Kurt Angle at No Way Out. Jericho competed in a Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Angle at WrestleMania 2000 in a two-falls contest with both of Angle's titles at stake. Jericho won the European Championship by pinning Benoit, who in turn pinned Jericho to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. This was the first of six pay-per-view matches between the pair within twelve months. Jericho was originally supposed to be in the main event of WrestleMania, but was taken out after Mick Foley, who was originally asked by writers to be in the match, took his place. Jericho was even advertised on the event's posters promoting the match. Jericho lost the title the next day to Eddie Guerrero on Raw after Chyna sided with Guerrero.
On the April 17 episode of Raw, Jericho upset Triple H in a WWF Championship match. Referee Earl Hebner made a fast count when Jericho pinned Triple H, causing Jericho to win the title. Hebner later reversed the decision due to pressure from Triple H, and WWE does not recognize Jericho's reign as champion. On April 19, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero at the Gary Albright Memorial Show organized by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). On the May 4 episode of SmackDown!, Jericho defeated Benoit to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship but lost the title to Benoit four days later on Raw. Jericho's feud with Triple H ended at Fully Loaded, when they competed in a Last Man Standing match. Jericho lost the match to Triple H only by one second, despite the repeated assistance Triple H's wife, Stephanie, provided him in the match.
At the 2001 Royal Rumble, Jericho defeated Chris Benoit in a ladder match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time. At WrestleMania X-Seven, he successfully defended his title in a match against William Regal, only to lose it four days later to Triple H. At Judgment Day, Jericho and Benoit won a tag team turmoil match and earned a shot at Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their WWF Tag Team Championship on Raw the next night. Benoit and Jericho won the match, in which Triple H legitimately tore his quadriceps, spending the rest of the year injured. Benoit and Jericho each became a WWF Tag Team Champion for the first time. The team defended their title in the first fatal four-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, where Benoit sustained a year-long injury after missing a diving headbutt through a table. Despite Benoit being carried out on a stretcher, he returned to the match to climb the ladder and retain the championship. The two lost the title one month later to The Dudley Boyz on the June 21 episode of SmackDown!. At King of the Ring, both Benoit and Jericho competed in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF Championship, in which Booker T interfered as the catalyst for The Invasion angle. Despite Booker T's interference, Austin retained the title.
Undisputed WWF Champion (2001–2002)
In the following months, Jericho became a major force in The Invasion storyline in which WCW and ECW joined forces to overtake the WWF. Jericho remained on the side of the WWF despite previously competing in WCW and ECW. However, Jericho began showing jealousy toward fellow WWF member The Rock. They faced each other in a match at No Mercy for the WCW Championship after Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam in a number one contenders match on the October 11 episode of SmackDown!. Jericho won the WCW Championship at No Mercy when he pinned The Rock after debuting a new finisher, the Breakdown, onto a steel chair, winning his first world title in the process. One night later, the two put their differences aside and won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz.
After they lost the titles to Test and Booker T on the November 1 episode of SmackDown!, they continued their feud. On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to regain the WCW Championship. Following the match, Jericho attacked The Rock with a steel chair. At Survivor Series, Jericho turned heel by almost costing Team WWF the victory after he was eliminated in their Winner Take All matchup by once again attacking The Rock. Despite this, Team WWF won the match. At Vengeance, Jericho defeated both The Rock for the World Championship (formerly the WCW Championship) and Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first WWF Championship on the same night to become the first wrestler to hold both championships at the same time, which made him the first-ever Undisputed WWF Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam winner under the original format. He retained the title at the Royal Rumble against The Rock and at No Way Out against Austin. Jericho later lost the title to Royal Rumble winner Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X8. Jericho was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the inaugural WWF draft lottery. He would then appear at Backlash, interfering in Triple H's Undisputed WWF Championship match against Hollywood Hulk Hogan. He was quickly dumped out the ring, but Triple H would go on to lose the match. This would lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Judgment Day in May, where Triple H would emerge victorious. Jericho would then compete in the 2002 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Edge and The Big Valbowski to advance to the semi-finals, where he was defeated by Rob Van Dam at King of the Ring. In July, he began a feud with the debuting John Cena, losing to him at Vengeance.
Teaming and feuding with Christian (2002–2004)
After his feud with Cena ended, Jericho moved to the Raw brand on the July 29 episode of Raw, unwilling to work for SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon. Upon his arrival to the brand, he initiated a feud with Ric Flair, leading to a match at SummerSlam, which Jericho lost. On the September 16 episode of Raw, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time from Rob Van Dam, before losing the title to Kane two weeks later on Raw. He then later formed a tag team with Christian, with whom he won the World Tag Team Championship by defeating Kane and The Hurricane on the October 14 episode of Raw. Christian and Jericho lost the titles to Booker T and Goldust in a fatal four-way elimination match, involving the teams of The Dudley Boyz, and William Regal and Lance Storm at Armageddon.
On the January 13 episode of Raw, Jericho won an over-the-top-rope challenge against Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Batista to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble match. He chose number two in order to start the match with Shawn Michaels, who had challenged him to prove Jericho's claims that he was better than Michaels. After Michaels's entrance, Jericho entered as the second participant. Christian, in Jericho's attire, appeared while the real Jericho attacked Shawn from behind. He eliminated Michaels shortly afterward, but Michaels got his revenge later in the match by causing Test to eliminate Jericho. Jericho spent the most time of any other wrestler in that same Royal Rumble. Jericho simultaneously feuded with Test, Michaels, and Jeff Hardy, defeating Hardy at No Way Out. Jericho and Michaels fought again at WrestleMania XIX, which Michaels won. Jericho, however, attacked Michaels with a low blow after the match following an embrace.
After this match, Jericho entered a rivalry with Goldberg, which was fueled by Goldberg's refusal to fight Jericho in WCW. During Jericho's first episode of the Highlight Reel, an interview segment, where Goldberg was the guest, he complained that no-one wanted Goldberg in WWE and continued to insult him in the following weeks. On the May 12 episode of Raw, a mystery assailant attempted to run over Goldberg with a limousine. A week later, Co-Raw General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, interrogated several Raw superstars to find out who was driving the car. One of the interrogates was Lance Storm, who admitted that he was the assailant. Austin forced Storm into a match with Goldberg, who defeated Storm. After the match, Goldberg forced Storm to admit that Jericho was the superstar who conspired Storm into running him over. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Goldberg was once again a guest on the Highlight Reel. Jericho expressed jealousy towards Goldberg's success in WCW and felt that since joining WWE, he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in his career and all that was left was to defeat Goldberg and challenged him to a match. At Bad Blood, Goldberg settled the score with Jericho and defeated him.
On the October 27 episode of Raw, Jericho won his sixth WWE Intercontinental Championship when he defeated Rob Van Dam. He lost the title back to Van Dam immediately after in a steel cage match. Later in 2003, Jericho started a romance with Trish Stratus while his tag team partner Christian began one with Lita. This, however, turned out to be a bet over who could sleep with their respective paramour first, with a Canadian dollar at stake. Stratus overheard this and ended her relationship with Jericho, who seemingly felt bad for using Stratus. After he saved her from an attack by Kane, Stratus agreed that the two of them could just be "friends", thus turning Jericho face. After Christian put Stratus in the Walls of Jericho while competing against her in a match, Jericho sought revenge on Christian, which led to a match at WrestleMania XX. Christian defeated Jericho after Stratus ran down and "inadvertently" struck Jericho (thinking it was Christian) and Christian got the roll-up. After the match, Stratus turned on Jericho and revealed that she and Christian were a couple. This revelation led to a handicap match at Backlash that Jericho won. Jericho won his record-breaking seventh WWE Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven in a ladder match against Christian, breaking the previous record held by Jeff Jarrett from 1999. Jericho's seventh reign was short lived, as he lost it at Taboo Tuesday to Shelton Benjamin.
World championship pursuits (2004–2005)
Jericho teamed up with Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, and Maven to take on Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky at Survivor Series. The match stipulated that each member of the winning team would be the general manager of Raw over the next four weeks. Jericho's team won, and took turns as general manager. During Jericho's turn as general manager, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated because a Triple Threat match for the title a week earlier ended in a draw. At New Year's Revolution, Jericho competed in the Elimination Chamber against Triple H, Chris Benoit, Batista, Randy Orton, and Edge for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho began the match with Benoit and eliminated Edge, but was eliminated by Batista. Triple H went on to win. At WrestleMania 21, Jericho participated in the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match. Jericho suggested the match concept, and he competed in the match against Benjamin, Benoit, Kane, Christian, and Edge. Jericho lost the match when Edge claimed the briefcase.
At Backlash, Jericho challenged Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but lost the match. Jericho lost to Lance Storm at ECW One Night Stand. Jericho used his old "Lionheart" gimmick, instead of his more well known "Y2J" gimmick. Jericho lost the match after Jason and Justin Credible hit Jericho with a Singapore cane, which allowed Storm to win the match. The next night on Raw, Jericho turned heel by betraying WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Christian and Tyson Tomko in a tag team match. Jericho lost a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Vengeance which also involved Christian and Cena. The feud continued throughout the summer and Jericho lost to Cena in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.
The next night on the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Cena for the WWE Championship again in a rematch, this time in a "You're fired" match. Cena won again, and Jericho was fired by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. Jericho was carried out of the arena by security as Kurt Angle attacked Cena. Jericho's WWE contract expired on August 25.
Return to WWE (2007–2010)
Feud with Shawn Michaels (2007–2008)
After a two-year hiatus, WWE promoted Jericho's return starting on the September 24, 2007 episode of Raw with a viral marketing campaign using a series of 15-second cryptic binary code videos, similar to the matrix digital rain used in The Matrix series. The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho. Jericho made his return to WWE television as a face on the November 19, 2007 episode of Raw when he interrupted Randy Orton during Orton's orchestrated "passing of the torch" ceremony. Jericho revealed his intentions to reclaim the WWE Championship in order to "save" WWE fans from Orton. On the November 26 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Santino Marella and debuted a new finishing move called the Codebreaker. At Armageddon, he competed in a WWE title match against Orton, defeating him by disqualification when SmackDown!s color commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) interfered in the match, but Orton retained the title. He began a feud with JBL and met him at the Royal Rumble. Jericho was disqualified after hitting JBL with a steel chair. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Jericho captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship for a record eighth time when he defeated Jeff Hardy.
In April 2008, Jericho became involved in the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Batista when he suggested that Michaels enjoyed retiring Ric Flair, causing Shawn Michaels to attack him. Jericho thus asked to be inserted into the match between Batista and Michaels at Backlash, but instead, he was appointed as the special guest referee. During the match at Backlash, Michaels feigned a knee injury so that Jericho would give him time to recover and lured Batista in for Sweet Chin Music for the win. After Backlash, Jericho accused Michaels of cheating, but Michaels continued to play up an injury. When Jericho was finally convinced and he apologized to Michaels for not believing him, Michaels then admitted to Jericho that he had faked his injury and he attacked Jericho with Sweet Chin Music. After losing to Michaels at Judgment Day, Jericho initiated a handshake after the match.
On the June 9 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel, interviewing Michaels. Jericho pointed out that Michaels was still cheered by the fans despite Michaels's deceit and attack on Jericho during the previous months, whereas Jericho was booed when he tried to do the right thing. Jericho then assaulted Michaels with a low blow and sent Michaels through the "Jeritron 6000" television, damaging the eye of Michaels, and turning heel in the process. This began what was named by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the "Feud of the Year". At Night of Champions, Jericho lost the WWE Intercontinental title to Kofi Kingston after a distraction by Michaels. In June, Jericho took on Lance Cade as a protégé.
World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2009)
Afterward, Jericho developed a suit-wearing persona inspired by Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh from the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and wrestler Nick Bockwinkel. Jericho and Michaels met at The Great American Bash, which Jericho won after attacking the cut on Michaels's eye. At SummerSlam, Michaels said that his eye damage would force him to retire and insulted Jericho by saying he would never achieve Michaels's success. Jericho tried to attack Michaels, but Michaels ducked, so Jericho punched Michaels's wife, Rebecca, instead. As a result, they fought in an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven, which Jericho lost by referee stoppage. Later that night, Jericho entered the Championship Scramble match as a late replacement for the defending champion CM Punk and subsequently won the World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Batista, John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Kane, and Rey Mysterio. It was announced that Michaels would challenge Jericho for the championship in a ladder match at No Mercy, which Jericho won. At Cyber Sunday on October 26, Jericho lost the title to Batista, but later won it back eight days later on the 800th episode of Raw in a steel cage match. Jericho defeated Michaels in a Last Man Standing match on the November 10 episode of Raw after interference from JBL. Jericho lost the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series to the returning John Cena. On the December 8 episode of Raw, Jericho was awarded the Slammy Award for 2008 Superstar of the Year award. Six days later, he lost his rematch with John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon.
At the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009, Jericho participated in the Royal Rumble match, but he was eliminated by the Undertaker. On February 15 at No Way Out, he competed in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but he failed to win as he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Following this, Jericho began a rivalry with veteran wrestlers Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper, as well as actor Mickey Rourke. Jericho was originally arranged to face Rourke at WrestleMania 25, but Rourke later pulled out of the event. Instead, Jericho defeated Piper, Snuka and Steamboat in a 3-on-1 elimination handicap match at WrestleMania, but was knocked out by Rourke after the match.
On the April 13 episode of Raw, Jericho was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 WWE draft. Jericho then faced Steamboat in a singles match at Backlash, where Jericho was victorious. In May, Jericho started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, leading to a match at Judgment Day, which Jericho lost. However, Jericho defeated Mysterio in a No Holds Barred Match at Extreme Rules to win his ninth Intercontinental Championship, breaking his own record again. At The Bash, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Mysterio in a mask vs. title match.
Jeri-Show and feud with Edge (2009–2010)
Later in the event, Jericho and his partner Edge won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship as surprise entrants in a triple threat tag team match. As a result of this win, Jericho became the first wrestler to win every (original) Grand Slam eligible championship. Shortly thereafter Edge suffered an injury and Jericho revealed a clause in his contract to allow Edge to be replaced and Jericho's reign to continue uninterrupted. At Night of Champions, Jericho revealed Big Show as his new tag team partner, creating a team that would come to called Jeri-Show. The duo defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the championship. Jeri-Show successfully defended the title against Cryme Tyme at SummerSlam, MVP and Mark Henry at Breaking Point and Rey Mysterio and Batista at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series, both Jericho and Big Show took part in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but the Undertaker successfully retained the title. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Jeri-Show lost the tag titles to D-Generation X (D-X) (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. As a member of the SmackDown brand, Jericho could only appear on Raw as a champion and D-X intentionally disqualified themselves in a rematch to force Jericho off the show. On the January 4, 2010 of Raw, D-X defeated Jeri-Show to retain the championship once again, marking the end of Jeri-Show.
Jericho entered the 2010 Royal Rumble match on January 31, but was eliminated by the returning Edge, his former tag team partner, who went on to win the match. At Elimination Chamber, Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, defeating The Undertaker, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and R-Truth following interference from Shawn Michaels. The next night on Raw, Edge used his Royal Rumble win to challenge Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVI. Jericho defeated Edge at WrestleMania to retain the title, but lost the championship to Jack Swagger on the following episode of SmackDown, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Jericho then failed to regain the title from Swagger in a triple-threat match also involving Edge on the April 16 episode of SmackDown. Jericho and Edge continued their feud leading into Extreme Rules, where Jericho was defeated in a steel cage match.
Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2010 WWE draft. He formed a brief tag team with The Miz and unsuccessfully challenged The Hart Dynasty for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at Over the Limit. A month later, Jericho lost to Evan Bourne at Fatal 4-Way, but won a rematch during the following night on Raw, where he put his career on the line. On the July 19 episode of Raw, after being assaulted by The Nexus, Jericho teamed with rivals Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan and Bret Hart in a team led by John Cena to face The Nexus at SummerSlam. Jericho and Cena bickered over leadership of the team, which led to him and Edge attacking Cena during the SummerSlam match that they won.
Jericho was punished for not showing solidarity against Nexus, when he was removed from a Six-Pack Challenge for Sheamus's WWE Championship at Night of Champions. Although he re-earned his place in the match after defeating The Hart Dynasty in a handicap steel cage match, he was the first man eliminated from the match at Night of Champions. On the September 27 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Randy Orton who punted him in the head. This was used to explain Jericho's departure from the company.
Second return to WWE (2011–2018)
Feud with CM Punk (2011–2012)
Beginning in November 2011, WWE aired cryptic vignettes that promoted a wrestler's return on the January 2, 2012 episode of Raw. On his return, after hyping the crowd and relishing their cheers for a prolonged period, Jericho left without verbally addressing his return. After exhibiting similar odd behavior in the proceeding two weeks, Jericho spoke on the January 23 episode of Raw to say, "This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it is going to be the end of the world as you know it", but in the Royal Rumble match, he was eliminated last, by Sheamus. On the January 30 episode of Raw, Jericho began a feud with WWE Champion CM Punk after attacking him during his match with Daniel Bryan. He explained his actions by claiming other wrestlers in WWE were imitating him and named Punk as the worst offender.
At Elimination Chamber, Jericho participated in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, entering last and eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston before being knocked out of the structure by Punk, which injured him and removed him from the match without being eliminated. The following night on Raw, Jericho won a ten-man battle royal to become the number one contender for Punk's WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII. In a bid to psychologically unsettle Punk, Jericho revealed that Punk's father was an alcoholic and Punk's sister was a drug addict, which contradicted Punk's straight edge philosophy; Jericho vowed to make Punk turn to alcohol by winning Punk's title from him. At WrestleMania, a stipulation was added that Punk would lose his WWE Championship if he was disqualified. During the match, Jericho unsuccessfully tried to taunt Punk into disqualifying himself, and Punk won the match.
Jericho continued his feud with Punk in the weeks that followed by attacking and dousing him with alcohol after his matches. At Extreme Rules, Jericho failed again to capture the WWE Championship from Punk in a Chicago Street Fight.
Championship pursuits (2012–2013)
Jericho faced Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus in a fatal four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Over the Limit, where Sheamus retained his title. On May 24 at a WWE live event in Brazil, Jericho wrestled a match against CM Punk, during which Jericho kicked a Brazilian flag, causing local police to intervene and threaten Jericho with arrest. Jericho issued an apology to the audience, enabling the event to resume. The following day, WWE suspended Jericho for 30 days while apologizing to the people and government of Brazil. Jericho returned on the June 25 episode of Raw, and his absence was explained by a European tour with his band Fozzy which happened to coincide with his suspension. At Money in the Bank, Jericho participated in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but failed to win as John Cena won. The following night on Raw, Jericho confronted newly crowned Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler, who claimed that Jericho had lost his touch. Jericho attacked Ziggler with a Codebreaker, thus turning face in the process. At SummerSlam, Jericho defeated Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Ziggler defeated Jericho in a rematch and, as a result, Ziggler retained his Money in the Bank contract and Jericho's WWE contract was terminated as per a pre match stipulation put in place by Raw General Manager, AJ Lee. This was used to write him off so he could tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year.
On January 27, 2013, Jericho returned after a five-month hiatus entering the Royal Rumble match as the second entrant. Jericho lasted over 47 minutes before being eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Jericho later revealed to Ziggler that due to a managerial change on Raw, he had been rehired by Vickie Guerrero, resuming his feud with Ziggler. Guerrero then paired the two in a match against WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). The match ended with Ziggler being pinned by Kane after Jericho framed him for pushing Kane. After beating Daniel Bryan on the February 11 episode of Raw, Jericho qualified for the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber (in which the winner would go on to be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29), where he was the fourth man eliminated. On the March 11 episode of Raw, Jericho faced The Miz in a No. 1 contenders match for Wade Barrett's WWE Intercontinental Championship, but the match was ruled a no contest after Barrett interfered and attacked both men. Both men then faced Barrett the following week on Raw, where he retained his title. Earlier in the episode, Jericho had a run-in with Fandango which led to Fandango costing him his match with Jack Swagger and attacking him four days later on SmackDown. At WrestleMania 29, Jericho was defeated by Fandango. They continued their feud in the following weeks, until Jericho defeated Fandango at Extreme Rules. He then faced the returning CM Punk at Payback, where he was defeated. Jericho then began feuding with Ryback, which led to a singles match on July 14 at Money in the Bank, where Ryback emerged victorious. On the July 19 episode of SmackDown, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Curtis Axel for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and was afterwards attacked by Ryback. This was done to write Jericho off television as he was taking a temporary hiatus to tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year and possibly January and February.
In a November interview for WWE.com, Jericho revealed that he would not be a full-time wrestler due to his musical and acting ventures.
Various sporadic feuds (2014–2016)
After an eleven-month hiatus, Jericho returned on the June 30, 2014 episode of Raw, attacking The Miz, who had also returned minutes earlier. The Wyatt Family then interrupted and ultimately attacked Jericho. Jericho faced Bray Wyatt at Battleground in a winning effort. At SummerSlam, with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan banned from ringside, Wyatt picked up the victory. On the September 8 episode of Raw, Jericho lost to Wyatt in a steel cage match, ending the feud. Jericho then feuded with Randy Orton, who had attacked him the week before after his match against Wyatt in the trainers room. Orton defeated him at Night of Champions. Throughout the rest of October and November, Jericho wrestled exclusively at live events, defeating Bray Wyatt. Jericho returned to WWE television in December as the guest general manager of the December 15 episode of Raw. Jericho booked himself in a street fight against Paul Heyman in the main event, which led to the return of Brock Lesnar. Before the match could begin, Lesnar attacked Jericho with an F-5.
In January 2015, Jericho revealed that he signed an exclusive WWE contract, under which he would compete at 16 house shows only. He later signed a similar contract once the former expired and competed at house shows throughout the rest of 2015. During this time he wrestled against the likes of Luke Harper, Kevin Owens and King Barrett in winning efforts. In May 2015, Jericho was one of the hosts of Tough Enoughs sixth season. Jericho also hosted two Live! With Chris Jericho specials on the WWE Network during 2015; his guests were John Cena and Stephanie McMahon. Jericho made his televised return at The Beast in the East, defeating Neville. At Night of Champions, Jericho was revealed as the mystery partner of Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, facing The Wyatt Family in a losing effort. On October 3, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Live from Madison Square Garden. The match marked 20 years since Jericho's debut with ECW while also celebrating his 25th year as a professional wrestler in total.
On the January 4, 2016 episode of Raw, Jericho returned to in-ring competition full-time and confronted The New Day. At the 2016 Royal Rumble, Jericho entered as the sixth entrant, lasting over 50 minutes, before being eliminated by Dean Ambrose. On the January 25 episode of Raw, Jericho faced the recently debuted AJ Styles in a losing effort. Following the match, after initial hesitation by Jericho, the pair shook hands. On the February 11 episode of SmackDown, Jericho defeated Styles. At Fastlane, Styles was victorious in a third match between the pair. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Jericho and Styles formed a tag team, dubbed Y2AJ. Following their loss against The New Day on the March 7 episode of Raw, Jericho attacked Styles, ending their alliance, claiming that he was sick of the fans chanting for Styles instead of him, turning heel in the process. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 32, where Jericho defeated Styles. However, on the April 4 episode of Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal-four-way match against Styles, Kevin Owens and Cesaro to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort after being pinned by Styles, ending their feud.
The following week on Raw, Dean Ambrose interrupted The Highlight Reel, handing Jericho a note from Shane McMahon replacing the show with The Ambrose Asylum, igniting a feud between the two. During this time, Jericho tweaked his gimmick. He became arrogant and childish while wearing expensive scarfs and calling everyone who appeased him "stupid idiots". At Payback, Jericho faced Ambrose in a losing effort. After attacking one another and Ambrose destroying Jericho's light-up ring jacket, Jericho was challenged by Ambrose to an Asylum match at Extreme Rules, where Ambrose again defeated Jericho after Jericho was thrown in a pile of thumbtacks. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Apollo Crews to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where Jericho was unsuccessful as the match was won by Ambrose. On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand. At Battleground on July 24, Jericho hosted a Highlight Reel segment with the returning Randy Orton, where he took an RKO from Orton after he insulted him. The next night on Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the newly created WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, but he was unsuccessful, as Roman Reigns won the match.
The List of Jericho (2016–2017)
Jericho then entered a feud with Enzo and Cass and on the August 1 episode of Raw, he teamed with Charlotte to defeat Enzo Amore and then WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks in a mixed tag team match, after which Big Cass made the save as Jericho continued the assault on Amore. The following week on Raw, Jericho allied with Kevin Owens and later defeated Amore via disqualification when Cass interfered. This led to a tag team match at SummerSlam, where Jericho and Owens defeated Enzo and Cass. On the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho interfered in Owens's match against Neville, allowing him to qualify for the fatal four-way match to determine the new WWE Universal Champion on the August 29 episode of Raw, which Owens won.
On the September 12 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted an episode of The Highlight Reel with Sami Zayn as his guest, who questioned his alliance with Owens, resulting in Jericho defending Owens and attacking Zayn. On the September 19 episode of Raw, as a result of feeling that he was being treated unjustly by General Manager Mick Foley, as well as other wrestlers beginning to annoy him, Jericho began a list called "The List of Jericho", where he wrote down the name of the person that bothered him and why. If someone annoyed Jericho, he would ask "you know what happens?" before shouting "you just made the list!" and writing the person's name down. The List of Jericho soon became incredibly popular with the fans, with many critics describing Jericho and his list as "easily one of the best moments of Raw's broadcast". At Clash of Champions on September 25, Jericho defeated Zayn and assisted Owens in his Universal Championship defense against Seth Rollins. At Hell in a Cell on October 30, Jericho aided Owens in retaining the Universal Championship against Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match after Owens sprayed a fire extinguisher at the referee, allowing Jericho to enter the cell.
Jericho teamed with Owens, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins as part of Team Raw at Survivor Series on November 20, in a losing effort. The next night on Raw, despite being banned from ringside, Jericho showed up in a Sin Cara mask and attacked Rollins, in another successful title defense for Owens. The following week on Raw, tensions between Jericho and Owens arose after both said that they did not need each other anymore, and Jericho was later attacked by Rollins in the parking lot. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, Jericho lost to Rollins after Owens failed in his attempt to help him, Later that night, Jericho intentionally attacked Owens to prevent Reigns from winning the title. After both Jericho and Owens failed to win the WWE United States Championship from Reigns in multiple singles matches in late 2016, Jericho pinned Reigns in a handicap match also involving Owens on the January 9 episode of Raw to win the WWE United States Championship. Thus, Jericho won his first championship in nearly seven years and also become Grand Slam winner under the current format. Due to interfering multiple times in Owens's matches, Jericho was suspended above the ring in a shark proof cage during Reigns's rematch at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Owens nonetheless retained the championship after Braun Strowman, taking advantage of the added no disqualification stipulation, interfered. Also at the event, Jericho entered as the second entrant in the Royal Rumble match, lasting over an hour (thus breaking the record with a cumulative time of over five hours) and being the third to last before being eliminated by Reigns.
In February, tensions grew between Jericho and Owens after Jericho accepted a Universal Championship challenge from Goldberg on Owens's behalf, much to the latter's dismay. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Jericho held a "Festival of Friendship" for Owens, who was not impressed and viciously attacked Jericho, ending their alliance. Jericho returned at Fastlane on March 5, distracting Owens during his match with Goldberg and causing Owens to lose the Universal Championship, turning face again in the process. This led to a match between Jericho and Owens being arranged for WrestleMania 33 on April 2, with Jericho's United States Championship on the line. At WrestleMania, Jericho lost the United States Championship to Owens. At Payback on April 30, Jericho defeated Owens to regain the title and moved to the SmackDown brand, but lost it back to him two nights later on SmackDown. Following the match, Owens attacked Jericho, who was carried out on a stretcher. Thus, Jericho was written off television so he could fulfill his commitments to tour with and promote his new album with Fozzy. Jericho made a surprise return at a house show in Singapore on June 28, where he lost to Hideo Itami.
Final matches and departure (2017–2018)
On the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Jericho made his televised return, interrupting an altercation between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to get his rematch for Owens' WWE United States Championship. Later that night, Jericho participated in a triple threat match against Owens and Styles for the title in which Jericho was pinned by Styles. Show took place in Richmond, Virginia and was Jericho's last in-ring appearance for WWE in the United States.
On January 22, 2018 during the 25th Anniversary of Raw, Jericho appeared backstage in a segment with Elias, putting him on The List of Jericho. At the Greatest Royal Rumble, Jericho was the last entrant in the 50-man Royal Rumble match, eliminating Shelton Benjamin before being eliminated by the eventual winner Braun Strowman. This event marked Jericho's final appearance with WWE.
In September 2019, during an interview for the Mature Audiences Mayhem Podcast, Jericho revealed the exact point when he decided he was going to leave the WWE. Even though Jericho was with the WWE for 15 years, the final insult came at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Despite the fact that Jericho and Kevin Owens had the best feud of the year, their match was demoted by placing it on the second place on the WrestleMania match card. The decision made by Vince McMahon was a big insult for Jericho and that prompted him to seek work elsewhere. Jericho reflecting his WWE departure stated:
"Originally, that was going to be the main event for the world title. Kevin Owens was the champion and I was going to beat him in the main event of WrestleMania as a babyface." Instead of having Jericho and Owens as the main event, Vince decided to put Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar on the main card. "Vince said that it’s going to be me versus Kevin Owens for the world title at WrestleMania and you are going to win the title, f*** yeah! Next week, he doesn’t tell me, but I hear that it’s changed to Brock Lesnar versus Bill Goldberg for the title. And not only did they take us out of the main event – and, once again, just because I was told I have no right to it and things change all the time, I’m a big boy, I can handle it. But to take us from the main event slot and then move us to the second match on the card on a card that has 12 matches on it? I was like, that’s a f***ing insult."
Return to NJPW (2017–2020)
Feud with Kenny Omega (2017–2018)
On November 5, 2017, Jericho returned to NJPW in a pre-taped vignette, challenging Kenny Omega to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. The challenge was immediately accepted by Omega and made official by NJPW the following day as a title match for Omega's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The match, dubbed "Alpha vs. Omega", was Jericho's first match outside of WWE since he left WCW in July 1999. Journalist Dave Meltzer wrote that Jericho's WWE contract had expired and that he was a "free agent". NJPW also referred to Jericho as a free agent. In contrast, the Tokyo Sports newspaper described an anonymous NJPW official saying that Jericho is still under contract with WWE, and that WWE chairman Vince McMahon had given him permission to wrestle this match in NJPW. This was his first NJPW match in nearly 20 years. Jericho returned in person at the December 11 World Tag League show, attacking and bloodying Omega after his match, while also laying out a referee, a young lion and color commentator Don Callis, establishing himself as a heel. The following day at the Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome press conference, Jericho and Omega would get into a second physical altercation. Because of the two incidents, NJPW turned the January 4 match into a no disqualification match. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Omega. It was later revealed that the match was awarded a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This was the first of his career.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion (2018–2019)
The night after Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome at New Year Dash!! 2018, Jericho attacked Tetsuya Naito. On May 4, Jericho once again attacked Naito at Wrestling Dontaku, leading to a match between the two at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, in which he defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. At King of Pro-Wrestling, Jericho attacked Evil before his match against Zack Sabre Jr. Backstage, Jericho challenged Evil to an IWGP Intercontinental Championship title match at Power Struggle. At the event, Jericho made Evil submit to the Liontamer to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Jericho refused to release the hold until Tetsuya Naito ran in for the save and challenged Jericho. Despite Jericho stating that Naito would not receive a rematch, the match was made official for Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. On December 15, NJPW held a press conference for Jericho and Naito's IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. The press conference ended when Naito spat water in Jericho's face, which resulted in the two then brawling before being separated. Later that same day during a Road to Tokyo Dome show, Jericho laid out Naito with steel chair shots, and after stated that at Wrestle Kingdom 13 he would end Tetsuya Naito's career. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Naito, losing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the process.
Sporadic appearances (2019–2020)
At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jericho challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was defeated. Following the match, Jericho attacked Okada, leading to Hiroshi Tanahashi making the save. Jericho returned at Power Struggle on November 3 and challenged Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14. On December 28, it was announced that if Tanahashi were to defeat Jericho, he would be granted an AEW World Championship match at a later date. During the second night of Wrestle Kingdom on January 5, 2020, Jericho defeated Tanahashi.
Return to the independent circuit (2018–2019)
On September 1, 2018, Jericho (disguised as Penta El Zero) appeared at the All In show promoted by Cody and The Young Bucks, where he attacked Kenny Omega following Omega's victory over Penta to promote his upcoming Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise.
In October 2018, Jericho organized Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a series of professional wrestling matches originating from Jericho's cruise ship, which embarked from Miami, Florida and featured wrestlers from Ring of Honor.
On May 3, 2019, Jericho appeared at a Southern Honor Wrestling event, where he was attacked by Kenny Omega.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)
Inaugural AEW World Champion (2019–2020)
On January 8, 2019, Jericho made a surprise appearance at a media event organized by the upstart All Elite Wrestling (AEW) promotion. Shortly afterwards, Jericho was filmed signing a full-time performers three-year contract with AEW and shaking hands with the company's President Tony Khan. Jericho defeated Kenny Omega at the promotion's inaugural event Double or Nothing on May 25, and went on to defeat Adam Page at All Out to become the inaugural AEW World Champion.
On the premiere episode of Dynamite on October 2, Jericho allied himself with Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz, creating a stable that would be known as The Inner Circle. Jericho would make successful title defences against Darby Allin on the October 16 episode of Dynamite and Cody at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9. On the episode of Dynamite after Full Gear, Jericho and Guevara challenged SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win when Sky pinned Jericho with a small package, thus suffering his first loss in AEW. Jericho would successfully retain the AEW World Championship against Sky on the November 27 episode of Dynamite.
In December, The Inner Circle began to attempt to entice Jon Moxley to join the group. On the January 8, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Moxley initially joined the group, however, this was later revealed to be a ruse from Moxley as he attacked Jericho and Sammy Guevara. Moxley then became the number one contender for Jericho's championship at Revolution on February 29, where Moxley defeated Jericho to win the title, ending his inaugural AEW World Championship reign at 182 days.
Feud with MJF (2020–2021)
After losing the championship, Jericho and The Inner Circle began a feud with The Elite (Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks), who recruited the debuting Matt Hardy to oppose them. At Double or Nothing on May 23, The Inner Circle were defeated by Page, Omega, The Young Bucks and Hardy in a Stadium Stampede match. Jericho next began a rivalry with Orange Cassidy, with Jericho defeating him at Fyter Fest on July 8, but losing a rematch on the August 12 episode of Dynamite. The two faced once again at All Out on September 5, in a Mimosa Mayhem match, which Jericho lost.
Beginning in October, Jericho began a feud with MJF, who requested to join the Inner Circle, despite disapproval from Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz. Jericho and MJF wrestled in a match at the Full Gear event on November 7, which MJF won, thus allowing him to join the Inner Circle. At Beach Break on February 3, 2021, Jericho and MJF won a tag team battle royal to become the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the Revolution event against The Young Bucks, which they were unsuccessful in winning. On the March 10 episode of Dynamite, MJF betrayed and left The Inner Circle after revealing he had been secretly plotting against them and building his own stable, The Pinnacle—consisting of Wardlow, Shawn Spears and FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood). At Blood and Guts on May 5, The Inner Circle lost to The Pinnacle in the inaugural Blood and Guts match. However, in the main event of Double or Nothing later that month, The Inner Circle defeated The Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match, after Sammy Guevara pinned Shawn Spears. Jericho then began pursuing another match with MJF, who stated that he would first have to defeat a gauntlet of opponents selected by MJF, in a series dubbed the "Labors of Jericho". Jericho would defeat each of MJF's handpicked opponents (Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow) and faced MJF in the final labor on the August 18 episode of Dynamite, but he was defeated. Jericho demanded one more match, stipulating that if he lost, he would retire from in-ring competition, which MJF accepted. At All Out on September 5, Jericho defeated MJF to maintain his career and end their feud.
Various feuds (2021–present)
Following All Out, The Inner Circle started a rivalry with Men of the Year (Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky), and their ally, mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Dan Lambert. Lambert also brought in members of his MMA team American Top Team (ATT) to oppose The Inner Circle, including Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos. At the Full Gear event on November 13, The Inner Circle defeated Men of the Year and ATT in a Minneapolis Street Fight.
Legacy
Known for his over-the-top, rock star persona, Jericho has been described by multiple industry commentators as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Journalist Chris Van Vliet noted that his name is "always thrown around as the GOAT [greatest of all time], or at least one of the GOATs", with Van Vliet himself asserting that Jericho is "if not the best, certainly one of the best". Todd Martin of the Pro Wrestling Torch remarked, to agreement from editor Wade Keller, that Jericho is "one of the great wrestlers of all time" and in "a lofty category", while likening his oeuvre to those of WWE Hall of Famers Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase and Dory Funk Jr. Praised for his ability to continually evolve his gimmick, Jericho was dubbed by KC Joyner of ESPN as "wrestling's David Bowie".
Various outlets have included Jericho in lists of the greatest wrestlers ever. Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Eck, who has also served as editor of WCW Magazine and a WWE producer, featured Jericho in his "Top 10 favorite wrestlers of all time" and "Top 10 all-around performers"—the former piece noting that Jericho is "regarded as one of the very best talkers in the business". Keisha Hatchett in TV Guide wrote that Jericho "owns the mic with cerebral insults" and is set apart from peers by "his charismatic presence, which is highlighted by a laundry list of unforgettable catchphrases". He was voted by Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) readers as "Best on Interviews" for the 2000s decade, coinciding with his 2010 induction into the WON Hall of Fame. Fans also named Jericho the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champion of all time in a 2013 WWE poll, affording him a landslide 63% victory over the other four contenders (Mr. Perfect, The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude and Pat Patterson).
A number of Jericho's industry colleagues have hailed him as one of the greatest wrestlers in history. Stone Cold Steve Austin lauded his consistently "dynamic" promos and in-ring work, while arguing that he should be considered among the 10 best ever. Kenny Omega asserted that Jericho "has a legit argument for being the best of all time", based on his ability to achieve success and notoriety across numerous territories. Jon Moxley said, "Jericho is really making a case for being the greatest of all time... he's doing it again, he's doing something completely new, and breaking new barriers still here in 2020." Matt Striker pointed to Jericho's "magnanimous" nature as a contributing factor to his status as an all-time great; his willingness to impart knowledge was commended by James Ellsworth, who described Jericho as an "outstanding human being" and a childhood favorite. Kevin Owens stated that "Jericho was always someone I looked up to", while The Miz affirmed that he was part of a generation of young wrestlers who sought to "emulate" Jericho.
WWE declared Jericho a "marquee draw" with a "reputation as one of the best ever". As of 2019, he is one of the ten most prolific pay-per-view performers in company history.
After Jericho signed with All Elite Wrestling, it was said his role was similar to Terry Funk in ECW, as an experienced veteran bringing credibility to a younger promotion. Jericho was credited as one of the key attractions of AEW's weekly television broadcasts, leading to him adopting the nickname "The Demo God" due to many of the segments he appeared in being some of the highest viewed in the key demographics. He was voted as the Best Box Office Draw by readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2019.
Music career
Jericho is the lead singer for the heavy metal band Fozzy. Since their debut album in 2000, Fozzy have released seven studio albums; Fozzy, Happenstance, All That Remains, Chasing the Grail, Sin and Bones, Do You Wanna Start a War, Judas, and one live album, Remains Alive.
In 2005, Jericho performed vocals on a cover of "The Evil That Men Do" on the Iron Maiden tribute album, Numbers from the Beast. He made a guest appearance on Dream Theater's album, Systematic Chaos on the song "Repentance", as one of several musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings in the past.
In the mid-1990s, Jericho wrote a monthly column for Metal Edge magazine focused on the heavy metal scene. The column ran for about a year. He started his own weekly XM Satellite Radio show in March 2005 called The Rock of Jericho, which aired Sunday nights on XM 41 The Boneyard.
Discography
Albums with Fozzy
Fozzy (2000)
Happenstance (2002)
All That Remains (2005)
Chasing the Grail (2010)
Sin and Bones (2012)
Do You Wanna Start a War (2014)
Judas (2017)
Live albums
Remains Alive (2009)
As guest
Don't You Wish You Were Me? - WWE Originals (2004)
King of the Night Time World - Spin the Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to Kiss (2004) * With Rich Ward, Mike Inez, Fred Coury
Bullet for My Valentine – Temper Temper – Dead to the World (2013)
Devin Townsend – Dark Matters (2014)
Michael Sweet – I'm Not Your Suicide – Anybody Else (2014)
Other endeavors
Film, theater, comedy, and writing
In 2000, a WWE produced VHS tape documenting Jericho's career titled Break Down the Walls was released. He later received two three disc sets profiling matches and interviews.
On June 24, 2006, Jericho premiered in his first Sci-Fi Channel movie Android Apocalypse alongside Scott Bairstow and Joey Lawrence.
Jericho debuted as a stage actor in a comedy play Opening Night, which premiered at the Toronto Centre for the Arts during July 20–22, 2006 in Toronto. During his stay in Toronto, Jericho hosted the sketch comedy show Sunday Night Live with sketch troupe The Sketchersons at The Brunswick House.
Jericho was also the first wrestler attached and interviewed for the wrestling documentary, Bloodstained Memoirs. The interview was recorded in the UK during a Fozzy tour in 2006.
Jericho wrote his autobiography, A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex, which was released on October 25, 2007 and became a New York Times bestseller. It covers Jericho's life and wrestling career up to his debut in the WWE. Jericho's second autobiography, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, was released on February 16, 2011, and covers his wrestling career since his WWE debut. On October 14, 2014 Jericho's third book, The Best In The World...At What I Have No Idea, was released. It covers some untold stories of the "Save Us" era, his Fozzy career, and his multiple returns from 2011 to 2013. Jericho's fourth book, No Is a Four-Letter Word: How I Failed Spelling but Succeeded in Life, was released on August 29, 2017 and details twenty valuable lessons Jericho learned throughout his career as a wrestler and musician.
Jericho appeared in the 2009 film Albino Farm. In the film MacGruber, released May 21, 2010, he briefly appeared as Frank Korver, a former military teammate of the eponymous Green Beret, Navy Seal, and Army Ranger.
Jericho released a comedy web series on October 29, 2013 that is loosely based on his life entitled But I'm Chris Jericho! Jericho plays a former wrestler, struggling to make it big as an actor. A second season was produced in 2017 by CBC and distributed over CBC's television app and CBC.ca.
In 2016, Jericho starred in the documentary film Nine Legends alongside Mike Tyson and other wrestlers.
In August 2018, Jericho was confirmed to star in the film Killroy Was Here.
On March 14, 2019, filmmaker Kevin Smith cast Jericho as a KKK Grand Wizard in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Television
Jericho was a contributor to the VH1 pop culture shows Best Week Ever, I Love the '80s, and VH1's top 100 artists.
Jericho also hosted the five-part, five-hour VH1 special 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, an update of the original special 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock N' Roll first hosted by Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray.
On July 12, 2006, he made an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show!; he made a second appearance on August 21, 2009. In May 2006, Jericho appeared on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and Heavy: The Story of Metal as a commentator.
He was one of eight celebrities in the 2006 Fox Television singing reality show Celebrity Duets, produced by Simon Cowell, and was the first contestant eliminated. Jericho worked at a McDonald's to show off his skills while prepping for the show.
Jericho hosted his own reality show in 2008 titled Redemption Song, in which 11 women tried their hand at getting into the music scene. It was shown on Fuse TV.
He guest starred as Billy "The Body Bag" Cobb in "Xero Control", an episode of the Disney XD 2009 original series Aaron Stone.
He hosted VH1's 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, which began airing in December 2009. In June 2010, Jericho was named the host of the ABC prime-time game show Downfall.
On March 1, 2011, Chris Jericho was named one of the contestants on the 2011 lineup of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was two-time champion Cheryl Burke. This led to a wave of publicity, including an interview with Jay Leno. On April 26, Jericho was the fifth contestant eliminated on the show.
On May 5, Jericho made his third appearance as a guest on Attack of the Show! where he depicted Thor. He promoted Undisputed and hosted the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on May 28 on VH1 Classic. On January 17, 2012, Jericho made his fourth appearance on Attack of the Show! in a segment called "Twitter Twister" where he portrayed a character called "The Twistercutioner" and read tweets as instructions for a game of Twister between Kevin and Candace. Jericho hosted the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
On February 26, 2013, Jericho began hosting a robot combat competition program on SyFy titled Robot Combat League the series ended on April 23, 2015.
Talk Is Jericho podcast
In December 2013, Jericho began hosting his own podcast, Talk is Jericho. Episodes usually include a loosely scripted monolog before an interview, typically with a wrestler, rock musician or paranormal expert. The show originally appeared on PodcastOne, before moving to the WestwoodOne network in 2018. Notable guests on the show include Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Lemmy from Motörhead, Paul Stanley from KISS, Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures, pornographic actress Asa Akira, writer/director Kevin Smith and many former and current wrestlers.
In April 2015, Jericho hosted his own video podcast on the WWE Network, Live! with Chris Jericho, with John Cena as his first guest, followed by Stephanie McMahon as his guest later that same month.
Once he signed with AEW, he was no longer allowed WWE performers as guests on the podcast.
Web
On August 10, 2019, Jericho launched his own dirtsheet website called WebIsJericho.com. The website is dedicated to the memory of Axl Rotten.
In May 2020, Jericho officially joined as a competitor of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown under manager Roxy Striar in the Roxstars faction. Jericho first expressed interest in the Schmoedown following an appearance on Collider Live with Striar and Schmoedown commissioner Kristian Harloff. He became friends with Striar following the interview and kept in contact. During the 2020 season, Jericho contacted Striar, asking to be a part of the league. Striar formally drafted Jericho into her faction during the first free-agent period following the season-opening draft. His first match is scheduled for August 27 against Kevin Smith.
Cruises
In 2017, Jericho launched Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a cruise "combining the worlds of rock and wrestling with a once in a lifetime amazing vacation experience". The cruise featured live band performances, artist-hosted activities and a Sea of Honor Tournament with over a dozen Ring of Honor wrestlers competing. Guests had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Chris and his closest wrestling, comedian, and musician friends including Jim Ross, Diamond Dallas Page and Jim Breuer, among others. The cruise sailed October 27–31, 2018 from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas.
Jericho hosted a second cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave, which run from January 20–24, 2020. A third cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Triple Whammy, is scheduled for October 21–25, 2021.
Video games
Jericho has appeared in numerous video games. They include WCW/nWo Revenge, WCW Nitro, WCW/nWo Thunder, WCW Mayhem, WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown!, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWF Raw, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE All Stars, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19 and the upcoming All Elite Wrestling video game.
Personal life
Irvine married Jessica Lockhart on July 30, 2000. They reside in Odessa, Florida, with their three children: son Ash Edward Irvine (born 2003) and identical twin daughters Sierra Loretta "SiSi" Irvine and Cheyenne Lee "Chey" Irvine (born 2006). All three have been guests on his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, with his son discussing fish and his daughters discussing literature. Irvine owns three cats. In October 2020, Irvine reportedly donated $3,000 to Donald Trump's presidential re-election campaign.
Irvine is a Christian. He has a tattoo of his wife's name on his ring finger. He has the letter F, representing Fozzy, on the back of his hand. Since 2012, he has gradually gotten a sleeve over his left arm. His tattoos include: the artwork of Fozzy's album Sin and Bones, a Jack-o'-lantern (Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, who collaborated with Fozzy on the track "Sandpaper" from Sin and Bones, also got a matching tattoo), a lake monster, and himself from his WWF debut in 1999.
On July 5, 2004, Irvine was awarded Manitoba's The Order of the Buffalo Hunt, for his achievements in wrestling and his commitment to working with underprivileged children. – "After that, Gary Doer, the premier of Manitoba, awarded me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, which was the province's highest honor. It was quite the prestigious prize, which has been given to such dignitaries such as Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Pope John Paul II, and now Chris Jericho." / caption: "Manitoba Premier Gary Doer presents me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, along with a tiny bronze buffalo. I'm thinking, 'That's all I get?'"
Since January 2012, Irvine (along with former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow, former NFL player Derrick Brooks, and former Atlanta Braves player Chipper Jones) has been the co-owner of a sports training facility in Tampa, a franchise site of D1 Sports Training and Therapy.
Irvine is a fan of Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, which Irvine would frequently shop at when he wrestled in Japan in the 1990s. Irvine still visits Lawson whenever he returns to Japan, whether to wrestle or if he is touring with Fozzy.https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCwN9vjtO_/
Legal issues
On February 7, 2009, a fan accused Irvine of punching her after she spat at him with fans outside Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia after a live event. Video footage, however, clearly showed he did not make contact with the woman. As a result of the incident, police detained them, but released them without charge. Police did not press charges against anyone in the brawl as it was "hard to determine who provoked whom".
On January 27, 2010, Irvine and fellow wrestler Gregory Helms were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky after leaving a bar. A police report stated that Helms punched Irvine and the other passengers in the cab. Fellow wrestlers Christian and CM Punk bailed them out later.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Championships and accomplishments
All Elite Wrestling AEW World Championship (1 time)
AEW Dynamite Awards (2 times)
Bleacher Report PPV Moment of the Year (2021) –
Biggest Beatdown (2021) –
The Baltimore Sun
Feud of the Year (2008)
Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling
CRMW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
CRMW North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Lance Storm
CRMW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
Extreme Championship Wrestling
ECW World Television Championship (1 time)
International Wrestling Alliance
IWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Faction of the Year (2021) – with The Inner Circle
Feud of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Feud of the Year (2021)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2008)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009
Rolling Stone
Ranked No. 3 of the 10 best WWE wrestlers of 2016
World Championship Wrestling
WCW Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)
WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
Undisputed WWF Championship (1 time)
World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
WCW/World Championship (2 times)
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Championship (9 times)
WWE United States Championship (2 times)
WWF European Championship (1 time)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Edge (1) and Big Show (1)
WWF/World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Chris Benoit (1), The Rock (1), Christian (1), Edge (1), and Big Show (1)
Bragging Rights Trophy (2009) – with Team SmackDown
WWF Undisputed Championship Tournament (2001)
Fourth Grand Slam Champion
Ninth Triple Crown Champion
Slammy Award (3 times)
Extreme Moment of the Year (2014)
Superstar of the Year (2008)
Tag Team of the Year (2009) – with Big Show
Wrestle Association "R"
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gedo
World Wrestling Association
WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Dandy
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestler of the Year (2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews (2003, 2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2008)
Most Underrated Wrestler (1999, 2000)
Readers' Favorite Wrestler (1999)
United States/Canada MVP (2019)
Most Charismatic (2019)
Best Box Office Draw (2019)
Best Pro Wrestling Book (2011)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)
Luchas de Apuestas record
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
1970 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American singers
21st-century Canadian male actors
21st-century Canadian male singers
AEW World Champions
All Elite Wrestling personnel
American Christians
American color commentators
American game show hosts
American hard rock musicians
American heavy metal singers
American male film actors
American male professional wrestlers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American memoirists
American men podcasters
American people of Scottish descent
American people of Ukrainian descent
American podcasters
American radio personalities
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American YouTubers
Canadian Christians
Canadian colour commentators
Canadian expatriate professional wrestlers in the United States
Canadian game show hosts
Canadian hard rock musicians
Canadian heavy metal singers
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male professional wrestlers
Canadian male singers
Canadian male singer-songwriters
Canadian male television actors
Canadian memoirists
Canadian men podcasters
Canadian people of Scottish descent
Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
Canadian podcasters
Canadian radio personalities
Canadian rock singers
Canadian YouTubers
Christians from New York (state)
ECW World Television Champions
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Mexico
Fozzy members
IWGP Intercontinental champions
Living people
Male actors from New York (state)
Male actors from Winnipeg
Male YouTubers
Musicians from Winnipeg
NWA/WCW World Television Champions
NWA/WCW/WWE United States Heavyweight Champions
Participants in American reality television series
People from Manhasset, New York
Professional wrestlers from Manitoba
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
Professional wrestling podcasters
Red River College alumni
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Sportspeople from Winnipeg
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
World Heavyweight Champions (WWE)
WWE Champions
WWE Grand Slam champions
WWF European Champions
WWF/WWE Hardcore Champions
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champions | false | [
"A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex is an autobiography of professional wrestler Chris Jericho. It details his life from his early years, to his début for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), on August 9, 1999. The book is followed by a sequel, Undisputed: How to Become World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, which was released in 2011. A second sequel, Best in the World (At What I Have No Idea), was released in 2014.\n\nHistory\nJericho started writing A Lion's Tale shortly after leaving the WWE, in August 2005. For the purposes of the book, which mainly detail his life from 1990–1999, WWE is referred to as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), as this was the name of the company when Jericho made his début. The World Wrestling Federation changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002.\n\nContent\nThe book begins with a quick account of Jericho's thoughts whilst making his now-trademark countdown entrance during his WWF début. The book then flashes back to his early years, as a seven-year-old growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Jericho discusses his first exposure to professional wrestling, watching it on a TV in his grandmother's basement. He would later attend American Wrestling Association (AWA) live events at the Winnipeg Arena with his father, former professional ice hockey left winger, Ted Irvine, before being replaced in 1983, by the World Wrestling Federation. As he reached his teens, Jericho would later engage with WWF wrestlers, who would be staying at nearby hotels, when performing in the Winnipeg area. Jericho would later emulate the actions of WWF superstars with friends, in his promotion, the Big Time Wrestling Federation (BTWF).\n\nJericho later recalls the first time he saw Stampede Wrestling, a wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, on television in 1986. Jericho states it was shortly after this time that this was when his path (to becoming a professional wrestler) became written in stone, as he watched Owen Hart, (who was of a similar build) perform his entrance. It was whilst watching a Stampede show, that Jericho (then seventeen years old) saw an advert for the Hart Brothers Pro Wrestling Camp. Jericho promptly wrote to the address on the screen, hoping to enroll. A few weeks later, he received a reply from Ed Langley, the Hart Brothers Camp representative, who stated that Jericho needed to be eighteen years old and meet the weight classification of around . Jericho would spend the next year graduating from high school and attending Red River Community College, obtaining a degree in journalism, following the advice given to him by Jesse \"The Body\" Ventura\", to have something to fall back on, after meeting Ventura at a celebrity hockey game that Jericho's father was playing in.\n\nFrom there, Jericho recalls a brief meeting with Keith Hart during the summer of 1988, at the Hart Brothers Camp in Okotoks, whilst accompanying his father to a charity golf game in Calgary. Later that summer, Jericho joined local promotion, the Keystone Wrestling Alliance (KWA) and began touring as part of their ring crew. After the tour ended, Jericho headed for the Hart Brothers Pro Wrestling Camp and it was there he met another future fellow professional wrestler, Lance Storm.\n\nJericho's book later tells of his début match for the Canadian Wrestling Connection (CWC), against Storm (billed as Lance T. Storm) on October 2, 1990, as \"Cowboy\" Chris Jerico, a cowboy from Casper, Wyoming, in a 10-minute time limit draw and working the Canadian independent circuit, before travelling to Mexico and Germany, wrestling professionally for Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) and travelling to Japan, before returning to the U.S. and signing with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 1996, thanks to a recommendation from fellow wrestler (and future author), Mick Foley. Jericho would go on to win the ECW Television Championship once during his tenure for the Philadelphia-based organization, before signing for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), later in the year.\n\nAs a WCW employee, Jericho would end up winning the WCW Cruiserweight Championship on four separate occasions and the WCW World Television Championship, between 1996–98. Jericho's popularity in WCW was at its peak when he began taunting and challenging Bill Goldberg, with humorous vignettes. Goldberg had been undefeated in WCW since débuting and Jericho teased a very likely Goldberg-Jericho match-up. Sadly, the angle was dropped and the match never materialized. It was at this point, frustrated by the lack of faith shown in him to be a top draw in the wrestling business, that Jericho realized his WCW career was over.\n\nFeeling his career was on shaky ground, Jericho's personal life took an unexpected turn. Whilst eating in a Japanese restaurant in Tampa, Florida, Jericho met his future wife, Jessica, through fellow WCW employee, Disco Inferno, who introduced the pair to one another. Shortly after meeting Jessica, Jericho sprained his ankle during a match with Booker T. He was told he would be unable to wrestle for six weeks – Jericho had sixteen weeks left on his WCW contract at this point. After realizing that he had decided not to renew his contract, WCW President, Eric Bischoff suspended Jericho for the remaining four months of his contract. He never appeared for the promotion on television again, only at live shows. Jericho wrestled his last match in WCW as a tag team, teaming with Eddy Guerrero against the team of Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio, Jr., on July 21. Five days later, Jericho sent a fax to Eric Bischoff, the day his WCW contract expired, to thank him for all the opportunities he'd been given, in his three years there. It was during this time that Jericho called Rich Ward, the two had previously met backstage at a WCW event in San Antonio, Texas and share the same sense of humour and their love of heavy metal music. Ward suggested that Jericho come to Atlanta to sing with his band Fozzy Osbourne. Jericho would later join the band and Fozzy Osbourne would later evolve into the heavy metal band, Fozzy, with Jericho as the lead vocalist and Ward playing lead guitar and singing back-up vocals.\n\nOn May 23, 1999, at the WWF pay-per-view, Over the Edge, a freak accident occurred, which resulted in the death of Owen Hart. Although he didn't know Owen personally, Jericho felt obliged (as a surrogate member of the Hart family) to attend his funeral. It was at the funeral, during a conversation with Hulk Hogan that Jericho decided that he wanted to leave WCW and sign with the WWF. He would do so a month later, on June 30.\n\nNow as a fully-fledged WWF employee, Jericho would spend the next few weeks coming up with ideas to introduce himself to WWF fans. He recalls standing in a post office, looking at a \"Countdown to the Millennium\" clock and decided to use the idea as his WWF entrance, which became his signature. The book ends as Jericho makes his WWF début on the August 9 episode of WWF RAW is WAR, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.\n\nBecause of last minute changes, Jericho acknowledges the events of the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide, which occurred in June 2007. Shortly after Jericho finished writing in May 2007 and had handed in his copy of the manuscript to Grand Central Publishing, he requested and was allowed to make some final alterations to the book, to reflect upon the Benoit tragedy.\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n \n\n2007 non-fiction books\nProfessional wrestling autobiographies",
"Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Inner Circle stable. Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, he has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.\n\nDuring the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico. At the end of 1999, he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night. Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC and Elimination Chamber shows. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010.\n\nWithin the WWF/WWE, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the Undisputed WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year.\n\nAfter his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. Jericho joined AEW in January 2019 and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year. All totalled, between ECW, WCW, WWE, NJPW and AEW, Jericho has held 36 championships (including seven World Championships, and 10 Intercontinental Championships).\n\nIn 1999, Jericho became lead vocalist of heavy metal band Fozzy, who released their eponymous debut album the following year. The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions, although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward. Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars. He hosted the ABC game show Downfall, the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.\n\nEarly life \nChristopher Keith Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York on November 9, 1970, the son of a Canadian couple. He is of Scottish descent from his father's side and Ukrainian descent from his mother's side. His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine, had been playing for the New York Rangers at the time of his birth. When his father retired, the family moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Irvine grew up. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenships. Irvine's interest in professional wrestling began when he started watching the local American Wrestling Association (AWA) events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become a professional wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart, then appearing with Stampede Wrestling, performing various high-flying moves. In addition, Irvine also cited Owen's older brother Bret, Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for his becoming a professional wrestler. His first experience with a professional wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of the ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda. He attended Red River College in Winnipeg, graduating in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Creative Communications.\n\nProfessional wrestling career\n\nIndependent circuit (1990–1991) \nAt the age of 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling, where he met Lance Storm on his first day. He was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young.\n\nTwo months after completing training, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta as \"Cowboy\" Chris Jericho, on October 2, 1990, in a ten-minute time limit draw against Storm. The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called Sudden Impact. According to a February 2019 interview with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show, Jericho stated that his initial name was going to be \"Jack Action\" however, someone remarked to him that the name was stupid, they then asked him what his name really was, he then got nervous and said \"Chris Jericho\". He took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween. Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian) and Terry Gerin (Rhino). The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW).\n\nFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1991) \nIn 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart.\n\nConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and other Mexican promotions (1992–1995)\nIn the winter of 1992, he traveled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro (\"Golden Lion\", a name that fans voted on for him between \"He-Man\", \"Chris Power\", and his preferred choice \"Leon D'Oro\"), and later Corazón de León (\"Lion Heart\"), where he wrestled for several small wrestling companies.\n\nFrom 1993 to 1995, he competed in Mexico's oldest promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King, Negro Casas, and Último Dragón en route to an eleven-month reign as the NWA Middleweight Champion that began in December 1993.\n\nSmoky Mountain Wrestling (1994) \n1994 saw Jericho reunited with Storm, as The Thrillseekers in Jim Cornette's Appalachian Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion, where they feuded with the likes of Well Dunn, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, and The Heavenly Bodies.\n\nWrestling and Romance/WAR (1994–1996) \nIn late 1994, Jericho began competing regularly in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling and Romance (later known as Wrestle Association \"R\") (WAR) promotion as The Lion Heart. In November 1994, Último Dragón defeated him for the NWA World Middleweight Championship, which he had won while wrestling in Mexico.\n\nIn March 1995, Jericho lost to Gedo in the final of a tournament to crown the inaugural WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Gedo for the championship in June 1995, losing it to Último Dragón the next month. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Hanzo Nakajima in the first round, but losing to Wild Pegasus in the second round.\n\nIn 1995, Jericho joined the heel stable Fuyuki-Gun (\"Fuyuki Army\") with Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo, and Jado, adopting the name Lion Do. In February 1996, Jericho and Gedo won a tournament for the newly created International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, defeating Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in the final. They lost the championship to Storm and Yasuraoka the following month. Jericho made his final appearances with WAR in July 1996, having wrestled a total of twenty-four tours for the company.\n\nExtreme Championship Wrestling (1996) \nIn 1995, thanks in part to recommendations by Benoit, Dave Meltzer and Perry Saturn, to promoter Paul Heyman, and after Mick Foley saw Jericho's match against Último Dragón for the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 1995 and gave a tape of the match to Heyman, Jericho began wrestling for the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, winning the ECW World Television Championship from Pitbull #2 in June 1996 at Hardcore Heaven. While in ECW, Jericho wrestled Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Foley (as Cactus Jack), Shane Douglas, and 2 Cold Scorpio. He made his final appearance at The Doctor Is In in August 1996. It was during this time that he drew the attention of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).\n\nWorld Championship Wrestling (1996 – 1999)\n\nEarly appearances (1996–1997) \nJericho debuted for WCW on August 20, 1996 by defeating Mr. JL, which aired on the August 31 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho's televised debut in WCW occurred on the August 26 episode of Monday Nitro against Alex Wright in a match which ended in a no contest. He made his pay-per-view debut on September 15 against Chris Benoit in a losing effort at Fall Brawl. The following month, at Halloween Havoc, Jericho lost to nWo member Syxx due to biased officiating by nWo referee Nick Patrick. This led to a match between Jericho and Patrick at World War 3, which stipulated that Jericho's one arm would be tied behind his back. Despite the odds stacked against him, Jericho won the match. Later that night, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match but failed to win the match.\n\nJericho represented WCW against nWo Japan member Masahiro Chono in a losing effort at the nWo Souled Out event. At SuperBrawl VII, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Guerrero for the United States Heavyweight Championship.\n\nCruiserweight Champion (1997–1998) \nOn June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx at the Saturday Nitro live event in Los Angeles, California to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time, thus winning the first championship of his WCW career. Jericho successfully defended the title against Ultimo Dragon at Bash at the Beach, before losing the title to Alex Wright on the July 28 episode of Monday Nitro. Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Wright for the title at Road Wild, before defeating Wright in a rematch to win his second Cruiserweight Championship on the August 16 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho began feuding with Eddie Guerrero over the title as he successfully defended the title against Guerrero at Clash of the Champions XXXV before losing the title to Guerrero at Fall Brawl. Jericho defeated Gedo at Halloween Havoc. At World War 3, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal but failed to win.\n\nOn the January 15, 1998 episode of Thunder, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero to earn a title shot against Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Championship at Souled Out. Jericho won the match by forcing Mysterio to submit to the Liontamer. After the match, Jericho turned heel by assaulting Mysterio's knee with a toolbox. In the storyline, Mysterio needed six months of recovery before he could return to the ring. Jericho then had a short feud with Juventud Guerrera in which Guerrera repeatedly requested a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship, but Jericho constantly rebuffed him. The feud culminated in a title versus mask match at SuperBrawl VIII. Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Following this match, Jericho began his ongoing gimmick of collecting and wearing to the ring trophy items from his defeated opponents, such as Guerrera's mask, Prince Iaukea's Hawaiian dress, and a headband from Disco Inferno.\n\nJericho then began a long feud with Dean Malenko, in which Jericho repeatedly claimed he was a better wrestler than Malenko, but refused to wrestle him. Because of his mastery of technical wrestling, Malenko was known as \"The Man of 1,000 Holds\", so Jericho claimed to be \"The Man of 1,004 Holds\"; Jericho mentions in his autobiography that this line originated from an IWA interview he saw as a child, where manager Floyd Creatchman claimed that Leo Burke, the first professional wrestler to be known as \"The Man of 1,000 Holds\", was now known as \"The Man of 1,002 Holds\", to which Floyd Creatchman stated that \"he learned two more\".\n\nDuring the March 30, 1998 episode of Nitro, after defeating Marty Jannetty, Jericho pulled out a long pile of paper that listed each of the 1,004 holds he knew and recited them to the audience. Many of the holds were fictional, and nearly every other hold was an armbar. On the March 12, 1998 episode of Thunder, Malenko defeated a wrestler wearing Juventud Guerrera's mask who appeared to be Jericho. However, the masked wrestler was actually Lenny Lane, whom Jericho bribed to appear in the match. This started a minor feud between Lane and Jericho after Jericho refused to pay Lane. At Uncensored, Jericho finally wrestled Malenko and defeated him, after which Malenko took a leave of absence from wrestling. Jericho then proceeded to bring with him to the ring a portrait of Malenko that he insulted and demeaned. Just prior to Slamboree, J.J. Dillon (referred to by Jericho as \"Jo Jo\") scheduled a cruiserweight Battle Royal, the winner of which would immediately have a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho accepted on the grounds that whoever he faced would be too tired to win a second match. At Slamboree, Jericho came out to introduce the competitors in an insulting fashion before the match started and then went backstage for coffee. An individual who appeared to be Ciclope won the battle royal after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand and then eliminated himself. The winner was a returning Malenko in disguise. Following one of the loudest crowd reactions in WCW history, Malenko proceeded to defeat Jericho for the championship. Jericho claiming he was the victim of a carefully planned conspiracy to get the belt off of him. He at first blamed the WCW locker room, then added Dillon, Ted Turner, and finally in a vignette, he walked around Washington, D.C. with the sign \"conspiracy victim\" and accused President Bill Clinton of being one of the conspirators after being rejected from a meeting. Eventually, Malenko vacated the title. Jericho ended up defeating Malenko at The Great American Bash to win the vacant title after Malenko was disqualified after hitting Jericho with a chair. The next night, Malenko was suspended for his actions.\n\nAt Bash at the Beach, the recently returned Rey Mysterio Jr. (who had recovered from his knee injury) defeated Jericho in a No Disqualification match after the still-suspended Malenko interfered. Jericho regained the Cruiserweight Championship from Mysterio the next night after he interrupted J.J. Dillon while Dillon was giving the championship to Mysterio. Jericho was again awarded the championship. Eventually, Jericho decisively lost the title to Juventud Guerrera in a match at Road Wild with Malenko as special referee.\n\nWorld Television Champion (1998–1999) \nOn August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company.\n\nOn November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a \"loser must wear a dress\" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a \"dress\" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois, house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match.\n\nFifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, \"One Crazed Anarchist\", lent its name to the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War.\n\nNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (1997–1998) \nIn January 1997, Jericho made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), who had a working agreement with WCW, as Super Liger, the masked nemesis of Jyushin Thunder Liger. According to Jericho, Super Liger's first match against Koji Kanemoto at Wrestling World 1997 was so poorly received that the gimmick was dropped instantly. Jericho botched several moves in the match and complained he had difficulty seeing through the mask. The following six months, Jericho worked for New Japan unmasked, before being called back by WCW. On September 23, 1998, Jericho made a one-night-only return to NJPW at that years Big Wednesday show, teaming with Black Tiger against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a title match, which Jericho and Tiger lost.\n\nWorld Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1999 – 2005)\n\nWWF Intercontinental Champion (1999–2001) \n\nIn the weeks before Jericho's debut, a clock labeled \"countdown to the new millennium\" appeared on WWF programming. On the home video, Break Down the Walls, Jericho states he was inspired to do this as his entrance when he saw a similar clock in a post office and Vince McMahon approved its use as his introduction to the WWF. The clock finally ran out on the August 9 episode of Raw Is War in Chicago, Illinois while The Rock was in the ring cutting a promo on the Big Show. Jericho entered the arena and proclaimed \"Raw Is Jericho\" and that he had \"come to save the World Wrestling Federation\", referring to himself as \"Y2J\" (a play on the Y2K bug). The Rock proceeded to verbally mock him for his interruption. Later that month, he would interact with several superstars including in particular interrupting a promo that The Undertaker was involved in, Jericho made his in-ring debut as a heel on August 26, losing a match against Road Dogg by disqualification on the inaugural episode of SmackDown! after he performed a powerbomb on Road Dogg through a table.\n\nJericho's first long-term feud was with Chyna, for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. After losing to Chyna at Survivor Series, Jericho defeated her to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship at Armageddon. This feud included a controversial decision during a rematch in which two separate referees declared each one of them the winner of a match for the title. As a result, they became co-champions, during which Jericho turned face. He attained sole champion status at the Royal Rumble.\n\nJericho lost the WWF Intercontinental title to then-European Champion Kurt Angle at No Way Out. Jericho competed in a Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Angle at WrestleMania 2000 in a two-falls contest with both of Angle's titles at stake. Jericho won the European Championship by pinning Benoit, who in turn pinned Jericho to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. This was the first of six pay-per-view matches between the pair within twelve months. Jericho was originally supposed to be in the main event of WrestleMania, but was taken out after Mick Foley, who was originally asked by writers to be in the match, took his place. Jericho was even advertised on the event's posters promoting the match. Jericho lost the title the next day to Eddie Guerrero on Raw after Chyna sided with Guerrero.\n\nOn the April 17 episode of Raw, Jericho upset Triple H in a WWF Championship match. Referee Earl Hebner made a fast count when Jericho pinned Triple H, causing Jericho to win the title. Hebner later reversed the decision due to pressure from Triple H, and WWE does not recognize Jericho's reign as champion. On April 19, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero at the Gary Albright Memorial Show organized by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). On the May 4 episode of SmackDown!, Jericho defeated Benoit to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship but lost the title to Benoit four days later on Raw. Jericho's feud with Triple H ended at Fully Loaded, when they competed in a Last Man Standing match. Jericho lost the match to Triple H only by one second, despite the repeated assistance Triple H's wife, Stephanie, provided him in the match.\n\nAt the 2001 Royal Rumble, Jericho defeated Chris Benoit in a ladder match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time. At WrestleMania X-Seven, he successfully defended his title in a match against William Regal, only to lose it four days later to Triple H. At Judgment Day, Jericho and Benoit won a tag team turmoil match and earned a shot at Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their WWF Tag Team Championship on Raw the next night. Benoit and Jericho won the match, in which Triple H legitimately tore his quadriceps, spending the rest of the year injured. Benoit and Jericho each became a WWF Tag Team Champion for the first time. The team defended their title in the first fatal four-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, where Benoit sustained a year-long injury after missing a diving headbutt through a table. Despite Benoit being carried out on a stretcher, he returned to the match to climb the ladder and retain the championship. The two lost the title one month later to The Dudley Boyz on the June 21 episode of SmackDown!. At King of the Ring, both Benoit and Jericho competed in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF Championship, in which Booker T interfered as the catalyst for The Invasion angle. Despite Booker T's interference, Austin retained the title.\n\nUndisputed WWF Champion (2001–2002) \nIn the following months, Jericho became a major force in The Invasion storyline in which WCW and ECW joined forces to overtake the WWF. Jericho remained on the side of the WWF despite previously competing in WCW and ECW. However, Jericho began showing jealousy toward fellow WWF member The Rock. They faced each other in a match at No Mercy for the WCW Championship after Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam in a number one contenders match on the October 11 episode of SmackDown!. Jericho won the WCW Championship at No Mercy when he pinned The Rock after debuting a new finisher, the Breakdown, onto a steel chair, winning his first world title in the process. One night later, the two put their differences aside and won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz.\n\nAfter they lost the titles to Test and Booker T on the November 1 episode of SmackDown!, they continued their feud. On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to regain the WCW Championship. Following the match, Jericho attacked The Rock with a steel chair. At Survivor Series, Jericho turned heel by almost costing Team WWF the victory after he was eliminated in their Winner Take All matchup by once again attacking The Rock. Despite this, Team WWF won the match. At Vengeance, Jericho defeated both The Rock for the World Championship (formerly the WCW Championship) and Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first WWF Championship on the same night to become the first wrestler to hold both championships at the same time, which made him the first-ever Undisputed WWF Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam winner under the original format. He retained the title at the Royal Rumble against The Rock and at No Way Out against Austin. Jericho later lost the title to Royal Rumble winner Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X8. Jericho was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the inaugural WWF draft lottery. He would then appear at Backlash, interfering in Triple H's Undisputed WWF Championship match against Hollywood Hulk Hogan. He was quickly dumped out the ring, but Triple H would go on to lose the match. This would lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Judgment Day in May, where Triple H would emerge victorious. Jericho would then compete in the 2002 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Edge and The Big Valbowski to advance to the semi-finals, where he was defeated by Rob Van Dam at King of the Ring. In July, he began a feud with the debuting John Cena, losing to him at Vengeance.\n\nTeaming and feuding with Christian (2002–2004) \n\nAfter his feud with Cena ended, Jericho moved to the Raw brand on the July 29 episode of Raw, unwilling to work for SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon. Upon his arrival to the brand, he initiated a feud with Ric Flair, leading to a match at SummerSlam, which Jericho lost. On the September 16 episode of Raw, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time from Rob Van Dam, before losing the title to Kane two weeks later on Raw. He then later formed a tag team with Christian, with whom he won the World Tag Team Championship by defeating Kane and The Hurricane on the October 14 episode of Raw. Christian and Jericho lost the titles to Booker T and Goldust in a fatal four-way elimination match, involving the teams of The Dudley Boyz, and William Regal and Lance Storm at Armageddon.\n\nOn the January 13 episode of Raw, Jericho won an over-the-top-rope challenge against Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Batista to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble match. He chose number two in order to start the match with Shawn Michaels, who had challenged him to prove Jericho's claims that he was better than Michaels. After Michaels's entrance, Jericho entered as the second participant. Christian, in Jericho's attire, appeared while the real Jericho attacked Shawn from behind. He eliminated Michaels shortly afterward, but Michaels got his revenge later in the match by causing Test to eliminate Jericho. Jericho spent the most time of any other wrestler in that same Royal Rumble. Jericho simultaneously feuded with Test, Michaels, and Jeff Hardy, defeating Hardy at No Way Out. Jericho and Michaels fought again at WrestleMania XIX, which Michaels won. Jericho, however, attacked Michaels with a low blow after the match following an embrace.\n\nAfter this match, Jericho entered a rivalry with Goldberg, which was fueled by Goldberg's refusal to fight Jericho in WCW. During Jericho's first episode of the Highlight Reel, an interview segment, where Goldberg was the guest, he complained that no-one wanted Goldberg in WWE and continued to insult him in the following weeks. On the May 12 episode of Raw, a mystery assailant attempted to run over Goldberg with a limousine. A week later, Co-Raw General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, interrogated several Raw superstars to find out who was driving the car. One of the interrogates was Lance Storm, who admitted that he was the assailant. Austin forced Storm into a match with Goldberg, who defeated Storm. After the match, Goldberg forced Storm to admit that Jericho was the superstar who conspired Storm into running him over. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Goldberg was once again a guest on the Highlight Reel. Jericho expressed jealousy towards Goldberg's success in WCW and felt that since joining WWE, he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in his career and all that was left was to defeat Goldberg and challenged him to a match. At Bad Blood, Goldberg settled the score with Jericho and defeated him.\n\nOn the October 27 episode of Raw, Jericho won his sixth WWE Intercontinental Championship when he defeated Rob Van Dam. He lost the title back to Van Dam immediately after in a steel cage match. Later in 2003, Jericho started a romance with Trish Stratus while his tag team partner Christian began one with Lita. This, however, turned out to be a bet over who could sleep with their respective paramour first, with a Canadian dollar at stake. Stratus overheard this and ended her relationship with Jericho, who seemingly felt bad for using Stratus. After he saved her from an attack by Kane, Stratus agreed that the two of them could just be \"friends\", thus turning Jericho face. After Christian put Stratus in the Walls of Jericho while competing against her in a match, Jericho sought revenge on Christian, which led to a match at WrestleMania XX. Christian defeated Jericho after Stratus ran down and \"inadvertently\" struck Jericho (thinking it was Christian) and Christian got the roll-up. After the match, Stratus turned on Jericho and revealed that she and Christian were a couple. This revelation led to a handicap match at Backlash that Jericho won. Jericho won his record-breaking seventh WWE Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven in a ladder match against Christian, breaking the previous record held by Jeff Jarrett from 1999. Jericho's seventh reign was short lived, as he lost it at Taboo Tuesday to Shelton Benjamin.\n\nWorld championship pursuits (2004–2005) \nJericho teamed up with Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, and Maven to take on Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky at Survivor Series. The match stipulated that each member of the winning team would be the general manager of Raw over the next four weeks. Jericho's team won, and took turns as general manager. During Jericho's turn as general manager, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated because a Triple Threat match for the title a week earlier ended in a draw. At New Year's Revolution, Jericho competed in the Elimination Chamber against Triple H, Chris Benoit, Batista, Randy Orton, and Edge for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho began the match with Benoit and eliminated Edge, but was eliminated by Batista. Triple H went on to win. At WrestleMania 21, Jericho participated in the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match. Jericho suggested the match concept, and he competed in the match against Benjamin, Benoit, Kane, Christian, and Edge. Jericho lost the match when Edge claimed the briefcase.\n\nAt Backlash, Jericho challenged Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but lost the match. Jericho lost to Lance Storm at ECW One Night Stand. Jericho used his old \"Lionheart\" gimmick, instead of his more well known \"Y2J\" gimmick. Jericho lost the match after Jason and Justin Credible hit Jericho with a Singapore cane, which allowed Storm to win the match. The next night on Raw, Jericho turned heel by betraying WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Christian and Tyson Tomko in a tag team match. Jericho lost a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Vengeance which also involved Christian and Cena. The feud continued throughout the summer and Jericho lost to Cena in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.\n\nThe next night on the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Cena for the WWE Championship again in a rematch, this time in a \"You're fired\" match. Cena won again, and Jericho was fired by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. Jericho was carried out of the arena by security as Kurt Angle attacked Cena. Jericho's WWE contract expired on August 25.\n\nReturn to WWE (2007–2010)\n\nFeud with Shawn Michaels (2007–2008) \n\nAfter a two-year hiatus, WWE promoted Jericho's return starting on the September 24, 2007 episode of Raw with a viral marketing campaign using a series of 15-second cryptic binary code videos, similar to the matrix digital rain used in The Matrix series. The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho. Jericho made his return to WWE television as a face on the November 19, 2007 episode of Raw when he interrupted Randy Orton during Orton's orchestrated \"passing of the torch\" ceremony. Jericho revealed his intentions to reclaim the WWE Championship in order to \"save\" WWE fans from Orton. On the November 26 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Santino Marella and debuted a new finishing move called the Codebreaker. At Armageddon, he competed in a WWE title match against Orton, defeating him by disqualification when SmackDown!s color commentator John \"Bradshaw\" Layfield (JBL) interfered in the match, but Orton retained the title. He began a feud with JBL and met him at the Royal Rumble. Jericho was disqualified after hitting JBL with a steel chair. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Jericho captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship for a record eighth time when he defeated Jeff Hardy.\n\nIn April 2008, Jericho became involved in the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Batista when he suggested that Michaels enjoyed retiring Ric Flair, causing Shawn Michaels to attack him. Jericho thus asked to be inserted into the match between Batista and Michaels at Backlash, but instead, he was appointed as the special guest referee. During the match at Backlash, Michaels feigned a knee injury so that Jericho would give him time to recover and lured Batista in for Sweet Chin Music for the win. After Backlash, Jericho accused Michaels of cheating, but Michaels continued to play up an injury. When Jericho was finally convinced and he apologized to Michaels for not believing him, Michaels then admitted to Jericho that he had faked his injury and he attacked Jericho with Sweet Chin Music. After losing to Michaels at Judgment Day, Jericho initiated a handshake after the match.\n\nOn the June 9 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel, interviewing Michaels. Jericho pointed out that Michaels was still cheered by the fans despite Michaels's deceit and attack on Jericho during the previous months, whereas Jericho was booed when he tried to do the right thing. Jericho then assaulted Michaels with a low blow and sent Michaels through the \"Jeritron 6000\" television, damaging the eye of Michaels, and turning heel in the process. This began what was named by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the \"Feud of the Year\". At Night of Champions, Jericho lost the WWE Intercontinental title to Kofi Kingston after a distraction by Michaels. In June, Jericho took on Lance Cade as a protégé.\n\n World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2009) \n\nAfterward, Jericho developed a suit-wearing persona inspired by Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh from the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and wrestler Nick Bockwinkel. Jericho and Michaels met at The Great American Bash, which Jericho won after attacking the cut on Michaels's eye. At SummerSlam, Michaels said that his eye damage would force him to retire and insulted Jericho by saying he would never achieve Michaels's success. Jericho tried to attack Michaels, but Michaels ducked, so Jericho punched Michaels's wife, Rebecca, instead. As a result, they fought in an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven, which Jericho lost by referee stoppage. Later that night, Jericho entered the Championship Scramble match as a late replacement for the defending champion CM Punk and subsequently won the World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Batista, John \"Bradshaw\" Layfield (JBL), Kane, and Rey Mysterio. It was announced that Michaels would challenge Jericho for the championship in a ladder match at No Mercy, which Jericho won. At Cyber Sunday on October 26, Jericho lost the title to Batista, but later won it back eight days later on the 800th episode of Raw in a steel cage match. Jericho defeated Michaels in a Last Man Standing match on the November 10 episode of Raw after interference from JBL. Jericho lost the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series to the returning John Cena. On the December 8 episode of Raw, Jericho was awarded the Slammy Award for 2008 Superstar of the Year award. Six days later, he lost his rematch with John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon.\n\nAt the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009, Jericho participated in the Royal Rumble match, but he was eliminated by the Undertaker. On February 15 at No Way Out, he competed in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but he failed to win as he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Following this, Jericho began a rivalry with veteran wrestlers Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper, as well as actor Mickey Rourke. Jericho was originally arranged to face Rourke at WrestleMania 25, but Rourke later pulled out of the event. Instead, Jericho defeated Piper, Snuka and Steamboat in a 3-on-1 elimination handicap match at WrestleMania, but was knocked out by Rourke after the match.\n\nOn the April 13 episode of Raw, Jericho was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 WWE draft. Jericho then faced Steamboat in a singles match at Backlash, where Jericho was victorious. In May, Jericho started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, leading to a match at Judgment Day, which Jericho lost. However, Jericho defeated Mysterio in a No Holds Barred Match at Extreme Rules to win his ninth Intercontinental Championship, breaking his own record again. At The Bash, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Mysterio in a mask vs. title match.\n\n Jeri-Show and feud with Edge (2009–2010) \n\nLater in the event, Jericho and his partner Edge won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship as surprise entrants in a triple threat tag team match. As a result of this win, Jericho became the first wrestler to win every (original) Grand Slam eligible championship. Shortly thereafter Edge suffered an injury and Jericho revealed a clause in his contract to allow Edge to be replaced and Jericho's reign to continue uninterrupted. At Night of Champions, Jericho revealed Big Show as his new tag team partner, creating a team that would come to called Jeri-Show. The duo defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the championship. Jeri-Show successfully defended the title against Cryme Tyme at SummerSlam, MVP and Mark Henry at Breaking Point and Rey Mysterio and Batista at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series, both Jericho and Big Show took part in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but the Undertaker successfully retained the title. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Jeri-Show lost the tag titles to D-Generation X (D-X) (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. As a member of the SmackDown brand, Jericho could only appear on Raw as a champion and D-X intentionally disqualified themselves in a rematch to force Jericho off the show. On the January 4, 2010 of Raw, D-X defeated Jeri-Show to retain the championship once again, marking the end of Jeri-Show.\n\nJericho entered the 2010 Royal Rumble match on January 31, but was eliminated by the returning Edge, his former tag team partner, who went on to win the match. At Elimination Chamber, Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, defeating The Undertaker, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and R-Truth following interference from Shawn Michaels. The next night on Raw, Edge used his Royal Rumble win to challenge Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVI. Jericho defeated Edge at WrestleMania to retain the title, but lost the championship to Jack Swagger on the following episode of SmackDown, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Jericho then failed to regain the title from Swagger in a triple-threat match also involving Edge on the April 16 episode of SmackDown. Jericho and Edge continued their feud leading into Extreme Rules, where Jericho was defeated in a steel cage match.\n\nJericho was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2010 WWE draft. He formed a brief tag team with The Miz and unsuccessfully challenged The Hart Dynasty for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at Over the Limit. A month later, Jericho lost to Evan Bourne at Fatal 4-Way, but won a rematch during the following night on Raw, where he put his career on the line. On the July 19 episode of Raw, after being assaulted by The Nexus, Jericho teamed with rivals Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan and Bret Hart in a team led by John Cena to face The Nexus at SummerSlam. Jericho and Cena bickered over leadership of the team, which led to him and Edge attacking Cena during the SummerSlam match that they won.\n\nJericho was punished for not showing solidarity against Nexus, when he was removed from a Six-Pack Challenge for Sheamus's WWE Championship at Night of Champions. Although he re-earned his place in the match after defeating The Hart Dynasty in a handicap steel cage match, he was the first man eliminated from the match at Night of Champions. On the September 27 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Randy Orton who punted him in the head. This was used to explain Jericho's departure from the company.\n\n Second return to WWE (2011–2018) \n Feud with CM Punk (2011–2012) \n\nBeginning in November 2011, WWE aired cryptic vignettes that promoted a wrestler's return on the January 2, 2012 episode of Raw. On his return, after hyping the crowd and relishing their cheers for a prolonged period, Jericho left without verbally addressing his return. After exhibiting similar odd behavior in the proceeding two weeks, Jericho spoke on the January 23 episode of Raw to say, \"This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it is going to be the end of the world as you know it\", but in the Royal Rumble match, he was eliminated last, by Sheamus. On the January 30 episode of Raw, Jericho began a feud with WWE Champion CM Punk after attacking him during his match with Daniel Bryan. He explained his actions by claiming other wrestlers in WWE were imitating him and named Punk as the worst offender.\n\nAt Elimination Chamber, Jericho participated in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, entering last and eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston before being knocked out of the structure by Punk, which injured him and removed him from the match without being eliminated. The following night on Raw, Jericho won a ten-man battle royal to become the number one contender for Punk's WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII. In a bid to psychologically unsettle Punk, Jericho revealed that Punk's father was an alcoholic and Punk's sister was a drug addict, which contradicted Punk's straight edge philosophy; Jericho vowed to make Punk turn to alcohol by winning Punk's title from him. At WrestleMania, a stipulation was added that Punk would lose his WWE Championship if he was disqualified. During the match, Jericho unsuccessfully tried to taunt Punk into disqualifying himself, and Punk won the match.\n\nJericho continued his feud with Punk in the weeks that followed by attacking and dousing him with alcohol after his matches. At Extreme Rules, Jericho failed again to capture the WWE Championship from Punk in a Chicago Street Fight.\n\n Championship pursuits (2012–2013) \nJericho faced Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus in a fatal four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Over the Limit, where Sheamus retained his title. On May 24 at a WWE live event in Brazil, Jericho wrestled a match against CM Punk, during which Jericho kicked a Brazilian flag, causing local police to intervene and threaten Jericho with arrest. Jericho issued an apology to the audience, enabling the event to resume. The following day, WWE suspended Jericho for 30 days while apologizing to the people and government of Brazil. Jericho returned on the June 25 episode of Raw, and his absence was explained by a European tour with his band Fozzy which happened to coincide with his suspension. At Money in the Bank, Jericho participated in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but failed to win as John Cena won. The following night on Raw, Jericho confronted newly crowned Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler, who claimed that Jericho had lost his touch. Jericho attacked Ziggler with a Codebreaker, thus turning face in the process. At SummerSlam, Jericho defeated Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Ziggler defeated Jericho in a rematch and, as a result, Ziggler retained his Money in the Bank contract and Jericho's WWE contract was terminated as per a pre match stipulation put in place by Raw General Manager, AJ Lee. This was used to write him off so he could tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year.\n\nOn January 27, 2013, Jericho returned after a five-month hiatus entering the Royal Rumble match as the second entrant. Jericho lasted over 47 minutes before being eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Jericho later revealed to Ziggler that due to a managerial change on Raw, he had been rehired by Vickie Guerrero, resuming his feud with Ziggler. Guerrero then paired the two in a match against WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). The match ended with Ziggler being pinned by Kane after Jericho framed him for pushing Kane. After beating Daniel Bryan on the February 11 episode of Raw, Jericho qualified for the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber (in which the winner would go on to be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29), where he was the fourth man eliminated. On the March 11 episode of Raw, Jericho faced The Miz in a No. 1 contenders match for Wade Barrett's WWE Intercontinental Championship, but the match was ruled a no contest after Barrett interfered and attacked both men. Both men then faced Barrett the following week on Raw, where he retained his title. Earlier in the episode, Jericho had a run-in with Fandango which led to Fandango costing him his match with Jack Swagger and attacking him four days later on SmackDown. At WrestleMania 29, Jericho was defeated by Fandango. They continued their feud in the following weeks, until Jericho defeated Fandango at Extreme Rules. He then faced the returning CM Punk at Payback, where he was defeated. Jericho then began feuding with Ryback, which led to a singles match on July 14 at Money in the Bank, where Ryback emerged victorious. On the July 19 episode of SmackDown, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Curtis Axel for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and was afterwards attacked by Ryback. This was done to write Jericho off television as he was taking a temporary hiatus to tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year and possibly January and February.\n\nIn a November interview for WWE.com, Jericho revealed that he would not be a full-time wrestler due to his musical and acting ventures.\n\n Various sporadic feuds (2014–2016) \nAfter an eleven-month hiatus, Jericho returned on the June 30, 2014 episode of Raw, attacking The Miz, who had also returned minutes earlier. The Wyatt Family then interrupted and ultimately attacked Jericho. Jericho faced Bray Wyatt at Battleground in a winning effort. At SummerSlam, with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan banned from ringside, Wyatt picked up the victory. On the September 8 episode of Raw, Jericho lost to Wyatt in a steel cage match, ending the feud. Jericho then feuded with Randy Orton, who had attacked him the week before after his match against Wyatt in the trainers room. Orton defeated him at Night of Champions. Throughout the rest of October and November, Jericho wrestled exclusively at live events, defeating Bray Wyatt. Jericho returned to WWE television in December as the guest general manager of the December 15 episode of Raw. Jericho booked himself in a street fight against Paul Heyman in the main event, which led to the return of Brock Lesnar. Before the match could begin, Lesnar attacked Jericho with an F-5.\n\nIn January 2015, Jericho revealed that he signed an exclusive WWE contract, under which he would compete at 16 house shows only. He later signed a similar contract once the former expired and competed at house shows throughout the rest of 2015. During this time he wrestled against the likes of Luke Harper, Kevin Owens and King Barrett in winning efforts. In May 2015, Jericho was one of the hosts of Tough Enoughs sixth season. Jericho also hosted two Live! With Chris Jericho specials on the WWE Network during 2015; his guests were John Cena and Stephanie McMahon. Jericho made his televised return at The Beast in the East, defeating Neville. At Night of Champions, Jericho was revealed as the mystery partner of Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, facing The Wyatt Family in a losing effort. On October 3, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Live from Madison Square Garden. The match marked 20 years since Jericho's debut with ECW while also celebrating his 25th year as a professional wrestler in total.\n\nOn the January 4, 2016 episode of Raw, Jericho returned to in-ring competition full-time and confronted The New Day. At the 2016 Royal Rumble, Jericho entered as the sixth entrant, lasting over 50 minutes, before being eliminated by Dean Ambrose. On the January 25 episode of Raw, Jericho faced the recently debuted AJ Styles in a losing effort. Following the match, after initial hesitation by Jericho, the pair shook hands. On the February 11 episode of SmackDown, Jericho defeated Styles. At Fastlane, Styles was victorious in a third match between the pair. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Jericho and Styles formed a tag team, dubbed Y2AJ. Following their loss against The New Day on the March 7 episode of Raw, Jericho attacked Styles, ending their alliance, claiming that he was sick of the fans chanting for Styles instead of him, turning heel in the process. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 32, where Jericho defeated Styles. However, on the April 4 episode of Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal-four-way match against Styles, Kevin Owens and Cesaro to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort after being pinned by Styles, ending their feud.\n\nThe following week on Raw, Dean Ambrose interrupted The Highlight Reel, handing Jericho a note from Shane McMahon replacing the show with The Ambrose Asylum, igniting a feud between the two. During this time, Jericho tweaked his gimmick. He became arrogant and childish while wearing expensive scarfs and calling everyone who appeased him \"stupid idiots\". At Payback, Jericho faced Ambrose in a losing effort. After attacking one another and Ambrose destroying Jericho's light-up ring jacket, Jericho was challenged by Ambrose to an Asylum match at Extreme Rules, where Ambrose again defeated Jericho after Jericho was thrown in a pile of thumbtacks. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Apollo Crews to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where Jericho was unsuccessful as the match was won by Ambrose. On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand. At Battleground on July 24, Jericho hosted a Highlight Reel segment with the returning Randy Orton, where he took an RKO from Orton after he insulted him. The next night on Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the newly created WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, but he was unsuccessful, as Roman Reigns won the match.\n\n The List of Jericho (2016–2017) \n\nJericho then entered a feud with Enzo and Cass and on the August 1 episode of Raw, he teamed with Charlotte to defeat Enzo Amore and then WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks in a mixed tag team match, after which Big Cass made the save as Jericho continued the assault on Amore. The following week on Raw, Jericho allied with Kevin Owens and later defeated Amore via disqualification when Cass interfered. This led to a tag team match at SummerSlam, where Jericho and Owens defeated Enzo and Cass. On the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho interfered in Owens's match against Neville, allowing him to qualify for the fatal four-way match to determine the new WWE Universal Champion on the August 29 episode of Raw, which Owens won.\n\nOn the September 12 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted an episode of The Highlight Reel with Sami Zayn as his guest, who questioned his alliance with Owens, resulting in Jericho defending Owens and attacking Zayn. On the September 19 episode of Raw, as a result of feeling that he was being treated unjustly by General Manager Mick Foley, as well as other wrestlers beginning to annoy him, Jericho began a list called \"The List of Jericho\", where he wrote down the name of the person that bothered him and why. If someone annoyed Jericho, he would ask \"you know what happens?\" before shouting \"you just made the list!\" and writing the person's name down. The List of Jericho soon became incredibly popular with the fans, with many critics describing Jericho and his list as \"easily one of the best moments of Raw's broadcast\". At Clash of Champions on September 25, Jericho defeated Zayn and assisted Owens in his Universal Championship defense against Seth Rollins. At Hell in a Cell on October 30, Jericho aided Owens in retaining the Universal Championship against Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match after Owens sprayed a fire extinguisher at the referee, allowing Jericho to enter the cell.\n\nJericho teamed with Owens, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins as part of Team Raw at Survivor Series on November 20, in a losing effort. The next night on Raw, despite being banned from ringside, Jericho showed up in a Sin Cara mask and attacked Rollins, in another successful title defense for Owens. The following week on Raw, tensions between Jericho and Owens arose after both said that they did not need each other anymore, and Jericho was later attacked by Rollins in the parking lot. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, Jericho lost to Rollins after Owens failed in his attempt to help him, Later that night, Jericho intentionally attacked Owens to prevent Reigns from winning the title. After both Jericho and Owens failed to win the WWE United States Championship from Reigns in multiple singles matches in late 2016, Jericho pinned Reigns in a handicap match also involving Owens on the January 9 episode of Raw to win the WWE United States Championship. Thus, Jericho won his first championship in nearly seven years and also become Grand Slam winner under the current format. Due to interfering multiple times in Owens's matches, Jericho was suspended above the ring in a shark proof cage during Reigns's rematch at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Owens nonetheless retained the championship after Braun Strowman, taking advantage of the added no disqualification stipulation, interfered. Also at the event, Jericho entered as the second entrant in the Royal Rumble match, lasting over an hour (thus breaking the record with a cumulative time of over five hours) and being the third to last before being eliminated by Reigns.\n\nIn February, tensions grew between Jericho and Owens after Jericho accepted a Universal Championship challenge from Goldberg on Owens's behalf, much to the latter's dismay. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Jericho held a \"Festival of Friendship\" for Owens, who was not impressed and viciously attacked Jericho, ending their alliance. Jericho returned at Fastlane on March 5, distracting Owens during his match with Goldberg and causing Owens to lose the Universal Championship, turning face again in the process. This led to a match between Jericho and Owens being arranged for WrestleMania 33 on April 2, with Jericho's United States Championship on the line. At WrestleMania, Jericho lost the United States Championship to Owens. At Payback on April 30, Jericho defeated Owens to regain the title and moved to the SmackDown brand, but lost it back to him two nights later on SmackDown. Following the match, Owens attacked Jericho, who was carried out on a stretcher. Thus, Jericho was written off television so he could fulfill his commitments to tour with and promote his new album with Fozzy. Jericho made a surprise return at a house show in Singapore on June 28, where he lost to Hideo Itami.\n\n Final matches and departure (2017–2018) \nOn the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Jericho made his televised return, interrupting an altercation between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to get his rematch for Owens' WWE United States Championship. Later that night, Jericho participated in a triple threat match against Owens and Styles for the title in which Jericho was pinned by Styles. Show took place in Richmond, Virginia and was Jericho's last in-ring appearance for WWE in the United States.\n\nOn January 22, 2018 during the 25th Anniversary of Raw, Jericho appeared backstage in a segment with Elias, putting him on The List of Jericho. At the Greatest Royal Rumble, Jericho was the last entrant in the 50-man Royal Rumble match, eliminating Shelton Benjamin before being eliminated by the eventual winner Braun Strowman. This event marked Jericho's final appearance with WWE.\n\nIn September 2019, during an interview for the Mature Audiences Mayhem Podcast, Jericho revealed the exact point when he decided he was going to leave the WWE. Even though Jericho was with the WWE for 15 years, the final insult came at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Despite the fact that Jericho and Kevin Owens had the best feud of the year, their match was demoted by placing it on the second place on the WrestleMania match card. The decision made by Vince McMahon was a big insult for Jericho and that prompted him to seek work elsewhere. Jericho reflecting his WWE departure stated:\n\"Originally, that was going to be the main event for the world title. Kevin Owens was the champion and I was going to beat him in the main event of WrestleMania as a babyface.\" Instead of having Jericho and Owens as the main event, Vince decided to put Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar on the main card. \"Vince said that it’s going to be me versus Kevin Owens for the world title at WrestleMania and you are going to win the title, f*** yeah! Next week, he doesn’t tell me, but I hear that it’s changed to Brock Lesnar versus Bill Goldberg for the title. And not only did they take us out of the main event – and, once again, just because I was told I have no right to it and things change all the time, I’m a big boy, I can handle it. But to take us from the main event slot and then move us to the second match on the card on a card that has 12 matches on it? I was like, that’s a f***ing insult.\"\n\n Return to NJPW (2017–2020) \n Feud with Kenny Omega (2017–2018) \nOn November 5, 2017, Jericho returned to NJPW in a pre-taped vignette, challenging Kenny Omega to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. The challenge was immediately accepted by Omega and made official by NJPW the following day as a title match for Omega's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The match, dubbed \"Alpha vs. Omega\", was Jericho's first match outside of WWE since he left WCW in July 1999. Journalist Dave Meltzer wrote that Jericho's WWE contract had expired and that he was a \"free agent\". NJPW also referred to Jericho as a free agent. In contrast, the Tokyo Sports newspaper described an anonymous NJPW official saying that Jericho is still under contract with WWE, and that WWE chairman Vince McMahon had given him permission to wrestle this match in NJPW. This was his first NJPW match in nearly 20 years. Jericho returned in person at the December 11 World Tag League show, attacking and bloodying Omega after his match, while also laying out a referee, a young lion and color commentator Don Callis, establishing himself as a heel. The following day at the Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome press conference, Jericho and Omega would get into a second physical altercation. Because of the two incidents, NJPW turned the January 4 match into a no disqualification match. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Omega. It was later revealed that the match was awarded a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This was the first of his career.\n\n IWGP Intercontinental Champion (2018–2019) \n\nThe night after Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome at New Year Dash!! 2018, Jericho attacked Tetsuya Naito. On May 4, Jericho once again attacked Naito at Wrestling Dontaku, leading to a match between the two at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, in which he defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. At King of Pro-Wrestling, Jericho attacked Evil before his match against Zack Sabre Jr. Backstage, Jericho challenged Evil to an IWGP Intercontinental Championship title match at Power Struggle. At the event, Jericho made Evil submit to the Liontamer to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Jericho refused to release the hold until Tetsuya Naito ran in for the save and challenged Jericho. Despite Jericho stating that Naito would not receive a rematch, the match was made official for Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. On December 15, NJPW held a press conference for Jericho and Naito's IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. The press conference ended when Naito spat water in Jericho's face, which resulted in the two then brawling before being separated. Later that same day during a Road to Tokyo Dome show, Jericho laid out Naito with steel chair shots, and after stated that at Wrestle Kingdom 13 he would end Tetsuya Naito's career. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Naito, losing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the process.\n\n Sporadic appearances (2019–2020) \nAt Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jericho challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was defeated. Following the match, Jericho attacked Okada, leading to Hiroshi Tanahashi making the save. Jericho returned at Power Struggle on November 3 and challenged Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14. On December 28, it was announced that if Tanahashi were to defeat Jericho, he would be granted an AEW World Championship match at a later date. During the second night of Wrestle Kingdom on January 5, 2020, Jericho defeated Tanahashi.\n\n Return to the independent circuit (2018–2019) \nOn September 1, 2018, Jericho (disguised as Penta El Zero) appeared at the All In show promoted by Cody and The Young Bucks, where he attacked Kenny Omega following Omega's victory over Penta to promote his upcoming Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise.\n\nIn October 2018, Jericho organized Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a series of professional wrestling matches originating from Jericho's cruise ship, which embarked from Miami, Florida and featured wrestlers from Ring of Honor.\n\nOn May 3, 2019, Jericho appeared at a Southern Honor Wrestling event, where he was attacked by Kenny Omega.\n\n All Elite Wrestling (2019–present) \n Inaugural AEW World Champion (2019–2020) \n\nOn January 8, 2019, Jericho made a surprise appearance at a media event organized by the upstart All Elite Wrestling (AEW) promotion. Shortly afterwards, Jericho was filmed signing a full-time performers three-year contract with AEW and shaking hands with the company's President Tony Khan. Jericho defeated Kenny Omega at the promotion's inaugural event Double or Nothing on May 25, and went on to defeat Adam Page at All Out to become the inaugural AEW World Champion.\n\nOn the premiere episode of Dynamite on October 2, Jericho allied himself with Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz, creating a stable that would be known as The Inner Circle. Jericho would make successful title defences against Darby Allin on the October 16 episode of Dynamite and Cody at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9. On the episode of Dynamite after Full Gear, Jericho and Guevara challenged SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win when Sky pinned Jericho with a small package, thus suffering his first loss in AEW. Jericho would successfully retain the AEW World Championship against Sky on the November 27 episode of Dynamite.\n\nIn December, The Inner Circle began to attempt to entice Jon Moxley to join the group. On the January 8, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Moxley initially joined the group, however, this was later revealed to be a ruse from Moxley as he attacked Jericho and Sammy Guevara. Moxley then became the number one contender for Jericho's championship at Revolution on February 29, where Moxley defeated Jericho to win the title, ending his inaugural AEW World Championship reign at 182 days.\n\n Feud with MJF (2020–2021) \nAfter losing the championship, Jericho and The Inner Circle began a feud with The Elite (Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks), who recruited the debuting Matt Hardy to oppose them. At Double or Nothing on May 23, The Inner Circle were defeated by Page, Omega, The Young Bucks and Hardy in a Stadium Stampede match. Jericho next began a rivalry with Orange Cassidy, with Jericho defeating him at Fyter Fest on July 8, but losing a rematch on the August 12 episode of Dynamite. The two faced once again at All Out on September 5, in a Mimosa Mayhem match, which Jericho lost.\n\nBeginning in October, Jericho began a feud with MJF, who requested to join the Inner Circle, despite disapproval from Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz. Jericho and MJF wrestled in a match at the Full Gear event on November 7, which MJF won, thus allowing him to join the Inner Circle. At Beach Break on February 3, 2021, Jericho and MJF won a tag team battle royal to become the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the Revolution event against The Young Bucks, which they were unsuccessful in winning. On the March 10 episode of Dynamite, MJF betrayed and left The Inner Circle after revealing he had been secretly plotting against them and building his own stable, The Pinnacle—consisting of Wardlow, Shawn Spears and FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood). At Blood and Guts on May 5, The Inner Circle lost to The Pinnacle in the inaugural Blood and Guts match. However, in the main event of Double or Nothing later that month, The Inner Circle defeated The Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match, after Sammy Guevara pinned Shawn Spears. Jericho then began pursuing another match with MJF, who stated that he would first have to defeat a gauntlet of opponents selected by MJF, in a series dubbed the \"Labors of Jericho\". Jericho would defeat each of MJF's handpicked opponents (Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow) and faced MJF in the final labor on the August 18 episode of Dynamite, but he was defeated. Jericho demanded one more match, stipulating that if he lost, he would retire from in-ring competition, which MJF accepted. At All Out on September 5, Jericho defeated MJF to maintain his career and end their feud.\n\n Various feuds (2021–present) \nFollowing All Out, The Inner Circle started a rivalry with Men of the Year (Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky), and their ally, mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Dan Lambert. Lambert also brought in members of his MMA team American Top Team (ATT) to oppose The Inner Circle, including Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos. At the Full Gear event on November 13, The Inner Circle defeated Men of the Year and ATT in a Minneapolis Street Fight.\n\n Legacy \nKnown for his over-the-top, rock star persona, Jericho has been described by multiple industry commentators as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Journalist Chris Van Vliet noted that his name is \"always thrown around as the GOAT [greatest of all time], or at least one of the GOATs\", with Van Vliet himself asserting that Jericho is \"if not the best, certainly one of the best\". Todd Martin of the Pro Wrestling Torch remarked, to agreement from editor Wade Keller, that Jericho is \"one of the great wrestlers of all time\" and in \"a lofty category\", while likening his oeuvre to those of WWE Hall of Famers Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase and Dory Funk Jr. Praised for his ability to continually evolve his gimmick, Jericho was dubbed by KC Joyner of ESPN as \"wrestling's David Bowie\".\n\nVarious outlets have included Jericho in lists of the greatest wrestlers ever. Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Eck, who has also served as editor of WCW Magazine and a WWE producer, featured Jericho in his \"Top 10 favorite wrestlers of all time\" and \"Top 10 all-around performers\"—the former piece noting that Jericho is \"regarded as one of the very best talkers in the business\". Keisha Hatchett in TV Guide wrote that Jericho \"owns the mic with cerebral insults\" and is set apart from peers by \"his charismatic presence, which is highlighted by a laundry list of unforgettable catchphrases\". He was voted by Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) readers as \"Best on Interviews\" for the 2000s decade, coinciding with his 2010 induction into the WON Hall of Fame. Fans also named Jericho the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champion of all time in a 2013 WWE poll, affording him a landslide 63% victory over the other four contenders (Mr. Perfect, The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude and Pat Patterson).\n\nA number of Jericho's industry colleagues have hailed him as one of the greatest wrestlers in history. Stone Cold Steve Austin lauded his consistently \"dynamic\" promos and in-ring work, while arguing that he should be considered among the 10 best ever. Kenny Omega asserted that Jericho \"has a legit argument for being the best of all time\", based on his ability to achieve success and notoriety across numerous territories. Jon Moxley said, \"Jericho is really making a case for being the greatest of all time... he's doing it again, he's doing something completely new, and breaking new barriers still here in 2020.\" Matt Striker pointed to Jericho's \"magnanimous\" nature as a contributing factor to his status as an all-time great; his willingness to impart knowledge was commended by James Ellsworth, who described Jericho as an \"outstanding human being\" and a childhood favorite. Kevin Owens stated that \"Jericho was always someone I looked up to\", while The Miz affirmed that he was part of a generation of young wrestlers who sought to \"emulate\" Jericho.\n\nWWE declared Jericho a \"marquee draw\" with a \"reputation as one of the best ever\". As of 2019, he is one of the ten most prolific pay-per-view performers in company history.\n\nAfter Jericho signed with All Elite Wrestling, it was said his role was similar to Terry Funk in ECW, as an experienced veteran bringing credibility to a younger promotion. Jericho was credited as one of the key attractions of AEW's weekly television broadcasts, leading to him adopting the nickname \"The Demo God\" due to many of the segments he appeared in being some of the highest viewed in the key demographics. He was voted as the Best Box Office Draw by readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2019.\n\n Music career \n\nJericho is the lead singer for the heavy metal band Fozzy. Since their debut album in 2000, Fozzy have released seven studio albums; Fozzy, Happenstance, All That Remains, Chasing the Grail, Sin and Bones, Do You Wanna Start a War, Judas, and one live album, Remains Alive.\n\nIn 2005, Jericho performed vocals on a cover of \"The Evil That Men Do\" on the Iron Maiden tribute album, Numbers from the Beast. He made a guest appearance on Dream Theater's album, Systematic Chaos on the song \"Repentance\", as one of several musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings in the past.\n\nIn the mid-1990s, Jericho wrote a monthly column for Metal Edge magazine focused on the heavy metal scene. The column ran for about a year. He started his own weekly XM Satellite Radio show in March 2005 called The Rock of Jericho, which aired Sunday nights on XM 41 The Boneyard.\n\n Discography \n\n Albums with Fozzy\n Fozzy (2000)\n Happenstance (2002)\n All That Remains (2005)\n Chasing the Grail (2010)\n Sin and Bones (2012)\n Do You Wanna Start a War (2014)\n Judas (2017)\n Live albums\n Remains Alive (2009)\n As guest\n Don't You Wish You Were Me? - WWE Originals (2004)\nKing of the Night Time World - Spin the Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to Kiss (2004) * With Rich Ward, Mike Inez, Fred Coury\nBullet for My Valentine – Temper Temper – Dead to the World (2013)\n Devin Townsend – Dark Matters (2014)\n Michael Sweet – I'm Not Your Suicide – Anybody Else (2014)\n\n Other endeavors \n\n Film, theater, comedy, and writing \n\nIn 2000, a WWE produced VHS tape documenting Jericho's career titled Break Down the Walls was released. He later received two three disc sets profiling matches and interviews.\n\nOn June 24, 2006, Jericho premiered in his first Sci-Fi Channel movie Android Apocalypse alongside Scott Bairstow and Joey Lawrence.\n\nJericho debuted as a stage actor in a comedy play Opening Night, which premiered at the Toronto Centre for the Arts during July 20–22, 2006 in Toronto. During his stay in Toronto, Jericho hosted the sketch comedy show Sunday Night Live with sketch troupe The Sketchersons at The Brunswick House.\n\nJericho was also the first wrestler attached and interviewed for the wrestling documentary, Bloodstained Memoirs. The interview was recorded in the UK during a Fozzy tour in 2006.\n\nJericho wrote his autobiography, A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex, which was released on October 25, 2007 and became a New York Times bestseller. It covers Jericho's life and wrestling career up to his debut in the WWE. Jericho's second autobiography, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, was released on February 16, 2011, and covers his wrestling career since his WWE debut. On October 14, 2014 Jericho's third book, The Best In The World...At What I Have No Idea, was released. It covers some untold stories of the \"Save Us\" era, his Fozzy career, and his multiple returns from 2011 to 2013. Jericho's fourth book, No Is a Four-Letter Word: How I Failed Spelling but Succeeded in Life, was released on August 29, 2017 and details twenty valuable lessons Jericho learned throughout his career as a wrestler and musician.\n\nJericho appeared in the 2009 film Albino Farm. In the film MacGruber, released May 21, 2010, he briefly appeared as Frank Korver, a former military teammate of the eponymous Green Beret, Navy Seal, and Army Ranger.\n\nJericho released a comedy web series on October 29, 2013 that is loosely based on his life entitled But I'm Chris Jericho! Jericho plays a former wrestler, struggling to make it big as an actor. A second season was produced in 2017 by CBC and distributed over CBC's television app and CBC.ca.\n\nIn 2016, Jericho starred in the documentary film Nine Legends alongside Mike Tyson and other wrestlers.\n\nIn August 2018, Jericho was confirmed to star in the film Killroy Was Here.\n\nOn March 14, 2019, filmmaker Kevin Smith cast Jericho as a KKK Grand Wizard in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.\n\n Television \nJericho was a contributor to the VH1 pop culture shows Best Week Ever, I Love the '80s, and VH1's top 100 artists.\n\nJericho also hosted the five-part, five-hour VH1 special 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, an update of the original special 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock N' Roll first hosted by Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray.\n\nOn July 12, 2006, he made an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show!; he made a second appearance on August 21, 2009. In May 2006, Jericho appeared on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and Heavy: The Story of Metal as a commentator.\n\nHe was one of eight celebrities in the 2006 Fox Television singing reality show Celebrity Duets, produced by Simon Cowell, and was the first contestant eliminated. Jericho worked at a McDonald's to show off his skills while prepping for the show.\n\nJericho hosted his own reality show in 2008 titled Redemption Song, in which 11 women tried their hand at getting into the music scene. It was shown on Fuse TV.\n\nHe guest starred as Billy \"The Body Bag\" Cobb in \"Xero Control\", an episode of the Disney XD 2009 original series Aaron Stone.\n\nHe hosted VH1's 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, which began airing in December 2009. In June 2010, Jericho was named the host of the ABC prime-time game show Downfall.\n\nOn March 1, 2011, Chris Jericho was named one of the contestants on the 2011 lineup of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was two-time champion Cheryl Burke. This led to a wave of publicity, including an interview with Jay Leno. On April 26, Jericho was the fifth contestant eliminated on the show.\n\nOn May 5, Jericho made his third appearance as a guest on Attack of the Show! where he depicted Thor. He promoted Undisputed and hosted the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on May 28 on VH1 Classic. On January 17, 2012, Jericho made his fourth appearance on Attack of the Show! in a segment called \"Twitter Twister\" where he portrayed a character called \"The Twistercutioner\" and read tweets as instructions for a game of Twister between Kevin and Candace. Jericho hosted the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.\n\nOn February 26, 2013, Jericho began hosting a robot combat competition program on SyFy titled Robot Combat League the series ended on April 23, 2015.\n\n Talk Is Jericho podcast \nIn December 2013, Jericho began hosting his own podcast, Talk is Jericho. Episodes usually include a loosely scripted monolog before an interview, typically with a wrestler, rock musician or paranormal expert. The show originally appeared on PodcastOne, before moving to the WestwoodOne network in 2018. Notable guests on the show include Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Lemmy from Motörhead, Paul Stanley from KISS, Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures, pornographic actress Asa Akira, writer/director Kevin Smith and many former and current wrestlers.\n\nIn April 2015, Jericho hosted his own video podcast on the WWE Network, Live! with Chris Jericho, with John Cena as his first guest, followed by Stephanie McMahon as his guest later that same month.\n\nOnce he signed with AEW, he was no longer allowed WWE performers as guests on the podcast.\n\n Web \nOn August 10, 2019, Jericho launched his own dirtsheet website called WebIsJericho.com. The website is dedicated to the memory of Axl Rotten.\n\nIn May 2020, Jericho officially joined as a competitor of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown under manager Roxy Striar in the Roxstars faction. Jericho first expressed interest in the Schmoedown following an appearance on Collider Live with Striar and Schmoedown commissioner Kristian Harloff. He became friends with Striar following the interview and kept in contact. During the 2020 season, Jericho contacted Striar, asking to be a part of the league. Striar formally drafted Jericho into her faction during the first free-agent period following the season-opening draft. His first match is scheduled for August 27 against Kevin Smith.\n\n Cruises \n\nIn 2017, Jericho launched Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a cruise \"combining the worlds of rock and wrestling with a once in a lifetime amazing vacation experience\". The cruise featured live band performances, artist-hosted activities and a Sea of Honor Tournament with over a dozen Ring of Honor wrestlers competing. Guests had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Chris and his closest wrestling, comedian, and musician friends including Jim Ross, Diamond Dallas Page and Jim Breuer, among others. The cruise sailed October 27–31, 2018 from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas.\n\nJericho hosted a second cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave, which run from January 20–24, 2020. A third cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Triple Whammy, is scheduled for October 21–25, 2021.\n\n Video games \nJericho has appeared in numerous video games. They include WCW/nWo Revenge, WCW Nitro, WCW/nWo Thunder, WCW Mayhem, WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown!, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWF Raw, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE All Stars, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19 and the upcoming All Elite Wrestling video game.\n\n Personal life \n\nIrvine married Jessica Lockhart on July 30, 2000. They reside in Odessa, Florida, with their three children: son Ash Edward Irvine (born 2003) and identical twin daughters Sierra Loretta \"SiSi\" Irvine and Cheyenne Lee \"Chey\" Irvine (born 2006). All three have been guests on his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, with his son discussing fish and his daughters discussing literature. Irvine owns three cats. In October 2020, Irvine reportedly donated $3,000 to Donald Trump's presidential re-election campaign.\n\nIrvine is a Christian. He has a tattoo of his wife's name on his ring finger. He has the letter F, representing Fozzy, on the back of his hand. Since 2012, he has gradually gotten a sleeve over his left arm. His tattoos include: the artwork of Fozzy's album Sin and Bones, a Jack-o'-lantern (Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, who collaborated with Fozzy on the track \"Sandpaper\" from Sin and Bones, also got a matching tattoo), a lake monster, and himself from his WWF debut in 1999.\n\nOn July 5, 2004, Irvine was awarded Manitoba's The Order of the Buffalo Hunt, for his achievements in wrestling and his commitment to working with underprivileged children. – \"After that, Gary Doer, the premier of Manitoba, awarded me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, which was the province's highest honor. It was quite the prestigious prize, which has been given to such dignitaries such as Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Pope John Paul II, and now Chris Jericho.\" / caption: \"Manitoba Premier Gary Doer presents me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, along with a tiny bronze buffalo. I'm thinking, 'That's all I get?'\"\n\nSince January 2012, Irvine (along with former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow, former NFL player Derrick Brooks, and former Atlanta Braves player Chipper Jones) has been the co-owner of a sports training facility in Tampa, a franchise site of D1 Sports Training and Therapy.\n\nIrvine is a fan of Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, which Irvine would frequently shop at when he wrestled in Japan in the 1990s. Irvine still visits Lawson whenever he returns to Japan, whether to wrestle or if he is touring with Fozzy.https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCwN9vjtO_/\n\n Legal issues \nOn February 7, 2009, a fan accused Irvine of punching her after she spat at him with fans outside Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia after a live event. Video footage, however, clearly showed he did not make contact with the woman. As a result of the incident, police detained them, but released them without charge. Police did not press charges against anyone in the brawl as it was \"hard to determine who provoked whom\".\n\nOn January 27, 2010, Irvine and fellow wrestler Gregory Helms were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky after leaving a bar. A police report stated that Helms punched Irvine and the other passengers in the cab. Fellow wrestlers Christian and CM Punk bailed them out later.\n\n Filmography \nFilm\n\nTelevision\n\nVideo games\n\n Championships and accomplishments \n\n All Elite Wrestling AEW World Championship (1 time)\nAEW Dynamite Awards (2 times)\nBleacher Report PPV Moment of the Year (2021) – \nBiggest Beatdown (2021) – \n The Baltimore Sun\n Feud of the Year (2008) \n Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling\n CRMW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)\n CRMW North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Lance Storm\nCRMW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (2 times)\n Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre\n NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)\n Extreme Championship Wrestling\n ECW World Television Championship (1 time)\n International Wrestling Alliance\n IWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)\n New Japan Pro-Wrestling\n IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)\n Pro Wrestling Illustrated\n Faction of the Year (2021) – with The Inner Circle\nFeud of the Decade (2000s) \n Feud of the Year (2008) \nFeud of the Year (2021) \n Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2008)\n Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009\n Rolling Stone\n Ranked No. 3 of the 10 best WWE wrestlers of 2016\n World Championship Wrestling\n WCW Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)\n WCW World Television Championship (1 time)\n World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE\nUndisputed WWF Championship (1 time)\n World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)\n WCW/World Championship (2 times)\n WWF/WWE Intercontinental Championship (9 times)\n WWE United States Championship (2 times)\n WWF European Championship (1 time)\n WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)\n WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Edge (1) and Big Show (1)\n WWF/World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Chris Benoit (1), The Rock (1), Christian (1), Edge (1), and Big Show (1)\n Bragging Rights Trophy (2009) – with Team SmackDown \nWWF Undisputed Championship Tournament (2001)\n Fourth Grand Slam Champion\n Ninth Triple Crown Champion\n Slammy Award (3 times)\n Extreme Moment of the Year (2014) \n Superstar of the Year (2008)\n Tag Team of the Year (2009) – with Big Show\n Wrestle Association \"R\"\n WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)\n WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gedo\n World Wrestling Association\n WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Dandy\n Wrestling Observer Newsletter\nWrestler of the Year (2008, 2009, 2019)\n Best on Interviews (2003, 2008, 2009, 2019)\n Best on Interviews of the Decade (2000s)\n Feud of the Year (2008) \n Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2008) \n Most Underrated Wrestler (1999, 2000)\n Readers' Favorite Wrestler (1999)\nUnited States/Canada MVP (2019)\nMost Charismatic (2019)\nBest Box Office Draw (2019)\nBest Pro Wrestling Book (2011) \nWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)\n\nLuchas de Apuestas record\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\nExternal links \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n1970 births\n21st-century American male actors\n21st-century American singers\n21st-century Canadian male actors\n21st-century Canadian male singers\nAEW World Champions\nAll Elite Wrestling personnel\nAmerican Christians\nAmerican color commentators\nAmerican game show hosts\nAmerican hard rock musicians\nAmerican heavy metal singers\nAmerican male film actors\nAmerican male professional wrestlers\nAmerican male singer-songwriters\nAmerican male television actors\nAmerican memoirists\nAmerican men podcasters\nAmerican people of Scottish descent\nAmerican people of Ukrainian descent\nAmerican podcasters\nAmerican radio personalities\nAmerican rock singers\nAmerican rock songwriters\nAmerican YouTubers\nCanadian Christians\nCanadian colour commentators\nCanadian expatriate professional wrestlers in the United States\nCanadian game show hosts\nCanadian hard rock musicians\nCanadian heavy metal singers\nCanadian male film actors\nCanadian male professional wrestlers\nCanadian male singers\nCanadian male singer-songwriters\nCanadian male television actors\nCanadian memoirists\nCanadian men podcasters\nCanadian people of Scottish descent\nCanadian people of Ukrainian descent\nCanadian podcasters\nCanadian radio personalities\nCanadian rock singers\nCanadian YouTubers\nChristians from New York (state)\nECW World Television Champions\nExpatriate professional wrestlers in Japan\nExpatriate professional wrestlers in Mexico\nFozzy members\nIWGP Intercontinental champions\nLiving people\nMale actors from New York (state)\nMale actors from Winnipeg\nMale YouTubers\nMusicians from Winnipeg\nNWA/WCW World Television Champions\nNWA/WCW/WWE United States Heavyweight Champions\nParticipants in American reality television series\nPeople from Manhasset, New York\nProfessional wrestlers from Manitoba\nProfessional wrestlers from New York (state)\nProfessional wrestling podcasters\nRed River College alumni\nSinger-songwriters from New York (state)\nSportspeople from Winnipeg\nWCW World Heavyweight Champions\nWorld Heavyweight Champions (WWE)\nWWE Champions\nWWE Grand Slam champions\nWWF European Champions\nWWF/WWE Hardcore Champions\nWWF/WWE Intercontinental Champions"
]
|
[
"Chris Jericho",
"World Television Champion (1998-1999)",
"Who did Chris Jericho defeat to become the World Television Champion?",
"On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T).",
"Which wrestling league was Jericho in during this time period?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_80c385dd71cd41db8abb719e54c2c991_1 | What is another notable match that he was in during the 1998 to 1999 time period? | 3 | Besides World Television Champion, what is another notable match that Chris Jericho was in during the 1998 to 1999 time period? | Chris Jericho | On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company. On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match. Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the title of the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War. CANNOTANSWER | On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. | Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Inner Circle stable. Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, he has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
During the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico. At the end of 1999, he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night. Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC and Elimination Chamber shows. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010.
Within the WWF/WWE, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the Undisputed WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year.
After his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. Jericho joined AEW in January 2019 and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year. All totalled, between ECW, WCW, WWE, NJPW and AEW, Jericho has held 36 championships (including seven World Championships, and 10 Intercontinental Championships).
In 1999, Jericho became lead vocalist of heavy metal band Fozzy, who released their eponymous debut album the following year. The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions, although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward. Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars. He hosted the ABC game show Downfall, the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
Early life
Christopher Keith Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York on November 9, 1970, the son of a Canadian couple. He is of Scottish descent from his father's side and Ukrainian descent from his mother's side. His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine, had been playing for the New York Rangers at the time of his birth. When his father retired, the family moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Irvine grew up. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenships. Irvine's interest in professional wrestling began when he started watching the local American Wrestling Association (AWA) events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become a professional wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart, then appearing with Stampede Wrestling, performing various high-flying moves. In addition, Irvine also cited Owen's older brother Bret, Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for his becoming a professional wrestler. His first experience with a professional wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of the ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda. He attended Red River College in Winnipeg, graduating in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Creative Communications.
Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (1990–1991)
At the age of 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling, where he met Lance Storm on his first day. He was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young.
Two months after completing training, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta as "Cowboy" Chris Jericho, on October 2, 1990, in a ten-minute time limit draw against Storm. The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called Sudden Impact. According to a February 2019 interview with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show, Jericho stated that his initial name was going to be "Jack Action" however, someone remarked to him that the name was stupid, they then asked him what his name really was, he then got nervous and said "Chris Jericho". He took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween. Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian) and Terry Gerin (Rhino). The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW).
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1991)
In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and other Mexican promotions (1992–1995)
In the winter of 1992, he traveled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro ("Golden Lion", a name that fans voted on for him between "He-Man", "Chris Power", and his preferred choice "Leon D'Oro"), and later Corazón de León ("Lion Heart"), where he wrestled for several small wrestling companies.
From 1993 to 1995, he competed in Mexico's oldest promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King, Negro Casas, and Último Dragón en route to an eleven-month reign as the NWA Middleweight Champion that began in December 1993.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1994)
1994 saw Jericho reunited with Storm, as The Thrillseekers in Jim Cornette's Appalachian Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion, where they feuded with the likes of Well Dunn, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, and The Heavenly Bodies.
Wrestling and Romance/WAR (1994–1996)
In late 1994, Jericho began competing regularly in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling and Romance (later known as Wrestle Association "R") (WAR) promotion as The Lion Heart. In November 1994, Último Dragón defeated him for the NWA World Middleweight Championship, which he had won while wrestling in Mexico.
In March 1995, Jericho lost to Gedo in the final of a tournament to crown the inaugural WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Gedo for the championship in June 1995, losing it to Último Dragón the next month. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Hanzo Nakajima in the first round, but losing to Wild Pegasus in the second round.
In 1995, Jericho joined the heel stable Fuyuki-Gun ("Fuyuki Army") with Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo, and Jado, adopting the name Lion Do. In February 1996, Jericho and Gedo won a tournament for the newly created International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, defeating Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in the final. They lost the championship to Storm and Yasuraoka the following month. Jericho made his final appearances with WAR in July 1996, having wrestled a total of twenty-four tours for the company.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996)
In 1995, thanks in part to recommendations by Benoit, Dave Meltzer and Perry Saturn, to promoter Paul Heyman, and after Mick Foley saw Jericho's match against Último Dragón for the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 1995 and gave a tape of the match to Heyman, Jericho began wrestling for the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, winning the ECW World Television Championship from Pitbull #2 in June 1996 at Hardcore Heaven. While in ECW, Jericho wrestled Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Foley (as Cactus Jack), Shane Douglas, and 2 Cold Scorpio. He made his final appearance at The Doctor Is In in August 1996. It was during this time that he drew the attention of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
World Championship Wrestling (1996 – 1999)
Early appearances (1996–1997)
Jericho debuted for WCW on August 20, 1996 by defeating Mr. JL, which aired on the August 31 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho's televised debut in WCW occurred on the August 26 episode of Monday Nitro against Alex Wright in a match which ended in a no contest. He made his pay-per-view debut on September 15 against Chris Benoit in a losing effort at Fall Brawl. The following month, at Halloween Havoc, Jericho lost to nWo member Syxx due to biased officiating by nWo referee Nick Patrick. This led to a match between Jericho and Patrick at World War 3, which stipulated that Jericho's one arm would be tied behind his back. Despite the odds stacked against him, Jericho won the match. Later that night, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match but failed to win the match.
Jericho represented WCW against nWo Japan member Masahiro Chono in a losing effort at the nWo Souled Out event. At SuperBrawl VII, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Guerrero for the United States Heavyweight Championship.
Cruiserweight Champion (1997–1998)
On June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx at the Saturday Nitro live event in Los Angeles, California to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time, thus winning the first championship of his WCW career. Jericho successfully defended the title against Ultimo Dragon at Bash at the Beach, before losing the title to Alex Wright on the July 28 episode of Monday Nitro. Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Wright for the title at Road Wild, before defeating Wright in a rematch to win his second Cruiserweight Championship on the August 16 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho began feuding with Eddie Guerrero over the title as he successfully defended the title against Guerrero at Clash of the Champions XXXV before losing the title to Guerrero at Fall Brawl. Jericho defeated Gedo at Halloween Havoc. At World War 3, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal but failed to win.
On the January 15, 1998 episode of Thunder, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero to earn a title shot against Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Championship at Souled Out. Jericho won the match by forcing Mysterio to submit to the Liontamer. After the match, Jericho turned heel by assaulting Mysterio's knee with a toolbox. In the storyline, Mysterio needed six months of recovery before he could return to the ring. Jericho then had a short feud with Juventud Guerrera in which Guerrera repeatedly requested a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship, but Jericho constantly rebuffed him. The feud culminated in a title versus mask match at SuperBrawl VIII. Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Following this match, Jericho began his ongoing gimmick of collecting and wearing to the ring trophy items from his defeated opponents, such as Guerrera's mask, Prince Iaukea's Hawaiian dress, and a headband from Disco Inferno.
Jericho then began a long feud with Dean Malenko, in which Jericho repeatedly claimed he was a better wrestler than Malenko, but refused to wrestle him. Because of his mastery of technical wrestling, Malenko was known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", so Jericho claimed to be "The Man of 1,004 Holds"; Jericho mentions in his autobiography that this line originated from an IWA interview he saw as a child, where manager Floyd Creatchman claimed that Leo Burke, the first professional wrestler to be known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", was now known as "The Man of 1,002 Holds", to which Floyd Creatchman stated that "he learned two more".
During the March 30, 1998 episode of Nitro, after defeating Marty Jannetty, Jericho pulled out a long pile of paper that listed each of the 1,004 holds he knew and recited them to the audience. Many of the holds were fictional, and nearly every other hold was an armbar. On the March 12, 1998 episode of Thunder, Malenko defeated a wrestler wearing Juventud Guerrera's mask who appeared to be Jericho. However, the masked wrestler was actually Lenny Lane, whom Jericho bribed to appear in the match. This started a minor feud between Lane and Jericho after Jericho refused to pay Lane. At Uncensored, Jericho finally wrestled Malenko and defeated him, after which Malenko took a leave of absence from wrestling. Jericho then proceeded to bring with him to the ring a portrait of Malenko that he insulted and demeaned. Just prior to Slamboree, J.J. Dillon (referred to by Jericho as "Jo Jo") scheduled a cruiserweight Battle Royal, the winner of which would immediately have a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho accepted on the grounds that whoever he faced would be too tired to win a second match. At Slamboree, Jericho came out to introduce the competitors in an insulting fashion before the match started and then went backstage for coffee. An individual who appeared to be Ciclope won the battle royal after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand and then eliminated himself. The winner was a returning Malenko in disguise. Following one of the loudest crowd reactions in WCW history, Malenko proceeded to defeat Jericho for the championship. Jericho claiming he was the victim of a carefully planned conspiracy to get the belt off of him. He at first blamed the WCW locker room, then added Dillon, Ted Turner, and finally in a vignette, he walked around Washington, D.C. with the sign "conspiracy victim" and accused President Bill Clinton of being one of the conspirators after being rejected from a meeting. Eventually, Malenko vacated the title. Jericho ended up defeating Malenko at The Great American Bash to win the vacant title after Malenko was disqualified after hitting Jericho with a chair. The next night, Malenko was suspended for his actions.
At Bash at the Beach, the recently returned Rey Mysterio Jr. (who had recovered from his knee injury) defeated Jericho in a No Disqualification match after the still-suspended Malenko interfered. Jericho regained the Cruiserweight Championship from Mysterio the next night after he interrupted J.J. Dillon while Dillon was giving the championship to Mysterio. Jericho was again awarded the championship. Eventually, Jericho decisively lost the title to Juventud Guerrera in a match at Road Wild with Malenko as special referee.
World Television Champion (1998–1999)
On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company.
On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois, house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match.
Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1997–1998)
In January 1997, Jericho made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), who had a working agreement with WCW, as Super Liger, the masked nemesis of Jyushin Thunder Liger. According to Jericho, Super Liger's first match against Koji Kanemoto at Wrestling World 1997 was so poorly received that the gimmick was dropped instantly. Jericho botched several moves in the match and complained he had difficulty seeing through the mask. The following six months, Jericho worked for New Japan unmasked, before being called back by WCW. On September 23, 1998, Jericho made a one-night-only return to NJPW at that years Big Wednesday show, teaming with Black Tiger against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a title match, which Jericho and Tiger lost.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1999 – 2005)
WWF Intercontinental Champion (1999–2001)
In the weeks before Jericho's debut, a clock labeled "countdown to the new millennium" appeared on WWF programming. On the home video, Break Down the Walls, Jericho states he was inspired to do this as his entrance when he saw a similar clock in a post office and Vince McMahon approved its use as his introduction to the WWF. The clock finally ran out on the August 9 episode of Raw Is War in Chicago, Illinois while The Rock was in the ring cutting a promo on the Big Show. Jericho entered the arena and proclaimed "Raw Is Jericho" and that he had "come to save the World Wrestling Federation", referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K bug). The Rock proceeded to verbally mock him for his interruption. Later that month, he would interact with several superstars including in particular interrupting a promo that The Undertaker was involved in, Jericho made his in-ring debut as a heel on August 26, losing a match against Road Dogg by disqualification on the inaugural episode of SmackDown! after he performed a powerbomb on Road Dogg through a table.
Jericho's first long-term feud was with Chyna, for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. After losing to Chyna at Survivor Series, Jericho defeated her to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship at Armageddon. This feud included a controversial decision during a rematch in which two separate referees declared each one of them the winner of a match for the title. As a result, they became co-champions, during which Jericho turned face. He attained sole champion status at the Royal Rumble.
Jericho lost the WWF Intercontinental title to then-European Champion Kurt Angle at No Way Out. Jericho competed in a Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Angle at WrestleMania 2000 in a two-falls contest with both of Angle's titles at stake. Jericho won the European Championship by pinning Benoit, who in turn pinned Jericho to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. This was the first of six pay-per-view matches between the pair within twelve months. Jericho was originally supposed to be in the main event of WrestleMania, but was taken out after Mick Foley, who was originally asked by writers to be in the match, took his place. Jericho was even advertised on the event's posters promoting the match. Jericho lost the title the next day to Eddie Guerrero on Raw after Chyna sided with Guerrero.
On the April 17 episode of Raw, Jericho upset Triple H in a WWF Championship match. Referee Earl Hebner made a fast count when Jericho pinned Triple H, causing Jericho to win the title. Hebner later reversed the decision due to pressure from Triple H, and WWE does not recognize Jericho's reign as champion. On April 19, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero at the Gary Albright Memorial Show organized by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). On the May 4 episode of SmackDown!, Jericho defeated Benoit to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship but lost the title to Benoit four days later on Raw. Jericho's feud with Triple H ended at Fully Loaded, when they competed in a Last Man Standing match. Jericho lost the match to Triple H only by one second, despite the repeated assistance Triple H's wife, Stephanie, provided him in the match.
At the 2001 Royal Rumble, Jericho defeated Chris Benoit in a ladder match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time. At WrestleMania X-Seven, he successfully defended his title in a match against William Regal, only to lose it four days later to Triple H. At Judgment Day, Jericho and Benoit won a tag team turmoil match and earned a shot at Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their WWF Tag Team Championship on Raw the next night. Benoit and Jericho won the match, in which Triple H legitimately tore his quadriceps, spending the rest of the year injured. Benoit and Jericho each became a WWF Tag Team Champion for the first time. The team defended their title in the first fatal four-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, where Benoit sustained a year-long injury after missing a diving headbutt through a table. Despite Benoit being carried out on a stretcher, he returned to the match to climb the ladder and retain the championship. The two lost the title one month later to The Dudley Boyz on the June 21 episode of SmackDown!. At King of the Ring, both Benoit and Jericho competed in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF Championship, in which Booker T interfered as the catalyst for The Invasion angle. Despite Booker T's interference, Austin retained the title.
Undisputed WWF Champion (2001–2002)
In the following months, Jericho became a major force in The Invasion storyline in which WCW and ECW joined forces to overtake the WWF. Jericho remained on the side of the WWF despite previously competing in WCW and ECW. However, Jericho began showing jealousy toward fellow WWF member The Rock. They faced each other in a match at No Mercy for the WCW Championship after Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam in a number one contenders match on the October 11 episode of SmackDown!. Jericho won the WCW Championship at No Mercy when he pinned The Rock after debuting a new finisher, the Breakdown, onto a steel chair, winning his first world title in the process. One night later, the two put their differences aside and won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz.
After they lost the titles to Test and Booker T on the November 1 episode of SmackDown!, they continued their feud. On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to regain the WCW Championship. Following the match, Jericho attacked The Rock with a steel chair. At Survivor Series, Jericho turned heel by almost costing Team WWF the victory after he was eliminated in their Winner Take All matchup by once again attacking The Rock. Despite this, Team WWF won the match. At Vengeance, Jericho defeated both The Rock for the World Championship (formerly the WCW Championship) and Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first WWF Championship on the same night to become the first wrestler to hold both championships at the same time, which made him the first-ever Undisputed WWF Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam winner under the original format. He retained the title at the Royal Rumble against The Rock and at No Way Out against Austin. Jericho later lost the title to Royal Rumble winner Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X8. Jericho was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the inaugural WWF draft lottery. He would then appear at Backlash, interfering in Triple H's Undisputed WWF Championship match against Hollywood Hulk Hogan. He was quickly dumped out the ring, but Triple H would go on to lose the match. This would lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Judgment Day in May, where Triple H would emerge victorious. Jericho would then compete in the 2002 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Edge and The Big Valbowski to advance to the semi-finals, where he was defeated by Rob Van Dam at King of the Ring. In July, he began a feud with the debuting John Cena, losing to him at Vengeance.
Teaming and feuding with Christian (2002–2004)
After his feud with Cena ended, Jericho moved to the Raw brand on the July 29 episode of Raw, unwilling to work for SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon. Upon his arrival to the brand, he initiated a feud with Ric Flair, leading to a match at SummerSlam, which Jericho lost. On the September 16 episode of Raw, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time from Rob Van Dam, before losing the title to Kane two weeks later on Raw. He then later formed a tag team with Christian, with whom he won the World Tag Team Championship by defeating Kane and The Hurricane on the October 14 episode of Raw. Christian and Jericho lost the titles to Booker T and Goldust in a fatal four-way elimination match, involving the teams of The Dudley Boyz, and William Regal and Lance Storm at Armageddon.
On the January 13 episode of Raw, Jericho won an over-the-top-rope challenge against Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Batista to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble match. He chose number two in order to start the match with Shawn Michaels, who had challenged him to prove Jericho's claims that he was better than Michaels. After Michaels's entrance, Jericho entered as the second participant. Christian, in Jericho's attire, appeared while the real Jericho attacked Shawn from behind. He eliminated Michaels shortly afterward, but Michaels got his revenge later in the match by causing Test to eliminate Jericho. Jericho spent the most time of any other wrestler in that same Royal Rumble. Jericho simultaneously feuded with Test, Michaels, and Jeff Hardy, defeating Hardy at No Way Out. Jericho and Michaels fought again at WrestleMania XIX, which Michaels won. Jericho, however, attacked Michaels with a low blow after the match following an embrace.
After this match, Jericho entered a rivalry with Goldberg, which was fueled by Goldberg's refusal to fight Jericho in WCW. During Jericho's first episode of the Highlight Reel, an interview segment, where Goldberg was the guest, he complained that no-one wanted Goldberg in WWE and continued to insult him in the following weeks. On the May 12 episode of Raw, a mystery assailant attempted to run over Goldberg with a limousine. A week later, Co-Raw General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, interrogated several Raw superstars to find out who was driving the car. One of the interrogates was Lance Storm, who admitted that he was the assailant. Austin forced Storm into a match with Goldberg, who defeated Storm. After the match, Goldberg forced Storm to admit that Jericho was the superstar who conspired Storm into running him over. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Goldberg was once again a guest on the Highlight Reel. Jericho expressed jealousy towards Goldberg's success in WCW and felt that since joining WWE, he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in his career and all that was left was to defeat Goldberg and challenged him to a match. At Bad Blood, Goldberg settled the score with Jericho and defeated him.
On the October 27 episode of Raw, Jericho won his sixth WWE Intercontinental Championship when he defeated Rob Van Dam. He lost the title back to Van Dam immediately after in a steel cage match. Later in 2003, Jericho started a romance with Trish Stratus while his tag team partner Christian began one with Lita. This, however, turned out to be a bet over who could sleep with their respective paramour first, with a Canadian dollar at stake. Stratus overheard this and ended her relationship with Jericho, who seemingly felt bad for using Stratus. After he saved her from an attack by Kane, Stratus agreed that the two of them could just be "friends", thus turning Jericho face. After Christian put Stratus in the Walls of Jericho while competing against her in a match, Jericho sought revenge on Christian, which led to a match at WrestleMania XX. Christian defeated Jericho after Stratus ran down and "inadvertently" struck Jericho (thinking it was Christian) and Christian got the roll-up. After the match, Stratus turned on Jericho and revealed that she and Christian were a couple. This revelation led to a handicap match at Backlash that Jericho won. Jericho won his record-breaking seventh WWE Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven in a ladder match against Christian, breaking the previous record held by Jeff Jarrett from 1999. Jericho's seventh reign was short lived, as he lost it at Taboo Tuesday to Shelton Benjamin.
World championship pursuits (2004–2005)
Jericho teamed up with Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, and Maven to take on Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky at Survivor Series. The match stipulated that each member of the winning team would be the general manager of Raw over the next four weeks. Jericho's team won, and took turns as general manager. During Jericho's turn as general manager, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated because a Triple Threat match for the title a week earlier ended in a draw. At New Year's Revolution, Jericho competed in the Elimination Chamber against Triple H, Chris Benoit, Batista, Randy Orton, and Edge for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho began the match with Benoit and eliminated Edge, but was eliminated by Batista. Triple H went on to win. At WrestleMania 21, Jericho participated in the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match. Jericho suggested the match concept, and he competed in the match against Benjamin, Benoit, Kane, Christian, and Edge. Jericho lost the match when Edge claimed the briefcase.
At Backlash, Jericho challenged Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but lost the match. Jericho lost to Lance Storm at ECW One Night Stand. Jericho used his old "Lionheart" gimmick, instead of his more well known "Y2J" gimmick. Jericho lost the match after Jason and Justin Credible hit Jericho with a Singapore cane, which allowed Storm to win the match. The next night on Raw, Jericho turned heel by betraying WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Christian and Tyson Tomko in a tag team match. Jericho lost a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Vengeance which also involved Christian and Cena. The feud continued throughout the summer and Jericho lost to Cena in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.
The next night on the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Cena for the WWE Championship again in a rematch, this time in a "You're fired" match. Cena won again, and Jericho was fired by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. Jericho was carried out of the arena by security as Kurt Angle attacked Cena. Jericho's WWE contract expired on August 25.
Return to WWE (2007–2010)
Feud with Shawn Michaels (2007–2008)
After a two-year hiatus, WWE promoted Jericho's return starting on the September 24, 2007 episode of Raw with a viral marketing campaign using a series of 15-second cryptic binary code videos, similar to the matrix digital rain used in The Matrix series. The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho. Jericho made his return to WWE television as a face on the November 19, 2007 episode of Raw when he interrupted Randy Orton during Orton's orchestrated "passing of the torch" ceremony. Jericho revealed his intentions to reclaim the WWE Championship in order to "save" WWE fans from Orton. On the November 26 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Santino Marella and debuted a new finishing move called the Codebreaker. At Armageddon, he competed in a WWE title match against Orton, defeating him by disqualification when SmackDown!s color commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) interfered in the match, but Orton retained the title. He began a feud with JBL and met him at the Royal Rumble. Jericho was disqualified after hitting JBL with a steel chair. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Jericho captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship for a record eighth time when he defeated Jeff Hardy.
In April 2008, Jericho became involved in the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Batista when he suggested that Michaels enjoyed retiring Ric Flair, causing Shawn Michaels to attack him. Jericho thus asked to be inserted into the match between Batista and Michaels at Backlash, but instead, he was appointed as the special guest referee. During the match at Backlash, Michaels feigned a knee injury so that Jericho would give him time to recover and lured Batista in for Sweet Chin Music for the win. After Backlash, Jericho accused Michaels of cheating, but Michaels continued to play up an injury. When Jericho was finally convinced and he apologized to Michaels for not believing him, Michaels then admitted to Jericho that he had faked his injury and he attacked Jericho with Sweet Chin Music. After losing to Michaels at Judgment Day, Jericho initiated a handshake after the match.
On the June 9 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel, interviewing Michaels. Jericho pointed out that Michaels was still cheered by the fans despite Michaels's deceit and attack on Jericho during the previous months, whereas Jericho was booed when he tried to do the right thing. Jericho then assaulted Michaels with a low blow and sent Michaels through the "Jeritron 6000" television, damaging the eye of Michaels, and turning heel in the process. This began what was named by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the "Feud of the Year". At Night of Champions, Jericho lost the WWE Intercontinental title to Kofi Kingston after a distraction by Michaels. In June, Jericho took on Lance Cade as a protégé.
World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2009)
Afterward, Jericho developed a suit-wearing persona inspired by Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh from the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and wrestler Nick Bockwinkel. Jericho and Michaels met at The Great American Bash, which Jericho won after attacking the cut on Michaels's eye. At SummerSlam, Michaels said that his eye damage would force him to retire and insulted Jericho by saying he would never achieve Michaels's success. Jericho tried to attack Michaels, but Michaels ducked, so Jericho punched Michaels's wife, Rebecca, instead. As a result, they fought in an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven, which Jericho lost by referee stoppage. Later that night, Jericho entered the Championship Scramble match as a late replacement for the defending champion CM Punk and subsequently won the World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Batista, John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Kane, and Rey Mysterio. It was announced that Michaels would challenge Jericho for the championship in a ladder match at No Mercy, which Jericho won. At Cyber Sunday on October 26, Jericho lost the title to Batista, but later won it back eight days later on the 800th episode of Raw in a steel cage match. Jericho defeated Michaels in a Last Man Standing match on the November 10 episode of Raw after interference from JBL. Jericho lost the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series to the returning John Cena. On the December 8 episode of Raw, Jericho was awarded the Slammy Award for 2008 Superstar of the Year award. Six days later, he lost his rematch with John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon.
At the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009, Jericho participated in the Royal Rumble match, but he was eliminated by the Undertaker. On February 15 at No Way Out, he competed in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but he failed to win as he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Following this, Jericho began a rivalry with veteran wrestlers Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper, as well as actor Mickey Rourke. Jericho was originally arranged to face Rourke at WrestleMania 25, but Rourke later pulled out of the event. Instead, Jericho defeated Piper, Snuka and Steamboat in a 3-on-1 elimination handicap match at WrestleMania, but was knocked out by Rourke after the match.
On the April 13 episode of Raw, Jericho was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 WWE draft. Jericho then faced Steamboat in a singles match at Backlash, where Jericho was victorious. In May, Jericho started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, leading to a match at Judgment Day, which Jericho lost. However, Jericho defeated Mysterio in a No Holds Barred Match at Extreme Rules to win his ninth Intercontinental Championship, breaking his own record again. At The Bash, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Mysterio in a mask vs. title match.
Jeri-Show and feud with Edge (2009–2010)
Later in the event, Jericho and his partner Edge won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship as surprise entrants in a triple threat tag team match. As a result of this win, Jericho became the first wrestler to win every (original) Grand Slam eligible championship. Shortly thereafter Edge suffered an injury and Jericho revealed a clause in his contract to allow Edge to be replaced and Jericho's reign to continue uninterrupted. At Night of Champions, Jericho revealed Big Show as his new tag team partner, creating a team that would come to called Jeri-Show. The duo defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the championship. Jeri-Show successfully defended the title against Cryme Tyme at SummerSlam, MVP and Mark Henry at Breaking Point and Rey Mysterio and Batista at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series, both Jericho and Big Show took part in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but the Undertaker successfully retained the title. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Jeri-Show lost the tag titles to D-Generation X (D-X) (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. As a member of the SmackDown brand, Jericho could only appear on Raw as a champion and D-X intentionally disqualified themselves in a rematch to force Jericho off the show. On the January 4, 2010 of Raw, D-X defeated Jeri-Show to retain the championship once again, marking the end of Jeri-Show.
Jericho entered the 2010 Royal Rumble match on January 31, but was eliminated by the returning Edge, his former tag team partner, who went on to win the match. At Elimination Chamber, Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, defeating The Undertaker, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and R-Truth following interference from Shawn Michaels. The next night on Raw, Edge used his Royal Rumble win to challenge Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVI. Jericho defeated Edge at WrestleMania to retain the title, but lost the championship to Jack Swagger on the following episode of SmackDown, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Jericho then failed to regain the title from Swagger in a triple-threat match also involving Edge on the April 16 episode of SmackDown. Jericho and Edge continued their feud leading into Extreme Rules, where Jericho was defeated in a steel cage match.
Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2010 WWE draft. He formed a brief tag team with The Miz and unsuccessfully challenged The Hart Dynasty for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at Over the Limit. A month later, Jericho lost to Evan Bourne at Fatal 4-Way, but won a rematch during the following night on Raw, where he put his career on the line. On the July 19 episode of Raw, after being assaulted by The Nexus, Jericho teamed with rivals Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan and Bret Hart in a team led by John Cena to face The Nexus at SummerSlam. Jericho and Cena bickered over leadership of the team, which led to him and Edge attacking Cena during the SummerSlam match that they won.
Jericho was punished for not showing solidarity against Nexus, when he was removed from a Six-Pack Challenge for Sheamus's WWE Championship at Night of Champions. Although he re-earned his place in the match after defeating The Hart Dynasty in a handicap steel cage match, he was the first man eliminated from the match at Night of Champions. On the September 27 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Randy Orton who punted him in the head. This was used to explain Jericho's departure from the company.
Second return to WWE (2011–2018)
Feud with CM Punk (2011–2012)
Beginning in November 2011, WWE aired cryptic vignettes that promoted a wrestler's return on the January 2, 2012 episode of Raw. On his return, after hyping the crowd and relishing their cheers for a prolonged period, Jericho left without verbally addressing his return. After exhibiting similar odd behavior in the proceeding two weeks, Jericho spoke on the January 23 episode of Raw to say, "This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it is going to be the end of the world as you know it", but in the Royal Rumble match, he was eliminated last, by Sheamus. On the January 30 episode of Raw, Jericho began a feud with WWE Champion CM Punk after attacking him during his match with Daniel Bryan. He explained his actions by claiming other wrestlers in WWE were imitating him and named Punk as the worst offender.
At Elimination Chamber, Jericho participated in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, entering last and eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston before being knocked out of the structure by Punk, which injured him and removed him from the match without being eliminated. The following night on Raw, Jericho won a ten-man battle royal to become the number one contender for Punk's WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII. In a bid to psychologically unsettle Punk, Jericho revealed that Punk's father was an alcoholic and Punk's sister was a drug addict, which contradicted Punk's straight edge philosophy; Jericho vowed to make Punk turn to alcohol by winning Punk's title from him. At WrestleMania, a stipulation was added that Punk would lose his WWE Championship if he was disqualified. During the match, Jericho unsuccessfully tried to taunt Punk into disqualifying himself, and Punk won the match.
Jericho continued his feud with Punk in the weeks that followed by attacking and dousing him with alcohol after his matches. At Extreme Rules, Jericho failed again to capture the WWE Championship from Punk in a Chicago Street Fight.
Championship pursuits (2012–2013)
Jericho faced Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus in a fatal four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Over the Limit, where Sheamus retained his title. On May 24 at a WWE live event in Brazil, Jericho wrestled a match against CM Punk, during which Jericho kicked a Brazilian flag, causing local police to intervene and threaten Jericho with arrest. Jericho issued an apology to the audience, enabling the event to resume. The following day, WWE suspended Jericho for 30 days while apologizing to the people and government of Brazil. Jericho returned on the June 25 episode of Raw, and his absence was explained by a European tour with his band Fozzy which happened to coincide with his suspension. At Money in the Bank, Jericho participated in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but failed to win as John Cena won. The following night on Raw, Jericho confronted newly crowned Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler, who claimed that Jericho had lost his touch. Jericho attacked Ziggler with a Codebreaker, thus turning face in the process. At SummerSlam, Jericho defeated Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Ziggler defeated Jericho in a rematch and, as a result, Ziggler retained his Money in the Bank contract and Jericho's WWE contract was terminated as per a pre match stipulation put in place by Raw General Manager, AJ Lee. This was used to write him off so he could tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year.
On January 27, 2013, Jericho returned after a five-month hiatus entering the Royal Rumble match as the second entrant. Jericho lasted over 47 minutes before being eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Jericho later revealed to Ziggler that due to a managerial change on Raw, he had been rehired by Vickie Guerrero, resuming his feud with Ziggler. Guerrero then paired the two in a match against WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). The match ended with Ziggler being pinned by Kane after Jericho framed him for pushing Kane. After beating Daniel Bryan on the February 11 episode of Raw, Jericho qualified for the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber (in which the winner would go on to be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29), where he was the fourth man eliminated. On the March 11 episode of Raw, Jericho faced The Miz in a No. 1 contenders match for Wade Barrett's WWE Intercontinental Championship, but the match was ruled a no contest after Barrett interfered and attacked both men. Both men then faced Barrett the following week on Raw, where he retained his title. Earlier in the episode, Jericho had a run-in with Fandango which led to Fandango costing him his match with Jack Swagger and attacking him four days later on SmackDown. At WrestleMania 29, Jericho was defeated by Fandango. They continued their feud in the following weeks, until Jericho defeated Fandango at Extreme Rules. He then faced the returning CM Punk at Payback, where he was defeated. Jericho then began feuding with Ryback, which led to a singles match on July 14 at Money in the Bank, where Ryback emerged victorious. On the July 19 episode of SmackDown, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Curtis Axel for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and was afterwards attacked by Ryback. This was done to write Jericho off television as he was taking a temporary hiatus to tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year and possibly January and February.
In a November interview for WWE.com, Jericho revealed that he would not be a full-time wrestler due to his musical and acting ventures.
Various sporadic feuds (2014–2016)
After an eleven-month hiatus, Jericho returned on the June 30, 2014 episode of Raw, attacking The Miz, who had also returned minutes earlier. The Wyatt Family then interrupted and ultimately attacked Jericho. Jericho faced Bray Wyatt at Battleground in a winning effort. At SummerSlam, with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan banned from ringside, Wyatt picked up the victory. On the September 8 episode of Raw, Jericho lost to Wyatt in a steel cage match, ending the feud. Jericho then feuded with Randy Orton, who had attacked him the week before after his match against Wyatt in the trainers room. Orton defeated him at Night of Champions. Throughout the rest of October and November, Jericho wrestled exclusively at live events, defeating Bray Wyatt. Jericho returned to WWE television in December as the guest general manager of the December 15 episode of Raw. Jericho booked himself in a street fight against Paul Heyman in the main event, which led to the return of Brock Lesnar. Before the match could begin, Lesnar attacked Jericho with an F-5.
In January 2015, Jericho revealed that he signed an exclusive WWE contract, under which he would compete at 16 house shows only. He later signed a similar contract once the former expired and competed at house shows throughout the rest of 2015. During this time he wrestled against the likes of Luke Harper, Kevin Owens and King Barrett in winning efforts. In May 2015, Jericho was one of the hosts of Tough Enoughs sixth season. Jericho also hosted two Live! With Chris Jericho specials on the WWE Network during 2015; his guests were John Cena and Stephanie McMahon. Jericho made his televised return at The Beast in the East, defeating Neville. At Night of Champions, Jericho was revealed as the mystery partner of Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, facing The Wyatt Family in a losing effort. On October 3, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Live from Madison Square Garden. The match marked 20 years since Jericho's debut with ECW while also celebrating his 25th year as a professional wrestler in total.
On the January 4, 2016 episode of Raw, Jericho returned to in-ring competition full-time and confronted The New Day. At the 2016 Royal Rumble, Jericho entered as the sixth entrant, lasting over 50 minutes, before being eliminated by Dean Ambrose. On the January 25 episode of Raw, Jericho faced the recently debuted AJ Styles in a losing effort. Following the match, after initial hesitation by Jericho, the pair shook hands. On the February 11 episode of SmackDown, Jericho defeated Styles. At Fastlane, Styles was victorious in a third match between the pair. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Jericho and Styles formed a tag team, dubbed Y2AJ. Following their loss against The New Day on the March 7 episode of Raw, Jericho attacked Styles, ending their alliance, claiming that he was sick of the fans chanting for Styles instead of him, turning heel in the process. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 32, where Jericho defeated Styles. However, on the April 4 episode of Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal-four-way match against Styles, Kevin Owens and Cesaro to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort after being pinned by Styles, ending their feud.
The following week on Raw, Dean Ambrose interrupted The Highlight Reel, handing Jericho a note from Shane McMahon replacing the show with The Ambrose Asylum, igniting a feud between the two. During this time, Jericho tweaked his gimmick. He became arrogant and childish while wearing expensive scarfs and calling everyone who appeased him "stupid idiots". At Payback, Jericho faced Ambrose in a losing effort. After attacking one another and Ambrose destroying Jericho's light-up ring jacket, Jericho was challenged by Ambrose to an Asylum match at Extreme Rules, where Ambrose again defeated Jericho after Jericho was thrown in a pile of thumbtacks. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Apollo Crews to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where Jericho was unsuccessful as the match was won by Ambrose. On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand. At Battleground on July 24, Jericho hosted a Highlight Reel segment with the returning Randy Orton, where he took an RKO from Orton after he insulted him. The next night on Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the newly created WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, but he was unsuccessful, as Roman Reigns won the match.
The List of Jericho (2016–2017)
Jericho then entered a feud with Enzo and Cass and on the August 1 episode of Raw, he teamed with Charlotte to defeat Enzo Amore and then WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks in a mixed tag team match, after which Big Cass made the save as Jericho continued the assault on Amore. The following week on Raw, Jericho allied with Kevin Owens and later defeated Amore via disqualification when Cass interfered. This led to a tag team match at SummerSlam, where Jericho and Owens defeated Enzo and Cass. On the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho interfered in Owens's match against Neville, allowing him to qualify for the fatal four-way match to determine the new WWE Universal Champion on the August 29 episode of Raw, which Owens won.
On the September 12 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted an episode of The Highlight Reel with Sami Zayn as his guest, who questioned his alliance with Owens, resulting in Jericho defending Owens and attacking Zayn. On the September 19 episode of Raw, as a result of feeling that he was being treated unjustly by General Manager Mick Foley, as well as other wrestlers beginning to annoy him, Jericho began a list called "The List of Jericho", where he wrote down the name of the person that bothered him and why. If someone annoyed Jericho, he would ask "you know what happens?" before shouting "you just made the list!" and writing the person's name down. The List of Jericho soon became incredibly popular with the fans, with many critics describing Jericho and his list as "easily one of the best moments of Raw's broadcast". At Clash of Champions on September 25, Jericho defeated Zayn and assisted Owens in his Universal Championship defense against Seth Rollins. At Hell in a Cell on October 30, Jericho aided Owens in retaining the Universal Championship against Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match after Owens sprayed a fire extinguisher at the referee, allowing Jericho to enter the cell.
Jericho teamed with Owens, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins as part of Team Raw at Survivor Series on November 20, in a losing effort. The next night on Raw, despite being banned from ringside, Jericho showed up in a Sin Cara mask and attacked Rollins, in another successful title defense for Owens. The following week on Raw, tensions between Jericho and Owens arose after both said that they did not need each other anymore, and Jericho was later attacked by Rollins in the parking lot. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, Jericho lost to Rollins after Owens failed in his attempt to help him, Later that night, Jericho intentionally attacked Owens to prevent Reigns from winning the title. After both Jericho and Owens failed to win the WWE United States Championship from Reigns in multiple singles matches in late 2016, Jericho pinned Reigns in a handicap match also involving Owens on the January 9 episode of Raw to win the WWE United States Championship. Thus, Jericho won his first championship in nearly seven years and also become Grand Slam winner under the current format. Due to interfering multiple times in Owens's matches, Jericho was suspended above the ring in a shark proof cage during Reigns's rematch at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Owens nonetheless retained the championship after Braun Strowman, taking advantage of the added no disqualification stipulation, interfered. Also at the event, Jericho entered as the second entrant in the Royal Rumble match, lasting over an hour (thus breaking the record with a cumulative time of over five hours) and being the third to last before being eliminated by Reigns.
In February, tensions grew between Jericho and Owens after Jericho accepted a Universal Championship challenge from Goldberg on Owens's behalf, much to the latter's dismay. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Jericho held a "Festival of Friendship" for Owens, who was not impressed and viciously attacked Jericho, ending their alliance. Jericho returned at Fastlane on March 5, distracting Owens during his match with Goldberg and causing Owens to lose the Universal Championship, turning face again in the process. This led to a match between Jericho and Owens being arranged for WrestleMania 33 on April 2, with Jericho's United States Championship on the line. At WrestleMania, Jericho lost the United States Championship to Owens. At Payback on April 30, Jericho defeated Owens to regain the title and moved to the SmackDown brand, but lost it back to him two nights later on SmackDown. Following the match, Owens attacked Jericho, who was carried out on a stretcher. Thus, Jericho was written off television so he could fulfill his commitments to tour with and promote his new album with Fozzy. Jericho made a surprise return at a house show in Singapore on June 28, where he lost to Hideo Itami.
Final matches and departure (2017–2018)
On the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Jericho made his televised return, interrupting an altercation between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to get his rematch for Owens' WWE United States Championship. Later that night, Jericho participated in a triple threat match against Owens and Styles for the title in which Jericho was pinned by Styles. Show took place in Richmond, Virginia and was Jericho's last in-ring appearance for WWE in the United States.
On January 22, 2018 during the 25th Anniversary of Raw, Jericho appeared backstage in a segment with Elias, putting him on The List of Jericho. At the Greatest Royal Rumble, Jericho was the last entrant in the 50-man Royal Rumble match, eliminating Shelton Benjamin before being eliminated by the eventual winner Braun Strowman. This event marked Jericho's final appearance with WWE.
In September 2019, during an interview for the Mature Audiences Mayhem Podcast, Jericho revealed the exact point when he decided he was going to leave the WWE. Even though Jericho was with the WWE for 15 years, the final insult came at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Despite the fact that Jericho and Kevin Owens had the best feud of the year, their match was demoted by placing it on the second place on the WrestleMania match card. The decision made by Vince McMahon was a big insult for Jericho and that prompted him to seek work elsewhere. Jericho reflecting his WWE departure stated:
"Originally, that was going to be the main event for the world title. Kevin Owens was the champion and I was going to beat him in the main event of WrestleMania as a babyface." Instead of having Jericho and Owens as the main event, Vince decided to put Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar on the main card. "Vince said that it’s going to be me versus Kevin Owens for the world title at WrestleMania and you are going to win the title, f*** yeah! Next week, he doesn’t tell me, but I hear that it’s changed to Brock Lesnar versus Bill Goldberg for the title. And not only did they take us out of the main event – and, once again, just because I was told I have no right to it and things change all the time, I’m a big boy, I can handle it. But to take us from the main event slot and then move us to the second match on the card on a card that has 12 matches on it? I was like, that’s a f***ing insult."
Return to NJPW (2017–2020)
Feud with Kenny Omega (2017–2018)
On November 5, 2017, Jericho returned to NJPW in a pre-taped vignette, challenging Kenny Omega to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. The challenge was immediately accepted by Omega and made official by NJPW the following day as a title match for Omega's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The match, dubbed "Alpha vs. Omega", was Jericho's first match outside of WWE since he left WCW in July 1999. Journalist Dave Meltzer wrote that Jericho's WWE contract had expired and that he was a "free agent". NJPW also referred to Jericho as a free agent. In contrast, the Tokyo Sports newspaper described an anonymous NJPW official saying that Jericho is still under contract with WWE, and that WWE chairman Vince McMahon had given him permission to wrestle this match in NJPW. This was his first NJPW match in nearly 20 years. Jericho returned in person at the December 11 World Tag League show, attacking and bloodying Omega after his match, while also laying out a referee, a young lion and color commentator Don Callis, establishing himself as a heel. The following day at the Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome press conference, Jericho and Omega would get into a second physical altercation. Because of the two incidents, NJPW turned the January 4 match into a no disqualification match. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Omega. It was later revealed that the match was awarded a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This was the first of his career.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion (2018–2019)
The night after Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome at New Year Dash!! 2018, Jericho attacked Tetsuya Naito. On May 4, Jericho once again attacked Naito at Wrestling Dontaku, leading to a match between the two at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, in which he defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. At King of Pro-Wrestling, Jericho attacked Evil before his match against Zack Sabre Jr. Backstage, Jericho challenged Evil to an IWGP Intercontinental Championship title match at Power Struggle. At the event, Jericho made Evil submit to the Liontamer to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Jericho refused to release the hold until Tetsuya Naito ran in for the save and challenged Jericho. Despite Jericho stating that Naito would not receive a rematch, the match was made official for Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. On December 15, NJPW held a press conference for Jericho and Naito's IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. The press conference ended when Naito spat water in Jericho's face, which resulted in the two then brawling before being separated. Later that same day during a Road to Tokyo Dome show, Jericho laid out Naito with steel chair shots, and after stated that at Wrestle Kingdom 13 he would end Tetsuya Naito's career. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Naito, losing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the process.
Sporadic appearances (2019–2020)
At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jericho challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was defeated. Following the match, Jericho attacked Okada, leading to Hiroshi Tanahashi making the save. Jericho returned at Power Struggle on November 3 and challenged Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14. On December 28, it was announced that if Tanahashi were to defeat Jericho, he would be granted an AEW World Championship match at a later date. During the second night of Wrestle Kingdom on January 5, 2020, Jericho defeated Tanahashi.
Return to the independent circuit (2018–2019)
On September 1, 2018, Jericho (disguised as Penta El Zero) appeared at the All In show promoted by Cody and The Young Bucks, where he attacked Kenny Omega following Omega's victory over Penta to promote his upcoming Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise.
In October 2018, Jericho organized Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a series of professional wrestling matches originating from Jericho's cruise ship, which embarked from Miami, Florida and featured wrestlers from Ring of Honor.
On May 3, 2019, Jericho appeared at a Southern Honor Wrestling event, where he was attacked by Kenny Omega.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)
Inaugural AEW World Champion (2019–2020)
On January 8, 2019, Jericho made a surprise appearance at a media event organized by the upstart All Elite Wrestling (AEW) promotion. Shortly afterwards, Jericho was filmed signing a full-time performers three-year contract with AEW and shaking hands with the company's President Tony Khan. Jericho defeated Kenny Omega at the promotion's inaugural event Double or Nothing on May 25, and went on to defeat Adam Page at All Out to become the inaugural AEW World Champion.
On the premiere episode of Dynamite on October 2, Jericho allied himself with Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz, creating a stable that would be known as The Inner Circle. Jericho would make successful title defences against Darby Allin on the October 16 episode of Dynamite and Cody at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9. On the episode of Dynamite after Full Gear, Jericho and Guevara challenged SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win when Sky pinned Jericho with a small package, thus suffering his first loss in AEW. Jericho would successfully retain the AEW World Championship against Sky on the November 27 episode of Dynamite.
In December, The Inner Circle began to attempt to entice Jon Moxley to join the group. On the January 8, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Moxley initially joined the group, however, this was later revealed to be a ruse from Moxley as he attacked Jericho and Sammy Guevara. Moxley then became the number one contender for Jericho's championship at Revolution on February 29, where Moxley defeated Jericho to win the title, ending his inaugural AEW World Championship reign at 182 days.
Feud with MJF (2020–2021)
After losing the championship, Jericho and The Inner Circle began a feud with The Elite (Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks), who recruited the debuting Matt Hardy to oppose them. At Double or Nothing on May 23, The Inner Circle were defeated by Page, Omega, The Young Bucks and Hardy in a Stadium Stampede match. Jericho next began a rivalry with Orange Cassidy, with Jericho defeating him at Fyter Fest on July 8, but losing a rematch on the August 12 episode of Dynamite. The two faced once again at All Out on September 5, in a Mimosa Mayhem match, which Jericho lost.
Beginning in October, Jericho began a feud with MJF, who requested to join the Inner Circle, despite disapproval from Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz. Jericho and MJF wrestled in a match at the Full Gear event on November 7, which MJF won, thus allowing him to join the Inner Circle. At Beach Break on February 3, 2021, Jericho and MJF won a tag team battle royal to become the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the Revolution event against The Young Bucks, which they were unsuccessful in winning. On the March 10 episode of Dynamite, MJF betrayed and left The Inner Circle after revealing he had been secretly plotting against them and building his own stable, The Pinnacle—consisting of Wardlow, Shawn Spears and FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood). At Blood and Guts on May 5, The Inner Circle lost to The Pinnacle in the inaugural Blood and Guts match. However, in the main event of Double or Nothing later that month, The Inner Circle defeated The Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match, after Sammy Guevara pinned Shawn Spears. Jericho then began pursuing another match with MJF, who stated that he would first have to defeat a gauntlet of opponents selected by MJF, in a series dubbed the "Labors of Jericho". Jericho would defeat each of MJF's handpicked opponents (Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow) and faced MJF in the final labor on the August 18 episode of Dynamite, but he was defeated. Jericho demanded one more match, stipulating that if he lost, he would retire from in-ring competition, which MJF accepted. At All Out on September 5, Jericho defeated MJF to maintain his career and end their feud.
Various feuds (2021–present)
Following All Out, The Inner Circle started a rivalry with Men of the Year (Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky), and their ally, mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Dan Lambert. Lambert also brought in members of his MMA team American Top Team (ATT) to oppose The Inner Circle, including Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos. At the Full Gear event on November 13, The Inner Circle defeated Men of the Year and ATT in a Minneapolis Street Fight.
Legacy
Known for his over-the-top, rock star persona, Jericho has been described by multiple industry commentators as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Journalist Chris Van Vliet noted that his name is "always thrown around as the GOAT [greatest of all time], or at least one of the GOATs", with Van Vliet himself asserting that Jericho is "if not the best, certainly one of the best". Todd Martin of the Pro Wrestling Torch remarked, to agreement from editor Wade Keller, that Jericho is "one of the great wrestlers of all time" and in "a lofty category", while likening his oeuvre to those of WWE Hall of Famers Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase and Dory Funk Jr. Praised for his ability to continually evolve his gimmick, Jericho was dubbed by KC Joyner of ESPN as "wrestling's David Bowie".
Various outlets have included Jericho in lists of the greatest wrestlers ever. Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Eck, who has also served as editor of WCW Magazine and a WWE producer, featured Jericho in his "Top 10 favorite wrestlers of all time" and "Top 10 all-around performers"—the former piece noting that Jericho is "regarded as one of the very best talkers in the business". Keisha Hatchett in TV Guide wrote that Jericho "owns the mic with cerebral insults" and is set apart from peers by "his charismatic presence, which is highlighted by a laundry list of unforgettable catchphrases". He was voted by Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) readers as "Best on Interviews" for the 2000s decade, coinciding with his 2010 induction into the WON Hall of Fame. Fans also named Jericho the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champion of all time in a 2013 WWE poll, affording him a landslide 63% victory over the other four contenders (Mr. Perfect, The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude and Pat Patterson).
A number of Jericho's industry colleagues have hailed him as one of the greatest wrestlers in history. Stone Cold Steve Austin lauded his consistently "dynamic" promos and in-ring work, while arguing that he should be considered among the 10 best ever. Kenny Omega asserted that Jericho "has a legit argument for being the best of all time", based on his ability to achieve success and notoriety across numerous territories. Jon Moxley said, "Jericho is really making a case for being the greatest of all time... he's doing it again, he's doing something completely new, and breaking new barriers still here in 2020." Matt Striker pointed to Jericho's "magnanimous" nature as a contributing factor to his status as an all-time great; his willingness to impart knowledge was commended by James Ellsworth, who described Jericho as an "outstanding human being" and a childhood favorite. Kevin Owens stated that "Jericho was always someone I looked up to", while The Miz affirmed that he was part of a generation of young wrestlers who sought to "emulate" Jericho.
WWE declared Jericho a "marquee draw" with a "reputation as one of the best ever". As of 2019, he is one of the ten most prolific pay-per-view performers in company history.
After Jericho signed with All Elite Wrestling, it was said his role was similar to Terry Funk in ECW, as an experienced veteran bringing credibility to a younger promotion. Jericho was credited as one of the key attractions of AEW's weekly television broadcasts, leading to him adopting the nickname "The Demo God" due to many of the segments he appeared in being some of the highest viewed in the key demographics. He was voted as the Best Box Office Draw by readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2019.
Music career
Jericho is the lead singer for the heavy metal band Fozzy. Since their debut album in 2000, Fozzy have released seven studio albums; Fozzy, Happenstance, All That Remains, Chasing the Grail, Sin and Bones, Do You Wanna Start a War, Judas, and one live album, Remains Alive.
In 2005, Jericho performed vocals on a cover of "The Evil That Men Do" on the Iron Maiden tribute album, Numbers from the Beast. He made a guest appearance on Dream Theater's album, Systematic Chaos on the song "Repentance", as one of several musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings in the past.
In the mid-1990s, Jericho wrote a monthly column for Metal Edge magazine focused on the heavy metal scene. The column ran for about a year. He started his own weekly XM Satellite Radio show in March 2005 called The Rock of Jericho, which aired Sunday nights on XM 41 The Boneyard.
Discography
Albums with Fozzy
Fozzy (2000)
Happenstance (2002)
All That Remains (2005)
Chasing the Grail (2010)
Sin and Bones (2012)
Do You Wanna Start a War (2014)
Judas (2017)
Live albums
Remains Alive (2009)
As guest
Don't You Wish You Were Me? - WWE Originals (2004)
King of the Night Time World - Spin the Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to Kiss (2004) * With Rich Ward, Mike Inez, Fred Coury
Bullet for My Valentine – Temper Temper – Dead to the World (2013)
Devin Townsend – Dark Matters (2014)
Michael Sweet – I'm Not Your Suicide – Anybody Else (2014)
Other endeavors
Film, theater, comedy, and writing
In 2000, a WWE produced VHS tape documenting Jericho's career titled Break Down the Walls was released. He later received two three disc sets profiling matches and interviews.
On June 24, 2006, Jericho premiered in his first Sci-Fi Channel movie Android Apocalypse alongside Scott Bairstow and Joey Lawrence.
Jericho debuted as a stage actor in a comedy play Opening Night, which premiered at the Toronto Centre for the Arts during July 20–22, 2006 in Toronto. During his stay in Toronto, Jericho hosted the sketch comedy show Sunday Night Live with sketch troupe The Sketchersons at The Brunswick House.
Jericho was also the first wrestler attached and interviewed for the wrestling documentary, Bloodstained Memoirs. The interview was recorded in the UK during a Fozzy tour in 2006.
Jericho wrote his autobiography, A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex, which was released on October 25, 2007 and became a New York Times bestseller. It covers Jericho's life and wrestling career up to his debut in the WWE. Jericho's second autobiography, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, was released on February 16, 2011, and covers his wrestling career since his WWE debut. On October 14, 2014 Jericho's third book, The Best In The World...At What I Have No Idea, was released. It covers some untold stories of the "Save Us" era, his Fozzy career, and his multiple returns from 2011 to 2013. Jericho's fourth book, No Is a Four-Letter Word: How I Failed Spelling but Succeeded in Life, was released on August 29, 2017 and details twenty valuable lessons Jericho learned throughout his career as a wrestler and musician.
Jericho appeared in the 2009 film Albino Farm. In the film MacGruber, released May 21, 2010, he briefly appeared as Frank Korver, a former military teammate of the eponymous Green Beret, Navy Seal, and Army Ranger.
Jericho released a comedy web series on October 29, 2013 that is loosely based on his life entitled But I'm Chris Jericho! Jericho plays a former wrestler, struggling to make it big as an actor. A second season was produced in 2017 by CBC and distributed over CBC's television app and CBC.ca.
In 2016, Jericho starred in the documentary film Nine Legends alongside Mike Tyson and other wrestlers.
In August 2018, Jericho was confirmed to star in the film Killroy Was Here.
On March 14, 2019, filmmaker Kevin Smith cast Jericho as a KKK Grand Wizard in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Television
Jericho was a contributor to the VH1 pop culture shows Best Week Ever, I Love the '80s, and VH1's top 100 artists.
Jericho also hosted the five-part, five-hour VH1 special 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, an update of the original special 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock N' Roll first hosted by Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray.
On July 12, 2006, he made an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show!; he made a second appearance on August 21, 2009. In May 2006, Jericho appeared on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and Heavy: The Story of Metal as a commentator.
He was one of eight celebrities in the 2006 Fox Television singing reality show Celebrity Duets, produced by Simon Cowell, and was the first contestant eliminated. Jericho worked at a McDonald's to show off his skills while prepping for the show.
Jericho hosted his own reality show in 2008 titled Redemption Song, in which 11 women tried their hand at getting into the music scene. It was shown on Fuse TV.
He guest starred as Billy "The Body Bag" Cobb in "Xero Control", an episode of the Disney XD 2009 original series Aaron Stone.
He hosted VH1's 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, which began airing in December 2009. In June 2010, Jericho was named the host of the ABC prime-time game show Downfall.
On March 1, 2011, Chris Jericho was named one of the contestants on the 2011 lineup of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was two-time champion Cheryl Burke. This led to a wave of publicity, including an interview with Jay Leno. On April 26, Jericho was the fifth contestant eliminated on the show.
On May 5, Jericho made his third appearance as a guest on Attack of the Show! where he depicted Thor. He promoted Undisputed and hosted the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on May 28 on VH1 Classic. On January 17, 2012, Jericho made his fourth appearance on Attack of the Show! in a segment called "Twitter Twister" where he portrayed a character called "The Twistercutioner" and read tweets as instructions for a game of Twister between Kevin and Candace. Jericho hosted the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
On February 26, 2013, Jericho began hosting a robot combat competition program on SyFy titled Robot Combat League the series ended on April 23, 2015.
Talk Is Jericho podcast
In December 2013, Jericho began hosting his own podcast, Talk is Jericho. Episodes usually include a loosely scripted monolog before an interview, typically with a wrestler, rock musician or paranormal expert. The show originally appeared on PodcastOne, before moving to the WestwoodOne network in 2018. Notable guests on the show include Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Lemmy from Motörhead, Paul Stanley from KISS, Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures, pornographic actress Asa Akira, writer/director Kevin Smith and many former and current wrestlers.
In April 2015, Jericho hosted his own video podcast on the WWE Network, Live! with Chris Jericho, with John Cena as his first guest, followed by Stephanie McMahon as his guest later that same month.
Once he signed with AEW, he was no longer allowed WWE performers as guests on the podcast.
Web
On August 10, 2019, Jericho launched his own dirtsheet website called WebIsJericho.com. The website is dedicated to the memory of Axl Rotten.
In May 2020, Jericho officially joined as a competitor of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown under manager Roxy Striar in the Roxstars faction. Jericho first expressed interest in the Schmoedown following an appearance on Collider Live with Striar and Schmoedown commissioner Kristian Harloff. He became friends with Striar following the interview and kept in contact. During the 2020 season, Jericho contacted Striar, asking to be a part of the league. Striar formally drafted Jericho into her faction during the first free-agent period following the season-opening draft. His first match is scheduled for August 27 against Kevin Smith.
Cruises
In 2017, Jericho launched Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a cruise "combining the worlds of rock and wrestling with a once in a lifetime amazing vacation experience". The cruise featured live band performances, artist-hosted activities and a Sea of Honor Tournament with over a dozen Ring of Honor wrestlers competing. Guests had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Chris and his closest wrestling, comedian, and musician friends including Jim Ross, Diamond Dallas Page and Jim Breuer, among others. The cruise sailed October 27–31, 2018 from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas.
Jericho hosted a second cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave, which run from January 20–24, 2020. A third cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Triple Whammy, is scheduled for October 21–25, 2021.
Video games
Jericho has appeared in numerous video games. They include WCW/nWo Revenge, WCW Nitro, WCW/nWo Thunder, WCW Mayhem, WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown!, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWF Raw, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE All Stars, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19 and the upcoming All Elite Wrestling video game.
Personal life
Irvine married Jessica Lockhart on July 30, 2000. They reside in Odessa, Florida, with their three children: son Ash Edward Irvine (born 2003) and identical twin daughters Sierra Loretta "SiSi" Irvine and Cheyenne Lee "Chey" Irvine (born 2006). All three have been guests on his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, with his son discussing fish and his daughters discussing literature. Irvine owns three cats. In October 2020, Irvine reportedly donated $3,000 to Donald Trump's presidential re-election campaign.
Irvine is a Christian. He has a tattoo of his wife's name on his ring finger. He has the letter F, representing Fozzy, on the back of his hand. Since 2012, he has gradually gotten a sleeve over his left arm. His tattoos include: the artwork of Fozzy's album Sin and Bones, a Jack-o'-lantern (Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, who collaborated with Fozzy on the track "Sandpaper" from Sin and Bones, also got a matching tattoo), a lake monster, and himself from his WWF debut in 1999.
On July 5, 2004, Irvine was awarded Manitoba's The Order of the Buffalo Hunt, for his achievements in wrestling and his commitment to working with underprivileged children. – "After that, Gary Doer, the premier of Manitoba, awarded me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, which was the province's highest honor. It was quite the prestigious prize, which has been given to such dignitaries such as Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Pope John Paul II, and now Chris Jericho." / caption: "Manitoba Premier Gary Doer presents me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, along with a tiny bronze buffalo. I'm thinking, 'That's all I get?'"
Since January 2012, Irvine (along with former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow, former NFL player Derrick Brooks, and former Atlanta Braves player Chipper Jones) has been the co-owner of a sports training facility in Tampa, a franchise site of D1 Sports Training and Therapy.
Irvine is a fan of Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, which Irvine would frequently shop at when he wrestled in Japan in the 1990s. Irvine still visits Lawson whenever he returns to Japan, whether to wrestle or if he is touring with Fozzy.https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCwN9vjtO_/
Legal issues
On February 7, 2009, a fan accused Irvine of punching her after she spat at him with fans outside Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia after a live event. Video footage, however, clearly showed he did not make contact with the woman. As a result of the incident, police detained them, but released them without charge. Police did not press charges against anyone in the brawl as it was "hard to determine who provoked whom".
On January 27, 2010, Irvine and fellow wrestler Gregory Helms were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky after leaving a bar. A police report stated that Helms punched Irvine and the other passengers in the cab. Fellow wrestlers Christian and CM Punk bailed them out later.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Championships and accomplishments
All Elite Wrestling AEW World Championship (1 time)
AEW Dynamite Awards (2 times)
Bleacher Report PPV Moment of the Year (2021) –
Biggest Beatdown (2021) –
The Baltimore Sun
Feud of the Year (2008)
Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling
CRMW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
CRMW North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Lance Storm
CRMW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
Extreme Championship Wrestling
ECW World Television Championship (1 time)
International Wrestling Alliance
IWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Faction of the Year (2021) – with The Inner Circle
Feud of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Feud of the Year (2021)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2008)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009
Rolling Stone
Ranked No. 3 of the 10 best WWE wrestlers of 2016
World Championship Wrestling
WCW Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)
WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
Undisputed WWF Championship (1 time)
World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
WCW/World Championship (2 times)
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Championship (9 times)
WWE United States Championship (2 times)
WWF European Championship (1 time)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Edge (1) and Big Show (1)
WWF/World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Chris Benoit (1), The Rock (1), Christian (1), Edge (1), and Big Show (1)
Bragging Rights Trophy (2009) – with Team SmackDown
WWF Undisputed Championship Tournament (2001)
Fourth Grand Slam Champion
Ninth Triple Crown Champion
Slammy Award (3 times)
Extreme Moment of the Year (2014)
Superstar of the Year (2008)
Tag Team of the Year (2009) – with Big Show
Wrestle Association "R"
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gedo
World Wrestling Association
WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Dandy
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestler of the Year (2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews (2003, 2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2008)
Most Underrated Wrestler (1999, 2000)
Readers' Favorite Wrestler (1999)
United States/Canada MVP (2019)
Most Charismatic (2019)
Best Box Office Draw (2019)
Best Pro Wrestling Book (2011)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)
Luchas de Apuestas record
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
1970 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American singers
21st-century Canadian male actors
21st-century Canadian male singers
AEW World Champions
All Elite Wrestling personnel
American Christians
American color commentators
American game show hosts
American hard rock musicians
American heavy metal singers
American male film actors
American male professional wrestlers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American memoirists
American men podcasters
American people of Scottish descent
American people of Ukrainian descent
American podcasters
American radio personalities
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American YouTubers
Canadian Christians
Canadian colour commentators
Canadian expatriate professional wrestlers in the United States
Canadian game show hosts
Canadian hard rock musicians
Canadian heavy metal singers
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male professional wrestlers
Canadian male singers
Canadian male singer-songwriters
Canadian male television actors
Canadian memoirists
Canadian men podcasters
Canadian people of Scottish descent
Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
Canadian podcasters
Canadian radio personalities
Canadian rock singers
Canadian YouTubers
Christians from New York (state)
ECW World Television Champions
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Mexico
Fozzy members
IWGP Intercontinental champions
Living people
Male actors from New York (state)
Male actors from Winnipeg
Male YouTubers
Musicians from Winnipeg
NWA/WCW World Television Champions
NWA/WCW/WWE United States Heavyweight Champions
Participants in American reality television series
People from Manhasset, New York
Professional wrestlers from Manitoba
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
Professional wrestling podcasters
Red River College alumni
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Sportspeople from Winnipeg
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
World Heavyweight Champions (WWE)
WWE Champions
WWE Grand Slam champions
WWF European Champions
WWF/WWE Hardcore Champions
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champions | true | [
"Charles Ross Lyall (3 October 1880 – 4 June 1950) was a career soldier who played first-class cricket for Somerset in two matches in the 1911 season. He was born in Calcutta, India and died at Basingstoke, Hampshire.\n\nLyall was an officer in the British Indian Army from 1900 to 1933. He graduated from the Royal Military College in 1900 as a \"Queen's India cadet\" and placed on the unattached list as a second lieutenant. In 1901, he was moved from the unattached list to the Indian Staff Corps. In 1902 he was promoted to full lieutenant. The only cricket played by Lyall that is recorded from this period is a single non-first-class three-day match for the North-West Frontier Province against the Punjab cricket team in late 1903, in which Lyall played as a lower order batsman.\n\nIn 1909, Lyall was promoted to captain attached to the 36th Sikhs regiment of the Indian army. In 1911, he appears to have been in England for some time during the cricket season: he played in one County Championship match against Yorkshire in May, scoring an unbeaten 21 in the first innings and 8 in the second. Two months later, he followed that with a second first-class match, this time against the touring Indian cricket team, in which he scored 15 and 11 not out. That was the extent of his first-class cricket and left him with the odd statistic of a batting average higher (at 27.50 runs per innings) than his highest score.\n\nLyall returned to the Indian army. In 1916, he was promoted temporarily from captain to major in the 36th Sikhs. From 18 May 1915 to 30 September 1917 he was a Recruiting Officer. He served in Mesopotamia from 14 Oct 1917 to 24 June 1918. He was appointed an instructor at the Central School of Musketry 1 April 1919 to 30 April 1921. He went on to serve in Waziristan between 1921–23 and was wounded.\n\nIn 1919, there is a report in the London Gazette of a temporary promotion from major to lieutenant-colonel for a period of six days in 1918, while he commanded a battalion of 151st Indian Infantry. In 1922, he is reported to have relinquished the rank of lieutenant-colonel at the end of a period of commanding a battalion within the 36th Sikhs.\n\nPromoted lieutenant-colonel 5 July 1924. By 1928, he temporarily moves on to the unemployed list before being reappointed to the Indian Army in July. There was another similar temporary move into and then out of unemployed status in 1929. He was appointed the Recruiting Officer, Jullundur 28 May 1929. Finally he retired from the Indian Army in 1933.\n\nReferences\n\n1880 births\n1950 deaths\nEnglish cricketers\nSomerset cricketers\nCricketers from Kolkata\nBritish Indian Army officers\nGraduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst",
"Chepstow Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the town of Chepstow, in Monmouthshire, Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons with a Mini age groups from under 6's to under 15's].\n\nHistory\nChepstow Rugby club was formed in 1869 by former pupils of Chepstow Grammar School under the mentorship of headmaster George Dewdney. In 1879 the Chepstow Weekly Advertiser appealed to local gentlemen to patronise the newly formed club in an attempt to gain sponsorship to allow the club to remain financially stable.\n\nIn 1880 Chepstow RFC were thought to be one of the clubs at the Tenby Hotel in Swansea which is incorrectly believed to have been the founding meeting of the Welsh Rugby Union. The accepted founding actually took place in Neath in 1881, at which Chepstow RFC were not in attendance. In 1881 Chepstow player Edward Peake was selected to represent the very first Welsh rugby international, played against England.\n\nIn 1969 a match was held between Chepstow and a Welsh XV that included many famous players such as Brian Price. The match was supposedly held to commemorate the founding of what at the time was claimed to be the oldest rugby club in Wales. Chepstow lost by a large margin.\n\nCelebrated their 150 year in 2019\n150th year Chepstow RFC\n\nClub honours\n1994-95 Welsh League Division 8A East - Champions\n\nNotable former players\n Lyndon Mustoe\n Edward Peake (1 cap)\nCliff Ashton who was capped seven times for Wales in the period 1959 to 1962 played for Chepstow during most of the 1960s and was for many years captain of Chepstow RFC. \nGlyn Davidge who was capped nine times for Wales and was the hero of the defeat of the All Blacks by Newport played for Chepstow for a number of years in the early 1960s\n\nExternal links\nhttp://chepstow.rfc.wales/\n\nBibliography\n\nReferences\n\nRugby clubs established in 1878\nWelsh rugby union teams\nChepstow"
]
|
[
"Chris Jericho",
"World Television Champion (1998-1999)",
"Who did Chris Jericho defeat to become the World Television Champion?",
"On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T).",
"Which wrestling league was Jericho in during this time period?",
"I don't know.",
"What is another notable match that he was in during the 1998 to 1999 time period?",
"On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan."
]
| C_80c385dd71cd41db8abb719e54c2c991_1 | Where did this match take place? | 4 | Where did World Television Championship match that Chris Jericho lost to Konnan take place? | Chris Jericho | On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company. On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match. Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the title of the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Inner Circle stable. Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, he has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
During the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico. At the end of 1999, he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night. Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC and Elimination Chamber shows. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010.
Within the WWF/WWE, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the Undisputed WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year.
After his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. Jericho joined AEW in January 2019 and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year. All totalled, between ECW, WCW, WWE, NJPW and AEW, Jericho has held 36 championships (including seven World Championships, and 10 Intercontinental Championships).
In 1999, Jericho became lead vocalist of heavy metal band Fozzy, who released their eponymous debut album the following year. The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions, although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward. Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars. He hosted the ABC game show Downfall, the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
Early life
Christopher Keith Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York on November 9, 1970, the son of a Canadian couple. He is of Scottish descent from his father's side and Ukrainian descent from his mother's side. His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine, had been playing for the New York Rangers at the time of his birth. When his father retired, the family moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Irvine grew up. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenships. Irvine's interest in professional wrestling began when he started watching the local American Wrestling Association (AWA) events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become a professional wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart, then appearing with Stampede Wrestling, performing various high-flying moves. In addition, Irvine also cited Owen's older brother Bret, Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for his becoming a professional wrestler. His first experience with a professional wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of the ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda. He attended Red River College in Winnipeg, graduating in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Creative Communications.
Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (1990–1991)
At the age of 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling, where he met Lance Storm on his first day. He was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young.
Two months after completing training, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta as "Cowboy" Chris Jericho, on October 2, 1990, in a ten-minute time limit draw against Storm. The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called Sudden Impact. According to a February 2019 interview with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show, Jericho stated that his initial name was going to be "Jack Action" however, someone remarked to him that the name was stupid, they then asked him what his name really was, he then got nervous and said "Chris Jericho". He took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween. Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian) and Terry Gerin (Rhino). The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW).
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1991)
In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and other Mexican promotions (1992–1995)
In the winter of 1992, he traveled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro ("Golden Lion", a name that fans voted on for him between "He-Man", "Chris Power", and his preferred choice "Leon D'Oro"), and later Corazón de León ("Lion Heart"), where he wrestled for several small wrestling companies.
From 1993 to 1995, he competed in Mexico's oldest promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King, Negro Casas, and Último Dragón en route to an eleven-month reign as the NWA Middleweight Champion that began in December 1993.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1994)
1994 saw Jericho reunited with Storm, as The Thrillseekers in Jim Cornette's Appalachian Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion, where they feuded with the likes of Well Dunn, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, and The Heavenly Bodies.
Wrestling and Romance/WAR (1994–1996)
In late 1994, Jericho began competing regularly in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling and Romance (later known as Wrestle Association "R") (WAR) promotion as The Lion Heart. In November 1994, Último Dragón defeated him for the NWA World Middleweight Championship, which he had won while wrestling in Mexico.
In March 1995, Jericho lost to Gedo in the final of a tournament to crown the inaugural WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Gedo for the championship in June 1995, losing it to Último Dragón the next month. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Hanzo Nakajima in the first round, but losing to Wild Pegasus in the second round.
In 1995, Jericho joined the heel stable Fuyuki-Gun ("Fuyuki Army") with Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo, and Jado, adopting the name Lion Do. In February 1996, Jericho and Gedo won a tournament for the newly created International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, defeating Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in the final. They lost the championship to Storm and Yasuraoka the following month. Jericho made his final appearances with WAR in July 1996, having wrestled a total of twenty-four tours for the company.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996)
In 1995, thanks in part to recommendations by Benoit, Dave Meltzer and Perry Saturn, to promoter Paul Heyman, and after Mick Foley saw Jericho's match against Último Dragón for the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 1995 and gave a tape of the match to Heyman, Jericho began wrestling for the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, winning the ECW World Television Championship from Pitbull #2 in June 1996 at Hardcore Heaven. While in ECW, Jericho wrestled Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Foley (as Cactus Jack), Shane Douglas, and 2 Cold Scorpio. He made his final appearance at The Doctor Is In in August 1996. It was during this time that he drew the attention of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
World Championship Wrestling (1996 – 1999)
Early appearances (1996–1997)
Jericho debuted for WCW on August 20, 1996 by defeating Mr. JL, which aired on the August 31 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho's televised debut in WCW occurred on the August 26 episode of Monday Nitro against Alex Wright in a match which ended in a no contest. He made his pay-per-view debut on September 15 against Chris Benoit in a losing effort at Fall Brawl. The following month, at Halloween Havoc, Jericho lost to nWo member Syxx due to biased officiating by nWo referee Nick Patrick. This led to a match between Jericho and Patrick at World War 3, which stipulated that Jericho's one arm would be tied behind his back. Despite the odds stacked against him, Jericho won the match. Later that night, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match but failed to win the match.
Jericho represented WCW against nWo Japan member Masahiro Chono in a losing effort at the nWo Souled Out event. At SuperBrawl VII, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Guerrero for the United States Heavyweight Championship.
Cruiserweight Champion (1997–1998)
On June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx at the Saturday Nitro live event in Los Angeles, California to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time, thus winning the first championship of his WCW career. Jericho successfully defended the title against Ultimo Dragon at Bash at the Beach, before losing the title to Alex Wright on the July 28 episode of Monday Nitro. Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Wright for the title at Road Wild, before defeating Wright in a rematch to win his second Cruiserweight Championship on the August 16 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho began feuding with Eddie Guerrero over the title as he successfully defended the title against Guerrero at Clash of the Champions XXXV before losing the title to Guerrero at Fall Brawl. Jericho defeated Gedo at Halloween Havoc. At World War 3, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal but failed to win.
On the January 15, 1998 episode of Thunder, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero to earn a title shot against Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Championship at Souled Out. Jericho won the match by forcing Mysterio to submit to the Liontamer. After the match, Jericho turned heel by assaulting Mysterio's knee with a toolbox. In the storyline, Mysterio needed six months of recovery before he could return to the ring. Jericho then had a short feud with Juventud Guerrera in which Guerrera repeatedly requested a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship, but Jericho constantly rebuffed him. The feud culminated in a title versus mask match at SuperBrawl VIII. Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Following this match, Jericho began his ongoing gimmick of collecting and wearing to the ring trophy items from his defeated opponents, such as Guerrera's mask, Prince Iaukea's Hawaiian dress, and a headband from Disco Inferno.
Jericho then began a long feud with Dean Malenko, in which Jericho repeatedly claimed he was a better wrestler than Malenko, but refused to wrestle him. Because of his mastery of technical wrestling, Malenko was known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", so Jericho claimed to be "The Man of 1,004 Holds"; Jericho mentions in his autobiography that this line originated from an IWA interview he saw as a child, where manager Floyd Creatchman claimed that Leo Burke, the first professional wrestler to be known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", was now known as "The Man of 1,002 Holds", to which Floyd Creatchman stated that "he learned two more".
During the March 30, 1998 episode of Nitro, after defeating Marty Jannetty, Jericho pulled out a long pile of paper that listed each of the 1,004 holds he knew and recited them to the audience. Many of the holds were fictional, and nearly every other hold was an armbar. On the March 12, 1998 episode of Thunder, Malenko defeated a wrestler wearing Juventud Guerrera's mask who appeared to be Jericho. However, the masked wrestler was actually Lenny Lane, whom Jericho bribed to appear in the match. This started a minor feud between Lane and Jericho after Jericho refused to pay Lane. At Uncensored, Jericho finally wrestled Malenko and defeated him, after which Malenko took a leave of absence from wrestling. Jericho then proceeded to bring with him to the ring a portrait of Malenko that he insulted and demeaned. Just prior to Slamboree, J.J. Dillon (referred to by Jericho as "Jo Jo") scheduled a cruiserweight Battle Royal, the winner of which would immediately have a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho accepted on the grounds that whoever he faced would be too tired to win a second match. At Slamboree, Jericho came out to introduce the competitors in an insulting fashion before the match started and then went backstage for coffee. An individual who appeared to be Ciclope won the battle royal after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand and then eliminated himself. The winner was a returning Malenko in disguise. Following one of the loudest crowd reactions in WCW history, Malenko proceeded to defeat Jericho for the championship. Jericho claiming he was the victim of a carefully planned conspiracy to get the belt off of him. He at first blamed the WCW locker room, then added Dillon, Ted Turner, and finally in a vignette, he walked around Washington, D.C. with the sign "conspiracy victim" and accused President Bill Clinton of being one of the conspirators after being rejected from a meeting. Eventually, Malenko vacated the title. Jericho ended up defeating Malenko at The Great American Bash to win the vacant title after Malenko was disqualified after hitting Jericho with a chair. The next night, Malenko was suspended for his actions.
At Bash at the Beach, the recently returned Rey Mysterio Jr. (who had recovered from his knee injury) defeated Jericho in a No Disqualification match after the still-suspended Malenko interfered. Jericho regained the Cruiserweight Championship from Mysterio the next night after he interrupted J.J. Dillon while Dillon was giving the championship to Mysterio. Jericho was again awarded the championship. Eventually, Jericho decisively lost the title to Juventud Guerrera in a match at Road Wild with Malenko as special referee.
World Television Champion (1998–1999)
On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company.
On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois, house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match.
Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1997–1998)
In January 1997, Jericho made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), who had a working agreement with WCW, as Super Liger, the masked nemesis of Jyushin Thunder Liger. According to Jericho, Super Liger's first match against Koji Kanemoto at Wrestling World 1997 was so poorly received that the gimmick was dropped instantly. Jericho botched several moves in the match and complained he had difficulty seeing through the mask. The following six months, Jericho worked for New Japan unmasked, before being called back by WCW. On September 23, 1998, Jericho made a one-night-only return to NJPW at that years Big Wednesday show, teaming with Black Tiger against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a title match, which Jericho and Tiger lost.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1999 – 2005)
WWF Intercontinental Champion (1999–2001)
In the weeks before Jericho's debut, a clock labeled "countdown to the new millennium" appeared on WWF programming. On the home video, Break Down the Walls, Jericho states he was inspired to do this as his entrance when he saw a similar clock in a post office and Vince McMahon approved its use as his introduction to the WWF. The clock finally ran out on the August 9 episode of Raw Is War in Chicago, Illinois while The Rock was in the ring cutting a promo on the Big Show. Jericho entered the arena and proclaimed "Raw Is Jericho" and that he had "come to save the World Wrestling Federation", referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K bug). The Rock proceeded to verbally mock him for his interruption. Later that month, he would interact with several superstars including in particular interrupting a promo that The Undertaker was involved in, Jericho made his in-ring debut as a heel on August 26, losing a match against Road Dogg by disqualification on the inaugural episode of SmackDown! after he performed a powerbomb on Road Dogg through a table.
Jericho's first long-term feud was with Chyna, for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. After losing to Chyna at Survivor Series, Jericho defeated her to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship at Armageddon. This feud included a controversial decision during a rematch in which two separate referees declared each one of them the winner of a match for the title. As a result, they became co-champions, during which Jericho turned face. He attained sole champion status at the Royal Rumble.
Jericho lost the WWF Intercontinental title to then-European Champion Kurt Angle at No Way Out. Jericho competed in a Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Angle at WrestleMania 2000 in a two-falls contest with both of Angle's titles at stake. Jericho won the European Championship by pinning Benoit, who in turn pinned Jericho to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. This was the first of six pay-per-view matches between the pair within twelve months. Jericho was originally supposed to be in the main event of WrestleMania, but was taken out after Mick Foley, who was originally asked by writers to be in the match, took his place. Jericho was even advertised on the event's posters promoting the match. Jericho lost the title the next day to Eddie Guerrero on Raw after Chyna sided with Guerrero.
On the April 17 episode of Raw, Jericho upset Triple H in a WWF Championship match. Referee Earl Hebner made a fast count when Jericho pinned Triple H, causing Jericho to win the title. Hebner later reversed the decision due to pressure from Triple H, and WWE does not recognize Jericho's reign as champion. On April 19, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero at the Gary Albright Memorial Show organized by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). On the May 4 episode of SmackDown!, Jericho defeated Benoit to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship but lost the title to Benoit four days later on Raw. Jericho's feud with Triple H ended at Fully Loaded, when they competed in a Last Man Standing match. Jericho lost the match to Triple H only by one second, despite the repeated assistance Triple H's wife, Stephanie, provided him in the match.
At the 2001 Royal Rumble, Jericho defeated Chris Benoit in a ladder match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time. At WrestleMania X-Seven, he successfully defended his title in a match against William Regal, only to lose it four days later to Triple H. At Judgment Day, Jericho and Benoit won a tag team turmoil match and earned a shot at Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their WWF Tag Team Championship on Raw the next night. Benoit and Jericho won the match, in which Triple H legitimately tore his quadriceps, spending the rest of the year injured. Benoit and Jericho each became a WWF Tag Team Champion for the first time. The team defended their title in the first fatal four-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, where Benoit sustained a year-long injury after missing a diving headbutt through a table. Despite Benoit being carried out on a stretcher, he returned to the match to climb the ladder and retain the championship. The two lost the title one month later to The Dudley Boyz on the June 21 episode of SmackDown!. At King of the Ring, both Benoit and Jericho competed in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF Championship, in which Booker T interfered as the catalyst for The Invasion angle. Despite Booker T's interference, Austin retained the title.
Undisputed WWF Champion (2001–2002)
In the following months, Jericho became a major force in The Invasion storyline in which WCW and ECW joined forces to overtake the WWF. Jericho remained on the side of the WWF despite previously competing in WCW and ECW. However, Jericho began showing jealousy toward fellow WWF member The Rock. They faced each other in a match at No Mercy for the WCW Championship after Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam in a number one contenders match on the October 11 episode of SmackDown!. Jericho won the WCW Championship at No Mercy when he pinned The Rock after debuting a new finisher, the Breakdown, onto a steel chair, winning his first world title in the process. One night later, the two put their differences aside and won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz.
After they lost the titles to Test and Booker T on the November 1 episode of SmackDown!, they continued their feud. On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to regain the WCW Championship. Following the match, Jericho attacked The Rock with a steel chair. At Survivor Series, Jericho turned heel by almost costing Team WWF the victory after he was eliminated in their Winner Take All matchup by once again attacking The Rock. Despite this, Team WWF won the match. At Vengeance, Jericho defeated both The Rock for the World Championship (formerly the WCW Championship) and Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first WWF Championship on the same night to become the first wrestler to hold both championships at the same time, which made him the first-ever Undisputed WWF Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam winner under the original format. He retained the title at the Royal Rumble against The Rock and at No Way Out against Austin. Jericho later lost the title to Royal Rumble winner Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X8. Jericho was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the inaugural WWF draft lottery. He would then appear at Backlash, interfering in Triple H's Undisputed WWF Championship match against Hollywood Hulk Hogan. He was quickly dumped out the ring, but Triple H would go on to lose the match. This would lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Judgment Day in May, where Triple H would emerge victorious. Jericho would then compete in the 2002 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Edge and The Big Valbowski to advance to the semi-finals, where he was defeated by Rob Van Dam at King of the Ring. In July, he began a feud with the debuting John Cena, losing to him at Vengeance.
Teaming and feuding with Christian (2002–2004)
After his feud with Cena ended, Jericho moved to the Raw brand on the July 29 episode of Raw, unwilling to work for SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon. Upon his arrival to the brand, he initiated a feud with Ric Flair, leading to a match at SummerSlam, which Jericho lost. On the September 16 episode of Raw, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time from Rob Van Dam, before losing the title to Kane two weeks later on Raw. He then later formed a tag team with Christian, with whom he won the World Tag Team Championship by defeating Kane and The Hurricane on the October 14 episode of Raw. Christian and Jericho lost the titles to Booker T and Goldust in a fatal four-way elimination match, involving the teams of The Dudley Boyz, and William Regal and Lance Storm at Armageddon.
On the January 13 episode of Raw, Jericho won an over-the-top-rope challenge against Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Batista to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble match. He chose number two in order to start the match with Shawn Michaels, who had challenged him to prove Jericho's claims that he was better than Michaels. After Michaels's entrance, Jericho entered as the second participant. Christian, in Jericho's attire, appeared while the real Jericho attacked Shawn from behind. He eliminated Michaels shortly afterward, but Michaels got his revenge later in the match by causing Test to eliminate Jericho. Jericho spent the most time of any other wrestler in that same Royal Rumble. Jericho simultaneously feuded with Test, Michaels, and Jeff Hardy, defeating Hardy at No Way Out. Jericho and Michaels fought again at WrestleMania XIX, which Michaels won. Jericho, however, attacked Michaels with a low blow after the match following an embrace.
After this match, Jericho entered a rivalry with Goldberg, which was fueled by Goldberg's refusal to fight Jericho in WCW. During Jericho's first episode of the Highlight Reel, an interview segment, where Goldberg was the guest, he complained that no-one wanted Goldberg in WWE and continued to insult him in the following weeks. On the May 12 episode of Raw, a mystery assailant attempted to run over Goldberg with a limousine. A week later, Co-Raw General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, interrogated several Raw superstars to find out who was driving the car. One of the interrogates was Lance Storm, who admitted that he was the assailant. Austin forced Storm into a match with Goldberg, who defeated Storm. After the match, Goldberg forced Storm to admit that Jericho was the superstar who conspired Storm into running him over. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Goldberg was once again a guest on the Highlight Reel. Jericho expressed jealousy towards Goldberg's success in WCW and felt that since joining WWE, he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in his career and all that was left was to defeat Goldberg and challenged him to a match. At Bad Blood, Goldberg settled the score with Jericho and defeated him.
On the October 27 episode of Raw, Jericho won his sixth WWE Intercontinental Championship when he defeated Rob Van Dam. He lost the title back to Van Dam immediately after in a steel cage match. Later in 2003, Jericho started a romance with Trish Stratus while his tag team partner Christian began one with Lita. This, however, turned out to be a bet over who could sleep with their respective paramour first, with a Canadian dollar at stake. Stratus overheard this and ended her relationship with Jericho, who seemingly felt bad for using Stratus. After he saved her from an attack by Kane, Stratus agreed that the two of them could just be "friends", thus turning Jericho face. After Christian put Stratus in the Walls of Jericho while competing against her in a match, Jericho sought revenge on Christian, which led to a match at WrestleMania XX. Christian defeated Jericho after Stratus ran down and "inadvertently" struck Jericho (thinking it was Christian) and Christian got the roll-up. After the match, Stratus turned on Jericho and revealed that she and Christian were a couple. This revelation led to a handicap match at Backlash that Jericho won. Jericho won his record-breaking seventh WWE Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven in a ladder match against Christian, breaking the previous record held by Jeff Jarrett from 1999. Jericho's seventh reign was short lived, as he lost it at Taboo Tuesday to Shelton Benjamin.
World championship pursuits (2004–2005)
Jericho teamed up with Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, and Maven to take on Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky at Survivor Series. The match stipulated that each member of the winning team would be the general manager of Raw over the next four weeks. Jericho's team won, and took turns as general manager. During Jericho's turn as general manager, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated because a Triple Threat match for the title a week earlier ended in a draw. At New Year's Revolution, Jericho competed in the Elimination Chamber against Triple H, Chris Benoit, Batista, Randy Orton, and Edge for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho began the match with Benoit and eliminated Edge, but was eliminated by Batista. Triple H went on to win. At WrestleMania 21, Jericho participated in the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match. Jericho suggested the match concept, and he competed in the match against Benjamin, Benoit, Kane, Christian, and Edge. Jericho lost the match when Edge claimed the briefcase.
At Backlash, Jericho challenged Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but lost the match. Jericho lost to Lance Storm at ECW One Night Stand. Jericho used his old "Lionheart" gimmick, instead of his more well known "Y2J" gimmick. Jericho lost the match after Jason and Justin Credible hit Jericho with a Singapore cane, which allowed Storm to win the match. The next night on Raw, Jericho turned heel by betraying WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Christian and Tyson Tomko in a tag team match. Jericho lost a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Vengeance which also involved Christian and Cena. The feud continued throughout the summer and Jericho lost to Cena in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.
The next night on the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Cena for the WWE Championship again in a rematch, this time in a "You're fired" match. Cena won again, and Jericho was fired by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. Jericho was carried out of the arena by security as Kurt Angle attacked Cena. Jericho's WWE contract expired on August 25.
Return to WWE (2007–2010)
Feud with Shawn Michaels (2007–2008)
After a two-year hiatus, WWE promoted Jericho's return starting on the September 24, 2007 episode of Raw with a viral marketing campaign using a series of 15-second cryptic binary code videos, similar to the matrix digital rain used in The Matrix series. The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho. Jericho made his return to WWE television as a face on the November 19, 2007 episode of Raw when he interrupted Randy Orton during Orton's orchestrated "passing of the torch" ceremony. Jericho revealed his intentions to reclaim the WWE Championship in order to "save" WWE fans from Orton. On the November 26 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Santino Marella and debuted a new finishing move called the Codebreaker. At Armageddon, he competed in a WWE title match against Orton, defeating him by disqualification when SmackDown!s color commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) interfered in the match, but Orton retained the title. He began a feud with JBL and met him at the Royal Rumble. Jericho was disqualified after hitting JBL with a steel chair. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Jericho captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship for a record eighth time when he defeated Jeff Hardy.
In April 2008, Jericho became involved in the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Batista when he suggested that Michaels enjoyed retiring Ric Flair, causing Shawn Michaels to attack him. Jericho thus asked to be inserted into the match between Batista and Michaels at Backlash, but instead, he was appointed as the special guest referee. During the match at Backlash, Michaels feigned a knee injury so that Jericho would give him time to recover and lured Batista in for Sweet Chin Music for the win. After Backlash, Jericho accused Michaels of cheating, but Michaels continued to play up an injury. When Jericho was finally convinced and he apologized to Michaels for not believing him, Michaels then admitted to Jericho that he had faked his injury and he attacked Jericho with Sweet Chin Music. After losing to Michaels at Judgment Day, Jericho initiated a handshake after the match.
On the June 9 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel, interviewing Michaels. Jericho pointed out that Michaels was still cheered by the fans despite Michaels's deceit and attack on Jericho during the previous months, whereas Jericho was booed when he tried to do the right thing. Jericho then assaulted Michaels with a low blow and sent Michaels through the "Jeritron 6000" television, damaging the eye of Michaels, and turning heel in the process. This began what was named by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the "Feud of the Year". At Night of Champions, Jericho lost the WWE Intercontinental title to Kofi Kingston after a distraction by Michaels. In June, Jericho took on Lance Cade as a protégé.
World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2009)
Afterward, Jericho developed a suit-wearing persona inspired by Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh from the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and wrestler Nick Bockwinkel. Jericho and Michaels met at The Great American Bash, which Jericho won after attacking the cut on Michaels's eye. At SummerSlam, Michaels said that his eye damage would force him to retire and insulted Jericho by saying he would never achieve Michaels's success. Jericho tried to attack Michaels, but Michaels ducked, so Jericho punched Michaels's wife, Rebecca, instead. As a result, they fought in an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven, which Jericho lost by referee stoppage. Later that night, Jericho entered the Championship Scramble match as a late replacement for the defending champion CM Punk and subsequently won the World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Batista, John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Kane, and Rey Mysterio. It was announced that Michaels would challenge Jericho for the championship in a ladder match at No Mercy, which Jericho won. At Cyber Sunday on October 26, Jericho lost the title to Batista, but later won it back eight days later on the 800th episode of Raw in a steel cage match. Jericho defeated Michaels in a Last Man Standing match on the November 10 episode of Raw after interference from JBL. Jericho lost the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series to the returning John Cena. On the December 8 episode of Raw, Jericho was awarded the Slammy Award for 2008 Superstar of the Year award. Six days later, he lost his rematch with John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon.
At the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009, Jericho participated in the Royal Rumble match, but he was eliminated by the Undertaker. On February 15 at No Way Out, he competed in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but he failed to win as he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Following this, Jericho began a rivalry with veteran wrestlers Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper, as well as actor Mickey Rourke. Jericho was originally arranged to face Rourke at WrestleMania 25, but Rourke later pulled out of the event. Instead, Jericho defeated Piper, Snuka and Steamboat in a 3-on-1 elimination handicap match at WrestleMania, but was knocked out by Rourke after the match.
On the April 13 episode of Raw, Jericho was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 WWE draft. Jericho then faced Steamboat in a singles match at Backlash, where Jericho was victorious. In May, Jericho started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, leading to a match at Judgment Day, which Jericho lost. However, Jericho defeated Mysterio in a No Holds Barred Match at Extreme Rules to win his ninth Intercontinental Championship, breaking his own record again. At The Bash, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Mysterio in a mask vs. title match.
Jeri-Show and feud with Edge (2009–2010)
Later in the event, Jericho and his partner Edge won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship as surprise entrants in a triple threat tag team match. As a result of this win, Jericho became the first wrestler to win every (original) Grand Slam eligible championship. Shortly thereafter Edge suffered an injury and Jericho revealed a clause in his contract to allow Edge to be replaced and Jericho's reign to continue uninterrupted. At Night of Champions, Jericho revealed Big Show as his new tag team partner, creating a team that would come to called Jeri-Show. The duo defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the championship. Jeri-Show successfully defended the title against Cryme Tyme at SummerSlam, MVP and Mark Henry at Breaking Point and Rey Mysterio and Batista at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series, both Jericho and Big Show took part in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but the Undertaker successfully retained the title. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Jeri-Show lost the tag titles to D-Generation X (D-X) (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. As a member of the SmackDown brand, Jericho could only appear on Raw as a champion and D-X intentionally disqualified themselves in a rematch to force Jericho off the show. On the January 4, 2010 of Raw, D-X defeated Jeri-Show to retain the championship once again, marking the end of Jeri-Show.
Jericho entered the 2010 Royal Rumble match on January 31, but was eliminated by the returning Edge, his former tag team partner, who went on to win the match. At Elimination Chamber, Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, defeating The Undertaker, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and R-Truth following interference from Shawn Michaels. The next night on Raw, Edge used his Royal Rumble win to challenge Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVI. Jericho defeated Edge at WrestleMania to retain the title, but lost the championship to Jack Swagger on the following episode of SmackDown, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Jericho then failed to regain the title from Swagger in a triple-threat match also involving Edge on the April 16 episode of SmackDown. Jericho and Edge continued their feud leading into Extreme Rules, where Jericho was defeated in a steel cage match.
Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2010 WWE draft. He formed a brief tag team with The Miz and unsuccessfully challenged The Hart Dynasty for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at Over the Limit. A month later, Jericho lost to Evan Bourne at Fatal 4-Way, but won a rematch during the following night on Raw, where he put his career on the line. On the July 19 episode of Raw, after being assaulted by The Nexus, Jericho teamed with rivals Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan and Bret Hart in a team led by John Cena to face The Nexus at SummerSlam. Jericho and Cena bickered over leadership of the team, which led to him and Edge attacking Cena during the SummerSlam match that they won.
Jericho was punished for not showing solidarity against Nexus, when he was removed from a Six-Pack Challenge for Sheamus's WWE Championship at Night of Champions. Although he re-earned his place in the match after defeating The Hart Dynasty in a handicap steel cage match, he was the first man eliminated from the match at Night of Champions. On the September 27 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Randy Orton who punted him in the head. This was used to explain Jericho's departure from the company.
Second return to WWE (2011–2018)
Feud with CM Punk (2011–2012)
Beginning in November 2011, WWE aired cryptic vignettes that promoted a wrestler's return on the January 2, 2012 episode of Raw. On his return, after hyping the crowd and relishing their cheers for a prolonged period, Jericho left without verbally addressing his return. After exhibiting similar odd behavior in the proceeding two weeks, Jericho spoke on the January 23 episode of Raw to say, "This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it is going to be the end of the world as you know it", but in the Royal Rumble match, he was eliminated last, by Sheamus. On the January 30 episode of Raw, Jericho began a feud with WWE Champion CM Punk after attacking him during his match with Daniel Bryan. He explained his actions by claiming other wrestlers in WWE were imitating him and named Punk as the worst offender.
At Elimination Chamber, Jericho participated in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, entering last and eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston before being knocked out of the structure by Punk, which injured him and removed him from the match without being eliminated. The following night on Raw, Jericho won a ten-man battle royal to become the number one contender for Punk's WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII. In a bid to psychologically unsettle Punk, Jericho revealed that Punk's father was an alcoholic and Punk's sister was a drug addict, which contradicted Punk's straight edge philosophy; Jericho vowed to make Punk turn to alcohol by winning Punk's title from him. At WrestleMania, a stipulation was added that Punk would lose his WWE Championship if he was disqualified. During the match, Jericho unsuccessfully tried to taunt Punk into disqualifying himself, and Punk won the match.
Jericho continued his feud with Punk in the weeks that followed by attacking and dousing him with alcohol after his matches. At Extreme Rules, Jericho failed again to capture the WWE Championship from Punk in a Chicago Street Fight.
Championship pursuits (2012–2013)
Jericho faced Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus in a fatal four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Over the Limit, where Sheamus retained his title. On May 24 at a WWE live event in Brazil, Jericho wrestled a match against CM Punk, during which Jericho kicked a Brazilian flag, causing local police to intervene and threaten Jericho with arrest. Jericho issued an apology to the audience, enabling the event to resume. The following day, WWE suspended Jericho for 30 days while apologizing to the people and government of Brazil. Jericho returned on the June 25 episode of Raw, and his absence was explained by a European tour with his band Fozzy which happened to coincide with his suspension. At Money in the Bank, Jericho participated in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but failed to win as John Cena won. The following night on Raw, Jericho confronted newly crowned Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler, who claimed that Jericho had lost his touch. Jericho attacked Ziggler with a Codebreaker, thus turning face in the process. At SummerSlam, Jericho defeated Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Ziggler defeated Jericho in a rematch and, as a result, Ziggler retained his Money in the Bank contract and Jericho's WWE contract was terminated as per a pre match stipulation put in place by Raw General Manager, AJ Lee. This was used to write him off so he could tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year.
On January 27, 2013, Jericho returned after a five-month hiatus entering the Royal Rumble match as the second entrant. Jericho lasted over 47 minutes before being eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Jericho later revealed to Ziggler that due to a managerial change on Raw, he had been rehired by Vickie Guerrero, resuming his feud with Ziggler. Guerrero then paired the two in a match against WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). The match ended with Ziggler being pinned by Kane after Jericho framed him for pushing Kane. After beating Daniel Bryan on the February 11 episode of Raw, Jericho qualified for the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber (in which the winner would go on to be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29), where he was the fourth man eliminated. On the March 11 episode of Raw, Jericho faced The Miz in a No. 1 contenders match for Wade Barrett's WWE Intercontinental Championship, but the match was ruled a no contest after Barrett interfered and attacked both men. Both men then faced Barrett the following week on Raw, where he retained his title. Earlier in the episode, Jericho had a run-in with Fandango which led to Fandango costing him his match with Jack Swagger and attacking him four days later on SmackDown. At WrestleMania 29, Jericho was defeated by Fandango. They continued their feud in the following weeks, until Jericho defeated Fandango at Extreme Rules. He then faced the returning CM Punk at Payback, where he was defeated. Jericho then began feuding with Ryback, which led to a singles match on July 14 at Money in the Bank, where Ryback emerged victorious. On the July 19 episode of SmackDown, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Curtis Axel for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and was afterwards attacked by Ryback. This was done to write Jericho off television as he was taking a temporary hiatus to tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year and possibly January and February.
In a November interview for WWE.com, Jericho revealed that he would not be a full-time wrestler due to his musical and acting ventures.
Various sporadic feuds (2014–2016)
After an eleven-month hiatus, Jericho returned on the June 30, 2014 episode of Raw, attacking The Miz, who had also returned minutes earlier. The Wyatt Family then interrupted and ultimately attacked Jericho. Jericho faced Bray Wyatt at Battleground in a winning effort. At SummerSlam, with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan banned from ringside, Wyatt picked up the victory. On the September 8 episode of Raw, Jericho lost to Wyatt in a steel cage match, ending the feud. Jericho then feuded with Randy Orton, who had attacked him the week before after his match against Wyatt in the trainers room. Orton defeated him at Night of Champions. Throughout the rest of October and November, Jericho wrestled exclusively at live events, defeating Bray Wyatt. Jericho returned to WWE television in December as the guest general manager of the December 15 episode of Raw. Jericho booked himself in a street fight against Paul Heyman in the main event, which led to the return of Brock Lesnar. Before the match could begin, Lesnar attacked Jericho with an F-5.
In January 2015, Jericho revealed that he signed an exclusive WWE contract, under which he would compete at 16 house shows only. He later signed a similar contract once the former expired and competed at house shows throughout the rest of 2015. During this time he wrestled against the likes of Luke Harper, Kevin Owens and King Barrett in winning efforts. In May 2015, Jericho was one of the hosts of Tough Enoughs sixth season. Jericho also hosted two Live! With Chris Jericho specials on the WWE Network during 2015; his guests were John Cena and Stephanie McMahon. Jericho made his televised return at The Beast in the East, defeating Neville. At Night of Champions, Jericho was revealed as the mystery partner of Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, facing The Wyatt Family in a losing effort. On October 3, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Live from Madison Square Garden. The match marked 20 years since Jericho's debut with ECW while also celebrating his 25th year as a professional wrestler in total.
On the January 4, 2016 episode of Raw, Jericho returned to in-ring competition full-time and confronted The New Day. At the 2016 Royal Rumble, Jericho entered as the sixth entrant, lasting over 50 minutes, before being eliminated by Dean Ambrose. On the January 25 episode of Raw, Jericho faced the recently debuted AJ Styles in a losing effort. Following the match, after initial hesitation by Jericho, the pair shook hands. On the February 11 episode of SmackDown, Jericho defeated Styles. At Fastlane, Styles was victorious in a third match between the pair. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Jericho and Styles formed a tag team, dubbed Y2AJ. Following their loss against The New Day on the March 7 episode of Raw, Jericho attacked Styles, ending their alliance, claiming that he was sick of the fans chanting for Styles instead of him, turning heel in the process. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 32, where Jericho defeated Styles. However, on the April 4 episode of Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal-four-way match against Styles, Kevin Owens and Cesaro to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort after being pinned by Styles, ending their feud.
The following week on Raw, Dean Ambrose interrupted The Highlight Reel, handing Jericho a note from Shane McMahon replacing the show with The Ambrose Asylum, igniting a feud between the two. During this time, Jericho tweaked his gimmick. He became arrogant and childish while wearing expensive scarfs and calling everyone who appeased him "stupid idiots". At Payback, Jericho faced Ambrose in a losing effort. After attacking one another and Ambrose destroying Jericho's light-up ring jacket, Jericho was challenged by Ambrose to an Asylum match at Extreme Rules, where Ambrose again defeated Jericho after Jericho was thrown in a pile of thumbtacks. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Apollo Crews to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where Jericho was unsuccessful as the match was won by Ambrose. On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand. At Battleground on July 24, Jericho hosted a Highlight Reel segment with the returning Randy Orton, where he took an RKO from Orton after he insulted him. The next night on Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the newly created WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, but he was unsuccessful, as Roman Reigns won the match.
The List of Jericho (2016–2017)
Jericho then entered a feud with Enzo and Cass and on the August 1 episode of Raw, he teamed with Charlotte to defeat Enzo Amore and then WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks in a mixed tag team match, after which Big Cass made the save as Jericho continued the assault on Amore. The following week on Raw, Jericho allied with Kevin Owens and later defeated Amore via disqualification when Cass interfered. This led to a tag team match at SummerSlam, where Jericho and Owens defeated Enzo and Cass. On the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho interfered in Owens's match against Neville, allowing him to qualify for the fatal four-way match to determine the new WWE Universal Champion on the August 29 episode of Raw, which Owens won.
On the September 12 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted an episode of The Highlight Reel with Sami Zayn as his guest, who questioned his alliance with Owens, resulting in Jericho defending Owens and attacking Zayn. On the September 19 episode of Raw, as a result of feeling that he was being treated unjustly by General Manager Mick Foley, as well as other wrestlers beginning to annoy him, Jericho began a list called "The List of Jericho", where he wrote down the name of the person that bothered him and why. If someone annoyed Jericho, he would ask "you know what happens?" before shouting "you just made the list!" and writing the person's name down. The List of Jericho soon became incredibly popular with the fans, with many critics describing Jericho and his list as "easily one of the best moments of Raw's broadcast". At Clash of Champions on September 25, Jericho defeated Zayn and assisted Owens in his Universal Championship defense against Seth Rollins. At Hell in a Cell on October 30, Jericho aided Owens in retaining the Universal Championship against Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match after Owens sprayed a fire extinguisher at the referee, allowing Jericho to enter the cell.
Jericho teamed with Owens, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins as part of Team Raw at Survivor Series on November 20, in a losing effort. The next night on Raw, despite being banned from ringside, Jericho showed up in a Sin Cara mask and attacked Rollins, in another successful title defense for Owens. The following week on Raw, tensions between Jericho and Owens arose after both said that they did not need each other anymore, and Jericho was later attacked by Rollins in the parking lot. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, Jericho lost to Rollins after Owens failed in his attempt to help him, Later that night, Jericho intentionally attacked Owens to prevent Reigns from winning the title. After both Jericho and Owens failed to win the WWE United States Championship from Reigns in multiple singles matches in late 2016, Jericho pinned Reigns in a handicap match also involving Owens on the January 9 episode of Raw to win the WWE United States Championship. Thus, Jericho won his first championship in nearly seven years and also become Grand Slam winner under the current format. Due to interfering multiple times in Owens's matches, Jericho was suspended above the ring in a shark proof cage during Reigns's rematch at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Owens nonetheless retained the championship after Braun Strowman, taking advantage of the added no disqualification stipulation, interfered. Also at the event, Jericho entered as the second entrant in the Royal Rumble match, lasting over an hour (thus breaking the record with a cumulative time of over five hours) and being the third to last before being eliminated by Reigns.
In February, tensions grew between Jericho and Owens after Jericho accepted a Universal Championship challenge from Goldberg on Owens's behalf, much to the latter's dismay. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Jericho held a "Festival of Friendship" for Owens, who was not impressed and viciously attacked Jericho, ending their alliance. Jericho returned at Fastlane on March 5, distracting Owens during his match with Goldberg and causing Owens to lose the Universal Championship, turning face again in the process. This led to a match between Jericho and Owens being arranged for WrestleMania 33 on April 2, with Jericho's United States Championship on the line. At WrestleMania, Jericho lost the United States Championship to Owens. At Payback on April 30, Jericho defeated Owens to regain the title and moved to the SmackDown brand, but lost it back to him two nights later on SmackDown. Following the match, Owens attacked Jericho, who was carried out on a stretcher. Thus, Jericho was written off television so he could fulfill his commitments to tour with and promote his new album with Fozzy. Jericho made a surprise return at a house show in Singapore on June 28, where he lost to Hideo Itami.
Final matches and departure (2017–2018)
On the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Jericho made his televised return, interrupting an altercation between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to get his rematch for Owens' WWE United States Championship. Later that night, Jericho participated in a triple threat match against Owens and Styles for the title in which Jericho was pinned by Styles. Show took place in Richmond, Virginia and was Jericho's last in-ring appearance for WWE in the United States.
On January 22, 2018 during the 25th Anniversary of Raw, Jericho appeared backstage in a segment with Elias, putting him on The List of Jericho. At the Greatest Royal Rumble, Jericho was the last entrant in the 50-man Royal Rumble match, eliminating Shelton Benjamin before being eliminated by the eventual winner Braun Strowman. This event marked Jericho's final appearance with WWE.
In September 2019, during an interview for the Mature Audiences Mayhem Podcast, Jericho revealed the exact point when he decided he was going to leave the WWE. Even though Jericho was with the WWE for 15 years, the final insult came at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Despite the fact that Jericho and Kevin Owens had the best feud of the year, their match was demoted by placing it on the second place on the WrestleMania match card. The decision made by Vince McMahon was a big insult for Jericho and that prompted him to seek work elsewhere. Jericho reflecting his WWE departure stated:
"Originally, that was going to be the main event for the world title. Kevin Owens was the champion and I was going to beat him in the main event of WrestleMania as a babyface." Instead of having Jericho and Owens as the main event, Vince decided to put Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar on the main card. "Vince said that it’s going to be me versus Kevin Owens for the world title at WrestleMania and you are going to win the title, f*** yeah! Next week, he doesn’t tell me, but I hear that it’s changed to Brock Lesnar versus Bill Goldberg for the title. And not only did they take us out of the main event – and, once again, just because I was told I have no right to it and things change all the time, I’m a big boy, I can handle it. But to take us from the main event slot and then move us to the second match on the card on a card that has 12 matches on it? I was like, that’s a f***ing insult."
Return to NJPW (2017–2020)
Feud with Kenny Omega (2017–2018)
On November 5, 2017, Jericho returned to NJPW in a pre-taped vignette, challenging Kenny Omega to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. The challenge was immediately accepted by Omega and made official by NJPW the following day as a title match for Omega's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The match, dubbed "Alpha vs. Omega", was Jericho's first match outside of WWE since he left WCW in July 1999. Journalist Dave Meltzer wrote that Jericho's WWE contract had expired and that he was a "free agent". NJPW also referred to Jericho as a free agent. In contrast, the Tokyo Sports newspaper described an anonymous NJPW official saying that Jericho is still under contract with WWE, and that WWE chairman Vince McMahon had given him permission to wrestle this match in NJPW. This was his first NJPW match in nearly 20 years. Jericho returned in person at the December 11 World Tag League show, attacking and bloodying Omega after his match, while also laying out a referee, a young lion and color commentator Don Callis, establishing himself as a heel. The following day at the Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome press conference, Jericho and Omega would get into a second physical altercation. Because of the two incidents, NJPW turned the January 4 match into a no disqualification match. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Omega. It was later revealed that the match was awarded a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This was the first of his career.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion (2018–2019)
The night after Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome at New Year Dash!! 2018, Jericho attacked Tetsuya Naito. On May 4, Jericho once again attacked Naito at Wrestling Dontaku, leading to a match between the two at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, in which he defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. At King of Pro-Wrestling, Jericho attacked Evil before his match against Zack Sabre Jr. Backstage, Jericho challenged Evil to an IWGP Intercontinental Championship title match at Power Struggle. At the event, Jericho made Evil submit to the Liontamer to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Jericho refused to release the hold until Tetsuya Naito ran in for the save and challenged Jericho. Despite Jericho stating that Naito would not receive a rematch, the match was made official for Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. On December 15, NJPW held a press conference for Jericho and Naito's IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. The press conference ended when Naito spat water in Jericho's face, which resulted in the two then brawling before being separated. Later that same day during a Road to Tokyo Dome show, Jericho laid out Naito with steel chair shots, and after stated that at Wrestle Kingdom 13 he would end Tetsuya Naito's career. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Naito, losing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the process.
Sporadic appearances (2019–2020)
At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jericho challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was defeated. Following the match, Jericho attacked Okada, leading to Hiroshi Tanahashi making the save. Jericho returned at Power Struggle on November 3 and challenged Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14. On December 28, it was announced that if Tanahashi were to defeat Jericho, he would be granted an AEW World Championship match at a later date. During the second night of Wrestle Kingdom on January 5, 2020, Jericho defeated Tanahashi.
Return to the independent circuit (2018–2019)
On September 1, 2018, Jericho (disguised as Penta El Zero) appeared at the All In show promoted by Cody and The Young Bucks, where he attacked Kenny Omega following Omega's victory over Penta to promote his upcoming Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise.
In October 2018, Jericho organized Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a series of professional wrestling matches originating from Jericho's cruise ship, which embarked from Miami, Florida and featured wrestlers from Ring of Honor.
On May 3, 2019, Jericho appeared at a Southern Honor Wrestling event, where he was attacked by Kenny Omega.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)
Inaugural AEW World Champion (2019–2020)
On January 8, 2019, Jericho made a surprise appearance at a media event organized by the upstart All Elite Wrestling (AEW) promotion. Shortly afterwards, Jericho was filmed signing a full-time performers three-year contract with AEW and shaking hands with the company's President Tony Khan. Jericho defeated Kenny Omega at the promotion's inaugural event Double or Nothing on May 25, and went on to defeat Adam Page at All Out to become the inaugural AEW World Champion.
On the premiere episode of Dynamite on October 2, Jericho allied himself with Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz, creating a stable that would be known as The Inner Circle. Jericho would make successful title defences against Darby Allin on the October 16 episode of Dynamite and Cody at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9. On the episode of Dynamite after Full Gear, Jericho and Guevara challenged SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win when Sky pinned Jericho with a small package, thus suffering his first loss in AEW. Jericho would successfully retain the AEW World Championship against Sky on the November 27 episode of Dynamite.
In December, The Inner Circle began to attempt to entice Jon Moxley to join the group. On the January 8, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Moxley initially joined the group, however, this was later revealed to be a ruse from Moxley as he attacked Jericho and Sammy Guevara. Moxley then became the number one contender for Jericho's championship at Revolution on February 29, where Moxley defeated Jericho to win the title, ending his inaugural AEW World Championship reign at 182 days.
Feud with MJF (2020–2021)
After losing the championship, Jericho and The Inner Circle began a feud with The Elite (Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks), who recruited the debuting Matt Hardy to oppose them. At Double or Nothing on May 23, The Inner Circle were defeated by Page, Omega, The Young Bucks and Hardy in a Stadium Stampede match. Jericho next began a rivalry with Orange Cassidy, with Jericho defeating him at Fyter Fest on July 8, but losing a rematch on the August 12 episode of Dynamite. The two faced once again at All Out on September 5, in a Mimosa Mayhem match, which Jericho lost.
Beginning in October, Jericho began a feud with MJF, who requested to join the Inner Circle, despite disapproval from Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz. Jericho and MJF wrestled in a match at the Full Gear event on November 7, which MJF won, thus allowing him to join the Inner Circle. At Beach Break on February 3, 2021, Jericho and MJF won a tag team battle royal to become the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the Revolution event against The Young Bucks, which they were unsuccessful in winning. On the March 10 episode of Dynamite, MJF betrayed and left The Inner Circle after revealing he had been secretly plotting against them and building his own stable, The Pinnacle—consisting of Wardlow, Shawn Spears and FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood). At Blood and Guts on May 5, The Inner Circle lost to The Pinnacle in the inaugural Blood and Guts match. However, in the main event of Double or Nothing later that month, The Inner Circle defeated The Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match, after Sammy Guevara pinned Shawn Spears. Jericho then began pursuing another match with MJF, who stated that he would first have to defeat a gauntlet of opponents selected by MJF, in a series dubbed the "Labors of Jericho". Jericho would defeat each of MJF's handpicked opponents (Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow) and faced MJF in the final labor on the August 18 episode of Dynamite, but he was defeated. Jericho demanded one more match, stipulating that if he lost, he would retire from in-ring competition, which MJF accepted. At All Out on September 5, Jericho defeated MJF to maintain his career and end their feud.
Various feuds (2021–present)
Following All Out, The Inner Circle started a rivalry with Men of the Year (Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky), and their ally, mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Dan Lambert. Lambert also brought in members of his MMA team American Top Team (ATT) to oppose The Inner Circle, including Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos. At the Full Gear event on November 13, The Inner Circle defeated Men of the Year and ATT in a Minneapolis Street Fight.
Legacy
Known for his over-the-top, rock star persona, Jericho has been described by multiple industry commentators as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Journalist Chris Van Vliet noted that his name is "always thrown around as the GOAT [greatest of all time], or at least one of the GOATs", with Van Vliet himself asserting that Jericho is "if not the best, certainly one of the best". Todd Martin of the Pro Wrestling Torch remarked, to agreement from editor Wade Keller, that Jericho is "one of the great wrestlers of all time" and in "a lofty category", while likening his oeuvre to those of WWE Hall of Famers Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase and Dory Funk Jr. Praised for his ability to continually evolve his gimmick, Jericho was dubbed by KC Joyner of ESPN as "wrestling's David Bowie".
Various outlets have included Jericho in lists of the greatest wrestlers ever. Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Eck, who has also served as editor of WCW Magazine and a WWE producer, featured Jericho in his "Top 10 favorite wrestlers of all time" and "Top 10 all-around performers"—the former piece noting that Jericho is "regarded as one of the very best talkers in the business". Keisha Hatchett in TV Guide wrote that Jericho "owns the mic with cerebral insults" and is set apart from peers by "his charismatic presence, which is highlighted by a laundry list of unforgettable catchphrases". He was voted by Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) readers as "Best on Interviews" for the 2000s decade, coinciding with his 2010 induction into the WON Hall of Fame. Fans also named Jericho the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champion of all time in a 2013 WWE poll, affording him a landslide 63% victory over the other four contenders (Mr. Perfect, The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude and Pat Patterson).
A number of Jericho's industry colleagues have hailed him as one of the greatest wrestlers in history. Stone Cold Steve Austin lauded his consistently "dynamic" promos and in-ring work, while arguing that he should be considered among the 10 best ever. Kenny Omega asserted that Jericho "has a legit argument for being the best of all time", based on his ability to achieve success and notoriety across numerous territories. Jon Moxley said, "Jericho is really making a case for being the greatest of all time... he's doing it again, he's doing something completely new, and breaking new barriers still here in 2020." Matt Striker pointed to Jericho's "magnanimous" nature as a contributing factor to his status as an all-time great; his willingness to impart knowledge was commended by James Ellsworth, who described Jericho as an "outstanding human being" and a childhood favorite. Kevin Owens stated that "Jericho was always someone I looked up to", while The Miz affirmed that he was part of a generation of young wrestlers who sought to "emulate" Jericho.
WWE declared Jericho a "marquee draw" with a "reputation as one of the best ever". As of 2019, he is one of the ten most prolific pay-per-view performers in company history.
After Jericho signed with All Elite Wrestling, it was said his role was similar to Terry Funk in ECW, as an experienced veteran bringing credibility to a younger promotion. Jericho was credited as one of the key attractions of AEW's weekly television broadcasts, leading to him adopting the nickname "The Demo God" due to many of the segments he appeared in being some of the highest viewed in the key demographics. He was voted as the Best Box Office Draw by readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2019.
Music career
Jericho is the lead singer for the heavy metal band Fozzy. Since their debut album in 2000, Fozzy have released seven studio albums; Fozzy, Happenstance, All That Remains, Chasing the Grail, Sin and Bones, Do You Wanna Start a War, Judas, and one live album, Remains Alive.
In 2005, Jericho performed vocals on a cover of "The Evil That Men Do" on the Iron Maiden tribute album, Numbers from the Beast. He made a guest appearance on Dream Theater's album, Systematic Chaos on the song "Repentance", as one of several musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings in the past.
In the mid-1990s, Jericho wrote a monthly column for Metal Edge magazine focused on the heavy metal scene. The column ran for about a year. He started his own weekly XM Satellite Radio show in March 2005 called The Rock of Jericho, which aired Sunday nights on XM 41 The Boneyard.
Discography
Albums with Fozzy
Fozzy (2000)
Happenstance (2002)
All That Remains (2005)
Chasing the Grail (2010)
Sin and Bones (2012)
Do You Wanna Start a War (2014)
Judas (2017)
Live albums
Remains Alive (2009)
As guest
Don't You Wish You Were Me? - WWE Originals (2004)
King of the Night Time World - Spin the Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to Kiss (2004) * With Rich Ward, Mike Inez, Fred Coury
Bullet for My Valentine – Temper Temper – Dead to the World (2013)
Devin Townsend – Dark Matters (2014)
Michael Sweet – I'm Not Your Suicide – Anybody Else (2014)
Other endeavors
Film, theater, comedy, and writing
In 2000, a WWE produced VHS tape documenting Jericho's career titled Break Down the Walls was released. He later received two three disc sets profiling matches and interviews.
On June 24, 2006, Jericho premiered in his first Sci-Fi Channel movie Android Apocalypse alongside Scott Bairstow and Joey Lawrence.
Jericho debuted as a stage actor in a comedy play Opening Night, which premiered at the Toronto Centre for the Arts during July 20–22, 2006 in Toronto. During his stay in Toronto, Jericho hosted the sketch comedy show Sunday Night Live with sketch troupe The Sketchersons at The Brunswick House.
Jericho was also the first wrestler attached and interviewed for the wrestling documentary, Bloodstained Memoirs. The interview was recorded in the UK during a Fozzy tour in 2006.
Jericho wrote his autobiography, A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex, which was released on October 25, 2007 and became a New York Times bestseller. It covers Jericho's life and wrestling career up to his debut in the WWE. Jericho's second autobiography, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, was released on February 16, 2011, and covers his wrestling career since his WWE debut. On October 14, 2014 Jericho's third book, The Best In The World...At What I Have No Idea, was released. It covers some untold stories of the "Save Us" era, his Fozzy career, and his multiple returns from 2011 to 2013. Jericho's fourth book, No Is a Four-Letter Word: How I Failed Spelling but Succeeded in Life, was released on August 29, 2017 and details twenty valuable lessons Jericho learned throughout his career as a wrestler and musician.
Jericho appeared in the 2009 film Albino Farm. In the film MacGruber, released May 21, 2010, he briefly appeared as Frank Korver, a former military teammate of the eponymous Green Beret, Navy Seal, and Army Ranger.
Jericho released a comedy web series on October 29, 2013 that is loosely based on his life entitled But I'm Chris Jericho! Jericho plays a former wrestler, struggling to make it big as an actor. A second season was produced in 2017 by CBC and distributed over CBC's television app and CBC.ca.
In 2016, Jericho starred in the documentary film Nine Legends alongside Mike Tyson and other wrestlers.
In August 2018, Jericho was confirmed to star in the film Killroy Was Here.
On March 14, 2019, filmmaker Kevin Smith cast Jericho as a KKK Grand Wizard in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Television
Jericho was a contributor to the VH1 pop culture shows Best Week Ever, I Love the '80s, and VH1's top 100 artists.
Jericho also hosted the five-part, five-hour VH1 special 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, an update of the original special 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock N' Roll first hosted by Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray.
On July 12, 2006, he made an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show!; he made a second appearance on August 21, 2009. In May 2006, Jericho appeared on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and Heavy: The Story of Metal as a commentator.
He was one of eight celebrities in the 2006 Fox Television singing reality show Celebrity Duets, produced by Simon Cowell, and was the first contestant eliminated. Jericho worked at a McDonald's to show off his skills while prepping for the show.
Jericho hosted his own reality show in 2008 titled Redemption Song, in which 11 women tried their hand at getting into the music scene. It was shown on Fuse TV.
He guest starred as Billy "The Body Bag" Cobb in "Xero Control", an episode of the Disney XD 2009 original series Aaron Stone.
He hosted VH1's 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, which began airing in December 2009. In June 2010, Jericho was named the host of the ABC prime-time game show Downfall.
On March 1, 2011, Chris Jericho was named one of the contestants on the 2011 lineup of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was two-time champion Cheryl Burke. This led to a wave of publicity, including an interview with Jay Leno. On April 26, Jericho was the fifth contestant eliminated on the show.
On May 5, Jericho made his third appearance as a guest on Attack of the Show! where he depicted Thor. He promoted Undisputed and hosted the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on May 28 on VH1 Classic. On January 17, 2012, Jericho made his fourth appearance on Attack of the Show! in a segment called "Twitter Twister" where he portrayed a character called "The Twistercutioner" and read tweets as instructions for a game of Twister between Kevin and Candace. Jericho hosted the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
On February 26, 2013, Jericho began hosting a robot combat competition program on SyFy titled Robot Combat League the series ended on April 23, 2015.
Talk Is Jericho podcast
In December 2013, Jericho began hosting his own podcast, Talk is Jericho. Episodes usually include a loosely scripted monolog before an interview, typically with a wrestler, rock musician or paranormal expert. The show originally appeared on PodcastOne, before moving to the WestwoodOne network in 2018. Notable guests on the show include Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Lemmy from Motörhead, Paul Stanley from KISS, Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures, pornographic actress Asa Akira, writer/director Kevin Smith and many former and current wrestlers.
In April 2015, Jericho hosted his own video podcast on the WWE Network, Live! with Chris Jericho, with John Cena as his first guest, followed by Stephanie McMahon as his guest later that same month.
Once he signed with AEW, he was no longer allowed WWE performers as guests on the podcast.
Web
On August 10, 2019, Jericho launched his own dirtsheet website called WebIsJericho.com. The website is dedicated to the memory of Axl Rotten.
In May 2020, Jericho officially joined as a competitor of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown under manager Roxy Striar in the Roxstars faction. Jericho first expressed interest in the Schmoedown following an appearance on Collider Live with Striar and Schmoedown commissioner Kristian Harloff. He became friends with Striar following the interview and kept in contact. During the 2020 season, Jericho contacted Striar, asking to be a part of the league. Striar formally drafted Jericho into her faction during the first free-agent period following the season-opening draft. His first match is scheduled for August 27 against Kevin Smith.
Cruises
In 2017, Jericho launched Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a cruise "combining the worlds of rock and wrestling with a once in a lifetime amazing vacation experience". The cruise featured live band performances, artist-hosted activities and a Sea of Honor Tournament with over a dozen Ring of Honor wrestlers competing. Guests had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Chris and his closest wrestling, comedian, and musician friends including Jim Ross, Diamond Dallas Page and Jim Breuer, among others. The cruise sailed October 27–31, 2018 from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas.
Jericho hosted a second cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave, which run from January 20–24, 2020. A third cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Triple Whammy, is scheduled for October 21–25, 2021.
Video games
Jericho has appeared in numerous video games. They include WCW/nWo Revenge, WCW Nitro, WCW/nWo Thunder, WCW Mayhem, WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown!, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWF Raw, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE All Stars, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19 and the upcoming All Elite Wrestling video game.
Personal life
Irvine married Jessica Lockhart on July 30, 2000. They reside in Odessa, Florida, with their three children: son Ash Edward Irvine (born 2003) and identical twin daughters Sierra Loretta "SiSi" Irvine and Cheyenne Lee "Chey" Irvine (born 2006). All three have been guests on his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, with his son discussing fish and his daughters discussing literature. Irvine owns three cats. In October 2020, Irvine reportedly donated $3,000 to Donald Trump's presidential re-election campaign.
Irvine is a Christian. He has a tattoo of his wife's name on his ring finger. He has the letter F, representing Fozzy, on the back of his hand. Since 2012, he has gradually gotten a sleeve over his left arm. His tattoos include: the artwork of Fozzy's album Sin and Bones, a Jack-o'-lantern (Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, who collaborated with Fozzy on the track "Sandpaper" from Sin and Bones, also got a matching tattoo), a lake monster, and himself from his WWF debut in 1999.
On July 5, 2004, Irvine was awarded Manitoba's The Order of the Buffalo Hunt, for his achievements in wrestling and his commitment to working with underprivileged children. – "After that, Gary Doer, the premier of Manitoba, awarded me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, which was the province's highest honor. It was quite the prestigious prize, which has been given to such dignitaries such as Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Pope John Paul II, and now Chris Jericho." / caption: "Manitoba Premier Gary Doer presents me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, along with a tiny bronze buffalo. I'm thinking, 'That's all I get?'"
Since January 2012, Irvine (along with former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow, former NFL player Derrick Brooks, and former Atlanta Braves player Chipper Jones) has been the co-owner of a sports training facility in Tampa, a franchise site of D1 Sports Training and Therapy.
Irvine is a fan of Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, which Irvine would frequently shop at when he wrestled in Japan in the 1990s. Irvine still visits Lawson whenever he returns to Japan, whether to wrestle or if he is touring with Fozzy.https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCwN9vjtO_/
Legal issues
On February 7, 2009, a fan accused Irvine of punching her after she spat at him with fans outside Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia after a live event. Video footage, however, clearly showed he did not make contact with the woman. As a result of the incident, police detained them, but released them without charge. Police did not press charges against anyone in the brawl as it was "hard to determine who provoked whom".
On January 27, 2010, Irvine and fellow wrestler Gregory Helms were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky after leaving a bar. A police report stated that Helms punched Irvine and the other passengers in the cab. Fellow wrestlers Christian and CM Punk bailed them out later.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Championships and accomplishments
All Elite Wrestling AEW World Championship (1 time)
AEW Dynamite Awards (2 times)
Bleacher Report PPV Moment of the Year (2021) –
Biggest Beatdown (2021) –
The Baltimore Sun
Feud of the Year (2008)
Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling
CRMW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
CRMW North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Lance Storm
CRMW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
Extreme Championship Wrestling
ECW World Television Championship (1 time)
International Wrestling Alliance
IWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Faction of the Year (2021) – with The Inner Circle
Feud of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Feud of the Year (2021)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2008)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009
Rolling Stone
Ranked No. 3 of the 10 best WWE wrestlers of 2016
World Championship Wrestling
WCW Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)
WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
Undisputed WWF Championship (1 time)
World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
WCW/World Championship (2 times)
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Championship (9 times)
WWE United States Championship (2 times)
WWF European Championship (1 time)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Edge (1) and Big Show (1)
WWF/World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Chris Benoit (1), The Rock (1), Christian (1), Edge (1), and Big Show (1)
Bragging Rights Trophy (2009) – with Team SmackDown
WWF Undisputed Championship Tournament (2001)
Fourth Grand Slam Champion
Ninth Triple Crown Champion
Slammy Award (3 times)
Extreme Moment of the Year (2014)
Superstar of the Year (2008)
Tag Team of the Year (2009) – with Big Show
Wrestle Association "R"
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gedo
World Wrestling Association
WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Dandy
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestler of the Year (2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews (2003, 2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2008)
Most Underrated Wrestler (1999, 2000)
Readers' Favorite Wrestler (1999)
United States/Canada MVP (2019)
Most Charismatic (2019)
Best Box Office Draw (2019)
Best Pro Wrestling Book (2011)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)
Luchas de Apuestas record
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
1970 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American singers
21st-century Canadian male actors
21st-century Canadian male singers
AEW World Champions
All Elite Wrestling personnel
American Christians
American color commentators
American game show hosts
American hard rock musicians
American heavy metal singers
American male film actors
American male professional wrestlers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American memoirists
American men podcasters
American people of Scottish descent
American people of Ukrainian descent
American podcasters
American radio personalities
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American YouTubers
Canadian Christians
Canadian colour commentators
Canadian expatriate professional wrestlers in the United States
Canadian game show hosts
Canadian hard rock musicians
Canadian heavy metal singers
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male professional wrestlers
Canadian male singers
Canadian male singer-songwriters
Canadian male television actors
Canadian memoirists
Canadian men podcasters
Canadian people of Scottish descent
Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
Canadian podcasters
Canadian radio personalities
Canadian rock singers
Canadian YouTubers
Christians from New York (state)
ECW World Television Champions
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Mexico
Fozzy members
IWGP Intercontinental champions
Living people
Male actors from New York (state)
Male actors from Winnipeg
Male YouTubers
Musicians from Winnipeg
NWA/WCW World Television Champions
NWA/WCW/WWE United States Heavyweight Champions
Participants in American reality television series
People from Manhasset, New York
Professional wrestlers from Manitoba
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
Professional wrestling podcasters
Red River College alumni
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Sportspeople from Winnipeg
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
World Heavyweight Champions (WWE)
WWE Champions
WWE Grand Slam champions
WWF European Champions
WWF/WWE Hardcore Champions
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champions | false | [
"The FA Trophy 2009–10 is the 40th season of the FA Trophy, the Football Association's cup competition for teams at levels 5–8 of the English football league system. The number of team entries for this season was initially 265, but this was reduced to 264 when Newcastle Blue Star withdrew.\n\nCalendar\n\nPreliminary round\n\nTies\n\nReplays\n\nFirst round qualifying\n\nTies\n\nReplays\n\nTies\n\nSecond round qualifying\n\nTies\n\nReplays\n\nTies\n\nThird round qualifying\n\nTies\n\nReplays\n\nFirst round\nThis round is the first in which Conference Premier teams join those from lower reaches of the National League System. Matches took place on 12 December. Since King's Lynn folded, Vauxhall Motors received a walkover to the second round.\n\nThe fixture between Maidstone United and Histon was postponed in December due to a waterlogged pitch and rearranged for 15 December. This match, however, did not go ahead because of a frozen pitch and neither did the third attempt at playing this fixture on 22 December. The match was then scheduled to take place on 5 January, but this was also postponed due to bad weather. The match was then scheduled to take place on 12 January, but was subsequently postponed once more. The game was eventually played on 19 January, resulting in a 3-0 win for Histon. However, on 25 January, Maidstone were re-instated in the competition after Histon were found to have fielded an ineligible player.\n\nTies\n\nReplays\n\nSecond round\nMatches were to take place on Saturday, 9 January 2010, but the bad weather that engulfed the country meant that all were postponed and rescheduled provisionally for between 11 and 13 January. Most of the games were further postponed to between 18 and 20 January.\n\nTies\n\nReplays\n\nThird round\n\nTies\n\nTies\n\nFourth round\nMatches took place on 20 February 2010. The match between Barrow and York City was postponed twice because of a frozen pitch.\n\nSemi-finals\n\nFirst leg\n\nSecond leg\n\nFinal\n\nReferences\n\nGeneral\n Football Club History Database: FA Trophy 2009-10\n\nLeague\n2009–10 domestic association football cups\n2009-10",
"The international friendly between the Albania and Kosovo national football teams on 14 February 1993 was the first match played by Kosovo after the partition of Football Federation of Kosovo from Football Association of Yugoslavia. It took place at the Selman Stërmasi Stadium in Tirana, Albania with 14,000 fans in attendance.\n\nBackground\nThis match for Albania was the first match in 1993 after they were mathematically eliminated from 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification, but it was also a pre-preparation before the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Northern Ireland, where were tested players who were expected to played or make their debut in the match against Northern Ireland as Artan Bano, Ilir Shulku, Xhevahir Kapllani and several other players, while for Kosovo, this match was the first match in 1993 after 18 years since the last match that Kosovo had played against Macedonia in 1975 Brotherhood and Unity Tournament Final, which Kosovo won as group leader.\n\nMatch\n\nOrganization\nThis match was scheduled to take place on 26 or 27 December 1992, but due to the non-participation of the general director of the Albanian Football Association, Eduard Dervishi, who was on an official trip, the date of the match was not decided. Meanwhile, on 19 January 1993, a delegation of the Football Federation of Kosovo composed of the head coach Ajet Shosholli, Enver Nuredini and Sejdi Merkoja met with the leaders of the Albanian Football Federation in a meeting that lasted until 20 January, when in same day a cooperation protocol was signed, where it was agreed that on 14 February there will be a friendly match between Albania and Kosovo which would take place at the Selman Stërmasi Stadium in the Albania's capital, Tirana.\n\nProblems with organizing of Kosovo national team's trip\nThe organized departure of the expedition by Kosovo was unachievable, because the bus would be stopped at the border by Serbian Police and would turn back and the match would fail. It was decided that each member of the expedition, individually, would travel to Skopje from where the collective departure to Albania would take place. Thus, the bus that was going to transport Kosovo crossed the Macedonian border and arrived in Skopje empty, but even though all this was done in secret, two SDB agents were at the Kosovo national team's meeting place which was in the Grand Hotel in Skopje, but fortunately pass without incident.\n\nSquads composition\nAll caps and goals as of 14 February 1993 after the match.\n\nAlbania\n\nKosovo\n\nSummary\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nMatch report at RSSSF \n\nInternational association football matches\nKosovo\nAlbania\nAlbania v Kosovo football match\n1992–93 in Albanian football"
]
|
[
"Chris Jericho",
"World Television Champion (1998-1999)",
"Who did Chris Jericho defeat to become the World Television Champion?",
"On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T).",
"Which wrestling league was Jericho in during this time period?",
"I don't know.",
"What is another notable match that he was in during the 1998 to 1999 time period?",
"On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan.",
"Where did this match take place?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_80c385dd71cd41db8abb719e54c2c991_1 | Did Jericho ever regain his World Television Championship? | 5 | Did Chris Jericho ever regain World Television Championship? | Chris Jericho | On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company. On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match. Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the title of the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War. CANNOTANSWER | Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) | Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Inner Circle stable. Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, he has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
During the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico. At the end of 1999, he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night. Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC and Elimination Chamber shows. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010.
Within the WWF/WWE, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the Undisputed WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year.
After his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. Jericho joined AEW in January 2019 and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year. All totalled, between ECW, WCW, WWE, NJPW and AEW, Jericho has held 36 championships (including seven World Championships, and 10 Intercontinental Championships).
In 1999, Jericho became lead vocalist of heavy metal band Fozzy, who released their eponymous debut album the following year. The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions, although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward. Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars. He hosted the ABC game show Downfall, the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
Early life
Christopher Keith Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York on November 9, 1970, the son of a Canadian couple. He is of Scottish descent from his father's side and Ukrainian descent from his mother's side. His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine, had been playing for the New York Rangers at the time of his birth. When his father retired, the family moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Irvine grew up. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenships. Irvine's interest in professional wrestling began when he started watching the local American Wrestling Association (AWA) events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become a professional wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart, then appearing with Stampede Wrestling, performing various high-flying moves. In addition, Irvine also cited Owen's older brother Bret, Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for his becoming a professional wrestler. His first experience with a professional wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of the ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda. He attended Red River College in Winnipeg, graduating in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Creative Communications.
Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (1990–1991)
At the age of 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling, where he met Lance Storm on his first day. He was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young.
Two months after completing training, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta as "Cowboy" Chris Jericho, on October 2, 1990, in a ten-minute time limit draw against Storm. The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called Sudden Impact. According to a February 2019 interview with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show, Jericho stated that his initial name was going to be "Jack Action" however, someone remarked to him that the name was stupid, they then asked him what his name really was, he then got nervous and said "Chris Jericho". He took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween. Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian) and Terry Gerin (Rhino). The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW).
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1991)
In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and other Mexican promotions (1992–1995)
In the winter of 1992, he traveled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro ("Golden Lion", a name that fans voted on for him between "He-Man", "Chris Power", and his preferred choice "Leon D'Oro"), and later Corazón de León ("Lion Heart"), where he wrestled for several small wrestling companies.
From 1993 to 1995, he competed in Mexico's oldest promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King, Negro Casas, and Último Dragón en route to an eleven-month reign as the NWA Middleweight Champion that began in December 1993.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1994)
1994 saw Jericho reunited with Storm, as The Thrillseekers in Jim Cornette's Appalachian Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion, where they feuded with the likes of Well Dunn, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, and The Heavenly Bodies.
Wrestling and Romance/WAR (1994–1996)
In late 1994, Jericho began competing regularly in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling and Romance (later known as Wrestle Association "R") (WAR) promotion as The Lion Heart. In November 1994, Último Dragón defeated him for the NWA World Middleweight Championship, which he had won while wrestling in Mexico.
In March 1995, Jericho lost to Gedo in the final of a tournament to crown the inaugural WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Gedo for the championship in June 1995, losing it to Último Dragón the next month. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Hanzo Nakajima in the first round, but losing to Wild Pegasus in the second round.
In 1995, Jericho joined the heel stable Fuyuki-Gun ("Fuyuki Army") with Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo, and Jado, adopting the name Lion Do. In February 1996, Jericho and Gedo won a tournament for the newly created International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, defeating Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in the final. They lost the championship to Storm and Yasuraoka the following month. Jericho made his final appearances with WAR in July 1996, having wrestled a total of twenty-four tours for the company.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996)
In 1995, thanks in part to recommendations by Benoit, Dave Meltzer and Perry Saturn, to promoter Paul Heyman, and after Mick Foley saw Jericho's match against Último Dragón for the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 1995 and gave a tape of the match to Heyman, Jericho began wrestling for the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, winning the ECW World Television Championship from Pitbull #2 in June 1996 at Hardcore Heaven. While in ECW, Jericho wrestled Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Foley (as Cactus Jack), Shane Douglas, and 2 Cold Scorpio. He made his final appearance at The Doctor Is In in August 1996. It was during this time that he drew the attention of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
World Championship Wrestling (1996 – 1999)
Early appearances (1996–1997)
Jericho debuted for WCW on August 20, 1996 by defeating Mr. JL, which aired on the August 31 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho's televised debut in WCW occurred on the August 26 episode of Monday Nitro against Alex Wright in a match which ended in a no contest. He made his pay-per-view debut on September 15 against Chris Benoit in a losing effort at Fall Brawl. The following month, at Halloween Havoc, Jericho lost to nWo member Syxx due to biased officiating by nWo referee Nick Patrick. This led to a match between Jericho and Patrick at World War 3, which stipulated that Jericho's one arm would be tied behind his back. Despite the odds stacked against him, Jericho won the match. Later that night, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match but failed to win the match.
Jericho represented WCW against nWo Japan member Masahiro Chono in a losing effort at the nWo Souled Out event. At SuperBrawl VII, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Guerrero for the United States Heavyweight Championship.
Cruiserweight Champion (1997–1998)
On June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx at the Saturday Nitro live event in Los Angeles, California to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time, thus winning the first championship of his WCW career. Jericho successfully defended the title against Ultimo Dragon at Bash at the Beach, before losing the title to Alex Wright on the July 28 episode of Monday Nitro. Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Wright for the title at Road Wild, before defeating Wright in a rematch to win his second Cruiserweight Championship on the August 16 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho began feuding with Eddie Guerrero over the title as he successfully defended the title against Guerrero at Clash of the Champions XXXV before losing the title to Guerrero at Fall Brawl. Jericho defeated Gedo at Halloween Havoc. At World War 3, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal but failed to win.
On the January 15, 1998 episode of Thunder, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero to earn a title shot against Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Championship at Souled Out. Jericho won the match by forcing Mysterio to submit to the Liontamer. After the match, Jericho turned heel by assaulting Mysterio's knee with a toolbox. In the storyline, Mysterio needed six months of recovery before he could return to the ring. Jericho then had a short feud with Juventud Guerrera in which Guerrera repeatedly requested a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship, but Jericho constantly rebuffed him. The feud culminated in a title versus mask match at SuperBrawl VIII. Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Following this match, Jericho began his ongoing gimmick of collecting and wearing to the ring trophy items from his defeated opponents, such as Guerrera's mask, Prince Iaukea's Hawaiian dress, and a headband from Disco Inferno.
Jericho then began a long feud with Dean Malenko, in which Jericho repeatedly claimed he was a better wrestler than Malenko, but refused to wrestle him. Because of his mastery of technical wrestling, Malenko was known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", so Jericho claimed to be "The Man of 1,004 Holds"; Jericho mentions in his autobiography that this line originated from an IWA interview he saw as a child, where manager Floyd Creatchman claimed that Leo Burke, the first professional wrestler to be known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", was now known as "The Man of 1,002 Holds", to which Floyd Creatchman stated that "he learned two more".
During the March 30, 1998 episode of Nitro, after defeating Marty Jannetty, Jericho pulled out a long pile of paper that listed each of the 1,004 holds he knew and recited them to the audience. Many of the holds were fictional, and nearly every other hold was an armbar. On the March 12, 1998 episode of Thunder, Malenko defeated a wrestler wearing Juventud Guerrera's mask who appeared to be Jericho. However, the masked wrestler was actually Lenny Lane, whom Jericho bribed to appear in the match. This started a minor feud between Lane and Jericho after Jericho refused to pay Lane. At Uncensored, Jericho finally wrestled Malenko and defeated him, after which Malenko took a leave of absence from wrestling. Jericho then proceeded to bring with him to the ring a portrait of Malenko that he insulted and demeaned. Just prior to Slamboree, J.J. Dillon (referred to by Jericho as "Jo Jo") scheduled a cruiserweight Battle Royal, the winner of which would immediately have a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho accepted on the grounds that whoever he faced would be too tired to win a second match. At Slamboree, Jericho came out to introduce the competitors in an insulting fashion before the match started and then went backstage for coffee. An individual who appeared to be Ciclope won the battle royal after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand and then eliminated himself. The winner was a returning Malenko in disguise. Following one of the loudest crowd reactions in WCW history, Malenko proceeded to defeat Jericho for the championship. Jericho claiming he was the victim of a carefully planned conspiracy to get the belt off of him. He at first blamed the WCW locker room, then added Dillon, Ted Turner, and finally in a vignette, he walked around Washington, D.C. with the sign "conspiracy victim" and accused President Bill Clinton of being one of the conspirators after being rejected from a meeting. Eventually, Malenko vacated the title. Jericho ended up defeating Malenko at The Great American Bash to win the vacant title after Malenko was disqualified after hitting Jericho with a chair. The next night, Malenko was suspended for his actions.
At Bash at the Beach, the recently returned Rey Mysterio Jr. (who had recovered from his knee injury) defeated Jericho in a No Disqualification match after the still-suspended Malenko interfered. Jericho regained the Cruiserweight Championship from Mysterio the next night after he interrupted J.J. Dillon while Dillon was giving the championship to Mysterio. Jericho was again awarded the championship. Eventually, Jericho decisively lost the title to Juventud Guerrera in a match at Road Wild with Malenko as special referee.
World Television Champion (1998–1999)
On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company.
On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois, house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match.
Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1997–1998)
In January 1997, Jericho made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), who had a working agreement with WCW, as Super Liger, the masked nemesis of Jyushin Thunder Liger. According to Jericho, Super Liger's first match against Koji Kanemoto at Wrestling World 1997 was so poorly received that the gimmick was dropped instantly. Jericho botched several moves in the match and complained he had difficulty seeing through the mask. The following six months, Jericho worked for New Japan unmasked, before being called back by WCW. On September 23, 1998, Jericho made a one-night-only return to NJPW at that years Big Wednesday show, teaming with Black Tiger against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a title match, which Jericho and Tiger lost.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1999 – 2005)
WWF Intercontinental Champion (1999–2001)
In the weeks before Jericho's debut, a clock labeled "countdown to the new millennium" appeared on WWF programming. On the home video, Break Down the Walls, Jericho states he was inspired to do this as his entrance when he saw a similar clock in a post office and Vince McMahon approved its use as his introduction to the WWF. The clock finally ran out on the August 9 episode of Raw Is War in Chicago, Illinois while The Rock was in the ring cutting a promo on the Big Show. Jericho entered the arena and proclaimed "Raw Is Jericho" and that he had "come to save the World Wrestling Federation", referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K bug). The Rock proceeded to verbally mock him for his interruption. Later that month, he would interact with several superstars including in particular interrupting a promo that The Undertaker was involved in, Jericho made his in-ring debut as a heel on August 26, losing a match against Road Dogg by disqualification on the inaugural episode of SmackDown! after he performed a powerbomb on Road Dogg through a table.
Jericho's first long-term feud was with Chyna, for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. After losing to Chyna at Survivor Series, Jericho defeated her to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship at Armageddon. This feud included a controversial decision during a rematch in which two separate referees declared each one of them the winner of a match for the title. As a result, they became co-champions, during which Jericho turned face. He attained sole champion status at the Royal Rumble.
Jericho lost the WWF Intercontinental title to then-European Champion Kurt Angle at No Way Out. Jericho competed in a Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Angle at WrestleMania 2000 in a two-falls contest with both of Angle's titles at stake. Jericho won the European Championship by pinning Benoit, who in turn pinned Jericho to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. This was the first of six pay-per-view matches between the pair within twelve months. Jericho was originally supposed to be in the main event of WrestleMania, but was taken out after Mick Foley, who was originally asked by writers to be in the match, took his place. Jericho was even advertised on the event's posters promoting the match. Jericho lost the title the next day to Eddie Guerrero on Raw after Chyna sided with Guerrero.
On the April 17 episode of Raw, Jericho upset Triple H in a WWF Championship match. Referee Earl Hebner made a fast count when Jericho pinned Triple H, causing Jericho to win the title. Hebner later reversed the decision due to pressure from Triple H, and WWE does not recognize Jericho's reign as champion. On April 19, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero at the Gary Albright Memorial Show organized by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). On the May 4 episode of SmackDown!, Jericho defeated Benoit to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship but lost the title to Benoit four days later on Raw. Jericho's feud with Triple H ended at Fully Loaded, when they competed in a Last Man Standing match. Jericho lost the match to Triple H only by one second, despite the repeated assistance Triple H's wife, Stephanie, provided him in the match.
At the 2001 Royal Rumble, Jericho defeated Chris Benoit in a ladder match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time. At WrestleMania X-Seven, he successfully defended his title in a match against William Regal, only to lose it four days later to Triple H. At Judgment Day, Jericho and Benoit won a tag team turmoil match and earned a shot at Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their WWF Tag Team Championship on Raw the next night. Benoit and Jericho won the match, in which Triple H legitimately tore his quadriceps, spending the rest of the year injured. Benoit and Jericho each became a WWF Tag Team Champion for the first time. The team defended their title in the first fatal four-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, where Benoit sustained a year-long injury after missing a diving headbutt through a table. Despite Benoit being carried out on a stretcher, he returned to the match to climb the ladder and retain the championship. The two lost the title one month later to The Dudley Boyz on the June 21 episode of SmackDown!. At King of the Ring, both Benoit and Jericho competed in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF Championship, in which Booker T interfered as the catalyst for The Invasion angle. Despite Booker T's interference, Austin retained the title.
Undisputed WWF Champion (2001–2002)
In the following months, Jericho became a major force in The Invasion storyline in which WCW and ECW joined forces to overtake the WWF. Jericho remained on the side of the WWF despite previously competing in WCW and ECW. However, Jericho began showing jealousy toward fellow WWF member The Rock. They faced each other in a match at No Mercy for the WCW Championship after Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam in a number one contenders match on the October 11 episode of SmackDown!. Jericho won the WCW Championship at No Mercy when he pinned The Rock after debuting a new finisher, the Breakdown, onto a steel chair, winning his first world title in the process. One night later, the two put their differences aside and won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz.
After they lost the titles to Test and Booker T on the November 1 episode of SmackDown!, they continued their feud. On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to regain the WCW Championship. Following the match, Jericho attacked The Rock with a steel chair. At Survivor Series, Jericho turned heel by almost costing Team WWF the victory after he was eliminated in their Winner Take All matchup by once again attacking The Rock. Despite this, Team WWF won the match. At Vengeance, Jericho defeated both The Rock for the World Championship (formerly the WCW Championship) and Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first WWF Championship on the same night to become the first wrestler to hold both championships at the same time, which made him the first-ever Undisputed WWF Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam winner under the original format. He retained the title at the Royal Rumble against The Rock and at No Way Out against Austin. Jericho later lost the title to Royal Rumble winner Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X8. Jericho was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the inaugural WWF draft lottery. He would then appear at Backlash, interfering in Triple H's Undisputed WWF Championship match against Hollywood Hulk Hogan. He was quickly dumped out the ring, but Triple H would go on to lose the match. This would lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Judgment Day in May, where Triple H would emerge victorious. Jericho would then compete in the 2002 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Edge and The Big Valbowski to advance to the semi-finals, where he was defeated by Rob Van Dam at King of the Ring. In July, he began a feud with the debuting John Cena, losing to him at Vengeance.
Teaming and feuding with Christian (2002–2004)
After his feud with Cena ended, Jericho moved to the Raw brand on the July 29 episode of Raw, unwilling to work for SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon. Upon his arrival to the brand, he initiated a feud with Ric Flair, leading to a match at SummerSlam, which Jericho lost. On the September 16 episode of Raw, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time from Rob Van Dam, before losing the title to Kane two weeks later on Raw. He then later formed a tag team with Christian, with whom he won the World Tag Team Championship by defeating Kane and The Hurricane on the October 14 episode of Raw. Christian and Jericho lost the titles to Booker T and Goldust in a fatal four-way elimination match, involving the teams of The Dudley Boyz, and William Regal and Lance Storm at Armageddon.
On the January 13 episode of Raw, Jericho won an over-the-top-rope challenge against Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Batista to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble match. He chose number two in order to start the match with Shawn Michaels, who had challenged him to prove Jericho's claims that he was better than Michaels. After Michaels's entrance, Jericho entered as the second participant. Christian, in Jericho's attire, appeared while the real Jericho attacked Shawn from behind. He eliminated Michaels shortly afterward, but Michaels got his revenge later in the match by causing Test to eliminate Jericho. Jericho spent the most time of any other wrestler in that same Royal Rumble. Jericho simultaneously feuded with Test, Michaels, and Jeff Hardy, defeating Hardy at No Way Out. Jericho and Michaels fought again at WrestleMania XIX, which Michaels won. Jericho, however, attacked Michaels with a low blow after the match following an embrace.
After this match, Jericho entered a rivalry with Goldberg, which was fueled by Goldberg's refusal to fight Jericho in WCW. During Jericho's first episode of the Highlight Reel, an interview segment, where Goldberg was the guest, he complained that no-one wanted Goldberg in WWE and continued to insult him in the following weeks. On the May 12 episode of Raw, a mystery assailant attempted to run over Goldberg with a limousine. A week later, Co-Raw General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, interrogated several Raw superstars to find out who was driving the car. One of the interrogates was Lance Storm, who admitted that he was the assailant. Austin forced Storm into a match with Goldberg, who defeated Storm. After the match, Goldberg forced Storm to admit that Jericho was the superstar who conspired Storm into running him over. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Goldberg was once again a guest on the Highlight Reel. Jericho expressed jealousy towards Goldberg's success in WCW and felt that since joining WWE, he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in his career and all that was left was to defeat Goldberg and challenged him to a match. At Bad Blood, Goldberg settled the score with Jericho and defeated him.
On the October 27 episode of Raw, Jericho won his sixth WWE Intercontinental Championship when he defeated Rob Van Dam. He lost the title back to Van Dam immediately after in a steel cage match. Later in 2003, Jericho started a romance with Trish Stratus while his tag team partner Christian began one with Lita. This, however, turned out to be a bet over who could sleep with their respective paramour first, with a Canadian dollar at stake. Stratus overheard this and ended her relationship with Jericho, who seemingly felt bad for using Stratus. After he saved her from an attack by Kane, Stratus agreed that the two of them could just be "friends", thus turning Jericho face. After Christian put Stratus in the Walls of Jericho while competing against her in a match, Jericho sought revenge on Christian, which led to a match at WrestleMania XX. Christian defeated Jericho after Stratus ran down and "inadvertently" struck Jericho (thinking it was Christian) and Christian got the roll-up. After the match, Stratus turned on Jericho and revealed that she and Christian were a couple. This revelation led to a handicap match at Backlash that Jericho won. Jericho won his record-breaking seventh WWE Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven in a ladder match against Christian, breaking the previous record held by Jeff Jarrett from 1999. Jericho's seventh reign was short lived, as he lost it at Taboo Tuesday to Shelton Benjamin.
World championship pursuits (2004–2005)
Jericho teamed up with Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, and Maven to take on Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky at Survivor Series. The match stipulated that each member of the winning team would be the general manager of Raw over the next four weeks. Jericho's team won, and took turns as general manager. During Jericho's turn as general manager, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated because a Triple Threat match for the title a week earlier ended in a draw. At New Year's Revolution, Jericho competed in the Elimination Chamber against Triple H, Chris Benoit, Batista, Randy Orton, and Edge for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho began the match with Benoit and eliminated Edge, but was eliminated by Batista. Triple H went on to win. At WrestleMania 21, Jericho participated in the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match. Jericho suggested the match concept, and he competed in the match against Benjamin, Benoit, Kane, Christian, and Edge. Jericho lost the match when Edge claimed the briefcase.
At Backlash, Jericho challenged Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but lost the match. Jericho lost to Lance Storm at ECW One Night Stand. Jericho used his old "Lionheart" gimmick, instead of his more well known "Y2J" gimmick. Jericho lost the match after Jason and Justin Credible hit Jericho with a Singapore cane, which allowed Storm to win the match. The next night on Raw, Jericho turned heel by betraying WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Christian and Tyson Tomko in a tag team match. Jericho lost a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Vengeance which also involved Christian and Cena. The feud continued throughout the summer and Jericho lost to Cena in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.
The next night on the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Cena for the WWE Championship again in a rematch, this time in a "You're fired" match. Cena won again, and Jericho was fired by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. Jericho was carried out of the arena by security as Kurt Angle attacked Cena. Jericho's WWE contract expired on August 25.
Return to WWE (2007–2010)
Feud with Shawn Michaels (2007–2008)
After a two-year hiatus, WWE promoted Jericho's return starting on the September 24, 2007 episode of Raw with a viral marketing campaign using a series of 15-second cryptic binary code videos, similar to the matrix digital rain used in The Matrix series. The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho. Jericho made his return to WWE television as a face on the November 19, 2007 episode of Raw when he interrupted Randy Orton during Orton's orchestrated "passing of the torch" ceremony. Jericho revealed his intentions to reclaim the WWE Championship in order to "save" WWE fans from Orton. On the November 26 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Santino Marella and debuted a new finishing move called the Codebreaker. At Armageddon, he competed in a WWE title match against Orton, defeating him by disqualification when SmackDown!s color commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) interfered in the match, but Orton retained the title. He began a feud with JBL and met him at the Royal Rumble. Jericho was disqualified after hitting JBL with a steel chair. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Jericho captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship for a record eighth time when he defeated Jeff Hardy.
In April 2008, Jericho became involved in the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Batista when he suggested that Michaels enjoyed retiring Ric Flair, causing Shawn Michaels to attack him. Jericho thus asked to be inserted into the match between Batista and Michaels at Backlash, but instead, he was appointed as the special guest referee. During the match at Backlash, Michaels feigned a knee injury so that Jericho would give him time to recover and lured Batista in for Sweet Chin Music for the win. After Backlash, Jericho accused Michaels of cheating, but Michaels continued to play up an injury. When Jericho was finally convinced and he apologized to Michaels for not believing him, Michaels then admitted to Jericho that he had faked his injury and he attacked Jericho with Sweet Chin Music. After losing to Michaels at Judgment Day, Jericho initiated a handshake after the match.
On the June 9 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel, interviewing Michaels. Jericho pointed out that Michaels was still cheered by the fans despite Michaels's deceit and attack on Jericho during the previous months, whereas Jericho was booed when he tried to do the right thing. Jericho then assaulted Michaels with a low blow and sent Michaels through the "Jeritron 6000" television, damaging the eye of Michaels, and turning heel in the process. This began what was named by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the "Feud of the Year". At Night of Champions, Jericho lost the WWE Intercontinental title to Kofi Kingston after a distraction by Michaels. In June, Jericho took on Lance Cade as a protégé.
World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2009)
Afterward, Jericho developed a suit-wearing persona inspired by Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh from the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and wrestler Nick Bockwinkel. Jericho and Michaels met at The Great American Bash, which Jericho won after attacking the cut on Michaels's eye. At SummerSlam, Michaels said that his eye damage would force him to retire and insulted Jericho by saying he would never achieve Michaels's success. Jericho tried to attack Michaels, but Michaels ducked, so Jericho punched Michaels's wife, Rebecca, instead. As a result, they fought in an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven, which Jericho lost by referee stoppage. Later that night, Jericho entered the Championship Scramble match as a late replacement for the defending champion CM Punk and subsequently won the World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Batista, John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Kane, and Rey Mysterio. It was announced that Michaels would challenge Jericho for the championship in a ladder match at No Mercy, which Jericho won. At Cyber Sunday on October 26, Jericho lost the title to Batista, but later won it back eight days later on the 800th episode of Raw in a steel cage match. Jericho defeated Michaels in a Last Man Standing match on the November 10 episode of Raw after interference from JBL. Jericho lost the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series to the returning John Cena. On the December 8 episode of Raw, Jericho was awarded the Slammy Award for 2008 Superstar of the Year award. Six days later, he lost his rematch with John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon.
At the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009, Jericho participated in the Royal Rumble match, but he was eliminated by the Undertaker. On February 15 at No Way Out, he competed in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but he failed to win as he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Following this, Jericho began a rivalry with veteran wrestlers Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper, as well as actor Mickey Rourke. Jericho was originally arranged to face Rourke at WrestleMania 25, but Rourke later pulled out of the event. Instead, Jericho defeated Piper, Snuka and Steamboat in a 3-on-1 elimination handicap match at WrestleMania, but was knocked out by Rourke after the match.
On the April 13 episode of Raw, Jericho was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 WWE draft. Jericho then faced Steamboat in a singles match at Backlash, where Jericho was victorious. In May, Jericho started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, leading to a match at Judgment Day, which Jericho lost. However, Jericho defeated Mysterio in a No Holds Barred Match at Extreme Rules to win his ninth Intercontinental Championship, breaking his own record again. At The Bash, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Mysterio in a mask vs. title match.
Jeri-Show and feud with Edge (2009–2010)
Later in the event, Jericho and his partner Edge won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship as surprise entrants in a triple threat tag team match. As a result of this win, Jericho became the first wrestler to win every (original) Grand Slam eligible championship. Shortly thereafter Edge suffered an injury and Jericho revealed a clause in his contract to allow Edge to be replaced and Jericho's reign to continue uninterrupted. At Night of Champions, Jericho revealed Big Show as his new tag team partner, creating a team that would come to called Jeri-Show. The duo defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the championship. Jeri-Show successfully defended the title against Cryme Tyme at SummerSlam, MVP and Mark Henry at Breaking Point and Rey Mysterio and Batista at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series, both Jericho and Big Show took part in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but the Undertaker successfully retained the title. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Jeri-Show lost the tag titles to D-Generation X (D-X) (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. As a member of the SmackDown brand, Jericho could only appear on Raw as a champion and D-X intentionally disqualified themselves in a rematch to force Jericho off the show. On the January 4, 2010 of Raw, D-X defeated Jeri-Show to retain the championship once again, marking the end of Jeri-Show.
Jericho entered the 2010 Royal Rumble match on January 31, but was eliminated by the returning Edge, his former tag team partner, who went on to win the match. At Elimination Chamber, Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, defeating The Undertaker, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and R-Truth following interference from Shawn Michaels. The next night on Raw, Edge used his Royal Rumble win to challenge Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVI. Jericho defeated Edge at WrestleMania to retain the title, but lost the championship to Jack Swagger on the following episode of SmackDown, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Jericho then failed to regain the title from Swagger in a triple-threat match also involving Edge on the April 16 episode of SmackDown. Jericho and Edge continued their feud leading into Extreme Rules, where Jericho was defeated in a steel cage match.
Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2010 WWE draft. He formed a brief tag team with The Miz and unsuccessfully challenged The Hart Dynasty for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at Over the Limit. A month later, Jericho lost to Evan Bourne at Fatal 4-Way, but won a rematch during the following night on Raw, where he put his career on the line. On the July 19 episode of Raw, after being assaulted by The Nexus, Jericho teamed with rivals Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan and Bret Hart in a team led by John Cena to face The Nexus at SummerSlam. Jericho and Cena bickered over leadership of the team, which led to him and Edge attacking Cena during the SummerSlam match that they won.
Jericho was punished for not showing solidarity against Nexus, when he was removed from a Six-Pack Challenge for Sheamus's WWE Championship at Night of Champions. Although he re-earned his place in the match after defeating The Hart Dynasty in a handicap steel cage match, he was the first man eliminated from the match at Night of Champions. On the September 27 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Randy Orton who punted him in the head. This was used to explain Jericho's departure from the company.
Second return to WWE (2011–2018)
Feud with CM Punk (2011–2012)
Beginning in November 2011, WWE aired cryptic vignettes that promoted a wrestler's return on the January 2, 2012 episode of Raw. On his return, after hyping the crowd and relishing their cheers for a prolonged period, Jericho left without verbally addressing his return. After exhibiting similar odd behavior in the proceeding two weeks, Jericho spoke on the January 23 episode of Raw to say, "This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it is going to be the end of the world as you know it", but in the Royal Rumble match, he was eliminated last, by Sheamus. On the January 30 episode of Raw, Jericho began a feud with WWE Champion CM Punk after attacking him during his match with Daniel Bryan. He explained his actions by claiming other wrestlers in WWE were imitating him and named Punk as the worst offender.
At Elimination Chamber, Jericho participated in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, entering last and eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston before being knocked out of the structure by Punk, which injured him and removed him from the match without being eliminated. The following night on Raw, Jericho won a ten-man battle royal to become the number one contender for Punk's WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII. In a bid to psychologically unsettle Punk, Jericho revealed that Punk's father was an alcoholic and Punk's sister was a drug addict, which contradicted Punk's straight edge philosophy; Jericho vowed to make Punk turn to alcohol by winning Punk's title from him. At WrestleMania, a stipulation was added that Punk would lose his WWE Championship if he was disqualified. During the match, Jericho unsuccessfully tried to taunt Punk into disqualifying himself, and Punk won the match.
Jericho continued his feud with Punk in the weeks that followed by attacking and dousing him with alcohol after his matches. At Extreme Rules, Jericho failed again to capture the WWE Championship from Punk in a Chicago Street Fight.
Championship pursuits (2012–2013)
Jericho faced Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus in a fatal four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Over the Limit, where Sheamus retained his title. On May 24 at a WWE live event in Brazil, Jericho wrestled a match against CM Punk, during which Jericho kicked a Brazilian flag, causing local police to intervene and threaten Jericho with arrest. Jericho issued an apology to the audience, enabling the event to resume. The following day, WWE suspended Jericho for 30 days while apologizing to the people and government of Brazil. Jericho returned on the June 25 episode of Raw, and his absence was explained by a European tour with his band Fozzy which happened to coincide with his suspension. At Money in the Bank, Jericho participated in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but failed to win as John Cena won. The following night on Raw, Jericho confronted newly crowned Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler, who claimed that Jericho had lost his touch. Jericho attacked Ziggler with a Codebreaker, thus turning face in the process. At SummerSlam, Jericho defeated Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Ziggler defeated Jericho in a rematch and, as a result, Ziggler retained his Money in the Bank contract and Jericho's WWE contract was terminated as per a pre match stipulation put in place by Raw General Manager, AJ Lee. This was used to write him off so he could tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year.
On January 27, 2013, Jericho returned after a five-month hiatus entering the Royal Rumble match as the second entrant. Jericho lasted over 47 minutes before being eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Jericho later revealed to Ziggler that due to a managerial change on Raw, he had been rehired by Vickie Guerrero, resuming his feud with Ziggler. Guerrero then paired the two in a match against WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). The match ended with Ziggler being pinned by Kane after Jericho framed him for pushing Kane. After beating Daniel Bryan on the February 11 episode of Raw, Jericho qualified for the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber (in which the winner would go on to be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29), where he was the fourth man eliminated. On the March 11 episode of Raw, Jericho faced The Miz in a No. 1 contenders match for Wade Barrett's WWE Intercontinental Championship, but the match was ruled a no contest after Barrett interfered and attacked both men. Both men then faced Barrett the following week on Raw, where he retained his title. Earlier in the episode, Jericho had a run-in with Fandango which led to Fandango costing him his match with Jack Swagger and attacking him four days later on SmackDown. At WrestleMania 29, Jericho was defeated by Fandango. They continued their feud in the following weeks, until Jericho defeated Fandango at Extreme Rules. He then faced the returning CM Punk at Payback, where he was defeated. Jericho then began feuding with Ryback, which led to a singles match on July 14 at Money in the Bank, where Ryback emerged victorious. On the July 19 episode of SmackDown, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Curtis Axel for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and was afterwards attacked by Ryback. This was done to write Jericho off television as he was taking a temporary hiatus to tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year and possibly January and February.
In a November interview for WWE.com, Jericho revealed that he would not be a full-time wrestler due to his musical and acting ventures.
Various sporadic feuds (2014–2016)
After an eleven-month hiatus, Jericho returned on the June 30, 2014 episode of Raw, attacking The Miz, who had also returned minutes earlier. The Wyatt Family then interrupted and ultimately attacked Jericho. Jericho faced Bray Wyatt at Battleground in a winning effort. At SummerSlam, with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan banned from ringside, Wyatt picked up the victory. On the September 8 episode of Raw, Jericho lost to Wyatt in a steel cage match, ending the feud. Jericho then feuded with Randy Orton, who had attacked him the week before after his match against Wyatt in the trainers room. Orton defeated him at Night of Champions. Throughout the rest of October and November, Jericho wrestled exclusively at live events, defeating Bray Wyatt. Jericho returned to WWE television in December as the guest general manager of the December 15 episode of Raw. Jericho booked himself in a street fight against Paul Heyman in the main event, which led to the return of Brock Lesnar. Before the match could begin, Lesnar attacked Jericho with an F-5.
In January 2015, Jericho revealed that he signed an exclusive WWE contract, under which he would compete at 16 house shows only. He later signed a similar contract once the former expired and competed at house shows throughout the rest of 2015. During this time he wrestled against the likes of Luke Harper, Kevin Owens and King Barrett in winning efforts. In May 2015, Jericho was one of the hosts of Tough Enoughs sixth season. Jericho also hosted two Live! With Chris Jericho specials on the WWE Network during 2015; his guests were John Cena and Stephanie McMahon. Jericho made his televised return at The Beast in the East, defeating Neville. At Night of Champions, Jericho was revealed as the mystery partner of Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, facing The Wyatt Family in a losing effort. On October 3, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Live from Madison Square Garden. The match marked 20 years since Jericho's debut with ECW while also celebrating his 25th year as a professional wrestler in total.
On the January 4, 2016 episode of Raw, Jericho returned to in-ring competition full-time and confronted The New Day. At the 2016 Royal Rumble, Jericho entered as the sixth entrant, lasting over 50 minutes, before being eliminated by Dean Ambrose. On the January 25 episode of Raw, Jericho faced the recently debuted AJ Styles in a losing effort. Following the match, after initial hesitation by Jericho, the pair shook hands. On the February 11 episode of SmackDown, Jericho defeated Styles. At Fastlane, Styles was victorious in a third match between the pair. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Jericho and Styles formed a tag team, dubbed Y2AJ. Following their loss against The New Day on the March 7 episode of Raw, Jericho attacked Styles, ending their alliance, claiming that he was sick of the fans chanting for Styles instead of him, turning heel in the process. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 32, where Jericho defeated Styles. However, on the April 4 episode of Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal-four-way match against Styles, Kevin Owens and Cesaro to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort after being pinned by Styles, ending their feud.
The following week on Raw, Dean Ambrose interrupted The Highlight Reel, handing Jericho a note from Shane McMahon replacing the show with The Ambrose Asylum, igniting a feud between the two. During this time, Jericho tweaked his gimmick. He became arrogant and childish while wearing expensive scarfs and calling everyone who appeased him "stupid idiots". At Payback, Jericho faced Ambrose in a losing effort. After attacking one another and Ambrose destroying Jericho's light-up ring jacket, Jericho was challenged by Ambrose to an Asylum match at Extreme Rules, where Ambrose again defeated Jericho after Jericho was thrown in a pile of thumbtacks. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Apollo Crews to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where Jericho was unsuccessful as the match was won by Ambrose. On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand. At Battleground on July 24, Jericho hosted a Highlight Reel segment with the returning Randy Orton, where he took an RKO from Orton after he insulted him. The next night on Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the newly created WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, but he was unsuccessful, as Roman Reigns won the match.
The List of Jericho (2016–2017)
Jericho then entered a feud with Enzo and Cass and on the August 1 episode of Raw, he teamed with Charlotte to defeat Enzo Amore and then WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks in a mixed tag team match, after which Big Cass made the save as Jericho continued the assault on Amore. The following week on Raw, Jericho allied with Kevin Owens and later defeated Amore via disqualification when Cass interfered. This led to a tag team match at SummerSlam, where Jericho and Owens defeated Enzo and Cass. On the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho interfered in Owens's match against Neville, allowing him to qualify for the fatal four-way match to determine the new WWE Universal Champion on the August 29 episode of Raw, which Owens won.
On the September 12 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted an episode of The Highlight Reel with Sami Zayn as his guest, who questioned his alliance with Owens, resulting in Jericho defending Owens and attacking Zayn. On the September 19 episode of Raw, as a result of feeling that he was being treated unjustly by General Manager Mick Foley, as well as other wrestlers beginning to annoy him, Jericho began a list called "The List of Jericho", where he wrote down the name of the person that bothered him and why. If someone annoyed Jericho, he would ask "you know what happens?" before shouting "you just made the list!" and writing the person's name down. The List of Jericho soon became incredibly popular with the fans, with many critics describing Jericho and his list as "easily one of the best moments of Raw's broadcast". At Clash of Champions on September 25, Jericho defeated Zayn and assisted Owens in his Universal Championship defense against Seth Rollins. At Hell in a Cell on October 30, Jericho aided Owens in retaining the Universal Championship against Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match after Owens sprayed a fire extinguisher at the referee, allowing Jericho to enter the cell.
Jericho teamed with Owens, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins as part of Team Raw at Survivor Series on November 20, in a losing effort. The next night on Raw, despite being banned from ringside, Jericho showed up in a Sin Cara mask and attacked Rollins, in another successful title defense for Owens. The following week on Raw, tensions between Jericho and Owens arose after both said that they did not need each other anymore, and Jericho was later attacked by Rollins in the parking lot. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, Jericho lost to Rollins after Owens failed in his attempt to help him, Later that night, Jericho intentionally attacked Owens to prevent Reigns from winning the title. After both Jericho and Owens failed to win the WWE United States Championship from Reigns in multiple singles matches in late 2016, Jericho pinned Reigns in a handicap match also involving Owens on the January 9 episode of Raw to win the WWE United States Championship. Thus, Jericho won his first championship in nearly seven years and also become Grand Slam winner under the current format. Due to interfering multiple times in Owens's matches, Jericho was suspended above the ring in a shark proof cage during Reigns's rematch at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Owens nonetheless retained the championship after Braun Strowman, taking advantage of the added no disqualification stipulation, interfered. Also at the event, Jericho entered as the second entrant in the Royal Rumble match, lasting over an hour (thus breaking the record with a cumulative time of over five hours) and being the third to last before being eliminated by Reigns.
In February, tensions grew between Jericho and Owens after Jericho accepted a Universal Championship challenge from Goldberg on Owens's behalf, much to the latter's dismay. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Jericho held a "Festival of Friendship" for Owens, who was not impressed and viciously attacked Jericho, ending their alliance. Jericho returned at Fastlane on March 5, distracting Owens during his match with Goldberg and causing Owens to lose the Universal Championship, turning face again in the process. This led to a match between Jericho and Owens being arranged for WrestleMania 33 on April 2, with Jericho's United States Championship on the line. At WrestleMania, Jericho lost the United States Championship to Owens. At Payback on April 30, Jericho defeated Owens to regain the title and moved to the SmackDown brand, but lost it back to him two nights later on SmackDown. Following the match, Owens attacked Jericho, who was carried out on a stretcher. Thus, Jericho was written off television so he could fulfill his commitments to tour with and promote his new album with Fozzy. Jericho made a surprise return at a house show in Singapore on June 28, where he lost to Hideo Itami.
Final matches and departure (2017–2018)
On the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Jericho made his televised return, interrupting an altercation between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to get his rematch for Owens' WWE United States Championship. Later that night, Jericho participated in a triple threat match against Owens and Styles for the title in which Jericho was pinned by Styles. Show took place in Richmond, Virginia and was Jericho's last in-ring appearance for WWE in the United States.
On January 22, 2018 during the 25th Anniversary of Raw, Jericho appeared backstage in a segment with Elias, putting him on The List of Jericho. At the Greatest Royal Rumble, Jericho was the last entrant in the 50-man Royal Rumble match, eliminating Shelton Benjamin before being eliminated by the eventual winner Braun Strowman. This event marked Jericho's final appearance with WWE.
In September 2019, during an interview for the Mature Audiences Mayhem Podcast, Jericho revealed the exact point when he decided he was going to leave the WWE. Even though Jericho was with the WWE for 15 years, the final insult came at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Despite the fact that Jericho and Kevin Owens had the best feud of the year, their match was demoted by placing it on the second place on the WrestleMania match card. The decision made by Vince McMahon was a big insult for Jericho and that prompted him to seek work elsewhere. Jericho reflecting his WWE departure stated:
"Originally, that was going to be the main event for the world title. Kevin Owens was the champion and I was going to beat him in the main event of WrestleMania as a babyface." Instead of having Jericho and Owens as the main event, Vince decided to put Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar on the main card. "Vince said that it’s going to be me versus Kevin Owens for the world title at WrestleMania and you are going to win the title, f*** yeah! Next week, he doesn’t tell me, but I hear that it’s changed to Brock Lesnar versus Bill Goldberg for the title. And not only did they take us out of the main event – and, once again, just because I was told I have no right to it and things change all the time, I’m a big boy, I can handle it. But to take us from the main event slot and then move us to the second match on the card on a card that has 12 matches on it? I was like, that’s a f***ing insult."
Return to NJPW (2017–2020)
Feud with Kenny Omega (2017–2018)
On November 5, 2017, Jericho returned to NJPW in a pre-taped vignette, challenging Kenny Omega to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. The challenge was immediately accepted by Omega and made official by NJPW the following day as a title match for Omega's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The match, dubbed "Alpha vs. Omega", was Jericho's first match outside of WWE since he left WCW in July 1999. Journalist Dave Meltzer wrote that Jericho's WWE contract had expired and that he was a "free agent". NJPW also referred to Jericho as a free agent. In contrast, the Tokyo Sports newspaper described an anonymous NJPW official saying that Jericho is still under contract with WWE, and that WWE chairman Vince McMahon had given him permission to wrestle this match in NJPW. This was his first NJPW match in nearly 20 years. Jericho returned in person at the December 11 World Tag League show, attacking and bloodying Omega after his match, while also laying out a referee, a young lion and color commentator Don Callis, establishing himself as a heel. The following day at the Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome press conference, Jericho and Omega would get into a second physical altercation. Because of the two incidents, NJPW turned the January 4 match into a no disqualification match. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Omega. It was later revealed that the match was awarded a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This was the first of his career.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion (2018–2019)
The night after Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome at New Year Dash!! 2018, Jericho attacked Tetsuya Naito. On May 4, Jericho once again attacked Naito at Wrestling Dontaku, leading to a match between the two at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, in which he defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. At King of Pro-Wrestling, Jericho attacked Evil before his match against Zack Sabre Jr. Backstage, Jericho challenged Evil to an IWGP Intercontinental Championship title match at Power Struggle. At the event, Jericho made Evil submit to the Liontamer to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Jericho refused to release the hold until Tetsuya Naito ran in for the save and challenged Jericho. Despite Jericho stating that Naito would not receive a rematch, the match was made official for Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. On December 15, NJPW held a press conference for Jericho and Naito's IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. The press conference ended when Naito spat water in Jericho's face, which resulted in the two then brawling before being separated. Later that same day during a Road to Tokyo Dome show, Jericho laid out Naito with steel chair shots, and after stated that at Wrestle Kingdom 13 he would end Tetsuya Naito's career. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Naito, losing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the process.
Sporadic appearances (2019–2020)
At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jericho challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was defeated. Following the match, Jericho attacked Okada, leading to Hiroshi Tanahashi making the save. Jericho returned at Power Struggle on November 3 and challenged Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14. On December 28, it was announced that if Tanahashi were to defeat Jericho, he would be granted an AEW World Championship match at a later date. During the second night of Wrestle Kingdom on January 5, 2020, Jericho defeated Tanahashi.
Return to the independent circuit (2018–2019)
On September 1, 2018, Jericho (disguised as Penta El Zero) appeared at the All In show promoted by Cody and The Young Bucks, where he attacked Kenny Omega following Omega's victory over Penta to promote his upcoming Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise.
In October 2018, Jericho organized Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a series of professional wrestling matches originating from Jericho's cruise ship, which embarked from Miami, Florida and featured wrestlers from Ring of Honor.
On May 3, 2019, Jericho appeared at a Southern Honor Wrestling event, where he was attacked by Kenny Omega.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)
Inaugural AEW World Champion (2019–2020)
On January 8, 2019, Jericho made a surprise appearance at a media event organized by the upstart All Elite Wrestling (AEW) promotion. Shortly afterwards, Jericho was filmed signing a full-time performers three-year contract with AEW and shaking hands with the company's President Tony Khan. Jericho defeated Kenny Omega at the promotion's inaugural event Double or Nothing on May 25, and went on to defeat Adam Page at All Out to become the inaugural AEW World Champion.
On the premiere episode of Dynamite on October 2, Jericho allied himself with Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz, creating a stable that would be known as The Inner Circle. Jericho would make successful title defences against Darby Allin on the October 16 episode of Dynamite and Cody at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9. On the episode of Dynamite after Full Gear, Jericho and Guevara challenged SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win when Sky pinned Jericho with a small package, thus suffering his first loss in AEW. Jericho would successfully retain the AEW World Championship against Sky on the November 27 episode of Dynamite.
In December, The Inner Circle began to attempt to entice Jon Moxley to join the group. On the January 8, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Moxley initially joined the group, however, this was later revealed to be a ruse from Moxley as he attacked Jericho and Sammy Guevara. Moxley then became the number one contender for Jericho's championship at Revolution on February 29, where Moxley defeated Jericho to win the title, ending his inaugural AEW World Championship reign at 182 days.
Feud with MJF (2020–2021)
After losing the championship, Jericho and The Inner Circle began a feud with The Elite (Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks), who recruited the debuting Matt Hardy to oppose them. At Double or Nothing on May 23, The Inner Circle were defeated by Page, Omega, The Young Bucks and Hardy in a Stadium Stampede match. Jericho next began a rivalry with Orange Cassidy, with Jericho defeating him at Fyter Fest on July 8, but losing a rematch on the August 12 episode of Dynamite. The two faced once again at All Out on September 5, in a Mimosa Mayhem match, which Jericho lost.
Beginning in October, Jericho began a feud with MJF, who requested to join the Inner Circle, despite disapproval from Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz. Jericho and MJF wrestled in a match at the Full Gear event on November 7, which MJF won, thus allowing him to join the Inner Circle. At Beach Break on February 3, 2021, Jericho and MJF won a tag team battle royal to become the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the Revolution event against The Young Bucks, which they were unsuccessful in winning. On the March 10 episode of Dynamite, MJF betrayed and left The Inner Circle after revealing he had been secretly plotting against them and building his own stable, The Pinnacle—consisting of Wardlow, Shawn Spears and FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood). At Blood and Guts on May 5, The Inner Circle lost to The Pinnacle in the inaugural Blood and Guts match. However, in the main event of Double or Nothing later that month, The Inner Circle defeated The Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match, after Sammy Guevara pinned Shawn Spears. Jericho then began pursuing another match with MJF, who stated that he would first have to defeat a gauntlet of opponents selected by MJF, in a series dubbed the "Labors of Jericho". Jericho would defeat each of MJF's handpicked opponents (Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow) and faced MJF in the final labor on the August 18 episode of Dynamite, but he was defeated. Jericho demanded one more match, stipulating that if he lost, he would retire from in-ring competition, which MJF accepted. At All Out on September 5, Jericho defeated MJF to maintain his career and end their feud.
Various feuds (2021–present)
Following All Out, The Inner Circle started a rivalry with Men of the Year (Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky), and their ally, mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Dan Lambert. Lambert also brought in members of his MMA team American Top Team (ATT) to oppose The Inner Circle, including Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos. At the Full Gear event on November 13, The Inner Circle defeated Men of the Year and ATT in a Minneapolis Street Fight.
Legacy
Known for his over-the-top, rock star persona, Jericho has been described by multiple industry commentators as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Journalist Chris Van Vliet noted that his name is "always thrown around as the GOAT [greatest of all time], or at least one of the GOATs", with Van Vliet himself asserting that Jericho is "if not the best, certainly one of the best". Todd Martin of the Pro Wrestling Torch remarked, to agreement from editor Wade Keller, that Jericho is "one of the great wrestlers of all time" and in "a lofty category", while likening his oeuvre to those of WWE Hall of Famers Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase and Dory Funk Jr. Praised for his ability to continually evolve his gimmick, Jericho was dubbed by KC Joyner of ESPN as "wrestling's David Bowie".
Various outlets have included Jericho in lists of the greatest wrestlers ever. Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Eck, who has also served as editor of WCW Magazine and a WWE producer, featured Jericho in his "Top 10 favorite wrestlers of all time" and "Top 10 all-around performers"—the former piece noting that Jericho is "regarded as one of the very best talkers in the business". Keisha Hatchett in TV Guide wrote that Jericho "owns the mic with cerebral insults" and is set apart from peers by "his charismatic presence, which is highlighted by a laundry list of unforgettable catchphrases". He was voted by Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) readers as "Best on Interviews" for the 2000s decade, coinciding with his 2010 induction into the WON Hall of Fame. Fans also named Jericho the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champion of all time in a 2013 WWE poll, affording him a landslide 63% victory over the other four contenders (Mr. Perfect, The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude and Pat Patterson).
A number of Jericho's industry colleagues have hailed him as one of the greatest wrestlers in history. Stone Cold Steve Austin lauded his consistently "dynamic" promos and in-ring work, while arguing that he should be considered among the 10 best ever. Kenny Omega asserted that Jericho "has a legit argument for being the best of all time", based on his ability to achieve success and notoriety across numerous territories. Jon Moxley said, "Jericho is really making a case for being the greatest of all time... he's doing it again, he's doing something completely new, and breaking new barriers still here in 2020." Matt Striker pointed to Jericho's "magnanimous" nature as a contributing factor to his status as an all-time great; his willingness to impart knowledge was commended by James Ellsworth, who described Jericho as an "outstanding human being" and a childhood favorite. Kevin Owens stated that "Jericho was always someone I looked up to", while The Miz affirmed that he was part of a generation of young wrestlers who sought to "emulate" Jericho.
WWE declared Jericho a "marquee draw" with a "reputation as one of the best ever". As of 2019, he is one of the ten most prolific pay-per-view performers in company history.
After Jericho signed with All Elite Wrestling, it was said his role was similar to Terry Funk in ECW, as an experienced veteran bringing credibility to a younger promotion. Jericho was credited as one of the key attractions of AEW's weekly television broadcasts, leading to him adopting the nickname "The Demo God" due to many of the segments he appeared in being some of the highest viewed in the key demographics. He was voted as the Best Box Office Draw by readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2019.
Music career
Jericho is the lead singer for the heavy metal band Fozzy. Since their debut album in 2000, Fozzy have released seven studio albums; Fozzy, Happenstance, All That Remains, Chasing the Grail, Sin and Bones, Do You Wanna Start a War, Judas, and one live album, Remains Alive.
In 2005, Jericho performed vocals on a cover of "The Evil That Men Do" on the Iron Maiden tribute album, Numbers from the Beast. He made a guest appearance on Dream Theater's album, Systematic Chaos on the song "Repentance", as one of several musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings in the past.
In the mid-1990s, Jericho wrote a monthly column for Metal Edge magazine focused on the heavy metal scene. The column ran for about a year. He started his own weekly XM Satellite Radio show in March 2005 called The Rock of Jericho, which aired Sunday nights on XM 41 The Boneyard.
Discography
Albums with Fozzy
Fozzy (2000)
Happenstance (2002)
All That Remains (2005)
Chasing the Grail (2010)
Sin and Bones (2012)
Do You Wanna Start a War (2014)
Judas (2017)
Live albums
Remains Alive (2009)
As guest
Don't You Wish You Were Me? - WWE Originals (2004)
King of the Night Time World - Spin the Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to Kiss (2004) * With Rich Ward, Mike Inez, Fred Coury
Bullet for My Valentine – Temper Temper – Dead to the World (2013)
Devin Townsend – Dark Matters (2014)
Michael Sweet – I'm Not Your Suicide – Anybody Else (2014)
Other endeavors
Film, theater, comedy, and writing
In 2000, a WWE produced VHS tape documenting Jericho's career titled Break Down the Walls was released. He later received two three disc sets profiling matches and interviews.
On June 24, 2006, Jericho premiered in his first Sci-Fi Channel movie Android Apocalypse alongside Scott Bairstow and Joey Lawrence.
Jericho debuted as a stage actor in a comedy play Opening Night, which premiered at the Toronto Centre for the Arts during July 20–22, 2006 in Toronto. During his stay in Toronto, Jericho hosted the sketch comedy show Sunday Night Live with sketch troupe The Sketchersons at The Brunswick House.
Jericho was also the first wrestler attached and interviewed for the wrestling documentary, Bloodstained Memoirs. The interview was recorded in the UK during a Fozzy tour in 2006.
Jericho wrote his autobiography, A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex, which was released on October 25, 2007 and became a New York Times bestseller. It covers Jericho's life and wrestling career up to his debut in the WWE. Jericho's second autobiography, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, was released on February 16, 2011, and covers his wrestling career since his WWE debut. On October 14, 2014 Jericho's third book, The Best In The World...At What I Have No Idea, was released. It covers some untold stories of the "Save Us" era, his Fozzy career, and his multiple returns from 2011 to 2013. Jericho's fourth book, No Is a Four-Letter Word: How I Failed Spelling but Succeeded in Life, was released on August 29, 2017 and details twenty valuable lessons Jericho learned throughout his career as a wrestler and musician.
Jericho appeared in the 2009 film Albino Farm. In the film MacGruber, released May 21, 2010, he briefly appeared as Frank Korver, a former military teammate of the eponymous Green Beret, Navy Seal, and Army Ranger.
Jericho released a comedy web series on October 29, 2013 that is loosely based on his life entitled But I'm Chris Jericho! Jericho plays a former wrestler, struggling to make it big as an actor. A second season was produced in 2017 by CBC and distributed over CBC's television app and CBC.ca.
In 2016, Jericho starred in the documentary film Nine Legends alongside Mike Tyson and other wrestlers.
In August 2018, Jericho was confirmed to star in the film Killroy Was Here.
On March 14, 2019, filmmaker Kevin Smith cast Jericho as a KKK Grand Wizard in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Television
Jericho was a contributor to the VH1 pop culture shows Best Week Ever, I Love the '80s, and VH1's top 100 artists.
Jericho also hosted the five-part, five-hour VH1 special 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, an update of the original special 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock N' Roll first hosted by Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray.
On July 12, 2006, he made an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show!; he made a second appearance on August 21, 2009. In May 2006, Jericho appeared on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and Heavy: The Story of Metal as a commentator.
He was one of eight celebrities in the 2006 Fox Television singing reality show Celebrity Duets, produced by Simon Cowell, and was the first contestant eliminated. Jericho worked at a McDonald's to show off his skills while prepping for the show.
Jericho hosted his own reality show in 2008 titled Redemption Song, in which 11 women tried their hand at getting into the music scene. It was shown on Fuse TV.
He guest starred as Billy "The Body Bag" Cobb in "Xero Control", an episode of the Disney XD 2009 original series Aaron Stone.
He hosted VH1's 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, which began airing in December 2009. In June 2010, Jericho was named the host of the ABC prime-time game show Downfall.
On March 1, 2011, Chris Jericho was named one of the contestants on the 2011 lineup of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was two-time champion Cheryl Burke. This led to a wave of publicity, including an interview with Jay Leno. On April 26, Jericho was the fifth contestant eliminated on the show.
On May 5, Jericho made his third appearance as a guest on Attack of the Show! where he depicted Thor. He promoted Undisputed and hosted the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on May 28 on VH1 Classic. On January 17, 2012, Jericho made his fourth appearance on Attack of the Show! in a segment called "Twitter Twister" where he portrayed a character called "The Twistercutioner" and read tweets as instructions for a game of Twister between Kevin and Candace. Jericho hosted the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
On February 26, 2013, Jericho began hosting a robot combat competition program on SyFy titled Robot Combat League the series ended on April 23, 2015.
Talk Is Jericho podcast
In December 2013, Jericho began hosting his own podcast, Talk is Jericho. Episodes usually include a loosely scripted monolog before an interview, typically with a wrestler, rock musician or paranormal expert. The show originally appeared on PodcastOne, before moving to the WestwoodOne network in 2018. Notable guests on the show include Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Lemmy from Motörhead, Paul Stanley from KISS, Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures, pornographic actress Asa Akira, writer/director Kevin Smith and many former and current wrestlers.
In April 2015, Jericho hosted his own video podcast on the WWE Network, Live! with Chris Jericho, with John Cena as his first guest, followed by Stephanie McMahon as his guest later that same month.
Once he signed with AEW, he was no longer allowed WWE performers as guests on the podcast.
Web
On August 10, 2019, Jericho launched his own dirtsheet website called WebIsJericho.com. The website is dedicated to the memory of Axl Rotten.
In May 2020, Jericho officially joined as a competitor of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown under manager Roxy Striar in the Roxstars faction. Jericho first expressed interest in the Schmoedown following an appearance on Collider Live with Striar and Schmoedown commissioner Kristian Harloff. He became friends with Striar following the interview and kept in contact. During the 2020 season, Jericho contacted Striar, asking to be a part of the league. Striar formally drafted Jericho into her faction during the first free-agent period following the season-opening draft. His first match is scheduled for August 27 against Kevin Smith.
Cruises
In 2017, Jericho launched Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a cruise "combining the worlds of rock and wrestling with a once in a lifetime amazing vacation experience". The cruise featured live band performances, artist-hosted activities and a Sea of Honor Tournament with over a dozen Ring of Honor wrestlers competing. Guests had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Chris and his closest wrestling, comedian, and musician friends including Jim Ross, Diamond Dallas Page and Jim Breuer, among others. The cruise sailed October 27–31, 2018 from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas.
Jericho hosted a second cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave, which run from January 20–24, 2020. A third cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Triple Whammy, is scheduled for October 21–25, 2021.
Video games
Jericho has appeared in numerous video games. They include WCW/nWo Revenge, WCW Nitro, WCW/nWo Thunder, WCW Mayhem, WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown!, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWF Raw, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE All Stars, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19 and the upcoming All Elite Wrestling video game.
Personal life
Irvine married Jessica Lockhart on July 30, 2000. They reside in Odessa, Florida, with their three children: son Ash Edward Irvine (born 2003) and identical twin daughters Sierra Loretta "SiSi" Irvine and Cheyenne Lee "Chey" Irvine (born 2006). All three have been guests on his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, with his son discussing fish and his daughters discussing literature. Irvine owns three cats. In October 2020, Irvine reportedly donated $3,000 to Donald Trump's presidential re-election campaign.
Irvine is a Christian. He has a tattoo of his wife's name on his ring finger. He has the letter F, representing Fozzy, on the back of his hand. Since 2012, he has gradually gotten a sleeve over his left arm. His tattoos include: the artwork of Fozzy's album Sin and Bones, a Jack-o'-lantern (Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, who collaborated with Fozzy on the track "Sandpaper" from Sin and Bones, also got a matching tattoo), a lake monster, and himself from his WWF debut in 1999.
On July 5, 2004, Irvine was awarded Manitoba's The Order of the Buffalo Hunt, for his achievements in wrestling and his commitment to working with underprivileged children. – "After that, Gary Doer, the premier of Manitoba, awarded me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, which was the province's highest honor. It was quite the prestigious prize, which has been given to such dignitaries such as Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Pope John Paul II, and now Chris Jericho." / caption: "Manitoba Premier Gary Doer presents me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, along with a tiny bronze buffalo. I'm thinking, 'That's all I get?'"
Since January 2012, Irvine (along with former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow, former NFL player Derrick Brooks, and former Atlanta Braves player Chipper Jones) has been the co-owner of a sports training facility in Tampa, a franchise site of D1 Sports Training and Therapy.
Irvine is a fan of Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, which Irvine would frequently shop at when he wrestled in Japan in the 1990s. Irvine still visits Lawson whenever he returns to Japan, whether to wrestle or if he is touring with Fozzy.https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCwN9vjtO_/
Legal issues
On February 7, 2009, a fan accused Irvine of punching her after she spat at him with fans outside Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia after a live event. Video footage, however, clearly showed he did not make contact with the woman. As a result of the incident, police detained them, but released them without charge. Police did not press charges against anyone in the brawl as it was "hard to determine who provoked whom".
On January 27, 2010, Irvine and fellow wrestler Gregory Helms were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky after leaving a bar. A police report stated that Helms punched Irvine and the other passengers in the cab. Fellow wrestlers Christian and CM Punk bailed them out later.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Championships and accomplishments
All Elite Wrestling AEW World Championship (1 time)
AEW Dynamite Awards (2 times)
Bleacher Report PPV Moment of the Year (2021) –
Biggest Beatdown (2021) –
The Baltimore Sun
Feud of the Year (2008)
Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling
CRMW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
CRMW North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Lance Storm
CRMW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
Extreme Championship Wrestling
ECW World Television Championship (1 time)
International Wrestling Alliance
IWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Faction of the Year (2021) – with The Inner Circle
Feud of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Feud of the Year (2021)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2008)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009
Rolling Stone
Ranked No. 3 of the 10 best WWE wrestlers of 2016
World Championship Wrestling
WCW Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)
WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
Undisputed WWF Championship (1 time)
World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
WCW/World Championship (2 times)
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Championship (9 times)
WWE United States Championship (2 times)
WWF European Championship (1 time)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Edge (1) and Big Show (1)
WWF/World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Chris Benoit (1), The Rock (1), Christian (1), Edge (1), and Big Show (1)
Bragging Rights Trophy (2009) – with Team SmackDown
WWF Undisputed Championship Tournament (2001)
Fourth Grand Slam Champion
Ninth Triple Crown Champion
Slammy Award (3 times)
Extreme Moment of the Year (2014)
Superstar of the Year (2008)
Tag Team of the Year (2009) – with Big Show
Wrestle Association "R"
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gedo
World Wrestling Association
WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Dandy
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestler of the Year (2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews (2003, 2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2008)
Most Underrated Wrestler (1999, 2000)
Readers' Favorite Wrestler (1999)
United States/Canada MVP (2019)
Most Charismatic (2019)
Best Box Office Draw (2019)
Best Pro Wrestling Book (2011)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)
Luchas de Apuestas record
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
1970 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American singers
21st-century Canadian male actors
21st-century Canadian male singers
AEW World Champions
All Elite Wrestling personnel
American Christians
American color commentators
American game show hosts
American hard rock musicians
American heavy metal singers
American male film actors
American male professional wrestlers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American memoirists
American men podcasters
American people of Scottish descent
American people of Ukrainian descent
American podcasters
American radio personalities
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American YouTubers
Canadian Christians
Canadian colour commentators
Canadian expatriate professional wrestlers in the United States
Canadian game show hosts
Canadian hard rock musicians
Canadian heavy metal singers
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male professional wrestlers
Canadian male singers
Canadian male singer-songwriters
Canadian male television actors
Canadian memoirists
Canadian men podcasters
Canadian people of Scottish descent
Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
Canadian podcasters
Canadian radio personalities
Canadian rock singers
Canadian YouTubers
Christians from New York (state)
ECW World Television Champions
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Mexico
Fozzy members
IWGP Intercontinental champions
Living people
Male actors from New York (state)
Male actors from Winnipeg
Male YouTubers
Musicians from Winnipeg
NWA/WCW World Television Champions
NWA/WCW/WWE United States Heavyweight Champions
Participants in American reality television series
People from Manhasset, New York
Professional wrestlers from Manitoba
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
Professional wrestling podcasters
Red River College alumni
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Sportspeople from Winnipeg
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
World Heavyweight Champions (WWE)
WWE Champions
WWE Grand Slam champions
WWF European Champions
WWF/WWE Hardcore Champions
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champions | true | [
"A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex is an autobiography of professional wrestler Chris Jericho. It details his life from his early years, to his début for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), on August 9, 1999. The book is followed by a sequel, Undisputed: How to Become World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, which was released in 2011. A second sequel, Best in the World (At What I Have No Idea), was released in 2014.\n\nHistory\nJericho started writing A Lion's Tale shortly after leaving the WWE, in August 2005. For the purposes of the book, which mainly detail his life from 1990–1999, WWE is referred to as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), as this was the name of the company when Jericho made his début. The World Wrestling Federation changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002.\n\nContent\nThe book begins with a quick account of Jericho's thoughts whilst making his now-trademark countdown entrance during his WWF début. The book then flashes back to his early years, as a seven-year-old growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Jericho discusses his first exposure to professional wrestling, watching it on a TV in his grandmother's basement. He would later attend American Wrestling Association (AWA) live events at the Winnipeg Arena with his father, former professional ice hockey left winger, Ted Irvine, before being replaced in 1983, by the World Wrestling Federation. As he reached his teens, Jericho would later engage with WWF wrestlers, who would be staying at nearby hotels, when performing in the Winnipeg area. Jericho would later emulate the actions of WWF superstars with friends, in his promotion, the Big Time Wrestling Federation (BTWF).\n\nJericho later recalls the first time he saw Stampede Wrestling, a wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, on television in 1986. Jericho states it was shortly after this time that this was when his path (to becoming a professional wrestler) became written in stone, as he watched Owen Hart, (who was of a similar build) perform his entrance. It was whilst watching a Stampede show, that Jericho (then seventeen years old) saw an advert for the Hart Brothers Pro Wrestling Camp. Jericho promptly wrote to the address on the screen, hoping to enroll. A few weeks later, he received a reply from Ed Langley, the Hart Brothers Camp representative, who stated that Jericho needed to be eighteen years old and meet the weight classification of around . Jericho would spend the next year graduating from high school and attending Red River Community College, obtaining a degree in journalism, following the advice given to him by Jesse \"The Body\" Ventura\", to have something to fall back on, after meeting Ventura at a celebrity hockey game that Jericho's father was playing in.\n\nFrom there, Jericho recalls a brief meeting with Keith Hart during the summer of 1988, at the Hart Brothers Camp in Okotoks, whilst accompanying his father to a charity golf game in Calgary. Later that summer, Jericho joined local promotion, the Keystone Wrestling Alliance (KWA) and began touring as part of their ring crew. After the tour ended, Jericho headed for the Hart Brothers Pro Wrestling Camp and it was there he met another future fellow professional wrestler, Lance Storm.\n\nJericho's book later tells of his début match for the Canadian Wrestling Connection (CWC), against Storm (billed as Lance T. Storm) on October 2, 1990, as \"Cowboy\" Chris Jerico, a cowboy from Casper, Wyoming, in a 10-minute time limit draw and working the Canadian independent circuit, before travelling to Mexico and Germany, wrestling professionally for Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) and travelling to Japan, before returning to the U.S. and signing with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 1996, thanks to a recommendation from fellow wrestler (and future author), Mick Foley. Jericho would go on to win the ECW Television Championship once during his tenure for the Philadelphia-based organization, before signing for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), later in the year.\n\nAs a WCW employee, Jericho would end up winning the WCW Cruiserweight Championship on four separate occasions and the WCW World Television Championship, between 1996–98. Jericho's popularity in WCW was at its peak when he began taunting and challenging Bill Goldberg, with humorous vignettes. Goldberg had been undefeated in WCW since débuting and Jericho teased a very likely Goldberg-Jericho match-up. Sadly, the angle was dropped and the match never materialized. It was at this point, frustrated by the lack of faith shown in him to be a top draw in the wrestling business, that Jericho realized his WCW career was over.\n\nFeeling his career was on shaky ground, Jericho's personal life took an unexpected turn. Whilst eating in a Japanese restaurant in Tampa, Florida, Jericho met his future wife, Jessica, through fellow WCW employee, Disco Inferno, who introduced the pair to one another. Shortly after meeting Jessica, Jericho sprained his ankle during a match with Booker T. He was told he would be unable to wrestle for six weeks – Jericho had sixteen weeks left on his WCW contract at this point. After realizing that he had decided not to renew his contract, WCW President, Eric Bischoff suspended Jericho for the remaining four months of his contract. He never appeared for the promotion on television again, only at live shows. Jericho wrestled his last match in WCW as a tag team, teaming with Eddy Guerrero against the team of Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio, Jr., on July 21. Five days later, Jericho sent a fax to Eric Bischoff, the day his WCW contract expired, to thank him for all the opportunities he'd been given, in his three years there. It was during this time that Jericho called Rich Ward, the two had previously met backstage at a WCW event in San Antonio, Texas and share the same sense of humour and their love of heavy metal music. Ward suggested that Jericho come to Atlanta to sing with his band Fozzy Osbourne. Jericho would later join the band and Fozzy Osbourne would later evolve into the heavy metal band, Fozzy, with Jericho as the lead vocalist and Ward playing lead guitar and singing back-up vocals.\n\nOn May 23, 1999, at the WWF pay-per-view, Over the Edge, a freak accident occurred, which resulted in the death of Owen Hart. Although he didn't know Owen personally, Jericho felt obliged (as a surrogate member of the Hart family) to attend his funeral. It was at the funeral, during a conversation with Hulk Hogan that Jericho decided that he wanted to leave WCW and sign with the WWF. He would do so a month later, on June 30.\n\nNow as a fully-fledged WWF employee, Jericho would spend the next few weeks coming up with ideas to introduce himself to WWF fans. He recalls standing in a post office, looking at a \"Countdown to the Millennium\" clock and decided to use the idea as his WWF entrance, which became his signature. The book ends as Jericho makes his WWF début on the August 9 episode of WWF RAW is WAR, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.\n\nBecause of last minute changes, Jericho acknowledges the events of the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide, which occurred in June 2007. Shortly after Jericho finished writing in May 2007 and had handed in his copy of the manuscript to Grand Central Publishing, he requested and was allowed to make some final alterations to the book, to reflect upon the Benoit tragedy.\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n \n\n2007 non-fiction books\nProfessional wrestling autobiographies",
"Jeri-Show was a villainous professional wrestling tag team consisting of Big Show and Chris Jericho, which competed in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion.\n\nThe duo made their debut in July 2009 at WWE's Night of Champions pay-per-view event, where Jericho replaced the legitimate injured Edge with Show as his tag team partner in his defense of the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship (which was made by the unification of the World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship).\n\nThroughout the remainder of 2009, Jeri-Show were involved in several highly promoted feuds and angles, as well as defending the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship and challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship. The duo also headlined two of WWE's pay-per-view events during their short tenure together, with the first being at Survivor Series and the second at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.\n\nHistory\n\nUnified WWE Tag Team Champions (2009–2010) \nAt The Bash on June 28, 2009, Jericho and his then partner Edge, both heels, won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship (which consisted of the World Tag Team Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championship) as surprise entrants in a tag team match. When Edge suffered a torn Achilles tendon shortly thereafter which left him unable to wrestle, Jericho exploited a contractual loophole that allowed him to choose a new partner to replace Edge so that Jericho's reign could continue uninterrupted, while insulting Edge for being injury prone.\n\nOn July 26 at Night of Champions, Jericho revealed fellow heel Big Show as his new tag team partner and they defeated Legacy members Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, thus allowing Big Show (who was from the Raw brand) and Jericho (who was from the SmackDown brand) to appear on both brands. Jeri-Show would then feud with Cryme Tyme (JTG and Shad Gaspard), which culminated in a successful title defense for Jeri-Show at SummerSlam on August 23. Jericho and Big Show would then feud with Montel Vontavious Porter and Mark Henry, which would also result in another successful title defense for Jeri-Show at Breaking Point on September 13 against them. Next, Jeri-Show would move on to feud with Batista, who then challenged for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship with Jericho's rival Rey Mysterio at Hell in a Cell on October 4, where resulted in another successful title defense.\n\nOn the October 5 episode of Raw, Jeri-Show would begin a feud with Shawn Michaels and Triple H of D-Generation X (D-X) following a loss in a non-title match. Leading up to Bragging Rights, Jericho was named as a co-captain (with Kane) for Team SmackDown while Big Show joined Team Raw, which was captained by D-X. At Bragging Rights on October 25, Big Show turned on Team Raw when he attacked his teammates Kofi Kingston and Triple H, resulting in Jericho getting the win for Team SmackDown. Big Show would then reveal that his motives for aiding Team SmackDown was so that he would be granted a shot against SmackDown's World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker, while Jericho would insert himself into the title match as well after defeating Kane, thus making it a triple threat match. At Survivor Series on November 22, The Undertaker retained his World Heavyweight Championship after Jericho and Big Show turned on each other despite working together throughout most of the match. Jeri-Show would then continue their feud with D-X and on December 13 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, they lost the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship to D-X in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, ending their reign at 140 days. On the December 14 episode of Raw, Jeri-Show won a Slammy Award for \"Tag Team of the Year\", while that same night they used their rematch clause against D-X, who quickly intentionally disqualified themselves and retained the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship (as a result, Jericho, from the SmackDown brand, could not appear on Raw as he was no longer a Unified WWE Tag Team Champion). D-X granted Jeri-Show yet another rematch for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, with the additional stipulation that Jericho had to \"leave Raw forever\" if Jeri-Show lost, which they did on the January 4, 2010 episode of Raw, marking the end of Jeri-Show.\n\nAfter their breakup, Edge made his return at the 2010 Royal Rumble match to feud with Jericho, eliminating Jericho en route to winning the Rumble. Meanwhile, Big Show would go on to win the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship back from D-X when he teamed with The Miz, forming ShoMiz. Jericho would eventually return to Raw again when he was drafted to the Raw brand through the 2010 WWE draft.\n\nUnofficial reunions (2012–2016) \nOn the July 9, 2012 episode of Raw, Jeri-Show (as villains) reunited for one-time to take on John Cena and Kane in a tag team match, which they lost by disqualification.\n\nOn the September 5, 2014 episode of SmackDown, Jeri-Show (as fan favorites) had a one-night reunion, competing in a ten-man tag team match that consisted of themselves teaming with John Cena, Mark Henry and Roman Reigns against Kane, Seth Rollins and The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper), which Jeri-Show's team won by disqualification after The Wyatt Family broke up Cena's STF on Rollins and refused to stop their assault on Cena.\n\nOn the January 28, 2016 episode of SmackDown, Big Show helped Jericho, Reigns and Dean Ambrose from a Wyatt Family assault, having a one night reunion for Jeri-Show.\n\nChampionships and accomplishments \n World Wrestling Entertainment\n World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n Slammy Award (1 time)\n Tag Team of the Year (2009)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n Cagematch profile\n\nWWE teams and stables\nWWE World Tag Team Champions"
]
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[
"Chris Jericho",
"World Television Champion (1998-1999)",
"Who did Chris Jericho defeat to become the World Television Champion?",
"On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T).",
"Which wrestling league was Jericho in during this time period?",
"I don't know.",
"What is another notable match that he was in during the 1998 to 1999 time period?",
"On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan.",
"Where did this match take place?",
"I don't know.",
"Did Jericho ever regain his World Television Championship?",
"Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)"
]
| C_80c385dd71cd41db8abb719e54c2c991_1 | Did Jericho participate in any tag team matches in the 1998 to 1999 period? | 6 | Did Chris Jericho participate in any tag team matches in the 1998 to 1999 period? | Chris Jericho | On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company. On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match. Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the title of the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War. CANNOTANSWER | Illinois house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match. | Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Inner Circle stable. Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, he has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
During the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico. At the end of 1999, he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night. Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC and Elimination Chamber shows. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010.
Within the WWF/WWE, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the Undisputed WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year.
After his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. Jericho joined AEW in January 2019 and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year. All totalled, between ECW, WCW, WWE, NJPW and AEW, Jericho has held 36 championships (including seven World Championships, and 10 Intercontinental Championships).
In 1999, Jericho became lead vocalist of heavy metal band Fozzy, who released their eponymous debut album the following year. The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions, although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward. Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars. He hosted the ABC game show Downfall, the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
Early life
Christopher Keith Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York on November 9, 1970, the son of a Canadian couple. He is of Scottish descent from his father's side and Ukrainian descent from his mother's side. His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine, had been playing for the New York Rangers at the time of his birth. When his father retired, the family moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Irvine grew up. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenships. Irvine's interest in professional wrestling began when he started watching the local American Wrestling Association (AWA) events that took place at the Winnipeg Arena with his family, and his desire to become a professional wrestler himself began when he saw footage of Owen Hart, then appearing with Stampede Wrestling, performing various high-flying moves. In addition, Irvine also cited Owen's older brother Bret, Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels as inspirations for his becoming a professional wrestler. His first experience with a professional wrestling promotion was when he acted as part of the ring crew for the first tour of the newly opened Keystone Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he learned important pointers from independent wrestlers Catfish Charlie and Caveman Broda. He attended Red River College in Winnipeg, graduating in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Creative Communications.
Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (1990–1991)
At the age of 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling, where he met Lance Storm on his first day. He was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young.
Two months after completing training, he was ready to start wrestling on independent shows, making his debut at the Moose Hall in Ponoka, Alberta as "Cowboy" Chris Jericho, on October 2, 1990, in a ten-minute time limit draw against Storm. The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called Sudden Impact. According to a February 2019 interview with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show, Jericho stated that his initial name was going to be "Jack Action" however, someone remarked to him that the name was stupid, they then asked him what his name really was, he then got nervous and said "Chris Jericho". He took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween. Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian) and Terry Gerin (Rhino). The pair also wrestled in Calgary's Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling (CRMW).
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1991)
In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and other Mexican promotions (1992–1995)
In the winter of 1992, he traveled to Mexico and competed under the name Leon D'Oro ("Golden Lion", a name that fans voted on for him between "He-Man", "Chris Power", and his preferred choice "Leon D'Oro"), and later Corazón de León ("Lion Heart"), where he wrestled for several small wrestling companies.
From 1993 to 1995, he competed in Mexico's oldest promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King, Negro Casas, and Último Dragón en route to an eleven-month reign as the NWA Middleweight Champion that began in December 1993.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1994)
1994 saw Jericho reunited with Storm, as The Thrillseekers in Jim Cornette's Appalachian Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion, where they feuded with the likes of Well Dunn, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, and The Heavenly Bodies.
Wrestling and Romance/WAR (1994–1996)
In late 1994, Jericho began competing regularly in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling and Romance (later known as Wrestle Association "R") (WAR) promotion as The Lion Heart. In November 1994, Último Dragón defeated him for the NWA World Middleweight Championship, which he had won while wrestling in Mexico.
In March 1995, Jericho lost to Gedo in the final of a tournament to crown the inaugural WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Gedo for the championship in June 1995, losing it to Último Dragón the next month. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Hanzo Nakajima in the first round, but losing to Wild Pegasus in the second round.
In 1995, Jericho joined the heel stable Fuyuki-Gun ("Fuyuki Army") with Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo, and Jado, adopting the name Lion Do. In February 1996, Jericho and Gedo won a tournament for the newly created International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, defeating Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in the final. They lost the championship to Storm and Yasuraoka the following month. Jericho made his final appearances with WAR in July 1996, having wrestled a total of twenty-four tours for the company.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996)
In 1995, thanks in part to recommendations by Benoit, Dave Meltzer and Perry Saturn, to promoter Paul Heyman, and after Mick Foley saw Jericho's match against Último Dragón for the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 1995 and gave a tape of the match to Heyman, Jericho began wrestling for the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, winning the ECW World Television Championship from Pitbull #2 in June 1996 at Hardcore Heaven. While in ECW, Jericho wrestled Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Foley (as Cactus Jack), Shane Douglas, and 2 Cold Scorpio. He made his final appearance at The Doctor Is In in August 1996. It was during this time that he drew the attention of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
World Championship Wrestling (1996 – 1999)
Early appearances (1996–1997)
Jericho debuted for WCW on August 20, 1996 by defeating Mr. JL, which aired on the August 31 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho's televised debut in WCW occurred on the August 26 episode of Monday Nitro against Alex Wright in a match which ended in a no contest. He made his pay-per-view debut on September 15 against Chris Benoit in a losing effort at Fall Brawl. The following month, at Halloween Havoc, Jericho lost to nWo member Syxx due to biased officiating by nWo referee Nick Patrick. This led to a match between Jericho and Patrick at World War 3, which stipulated that Jericho's one arm would be tied behind his back. Despite the odds stacked against him, Jericho won the match. Later that night, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match but failed to win the match.
Jericho represented WCW against nWo Japan member Masahiro Chono in a losing effort at the nWo Souled Out event. At SuperBrawl VII, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Guerrero for the United States Heavyweight Championship.
Cruiserweight Champion (1997–1998)
On June 28, 1997, Jericho defeated Syxx at the Saturday Nitro live event in Los Angeles, California to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship for the first time, thus winning the first championship of his WCW career. Jericho successfully defended the title against Ultimo Dragon at Bash at the Beach, before losing the title to Alex Wright on the July 28 episode of Monday Nitro. Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Wright for the title at Road Wild, before defeating Wright in a rematch to win his second Cruiserweight Championship on the August 16 episode of Saturday Night. Jericho began feuding with Eddie Guerrero over the title as he successfully defended the title against Guerrero at Clash of the Champions XXXV before losing the title to Guerrero at Fall Brawl. Jericho defeated Gedo at Halloween Havoc. At World War 3, Jericho participated in the namesake battle royal but failed to win.
On the January 15, 1998 episode of Thunder, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero to earn a title shot against Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Championship at Souled Out. Jericho won the match by forcing Mysterio to submit to the Liontamer. After the match, Jericho turned heel by assaulting Mysterio's knee with a toolbox. In the storyline, Mysterio needed six months of recovery before he could return to the ring. Jericho then had a short feud with Juventud Guerrera in which Guerrera repeatedly requested a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship, but Jericho constantly rebuffed him. The feud culminated in a title versus mask match at SuperBrawl VIII. Guerrera lost the match and was forced to remove his mask. Following this match, Jericho began his ongoing gimmick of collecting and wearing to the ring trophy items from his defeated opponents, such as Guerrera's mask, Prince Iaukea's Hawaiian dress, and a headband from Disco Inferno.
Jericho then began a long feud with Dean Malenko, in which Jericho repeatedly claimed he was a better wrestler than Malenko, but refused to wrestle him. Because of his mastery of technical wrestling, Malenko was known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", so Jericho claimed to be "The Man of 1,004 Holds"; Jericho mentions in his autobiography that this line originated from an IWA interview he saw as a child, where manager Floyd Creatchman claimed that Leo Burke, the first professional wrestler to be known as "The Man of 1,000 Holds", was now known as "The Man of 1,002 Holds", to which Floyd Creatchman stated that "he learned two more".
During the March 30, 1998 episode of Nitro, after defeating Marty Jannetty, Jericho pulled out a long pile of paper that listed each of the 1,004 holds he knew and recited them to the audience. Many of the holds were fictional, and nearly every other hold was an armbar. On the March 12, 1998 episode of Thunder, Malenko defeated a wrestler wearing Juventud Guerrera's mask who appeared to be Jericho. However, the masked wrestler was actually Lenny Lane, whom Jericho bribed to appear in the match. This started a minor feud between Lane and Jericho after Jericho refused to pay Lane. At Uncensored, Jericho finally wrestled Malenko and defeated him, after which Malenko took a leave of absence from wrestling. Jericho then proceeded to bring with him to the ring a portrait of Malenko that he insulted and demeaned. Just prior to Slamboree, J.J. Dillon (referred to by Jericho as "Jo Jo") scheduled a cruiserweight Battle Royal, the winner of which would immediately have a shot at Jericho's Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho accepted on the grounds that whoever he faced would be too tired to win a second match. At Slamboree, Jericho came out to introduce the competitors in an insulting fashion before the match started and then went backstage for coffee. An individual who appeared to be Ciclope won the battle royal after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand and then eliminated himself. The winner was a returning Malenko in disguise. Following one of the loudest crowd reactions in WCW history, Malenko proceeded to defeat Jericho for the championship. Jericho claiming he was the victim of a carefully planned conspiracy to get the belt off of him. He at first blamed the WCW locker room, then added Dillon, Ted Turner, and finally in a vignette, he walked around Washington, D.C. with the sign "conspiracy victim" and accused President Bill Clinton of being one of the conspirators after being rejected from a meeting. Eventually, Malenko vacated the title. Jericho ended up defeating Malenko at The Great American Bash to win the vacant title after Malenko was disqualified after hitting Jericho with a chair. The next night, Malenko was suspended for his actions.
At Bash at the Beach, the recently returned Rey Mysterio Jr. (who had recovered from his knee injury) defeated Jericho in a No Disqualification match after the still-suspended Malenko interfered. Jericho regained the Cruiserweight Championship from Mysterio the next night after he interrupted J.J. Dillon while Dillon was giving the championship to Mysterio. Jericho was again awarded the championship. Eventually, Jericho decisively lost the title to Juventud Guerrera in a match at Road Wild with Malenko as special referee.
World Television Champion (1998–1999)
On August 10, Jericho defeated Stevie Ray to win the World Television Championship (Stevie Ray substituting for the champion Booker T). Soon afterward, Jericho repeatedly called out WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg in an attempt to begin a feud with him, but never actually wrestled him. Jericho cites Eric Bischoff, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan's refusal to book Jericho in a pay-per-view squash match loss against Goldberg, which Jericho felt would be a big draw, as a major reason for leaving the company.
On November 30, Jericho lost the World Television Championship to Konnan. In early 1999, Jericho began a feud with Perry Saturn. The feud saw Jericho and Saturn instigating bizarre stipulation matches, such as at Souled Out, where Jericho defeated Saturn in a "loser must wear a dress" match. At SuperBrawl IX, Jericho and Saturn wrestled in a "dress" match which Jericho won. Saturn finally defeated Jericho at Uncensored in a Dog Collar match. Jericho alternated between WCW and a number of Japanese tours before he signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 30. Jericho's final WCW match came during a Peoria, Illinois, house show July 21, where he and Eddie Guerrero lost to Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. in a tag team match.
Fifteen years after Jericho's departure from WCW, his best known entrance music within the company, "One Crazed Anarchist", lent its name to the second single from his band Fozzy's 2014 album, Do You Wanna Start a War.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1997–1998)
In January 1997, Jericho made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), who had a working agreement with WCW, as Super Liger, the masked nemesis of Jyushin Thunder Liger. According to Jericho, Super Liger's first match against Koji Kanemoto at Wrestling World 1997 was so poorly received that the gimmick was dropped instantly. Jericho botched several moves in the match and complained he had difficulty seeing through the mask. The following six months, Jericho worked for New Japan unmasked, before being called back by WCW. On September 23, 1998, Jericho made a one-night-only return to NJPW at that years Big Wednesday show, teaming with Black Tiger against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a title match, which Jericho and Tiger lost.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1999 – 2005)
WWF Intercontinental Champion (1999–2001)
In the weeks before Jericho's debut, a clock labeled "countdown to the new millennium" appeared on WWF programming. On the home video, Break Down the Walls, Jericho states he was inspired to do this as his entrance when he saw a similar clock in a post office and Vince McMahon approved its use as his introduction to the WWF. The clock finally ran out on the August 9 episode of Raw Is War in Chicago, Illinois while The Rock was in the ring cutting a promo on the Big Show. Jericho entered the arena and proclaimed "Raw Is Jericho" and that he had "come to save the World Wrestling Federation", referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K bug). The Rock proceeded to verbally mock him for his interruption. Later that month, he would interact with several superstars including in particular interrupting a promo that The Undertaker was involved in, Jericho made his in-ring debut as a heel on August 26, losing a match against Road Dogg by disqualification on the inaugural episode of SmackDown! after he performed a powerbomb on Road Dogg through a table.
Jericho's first long-term feud was with Chyna, for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. After losing to Chyna at Survivor Series, Jericho defeated her to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship at Armageddon. This feud included a controversial decision during a rematch in which two separate referees declared each one of them the winner of a match for the title. As a result, they became co-champions, during which Jericho turned face. He attained sole champion status at the Royal Rumble.
Jericho lost the WWF Intercontinental title to then-European Champion Kurt Angle at No Way Out. Jericho competed in a Triple Threat match against Chris Benoit and Angle at WrestleMania 2000 in a two-falls contest with both of Angle's titles at stake. Jericho won the European Championship by pinning Benoit, who in turn pinned Jericho to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. This was the first of six pay-per-view matches between the pair within twelve months. Jericho was originally supposed to be in the main event of WrestleMania, but was taken out after Mick Foley, who was originally asked by writers to be in the match, took his place. Jericho was even advertised on the event's posters promoting the match. Jericho lost the title the next day to Eddie Guerrero on Raw after Chyna sided with Guerrero.
On the April 17 episode of Raw, Jericho upset Triple H in a WWF Championship match. Referee Earl Hebner made a fast count when Jericho pinned Triple H, causing Jericho to win the title. Hebner later reversed the decision due to pressure from Triple H, and WWE does not recognize Jericho's reign as champion. On April 19, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero at the Gary Albright Memorial Show organized by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). On the May 4 episode of SmackDown!, Jericho defeated Benoit to win his third WWF Intercontinental Championship but lost the title to Benoit four days later on Raw. Jericho's feud with Triple H ended at Fully Loaded, when they competed in a Last Man Standing match. Jericho lost the match to Triple H only by one second, despite the repeated assistance Triple H's wife, Stephanie, provided him in the match.
At the 2001 Royal Rumble, Jericho defeated Chris Benoit in a ladder match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time. At WrestleMania X-Seven, he successfully defended his title in a match against William Regal, only to lose it four days later to Triple H. At Judgment Day, Jericho and Benoit won a tag team turmoil match and earned a shot at Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their WWF Tag Team Championship on Raw the next night. Benoit and Jericho won the match, in which Triple H legitimately tore his quadriceps, spending the rest of the year injured. Benoit and Jericho each became a WWF Tag Team Champion for the first time. The team defended their title in the first fatal four-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, where Benoit sustained a year-long injury after missing a diving headbutt through a table. Despite Benoit being carried out on a stretcher, he returned to the match to climb the ladder and retain the championship. The two lost the title one month later to The Dudley Boyz on the June 21 episode of SmackDown!. At King of the Ring, both Benoit and Jericho competed in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF Championship, in which Booker T interfered as the catalyst for The Invasion angle. Despite Booker T's interference, Austin retained the title.
Undisputed WWF Champion (2001–2002)
In the following months, Jericho became a major force in The Invasion storyline in which WCW and ECW joined forces to overtake the WWF. Jericho remained on the side of the WWF despite previously competing in WCW and ECW. However, Jericho began showing jealousy toward fellow WWF member The Rock. They faced each other in a match at No Mercy for the WCW Championship after Jericho defeated Rob Van Dam in a number one contenders match on the October 11 episode of SmackDown!. Jericho won the WCW Championship at No Mercy when he pinned The Rock after debuting a new finisher, the Breakdown, onto a steel chair, winning his first world title in the process. One night later, the two put their differences aside and won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Dudley Boyz.
After they lost the titles to Test and Booker T on the November 1 episode of SmackDown!, they continued their feud. On the November 5 episode of Raw, The Rock defeated Jericho to regain the WCW Championship. Following the match, Jericho attacked The Rock with a steel chair. At Survivor Series, Jericho turned heel by almost costing Team WWF the victory after he was eliminated in their Winner Take All matchup by once again attacking The Rock. Despite this, Team WWF won the match. At Vengeance, Jericho defeated both The Rock for the World Championship (formerly the WCW Championship) and Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first WWF Championship on the same night to become the first wrestler to hold both championships at the same time, which made him the first-ever Undisputed WWF Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam winner under the original format. He retained the title at the Royal Rumble against The Rock and at No Way Out against Austin. Jericho later lost the title to Royal Rumble winner Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania X8. Jericho was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the inaugural WWF draft lottery. He would then appear at Backlash, interfering in Triple H's Undisputed WWF Championship match against Hollywood Hulk Hogan. He was quickly dumped out the ring, but Triple H would go on to lose the match. This would lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Judgment Day in May, where Triple H would emerge victorious. Jericho would then compete in the 2002 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Edge and The Big Valbowski to advance to the semi-finals, where he was defeated by Rob Van Dam at King of the Ring. In July, he began a feud with the debuting John Cena, losing to him at Vengeance.
Teaming and feuding with Christian (2002–2004)
After his feud with Cena ended, Jericho moved to the Raw brand on the July 29 episode of Raw, unwilling to work for SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon. Upon his arrival to the brand, he initiated a feud with Ric Flair, leading to a match at SummerSlam, which Jericho lost. On the September 16 episode of Raw, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time from Rob Van Dam, before losing the title to Kane two weeks later on Raw. He then later formed a tag team with Christian, with whom he won the World Tag Team Championship by defeating Kane and The Hurricane on the October 14 episode of Raw. Christian and Jericho lost the titles to Booker T and Goldust in a fatal four-way elimination match, involving the teams of The Dudley Boyz, and William Regal and Lance Storm at Armageddon.
On the January 13 episode of Raw, Jericho won an over-the-top-rope challenge against Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Batista to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble match. He chose number two in order to start the match with Shawn Michaels, who had challenged him to prove Jericho's claims that he was better than Michaels. After Michaels's entrance, Jericho entered as the second participant. Christian, in Jericho's attire, appeared while the real Jericho attacked Shawn from behind. He eliminated Michaels shortly afterward, but Michaels got his revenge later in the match by causing Test to eliminate Jericho. Jericho spent the most time of any other wrestler in that same Royal Rumble. Jericho simultaneously feuded with Test, Michaels, and Jeff Hardy, defeating Hardy at No Way Out. Jericho and Michaels fought again at WrestleMania XIX, which Michaels won. Jericho, however, attacked Michaels with a low blow after the match following an embrace.
After this match, Jericho entered a rivalry with Goldberg, which was fueled by Goldberg's refusal to fight Jericho in WCW. During Jericho's first episode of the Highlight Reel, an interview segment, where Goldberg was the guest, he complained that no-one wanted Goldberg in WWE and continued to insult him in the following weeks. On the May 12 episode of Raw, a mystery assailant attempted to run over Goldberg with a limousine. A week later, Co-Raw General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, interrogated several Raw superstars to find out who was driving the car. One of the interrogates was Lance Storm, who admitted that he was the assailant. Austin forced Storm into a match with Goldberg, who defeated Storm. After the match, Goldberg forced Storm to admit that Jericho was the superstar who conspired Storm into running him over. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Goldberg was once again a guest on the Highlight Reel. Jericho expressed jealousy towards Goldberg's success in WCW and felt that since joining WWE, he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in his career and all that was left was to defeat Goldberg and challenged him to a match. At Bad Blood, Goldberg settled the score with Jericho and defeated him.
On the October 27 episode of Raw, Jericho won his sixth WWE Intercontinental Championship when he defeated Rob Van Dam. He lost the title back to Van Dam immediately after in a steel cage match. Later in 2003, Jericho started a romance with Trish Stratus while his tag team partner Christian began one with Lita. This, however, turned out to be a bet over who could sleep with their respective paramour first, with a Canadian dollar at stake. Stratus overheard this and ended her relationship with Jericho, who seemingly felt bad for using Stratus. After he saved her from an attack by Kane, Stratus agreed that the two of them could just be "friends", thus turning Jericho face. After Christian put Stratus in the Walls of Jericho while competing against her in a match, Jericho sought revenge on Christian, which led to a match at WrestleMania XX. Christian defeated Jericho after Stratus ran down and "inadvertently" struck Jericho (thinking it was Christian) and Christian got the roll-up. After the match, Stratus turned on Jericho and revealed that she and Christian were a couple. This revelation led to a handicap match at Backlash that Jericho won. Jericho won his record-breaking seventh WWE Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven in a ladder match against Christian, breaking the previous record held by Jeff Jarrett from 1999. Jericho's seventh reign was short lived, as he lost it at Taboo Tuesday to Shelton Benjamin.
World championship pursuits (2004–2005)
Jericho teamed up with Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, and Maven to take on Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky at Survivor Series. The match stipulated that each member of the winning team would be the general manager of Raw over the next four weeks. Jericho's team won, and took turns as general manager. During Jericho's turn as general manager, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated because a Triple Threat match for the title a week earlier ended in a draw. At New Year's Revolution, Jericho competed in the Elimination Chamber against Triple H, Chris Benoit, Batista, Randy Orton, and Edge for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho began the match with Benoit and eliminated Edge, but was eliminated by Batista. Triple H went on to win. At WrestleMania 21, Jericho participated in the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match. Jericho suggested the match concept, and he competed in the match against Benjamin, Benoit, Kane, Christian, and Edge. Jericho lost the match when Edge claimed the briefcase.
At Backlash, Jericho challenged Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but lost the match. Jericho lost to Lance Storm at ECW One Night Stand. Jericho used his old "Lionheart" gimmick, instead of his more well known "Y2J" gimmick. Jericho lost the match after Jason and Justin Credible hit Jericho with a Singapore cane, which allowed Storm to win the match. The next night on Raw, Jericho turned heel by betraying WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Christian and Tyson Tomko in a tag team match. Jericho lost a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Vengeance which also involved Christian and Cena. The feud continued throughout the summer and Jericho lost to Cena in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.
The next night on the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Cena for the WWE Championship again in a rematch, this time in a "You're fired" match. Cena won again, and Jericho was fired by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. Jericho was carried out of the arena by security as Kurt Angle attacked Cena. Jericho's WWE contract expired on August 25.
Return to WWE (2007–2010)
Feud with Shawn Michaels (2007–2008)
After a two-year hiatus, WWE promoted Jericho's return starting on the September 24, 2007 episode of Raw with a viral marketing campaign using a series of 15-second cryptic binary code videos, similar to the matrix digital rain used in The Matrix series. The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho. Jericho made his return to WWE television as a face on the November 19, 2007 episode of Raw when he interrupted Randy Orton during Orton's orchestrated "passing of the torch" ceremony. Jericho revealed his intentions to reclaim the WWE Championship in order to "save" WWE fans from Orton. On the November 26 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Santino Marella and debuted a new finishing move called the Codebreaker. At Armageddon, he competed in a WWE title match against Orton, defeating him by disqualification when SmackDown!s color commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) interfered in the match, but Orton retained the title. He began a feud with JBL and met him at the Royal Rumble. Jericho was disqualified after hitting JBL with a steel chair. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Jericho captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship for a record eighth time when he defeated Jeff Hardy.
In April 2008, Jericho became involved in the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Batista when he suggested that Michaels enjoyed retiring Ric Flair, causing Shawn Michaels to attack him. Jericho thus asked to be inserted into the match between Batista and Michaels at Backlash, but instead, he was appointed as the special guest referee. During the match at Backlash, Michaels feigned a knee injury so that Jericho would give him time to recover and lured Batista in for Sweet Chin Music for the win. After Backlash, Jericho accused Michaels of cheating, but Michaels continued to play up an injury. When Jericho was finally convinced and he apologized to Michaels for not believing him, Michaels then admitted to Jericho that he had faked his injury and he attacked Jericho with Sweet Chin Music. After losing to Michaels at Judgment Day, Jericho initiated a handshake after the match.
On the June 9 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel, interviewing Michaels. Jericho pointed out that Michaels was still cheered by the fans despite Michaels's deceit and attack on Jericho during the previous months, whereas Jericho was booed when he tried to do the right thing. Jericho then assaulted Michaels with a low blow and sent Michaels through the "Jeritron 6000" television, damaging the eye of Michaels, and turning heel in the process. This began what was named by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the "Feud of the Year". At Night of Champions, Jericho lost the WWE Intercontinental title to Kofi Kingston after a distraction by Michaels. In June, Jericho took on Lance Cade as a protégé.
World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2009)
Afterward, Jericho developed a suit-wearing persona inspired by Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh from the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and wrestler Nick Bockwinkel. Jericho and Michaels met at The Great American Bash, which Jericho won after attacking the cut on Michaels's eye. At SummerSlam, Michaels said that his eye damage would force him to retire and insulted Jericho by saying he would never achieve Michaels's success. Jericho tried to attack Michaels, but Michaels ducked, so Jericho punched Michaels's wife, Rebecca, instead. As a result, they fought in an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven, which Jericho lost by referee stoppage. Later that night, Jericho entered the Championship Scramble match as a late replacement for the defending champion CM Punk and subsequently won the World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Batista, John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Kane, and Rey Mysterio. It was announced that Michaels would challenge Jericho for the championship in a ladder match at No Mercy, which Jericho won. At Cyber Sunday on October 26, Jericho lost the title to Batista, but later won it back eight days later on the 800th episode of Raw in a steel cage match. Jericho defeated Michaels in a Last Man Standing match on the November 10 episode of Raw after interference from JBL. Jericho lost the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series to the returning John Cena. On the December 8 episode of Raw, Jericho was awarded the Slammy Award for 2008 Superstar of the Year award. Six days later, he lost his rematch with John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon.
At the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009, Jericho participated in the Royal Rumble match, but he was eliminated by the Undertaker. On February 15 at No Way Out, he competed in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but he failed to win as he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Following this, Jericho began a rivalry with veteran wrestlers Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper, as well as actor Mickey Rourke. Jericho was originally arranged to face Rourke at WrestleMania 25, but Rourke later pulled out of the event. Instead, Jericho defeated Piper, Snuka and Steamboat in a 3-on-1 elimination handicap match at WrestleMania, but was knocked out by Rourke after the match.
On the April 13 episode of Raw, Jericho was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 WWE draft. Jericho then faced Steamboat in a singles match at Backlash, where Jericho was victorious. In May, Jericho started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, leading to a match at Judgment Day, which Jericho lost. However, Jericho defeated Mysterio in a No Holds Barred Match at Extreme Rules to win his ninth Intercontinental Championship, breaking his own record again. At The Bash, Jericho lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Mysterio in a mask vs. title match.
Jeri-Show and feud with Edge (2009–2010)
Later in the event, Jericho and his partner Edge won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship as surprise entrants in a triple threat tag team match. As a result of this win, Jericho became the first wrestler to win every (original) Grand Slam eligible championship. Shortly thereafter Edge suffered an injury and Jericho revealed a clause in his contract to allow Edge to be replaced and Jericho's reign to continue uninterrupted. At Night of Champions, Jericho revealed Big Show as his new tag team partner, creating a team that would come to called Jeri-Show. The duo defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the championship. Jeri-Show successfully defended the title against Cryme Tyme at SummerSlam, MVP and Mark Henry at Breaking Point and Rey Mysterio and Batista at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series, both Jericho and Big Show took part in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but the Undertaker successfully retained the title. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Jeri-Show lost the tag titles to D-Generation X (D-X) (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. As a member of the SmackDown brand, Jericho could only appear on Raw as a champion and D-X intentionally disqualified themselves in a rematch to force Jericho off the show. On the January 4, 2010 of Raw, D-X defeated Jeri-Show to retain the championship once again, marking the end of Jeri-Show.
Jericho entered the 2010 Royal Rumble match on January 31, but was eliminated by the returning Edge, his former tag team partner, who went on to win the match. At Elimination Chamber, Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, defeating The Undertaker, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and R-Truth following interference from Shawn Michaels. The next night on Raw, Edge used his Royal Rumble win to challenge Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVI. Jericho defeated Edge at WrestleMania to retain the title, but lost the championship to Jack Swagger on the following episode of SmackDown, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Jericho then failed to regain the title from Swagger in a triple-threat match also involving Edge on the April 16 episode of SmackDown. Jericho and Edge continued their feud leading into Extreme Rules, where Jericho was defeated in a steel cage match.
Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2010 WWE draft. He formed a brief tag team with The Miz and unsuccessfully challenged The Hart Dynasty for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at Over the Limit. A month later, Jericho lost to Evan Bourne at Fatal 4-Way, but won a rematch during the following night on Raw, where he put his career on the line. On the July 19 episode of Raw, after being assaulted by The Nexus, Jericho teamed with rivals Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan and Bret Hart in a team led by John Cena to face The Nexus at SummerSlam. Jericho and Cena bickered over leadership of the team, which led to him and Edge attacking Cena during the SummerSlam match that they won.
Jericho was punished for not showing solidarity against Nexus, when he was removed from a Six-Pack Challenge for Sheamus's WWE Championship at Night of Champions. Although he re-earned his place in the match after defeating The Hart Dynasty in a handicap steel cage match, he was the first man eliminated from the match at Night of Champions. On the September 27 episode of Raw, Jericho faced Randy Orton who punted him in the head. This was used to explain Jericho's departure from the company.
Second return to WWE (2011–2018)
Feud with CM Punk (2011–2012)
Beginning in November 2011, WWE aired cryptic vignettes that promoted a wrestler's return on the January 2, 2012 episode of Raw. On his return, after hyping the crowd and relishing their cheers for a prolonged period, Jericho left without verbally addressing his return. After exhibiting similar odd behavior in the proceeding two weeks, Jericho spoke on the January 23 episode of Raw to say, "This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it is going to be the end of the world as you know it", but in the Royal Rumble match, he was eliminated last, by Sheamus. On the January 30 episode of Raw, Jericho began a feud with WWE Champion CM Punk after attacking him during his match with Daniel Bryan. He explained his actions by claiming other wrestlers in WWE were imitating him and named Punk as the worst offender.
At Elimination Chamber, Jericho participated in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, entering last and eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston before being knocked out of the structure by Punk, which injured him and removed him from the match without being eliminated. The following night on Raw, Jericho won a ten-man battle royal to become the number one contender for Punk's WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII. In a bid to psychologically unsettle Punk, Jericho revealed that Punk's father was an alcoholic and Punk's sister was a drug addict, which contradicted Punk's straight edge philosophy; Jericho vowed to make Punk turn to alcohol by winning Punk's title from him. At WrestleMania, a stipulation was added that Punk would lose his WWE Championship if he was disqualified. During the match, Jericho unsuccessfully tried to taunt Punk into disqualifying himself, and Punk won the match.
Jericho continued his feud with Punk in the weeks that followed by attacking and dousing him with alcohol after his matches. At Extreme Rules, Jericho failed again to capture the WWE Championship from Punk in a Chicago Street Fight.
Championship pursuits (2012–2013)
Jericho faced Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus in a fatal four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Over the Limit, where Sheamus retained his title. On May 24 at a WWE live event in Brazil, Jericho wrestled a match against CM Punk, during which Jericho kicked a Brazilian flag, causing local police to intervene and threaten Jericho with arrest. Jericho issued an apology to the audience, enabling the event to resume. The following day, WWE suspended Jericho for 30 days while apologizing to the people and government of Brazil. Jericho returned on the June 25 episode of Raw, and his absence was explained by a European tour with his band Fozzy which happened to coincide with his suspension. At Money in the Bank, Jericho participated in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but failed to win as John Cena won. The following night on Raw, Jericho confronted newly crowned Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler, who claimed that Jericho had lost his touch. Jericho attacked Ziggler with a Codebreaker, thus turning face in the process. At SummerSlam, Jericho defeated Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Ziggler defeated Jericho in a rematch and, as a result, Ziggler retained his Money in the Bank contract and Jericho's WWE contract was terminated as per a pre match stipulation put in place by Raw General Manager, AJ Lee. This was used to write him off so he could tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year.
On January 27, 2013, Jericho returned after a five-month hiatus entering the Royal Rumble match as the second entrant. Jericho lasted over 47 minutes before being eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. The following night on Raw, Jericho later revealed to Ziggler that due to a managerial change on Raw, he had been rehired by Vickie Guerrero, resuming his feud with Ziggler. Guerrero then paired the two in a match against WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). The match ended with Ziggler being pinned by Kane after Jericho framed him for pushing Kane. After beating Daniel Bryan on the February 11 episode of Raw, Jericho qualified for the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber (in which the winner would go on to be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29), where he was the fourth man eliminated. On the March 11 episode of Raw, Jericho faced The Miz in a No. 1 contenders match for Wade Barrett's WWE Intercontinental Championship, but the match was ruled a no contest after Barrett interfered and attacked both men. Both men then faced Barrett the following week on Raw, where he retained his title. Earlier in the episode, Jericho had a run-in with Fandango which led to Fandango costing him his match with Jack Swagger and attacking him four days later on SmackDown. At WrestleMania 29, Jericho was defeated by Fandango. They continued their feud in the following weeks, until Jericho defeated Fandango at Extreme Rules. He then faced the returning CM Punk at Payback, where he was defeated. Jericho then began feuding with Ryback, which led to a singles match on July 14 at Money in the Bank, where Ryback emerged victorious. On the July 19 episode of SmackDown, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Curtis Axel for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and was afterwards attacked by Ryback. This was done to write Jericho off television as he was taking a temporary hiatus to tour with Fozzy for the remainder of the year and possibly January and February.
In a November interview for WWE.com, Jericho revealed that he would not be a full-time wrestler due to his musical and acting ventures.
Various sporadic feuds (2014–2016)
After an eleven-month hiatus, Jericho returned on the June 30, 2014 episode of Raw, attacking The Miz, who had also returned minutes earlier. The Wyatt Family then interrupted and ultimately attacked Jericho. Jericho faced Bray Wyatt at Battleground in a winning effort. At SummerSlam, with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan banned from ringside, Wyatt picked up the victory. On the September 8 episode of Raw, Jericho lost to Wyatt in a steel cage match, ending the feud. Jericho then feuded with Randy Orton, who had attacked him the week before after his match against Wyatt in the trainers room. Orton defeated him at Night of Champions. Throughout the rest of October and November, Jericho wrestled exclusively at live events, defeating Bray Wyatt. Jericho returned to WWE television in December as the guest general manager of the December 15 episode of Raw. Jericho booked himself in a street fight against Paul Heyman in the main event, which led to the return of Brock Lesnar. Before the match could begin, Lesnar attacked Jericho with an F-5.
In January 2015, Jericho revealed that he signed an exclusive WWE contract, under which he would compete at 16 house shows only. He later signed a similar contract once the former expired and competed at house shows throughout the rest of 2015. During this time he wrestled against the likes of Luke Harper, Kevin Owens and King Barrett in winning efforts. In May 2015, Jericho was one of the hosts of Tough Enoughs sixth season. Jericho also hosted two Live! With Chris Jericho specials on the WWE Network during 2015; his guests were John Cena and Stephanie McMahon. Jericho made his televised return at The Beast in the East, defeating Neville. At Night of Champions, Jericho was revealed as the mystery partner of Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, facing The Wyatt Family in a losing effort. On October 3, Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Live from Madison Square Garden. The match marked 20 years since Jericho's debut with ECW while also celebrating his 25th year as a professional wrestler in total.
On the January 4, 2016 episode of Raw, Jericho returned to in-ring competition full-time and confronted The New Day. At the 2016 Royal Rumble, Jericho entered as the sixth entrant, lasting over 50 minutes, before being eliminated by Dean Ambrose. On the January 25 episode of Raw, Jericho faced the recently debuted AJ Styles in a losing effort. Following the match, after initial hesitation by Jericho, the pair shook hands. On the February 11 episode of SmackDown, Jericho defeated Styles. At Fastlane, Styles was victorious in a third match between the pair. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Jericho and Styles formed a tag team, dubbed Y2AJ. Following their loss against The New Day on the March 7 episode of Raw, Jericho attacked Styles, ending their alliance, claiming that he was sick of the fans chanting for Styles instead of him, turning heel in the process. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 32, where Jericho defeated Styles. However, on the April 4 episode of Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal-four-way match against Styles, Kevin Owens and Cesaro to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort after being pinned by Styles, ending their feud.
The following week on Raw, Dean Ambrose interrupted The Highlight Reel, handing Jericho a note from Shane McMahon replacing the show with The Ambrose Asylum, igniting a feud between the two. During this time, Jericho tweaked his gimmick. He became arrogant and childish while wearing expensive scarfs and calling everyone who appeased him "stupid idiots". At Payback, Jericho faced Ambrose in a losing effort. After attacking one another and Ambrose destroying Jericho's light-up ring jacket, Jericho was challenged by Ambrose to an Asylum match at Extreme Rules, where Ambrose again defeated Jericho after Jericho was thrown in a pile of thumbtacks. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Jericho defeated Apollo Crews to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where Jericho was unsuccessful as the match was won by Ambrose. On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand. At Battleground on July 24, Jericho hosted a Highlight Reel segment with the returning Randy Orton, where he took an RKO from Orton after he insulted him. The next night on Raw, Jericho competed in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the newly created WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, but he was unsuccessful, as Roman Reigns won the match.
The List of Jericho (2016–2017)
Jericho then entered a feud with Enzo and Cass and on the August 1 episode of Raw, he teamed with Charlotte to defeat Enzo Amore and then WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks in a mixed tag team match, after which Big Cass made the save as Jericho continued the assault on Amore. The following week on Raw, Jericho allied with Kevin Owens and later defeated Amore via disqualification when Cass interfered. This led to a tag team match at SummerSlam, where Jericho and Owens defeated Enzo and Cass. On the August 22 episode of Raw, Jericho interfered in Owens's match against Neville, allowing him to qualify for the fatal four-way match to determine the new WWE Universal Champion on the August 29 episode of Raw, which Owens won.
On the September 12 episode of Raw, Jericho hosted an episode of The Highlight Reel with Sami Zayn as his guest, who questioned his alliance with Owens, resulting in Jericho defending Owens and attacking Zayn. On the September 19 episode of Raw, as a result of feeling that he was being treated unjustly by General Manager Mick Foley, as well as other wrestlers beginning to annoy him, Jericho began a list called "The List of Jericho", where he wrote down the name of the person that bothered him and why. If someone annoyed Jericho, he would ask "you know what happens?" before shouting "you just made the list!" and writing the person's name down. The List of Jericho soon became incredibly popular with the fans, with many critics describing Jericho and his list as "easily one of the best moments of Raw's broadcast". At Clash of Champions on September 25, Jericho defeated Zayn and assisted Owens in his Universal Championship defense against Seth Rollins. At Hell in a Cell on October 30, Jericho aided Owens in retaining the Universal Championship against Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match after Owens sprayed a fire extinguisher at the referee, allowing Jericho to enter the cell.
Jericho teamed with Owens, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins as part of Team Raw at Survivor Series on November 20, in a losing effort. The next night on Raw, despite being banned from ringside, Jericho showed up in a Sin Cara mask and attacked Rollins, in another successful title defense for Owens. The following week on Raw, tensions between Jericho and Owens arose after both said that they did not need each other anymore, and Jericho was later attacked by Rollins in the parking lot. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, Jericho lost to Rollins after Owens failed in his attempt to help him, Later that night, Jericho intentionally attacked Owens to prevent Reigns from winning the title. After both Jericho and Owens failed to win the WWE United States Championship from Reigns in multiple singles matches in late 2016, Jericho pinned Reigns in a handicap match also involving Owens on the January 9 episode of Raw to win the WWE United States Championship. Thus, Jericho won his first championship in nearly seven years and also become Grand Slam winner under the current format. Due to interfering multiple times in Owens's matches, Jericho was suspended above the ring in a shark proof cage during Reigns's rematch at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Owens nonetheless retained the championship after Braun Strowman, taking advantage of the added no disqualification stipulation, interfered. Also at the event, Jericho entered as the second entrant in the Royal Rumble match, lasting over an hour (thus breaking the record with a cumulative time of over five hours) and being the third to last before being eliminated by Reigns.
In February, tensions grew between Jericho and Owens after Jericho accepted a Universal Championship challenge from Goldberg on Owens's behalf, much to the latter's dismay. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Jericho held a "Festival of Friendship" for Owens, who was not impressed and viciously attacked Jericho, ending their alliance. Jericho returned at Fastlane on March 5, distracting Owens during his match with Goldberg and causing Owens to lose the Universal Championship, turning face again in the process. This led to a match between Jericho and Owens being arranged for WrestleMania 33 on April 2, with Jericho's United States Championship on the line. At WrestleMania, Jericho lost the United States Championship to Owens. At Payback on April 30, Jericho defeated Owens to regain the title and moved to the SmackDown brand, but lost it back to him two nights later on SmackDown. Following the match, Owens attacked Jericho, who was carried out on a stretcher. Thus, Jericho was written off television so he could fulfill his commitments to tour with and promote his new album with Fozzy. Jericho made a surprise return at a house show in Singapore on June 28, where he lost to Hideo Itami.
Final matches and departure (2017–2018)
On the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Jericho made his televised return, interrupting an altercation between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to get his rematch for Owens' WWE United States Championship. Later that night, Jericho participated in a triple threat match against Owens and Styles for the title in which Jericho was pinned by Styles. Show took place in Richmond, Virginia and was Jericho's last in-ring appearance for WWE in the United States.
On January 22, 2018 during the 25th Anniversary of Raw, Jericho appeared backstage in a segment with Elias, putting him on The List of Jericho. At the Greatest Royal Rumble, Jericho was the last entrant in the 50-man Royal Rumble match, eliminating Shelton Benjamin before being eliminated by the eventual winner Braun Strowman. This event marked Jericho's final appearance with WWE.
In September 2019, during an interview for the Mature Audiences Mayhem Podcast, Jericho revealed the exact point when he decided he was going to leave the WWE. Even though Jericho was with the WWE for 15 years, the final insult came at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Despite the fact that Jericho and Kevin Owens had the best feud of the year, their match was demoted by placing it on the second place on the WrestleMania match card. The decision made by Vince McMahon was a big insult for Jericho and that prompted him to seek work elsewhere. Jericho reflecting his WWE departure stated:
"Originally, that was going to be the main event for the world title. Kevin Owens was the champion and I was going to beat him in the main event of WrestleMania as a babyface." Instead of having Jericho and Owens as the main event, Vince decided to put Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar on the main card. "Vince said that it’s going to be me versus Kevin Owens for the world title at WrestleMania and you are going to win the title, f*** yeah! Next week, he doesn’t tell me, but I hear that it’s changed to Brock Lesnar versus Bill Goldberg for the title. And not only did they take us out of the main event – and, once again, just because I was told I have no right to it and things change all the time, I’m a big boy, I can handle it. But to take us from the main event slot and then move us to the second match on the card on a card that has 12 matches on it? I was like, that’s a f***ing insult."
Return to NJPW (2017–2020)
Feud with Kenny Omega (2017–2018)
On November 5, 2017, Jericho returned to NJPW in a pre-taped vignette, challenging Kenny Omega to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. The challenge was immediately accepted by Omega and made official by NJPW the following day as a title match for Omega's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The match, dubbed "Alpha vs. Omega", was Jericho's first match outside of WWE since he left WCW in July 1999. Journalist Dave Meltzer wrote that Jericho's WWE contract had expired and that he was a "free agent". NJPW also referred to Jericho as a free agent. In contrast, the Tokyo Sports newspaper described an anonymous NJPW official saying that Jericho is still under contract with WWE, and that WWE chairman Vince McMahon had given him permission to wrestle this match in NJPW. This was his first NJPW match in nearly 20 years. Jericho returned in person at the December 11 World Tag League show, attacking and bloodying Omega after his match, while also laying out a referee, a young lion and color commentator Don Callis, establishing himself as a heel. The following day at the Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome press conference, Jericho and Omega would get into a second physical altercation. Because of the two incidents, NJPW turned the January 4 match into a no disqualification match. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Omega. It was later revealed that the match was awarded a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This was the first of his career.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion (2018–2019)
The night after Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome at New Year Dash!! 2018, Jericho attacked Tetsuya Naito. On May 4, Jericho once again attacked Naito at Wrestling Dontaku, leading to a match between the two at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, in which he defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. At King of Pro-Wrestling, Jericho attacked Evil before his match against Zack Sabre Jr. Backstage, Jericho challenged Evil to an IWGP Intercontinental Championship title match at Power Struggle. At the event, Jericho made Evil submit to the Liontamer to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Jericho refused to release the hold until Tetsuya Naito ran in for the save and challenged Jericho. Despite Jericho stating that Naito would not receive a rematch, the match was made official for Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. On December 15, NJPW held a press conference for Jericho and Naito's IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. The press conference ended when Naito spat water in Jericho's face, which resulted in the two then brawling before being separated. Later that same day during a Road to Tokyo Dome show, Jericho laid out Naito with steel chair shots, and after stated that at Wrestle Kingdom 13 he would end Tetsuya Naito's career. At the event, Jericho was defeated by Naito, losing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the process.
Sporadic appearances (2019–2020)
At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jericho challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was defeated. Following the match, Jericho attacked Okada, leading to Hiroshi Tanahashi making the save. Jericho returned at Power Struggle on November 3 and challenged Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14. On December 28, it was announced that if Tanahashi were to defeat Jericho, he would be granted an AEW World Championship match at a later date. During the second night of Wrestle Kingdom on January 5, 2020, Jericho defeated Tanahashi.
Return to the independent circuit (2018–2019)
On September 1, 2018, Jericho (disguised as Penta El Zero) appeared at the All In show promoted by Cody and The Young Bucks, where he attacked Kenny Omega following Omega's victory over Penta to promote his upcoming Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise.
In October 2018, Jericho organized Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a series of professional wrestling matches originating from Jericho's cruise ship, which embarked from Miami, Florida and featured wrestlers from Ring of Honor.
On May 3, 2019, Jericho appeared at a Southern Honor Wrestling event, where he was attacked by Kenny Omega.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)
Inaugural AEW World Champion (2019–2020)
On January 8, 2019, Jericho made a surprise appearance at a media event organized by the upstart All Elite Wrestling (AEW) promotion. Shortly afterwards, Jericho was filmed signing a full-time performers three-year contract with AEW and shaking hands with the company's President Tony Khan. Jericho defeated Kenny Omega at the promotion's inaugural event Double or Nothing on May 25, and went on to defeat Adam Page at All Out to become the inaugural AEW World Champion.
On the premiere episode of Dynamite on October 2, Jericho allied himself with Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz, creating a stable that would be known as The Inner Circle. Jericho would make successful title defences against Darby Allin on the October 16 episode of Dynamite and Cody at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9. On the episode of Dynamite after Full Gear, Jericho and Guevara challenged SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win when Sky pinned Jericho with a small package, thus suffering his first loss in AEW. Jericho would successfully retain the AEW World Championship against Sky on the November 27 episode of Dynamite.
In December, The Inner Circle began to attempt to entice Jon Moxley to join the group. On the January 8, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Moxley initially joined the group, however, this was later revealed to be a ruse from Moxley as he attacked Jericho and Sammy Guevara. Moxley then became the number one contender for Jericho's championship at Revolution on February 29, where Moxley defeated Jericho to win the title, ending his inaugural AEW World Championship reign at 182 days.
Feud with MJF (2020–2021)
After losing the championship, Jericho and The Inner Circle began a feud with The Elite (Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks), who recruited the debuting Matt Hardy to oppose them. At Double or Nothing on May 23, The Inner Circle were defeated by Page, Omega, The Young Bucks and Hardy in a Stadium Stampede match. Jericho next began a rivalry with Orange Cassidy, with Jericho defeating him at Fyter Fest on July 8, but losing a rematch on the August 12 episode of Dynamite. The two faced once again at All Out on September 5, in a Mimosa Mayhem match, which Jericho lost.
Beginning in October, Jericho began a feud with MJF, who requested to join the Inner Circle, despite disapproval from Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz. Jericho and MJF wrestled in a match at the Full Gear event on November 7, which MJF won, thus allowing him to join the Inner Circle. At Beach Break on February 3, 2021, Jericho and MJF won a tag team battle royal to become the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the Revolution event against The Young Bucks, which they were unsuccessful in winning. On the March 10 episode of Dynamite, MJF betrayed and left The Inner Circle after revealing he had been secretly plotting against them and building his own stable, The Pinnacle—consisting of Wardlow, Shawn Spears and FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood). At Blood and Guts on May 5, The Inner Circle lost to The Pinnacle in the inaugural Blood and Guts match. However, in the main event of Double or Nothing later that month, The Inner Circle defeated The Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match, after Sammy Guevara pinned Shawn Spears. Jericho then began pursuing another match with MJF, who stated that he would first have to defeat a gauntlet of opponents selected by MJF, in a series dubbed the "Labors of Jericho". Jericho would defeat each of MJF's handpicked opponents (Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow) and faced MJF in the final labor on the August 18 episode of Dynamite, but he was defeated. Jericho demanded one more match, stipulating that if he lost, he would retire from in-ring competition, which MJF accepted. At All Out on September 5, Jericho defeated MJF to maintain his career and end their feud.
Various feuds (2021–present)
Following All Out, The Inner Circle started a rivalry with Men of the Year (Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky), and their ally, mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Dan Lambert. Lambert also brought in members of his MMA team American Top Team (ATT) to oppose The Inner Circle, including Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos. At the Full Gear event on November 13, The Inner Circle defeated Men of the Year and ATT in a Minneapolis Street Fight.
Legacy
Known for his over-the-top, rock star persona, Jericho has been described by multiple industry commentators as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Journalist Chris Van Vliet noted that his name is "always thrown around as the GOAT [greatest of all time], or at least one of the GOATs", with Van Vliet himself asserting that Jericho is "if not the best, certainly one of the best". Todd Martin of the Pro Wrestling Torch remarked, to agreement from editor Wade Keller, that Jericho is "one of the great wrestlers of all time" and in "a lofty category", while likening his oeuvre to those of WWE Hall of Famers Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase and Dory Funk Jr. Praised for his ability to continually evolve his gimmick, Jericho was dubbed by KC Joyner of ESPN as "wrestling's David Bowie".
Various outlets have included Jericho in lists of the greatest wrestlers ever. Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Eck, who has also served as editor of WCW Magazine and a WWE producer, featured Jericho in his "Top 10 favorite wrestlers of all time" and "Top 10 all-around performers"—the former piece noting that Jericho is "regarded as one of the very best talkers in the business". Keisha Hatchett in TV Guide wrote that Jericho "owns the mic with cerebral insults" and is set apart from peers by "his charismatic presence, which is highlighted by a laundry list of unforgettable catchphrases". He was voted by Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) readers as "Best on Interviews" for the 2000s decade, coinciding with his 2010 induction into the WON Hall of Fame. Fans also named Jericho the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champion of all time in a 2013 WWE poll, affording him a landslide 63% victory over the other four contenders (Mr. Perfect, The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude and Pat Patterson).
A number of Jericho's industry colleagues have hailed him as one of the greatest wrestlers in history. Stone Cold Steve Austin lauded his consistently "dynamic" promos and in-ring work, while arguing that he should be considered among the 10 best ever. Kenny Omega asserted that Jericho "has a legit argument for being the best of all time", based on his ability to achieve success and notoriety across numerous territories. Jon Moxley said, "Jericho is really making a case for being the greatest of all time... he's doing it again, he's doing something completely new, and breaking new barriers still here in 2020." Matt Striker pointed to Jericho's "magnanimous" nature as a contributing factor to his status as an all-time great; his willingness to impart knowledge was commended by James Ellsworth, who described Jericho as an "outstanding human being" and a childhood favorite. Kevin Owens stated that "Jericho was always someone I looked up to", while The Miz affirmed that he was part of a generation of young wrestlers who sought to "emulate" Jericho.
WWE declared Jericho a "marquee draw" with a "reputation as one of the best ever". As of 2019, he is one of the ten most prolific pay-per-view performers in company history.
After Jericho signed with All Elite Wrestling, it was said his role was similar to Terry Funk in ECW, as an experienced veteran bringing credibility to a younger promotion. Jericho was credited as one of the key attractions of AEW's weekly television broadcasts, leading to him adopting the nickname "The Demo God" due to many of the segments he appeared in being some of the highest viewed in the key demographics. He was voted as the Best Box Office Draw by readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2019.
Music career
Jericho is the lead singer for the heavy metal band Fozzy. Since their debut album in 2000, Fozzy have released seven studio albums; Fozzy, Happenstance, All That Remains, Chasing the Grail, Sin and Bones, Do You Wanna Start a War, Judas, and one live album, Remains Alive.
In 2005, Jericho performed vocals on a cover of "The Evil That Men Do" on the Iron Maiden tribute album, Numbers from the Beast. He made a guest appearance on Dream Theater's album, Systematic Chaos on the song "Repentance", as one of several musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings in the past.
In the mid-1990s, Jericho wrote a monthly column for Metal Edge magazine focused on the heavy metal scene. The column ran for about a year. He started his own weekly XM Satellite Radio show in March 2005 called The Rock of Jericho, which aired Sunday nights on XM 41 The Boneyard.
Discography
Albums with Fozzy
Fozzy (2000)
Happenstance (2002)
All That Remains (2005)
Chasing the Grail (2010)
Sin and Bones (2012)
Do You Wanna Start a War (2014)
Judas (2017)
Live albums
Remains Alive (2009)
As guest
Don't You Wish You Were Me? - WWE Originals (2004)
King of the Night Time World - Spin the Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to Kiss (2004) * With Rich Ward, Mike Inez, Fred Coury
Bullet for My Valentine – Temper Temper – Dead to the World (2013)
Devin Townsend – Dark Matters (2014)
Michael Sweet – I'm Not Your Suicide – Anybody Else (2014)
Other endeavors
Film, theater, comedy, and writing
In 2000, a WWE produced VHS tape documenting Jericho's career titled Break Down the Walls was released. He later received two three disc sets profiling matches and interviews.
On June 24, 2006, Jericho premiered in his first Sci-Fi Channel movie Android Apocalypse alongside Scott Bairstow and Joey Lawrence.
Jericho debuted as a stage actor in a comedy play Opening Night, which premiered at the Toronto Centre for the Arts during July 20–22, 2006 in Toronto. During his stay in Toronto, Jericho hosted the sketch comedy show Sunday Night Live with sketch troupe The Sketchersons at The Brunswick House.
Jericho was also the first wrestler attached and interviewed for the wrestling documentary, Bloodstained Memoirs. The interview was recorded in the UK during a Fozzy tour in 2006.
Jericho wrote his autobiography, A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex, which was released on October 25, 2007 and became a New York Times bestseller. It covers Jericho's life and wrestling career up to his debut in the WWE. Jericho's second autobiography, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, was released on February 16, 2011, and covers his wrestling career since his WWE debut. On October 14, 2014 Jericho's third book, The Best In The World...At What I Have No Idea, was released. It covers some untold stories of the "Save Us" era, his Fozzy career, and his multiple returns from 2011 to 2013. Jericho's fourth book, No Is a Four-Letter Word: How I Failed Spelling but Succeeded in Life, was released on August 29, 2017 and details twenty valuable lessons Jericho learned throughout his career as a wrestler and musician.
Jericho appeared in the 2009 film Albino Farm. In the film MacGruber, released May 21, 2010, he briefly appeared as Frank Korver, a former military teammate of the eponymous Green Beret, Navy Seal, and Army Ranger.
Jericho released a comedy web series on October 29, 2013 that is loosely based on his life entitled But I'm Chris Jericho! Jericho plays a former wrestler, struggling to make it big as an actor. A second season was produced in 2017 by CBC and distributed over CBC's television app and CBC.ca.
In 2016, Jericho starred in the documentary film Nine Legends alongside Mike Tyson and other wrestlers.
In August 2018, Jericho was confirmed to star in the film Killroy Was Here.
On March 14, 2019, filmmaker Kevin Smith cast Jericho as a KKK Grand Wizard in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Television
Jericho was a contributor to the VH1 pop culture shows Best Week Ever, I Love the '80s, and VH1's top 100 artists.
Jericho also hosted the five-part, five-hour VH1 special 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, an update of the original special 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock N' Roll first hosted by Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray.
On July 12, 2006, he made an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show!; he made a second appearance on August 21, 2009. In May 2006, Jericho appeared on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and Heavy: The Story of Metal as a commentator.
He was one of eight celebrities in the 2006 Fox Television singing reality show Celebrity Duets, produced by Simon Cowell, and was the first contestant eliminated. Jericho worked at a McDonald's to show off his skills while prepping for the show.
Jericho hosted his own reality show in 2008 titled Redemption Song, in which 11 women tried their hand at getting into the music scene. It was shown on Fuse TV.
He guest starred as Billy "The Body Bag" Cobb in "Xero Control", an episode of the Disney XD 2009 original series Aaron Stone.
He hosted VH1's 100 Most Shocking Music Moments, which began airing in December 2009. In June 2010, Jericho was named the host of the ABC prime-time game show Downfall.
On March 1, 2011, Chris Jericho was named one of the contestants on the 2011 lineup of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was two-time champion Cheryl Burke. This led to a wave of publicity, including an interview with Jay Leno. On April 26, Jericho was the fifth contestant eliminated on the show.
On May 5, Jericho made his third appearance as a guest on Attack of the Show! where he depicted Thor. He promoted Undisputed and hosted the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on May 28 on VH1 Classic. On January 17, 2012, Jericho made his fourth appearance on Attack of the Show! in a segment called "Twitter Twister" where he portrayed a character called "The Twistercutioner" and read tweets as instructions for a game of Twister between Kevin and Candace. Jericho hosted the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
On February 26, 2013, Jericho began hosting a robot combat competition program on SyFy titled Robot Combat League the series ended on April 23, 2015.
Talk Is Jericho podcast
In December 2013, Jericho began hosting his own podcast, Talk is Jericho. Episodes usually include a loosely scripted monolog before an interview, typically with a wrestler, rock musician or paranormal expert. The show originally appeared on PodcastOne, before moving to the WestwoodOne network in 2018. Notable guests on the show include Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Lemmy from Motörhead, Paul Stanley from KISS, Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures, pornographic actress Asa Akira, writer/director Kevin Smith and many former and current wrestlers.
In April 2015, Jericho hosted his own video podcast on the WWE Network, Live! with Chris Jericho, with John Cena as his first guest, followed by Stephanie McMahon as his guest later that same month.
Once he signed with AEW, he was no longer allowed WWE performers as guests on the podcast.
Web
On August 10, 2019, Jericho launched his own dirtsheet website called WebIsJericho.com. The website is dedicated to the memory of Axl Rotten.
In May 2020, Jericho officially joined as a competitor of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown under manager Roxy Striar in the Roxstars faction. Jericho first expressed interest in the Schmoedown following an appearance on Collider Live with Striar and Schmoedown commissioner Kristian Harloff. He became friends with Striar following the interview and kept in contact. During the 2020 season, Jericho contacted Striar, asking to be a part of the league. Striar formally drafted Jericho into her faction during the first free-agent period following the season-opening draft. His first match is scheduled for August 27 against Kevin Smith.
Cruises
In 2017, Jericho launched Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, a cruise "combining the worlds of rock and wrestling with a once in a lifetime amazing vacation experience". The cruise featured live band performances, artist-hosted activities and a Sea of Honor Tournament with over a dozen Ring of Honor wrestlers competing. Guests had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Chris and his closest wrestling, comedian, and musician friends including Jim Ross, Diamond Dallas Page and Jim Breuer, among others. The cruise sailed October 27–31, 2018 from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas.
Jericho hosted a second cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave, which run from January 20–24, 2020. A third cruise, Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Triple Whammy, is scheduled for October 21–25, 2021.
Video games
Jericho has appeared in numerous video games. They include WCW/nWo Revenge, WCW Nitro, WCW/nWo Thunder, WCW Mayhem, WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown!, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWF Raw, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE All Stars, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19 and the upcoming All Elite Wrestling video game.
Personal life
Irvine married Jessica Lockhart on July 30, 2000. They reside in Odessa, Florida, with their three children: son Ash Edward Irvine (born 2003) and identical twin daughters Sierra Loretta "SiSi" Irvine and Cheyenne Lee "Chey" Irvine (born 2006). All three have been guests on his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, with his son discussing fish and his daughters discussing literature. Irvine owns three cats. In October 2020, Irvine reportedly donated $3,000 to Donald Trump's presidential re-election campaign.
Irvine is a Christian. He has a tattoo of his wife's name on his ring finger. He has the letter F, representing Fozzy, on the back of his hand. Since 2012, he has gradually gotten a sleeve over his left arm. His tattoos include: the artwork of Fozzy's album Sin and Bones, a Jack-o'-lantern (Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, who collaborated with Fozzy on the track "Sandpaper" from Sin and Bones, also got a matching tattoo), a lake monster, and himself from his WWF debut in 1999.
On July 5, 2004, Irvine was awarded Manitoba's The Order of the Buffalo Hunt, for his achievements in wrestling and his commitment to working with underprivileged children. – "After that, Gary Doer, the premier of Manitoba, awarded me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, which was the province's highest honor. It was quite the prestigious prize, which has been given to such dignitaries such as Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Pope John Paul II, and now Chris Jericho." / caption: "Manitoba Premier Gary Doer presents me with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, along with a tiny bronze buffalo. I'm thinking, 'That's all I get?'"
Since January 2012, Irvine (along with former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow, former NFL player Derrick Brooks, and former Atlanta Braves player Chipper Jones) has been the co-owner of a sports training facility in Tampa, a franchise site of D1 Sports Training and Therapy.
Irvine is a fan of Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, which Irvine would frequently shop at when he wrestled in Japan in the 1990s. Irvine still visits Lawson whenever he returns to Japan, whether to wrestle or if he is touring with Fozzy.https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCwN9vjtO_/
Legal issues
On February 7, 2009, a fan accused Irvine of punching her after she spat at him with fans outside Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia after a live event. Video footage, however, clearly showed he did not make contact with the woman. As a result of the incident, police detained them, but released them without charge. Police did not press charges against anyone in the brawl as it was "hard to determine who provoked whom".
On January 27, 2010, Irvine and fellow wrestler Gregory Helms were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky after leaving a bar. A police report stated that Helms punched Irvine and the other passengers in the cab. Fellow wrestlers Christian and CM Punk bailed them out later.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Championships and accomplishments
All Elite Wrestling AEW World Championship (1 time)
AEW Dynamite Awards (2 times)
Bleacher Report PPV Moment of the Year (2021) –
Biggest Beatdown (2021) –
The Baltimore Sun
Feud of the Year (2008)
Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling
CRMW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
CRMW North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Lance Storm
CRMW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
Extreme Championship Wrestling
ECW World Television Championship (1 time)
International Wrestling Alliance
IWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Faction of the Year (2021) – with The Inner Circle
Feud of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Feud of the Year (2021)
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2002, 2008)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009
Rolling Stone
Ranked No. 3 of the 10 best WWE wrestlers of 2016
World Championship Wrestling
WCW Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)
WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
Undisputed WWF Championship (1 time)
World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
WCW/World Championship (2 times)
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Championship (9 times)
WWE United States Championship (2 times)
WWF European Championship (1 time)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Edge (1) and Big Show (1)
WWF/World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Chris Benoit (1), The Rock (1), Christian (1), Edge (1), and Big Show (1)
Bragging Rights Trophy (2009) – with Team SmackDown
WWF Undisputed Championship Tournament (2001)
Fourth Grand Slam Champion
Ninth Triple Crown Champion
Slammy Award (3 times)
Extreme Moment of the Year (2014)
Superstar of the Year (2008)
Tag Team of the Year (2009) – with Big Show
Wrestle Association "R"
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gedo
World Wrestling Association
WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Dandy
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestler of the Year (2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews (2003, 2008, 2009, 2019)
Best on Interviews of the Decade (2000s)
Feud of the Year (2008)
Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2008)
Most Underrated Wrestler (1999, 2000)
Readers' Favorite Wrestler (1999)
United States/Canada MVP (2019)
Most Charismatic (2019)
Best Box Office Draw (2019)
Best Pro Wrestling Book (2011)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)
Luchas de Apuestas record
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
1970 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American singers
21st-century Canadian male actors
21st-century Canadian male singers
AEW World Champions
All Elite Wrestling personnel
American Christians
American color commentators
American game show hosts
American hard rock musicians
American heavy metal singers
American male film actors
American male professional wrestlers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American memoirists
American men podcasters
American people of Scottish descent
American people of Ukrainian descent
American podcasters
American radio personalities
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American YouTubers
Canadian Christians
Canadian colour commentators
Canadian expatriate professional wrestlers in the United States
Canadian game show hosts
Canadian hard rock musicians
Canadian heavy metal singers
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male professional wrestlers
Canadian male singers
Canadian male singer-songwriters
Canadian male television actors
Canadian memoirists
Canadian men podcasters
Canadian people of Scottish descent
Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
Canadian podcasters
Canadian radio personalities
Canadian rock singers
Canadian YouTubers
Christians from New York (state)
ECW World Television Champions
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Mexico
Fozzy members
IWGP Intercontinental champions
Living people
Male actors from New York (state)
Male actors from Winnipeg
Male YouTubers
Musicians from Winnipeg
NWA/WCW World Television Champions
NWA/WCW/WWE United States Heavyweight Champions
Participants in American reality television series
People from Manhasset, New York
Professional wrestlers from Manitoba
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
Professional wrestling podcasters
Red River College alumni
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Sportspeople from Winnipeg
WCW World Heavyweight Champions
World Heavyweight Champions (WWE)
WWE Champions
WWE Grand Slam champions
WWF European Champions
WWF/WWE Hardcore Champions
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champions | false | [
"Jeri-Show was a villainous professional wrestling tag team consisting of Big Show and Chris Jericho, which competed in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion.\n\nThe duo made their debut in July 2009 at WWE's Night of Champions pay-per-view event, where Jericho replaced the legitimate injured Edge with Show as his tag team partner in his defense of the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship (which was made by the unification of the World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship).\n\nThroughout the remainder of 2009, Jeri-Show were involved in several highly promoted feuds and angles, as well as defending the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship and challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship. The duo also headlined two of WWE's pay-per-view events during their short tenure together, with the first being at Survivor Series and the second at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.\n\nHistory\n\nUnified WWE Tag Team Champions (2009–2010) \nAt The Bash on June 28, 2009, Jericho and his then partner Edge, both heels, won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship (which consisted of the World Tag Team Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championship) as surprise entrants in a tag team match. When Edge suffered a torn Achilles tendon shortly thereafter which left him unable to wrestle, Jericho exploited a contractual loophole that allowed him to choose a new partner to replace Edge so that Jericho's reign could continue uninterrupted, while insulting Edge for being injury prone.\n\nOn July 26 at Night of Champions, Jericho revealed fellow heel Big Show as his new tag team partner and they defeated Legacy members Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to retain the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, thus allowing Big Show (who was from the Raw brand) and Jericho (who was from the SmackDown brand) to appear on both brands. Jeri-Show would then feud with Cryme Tyme (JTG and Shad Gaspard), which culminated in a successful title defense for Jeri-Show at SummerSlam on August 23. Jericho and Big Show would then feud with Montel Vontavious Porter and Mark Henry, which would also result in another successful title defense for Jeri-Show at Breaking Point on September 13 against them. Next, Jeri-Show would move on to feud with Batista, who then challenged for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship with Jericho's rival Rey Mysterio at Hell in a Cell on October 4, where resulted in another successful title defense.\n\nOn the October 5 episode of Raw, Jeri-Show would begin a feud with Shawn Michaels and Triple H of D-Generation X (D-X) following a loss in a non-title match. Leading up to Bragging Rights, Jericho was named as a co-captain (with Kane) for Team SmackDown while Big Show joined Team Raw, which was captained by D-X. At Bragging Rights on October 25, Big Show turned on Team Raw when he attacked his teammates Kofi Kingston and Triple H, resulting in Jericho getting the win for Team SmackDown. Big Show would then reveal that his motives for aiding Team SmackDown was so that he would be granted a shot against SmackDown's World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker, while Jericho would insert himself into the title match as well after defeating Kane, thus making it a triple threat match. At Survivor Series on November 22, The Undertaker retained his World Heavyweight Championship after Jericho and Big Show turned on each other despite working together throughout most of the match. Jeri-Show would then continue their feud with D-X and on December 13 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, they lost the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship to D-X in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, ending their reign at 140 days. On the December 14 episode of Raw, Jeri-Show won a Slammy Award for \"Tag Team of the Year\", while that same night they used their rematch clause against D-X, who quickly intentionally disqualified themselves and retained the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship (as a result, Jericho, from the SmackDown brand, could not appear on Raw as he was no longer a Unified WWE Tag Team Champion). D-X granted Jeri-Show yet another rematch for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, with the additional stipulation that Jericho had to \"leave Raw forever\" if Jeri-Show lost, which they did on the January 4, 2010 episode of Raw, marking the end of Jeri-Show.\n\nAfter their breakup, Edge made his return at the 2010 Royal Rumble match to feud with Jericho, eliminating Jericho en route to winning the Rumble. Meanwhile, Big Show would go on to win the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship back from D-X when he teamed with The Miz, forming ShoMiz. Jericho would eventually return to Raw again when he was drafted to the Raw brand through the 2010 WWE draft.\n\nUnofficial reunions (2012–2016) \nOn the July 9, 2012 episode of Raw, Jeri-Show (as villains) reunited for one-time to take on John Cena and Kane in a tag team match, which they lost by disqualification.\n\nOn the September 5, 2014 episode of SmackDown, Jeri-Show (as fan favorites) had a one-night reunion, competing in a ten-man tag team match that consisted of themselves teaming with John Cena, Mark Henry and Roman Reigns against Kane, Seth Rollins and The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper), which Jeri-Show's team won by disqualification after The Wyatt Family broke up Cena's STF on Rollins and refused to stop their assault on Cena.\n\nOn the January 28, 2016 episode of SmackDown, Big Show helped Jericho, Reigns and Dean Ambrose from a Wyatt Family assault, having a one night reunion for Jeri-Show.\n\nChampionships and accomplishments \n World Wrestling Entertainment\n World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n Slammy Award (1 time)\n Tag Team of the Year (2009)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n Cagematch profile\n\nWWE teams and stables\nWWE World Tag Team Champions",
"The 2001 Backlash was the third Backlash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on April 29, 2001, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois and was presented by Castrol GTX. Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card. The concept of the pay-per-view was based around the backlash from WrestleMania X-Seven.\n\nThe main event was a \"winner take all\" tag team match in which the WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin teamed with his Power Trip ally, Intercontinental Champion Triple H, to take on the WWF Tag Team Champions, The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane). The stipulations were that if Austin and Triple H won, they would become the new tag team champions. If Undertaker and Kane won, the WWF and Intercontinental Championships would be awarded to them based on who scored the winning fall. The Power Trip won the match after Triple H hit Kane with a sledgehammer, thus gaining the tag team championship and retaining their own titles.\n\nFeatured matches on the undercard included a Last Man Standing match between Shane McMahon and The Big Show, which McMahon won, and an Ultimate Submission match featuring Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle, which Benoit won.\n\nProduction\n\nBackground\nBacklash is a pay-per-view (PPV) event that was established by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1999. The concept of the pay-per-view was based around the backlash from WWF's flagship event, WrestleMania. The 2001 event was the third event in the Backlash chronology. It was scheduled to take place on April 29, 2001, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. The 2001 event featured the backlash from WrestleMania X-Seven.\n\nStorylines\nThe event featured seven professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of events which built tension, culminating in a wrestling match or series of matches.\n\nAt WrestleMania X-Seven, Stone Cold Steve Austin fought The Rock for the WWF Championship. During the match, Vince McMahon interfered, which eventually led to Austin attacking The Rock with a steel chair to win the WWF Championship and in the process align himself with his long-time enemy. The next night on Raw is War, a rematch between the pair took place in a steel cage match. Triple H interfered in the match, attacking The Rock and partnering up with Austin and McMahon. Briefly known as The McMahon Alliance, the pair began being referred to as \"The Two Man Power Trip\" (or \"The Power Trip\" for short). On the episode of SmackDown! following WrestleMania, Austin assaulted his long-time friend Jim Ross after Ross criticized his alliance with Triple H and McMahon. Triple H then defeated Chris Jericho to win the Intercontinental Championship for a third time in the main event, bringing both of the major singles titles in the company to the new alliance.\n\nShortly after this happened, The Brothers of Destruction (Kane and The Undertaker) began feuding with Austin and Triple H (in between, Triple H traded the Intercontinental Championship back and forth with Jeff Hardy for a brief period). A match between the two teams was signed for Backlash. Undertaker and Kane were not simply satisfied with that, and they demanded and were given a title shot at the reigning WWF Tag Team Champions, Edge and Christian, on the April 19, 2001 edition of SmackDown!. The brothers won the match, but were attacked by the Power Trip afterwards. \n\nOn the next Raw is War, McMahon told Austin and Triple H that the match at Backlash, which was now to be contested for the Tag Team Championship, had an additional stipulation added to it. At the time, he and his wife Linda were going through (kayfabe) problems in their marriage and Linda, who McMahon had demanded a divorce from in December 2000, was seeking a divorce that he refused to give her. Since Linda was still the (on-screen) CEO of the company, this gave her power to veto her husband's decisions and force compromises. \n\nMcMahon told the Power Trip that Linda had forced him to include one other caveat in the match. Austin and Triple H would indeed get their championship opportunity at Backlash, but in order to do so they would be required to place their singles titles at stake as well. The winning team would receive control of all three championships. If Austin and Triple H were to win, they would become Tag Team Champions in addition to their status as the WWF and Intercontinental Champions. If Undertaker and Kane were to win, they would receive both singles titles. Whoever scored the fall would receive the title of the wrestler they defeated, with the other receiving the other title; this meant if Austin took the fall, he would lose his WWF Championship to whoever pinned him or made him submit and Triple H would have to forfeit his Intercontinental Championship to whoever did not score the victory for the Brothers of Destruction.\n\nEvent\n\nBefore the event began, a dark match took place on Heat in which Crash Holly defended the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship against Jerry Lynn. Lynn pinned Holly with a Roll Up whilst holding Holly's tights to win the title.\n\nIn another dark match, Lita faced Molly Holly. Lita performed a Litasault on Molly to win the match.\n\nPreliminary matches\nThe event opened with X-Factor (X-Pac, Justin Credible and Albert) facing The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley and Spike Dudley). X-Pac and Credible performed a double Superkick on Bubba to win the match.\n\nNext, Rhyno defended the WWF Hardcore Championship against Raven in a Hardcore match. Rhyno performed a Gore on Raven to retain the title.\n\nAfter that, WWF commissioner William Regal faced Chris Jericho in a Duchess of Queensbury Rules match. Jericho attempted a Lionsault on Regal but the Duchess announced the first round had expired, allowing Regal to pin Jericho with a roll up for a near-fall. Jericho forced Regal to submit to the Walls of Jericho but the Duchess announced submissions did not count. Jericho applied the Walls of Jericho on the Duchess, allowing Regal to hit Jericho with a steel chair to win the match.\n\nIn the fourth match, Kurt Angle faced Chris Benoit in a 30-minute Ultimate Submission match, a variation of an Iron Man match. Angle forced Benoit to submit to a Leglock to make the score 1–0. Benoit forced Angle to submit to a Cross Armbreaker to make the score 1–1. Angle forced Benoit to submit to the Ankle lock to make the score 2–1. Angle forced Benoit to submit to the Crippler Crossface to make the score 3–1. Benoit forced Angle to submit to a Single Leg Boston Crab with his knee on Angle's neck to make the score 3–2. Benoit forced Angle to submit to the Ankle Lock to make the score 3–3. The time limit expired, leading to the referee continuing the match in overtime. Benoit forced Angle to submit to the Crippler Crossface to win the match 4–3.\n\nNext, Shane McMahon faced Big Show in a Last Man Standing match. Test interfered, performing a Big Boot on Big Show. Shane climbed the stage structure, allowing Test to attack Big Show in the staging area. Shane performed a Leap of Faith off the Titantron onto Big Show, who was lay in the staging area. Test used a Camera to help Shane stand but Big Show could not stand by a ten count, meaning Shane won the match.\n\nAfter that, Matt Hardy defended the WWF European Championship against Christian and Eddie Guerrero. Edge interfered, performing a Spear on Hardy. Jeff Hardy interfered, attacking Edge. Christian performed an Unprettier on Guerrero but Jeff broke up the pin with a Swanton Bomb. Hardy performed a Twist of Fate on Christian to retain the title.\n\nMain event\nIn the main event, The Two-Man Power Trip (Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H) faced The Brothers of Destruction (Kane and The Undertaker) in a Tag team match for The Brothers of Destruction's WWF Tag Team Championship, Triple H's WWF Intercontinental Championship and Austin's WWF Championship. Triple H performed a Pedigree on Kane and Austin pinned Kane but Undertaker broke up the pinfall. Kane performed an Enziguiri on Austin, causing Austin to collide with the referee. Undertaker performed a Last Ride on Triple H but the referee did not see the tag, voiding the pinfall. Stephanie McMahon interfered, leading to Kane performing a Big Boot on McMahon. Vince McMahon interfered, handing Triple H his sledgehammer. Triple H hit Kane with the sledgehammer to win the match, retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship and Austin's WWF Championship and win the WWF Tag Team Championship.\n\nAftermath\nThe feud between The Two Man Power Trip and The Brothers of Destruction continued. The next night on Raw is War, Austin and Triple H broke Kane's arm in storyline. It was then announced Kane would face Triple H in a Chain match for the Intercontinental Championship and Undertaker would face Austin for the WWF Championship at Judgment Day. At Judgment Day, Austin accidentally hit Triple H with a steel chair during his chain match with Kane, causing Triple H to lose his Intercontinental Championship. Triple H did not return the favor, however; instead, he helped Austin retain his title against the Undertaker. The next night on Raw, the Two-Man Power Trip faced Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho with the tag title on the line. In this match, Triple H suffered a legitimate and career-threatening injury when he misstepped, causing him to suffer a tear in his left quadriceps. Despite his inability to place any weight on his leg, Triple H was able to complete the match. Near the end of the match, Jericho tried to pin Austin, but Triple H got in the ring and tried to hit Jericho with the sledgehammer. Jericho avoided the blow and the sledgehammer instead hit Austin, a situation Jericho and Benoit took advantage of to win the match and the titles.\n\nThe 2001 Backlash would be the final Backlash event to occur before the introduction of the brand extension the following year in March, where the promotion split its roster between the Raw and SmackDown! brands where the wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform. The 2002 event in turn featured wrestlers from both brands.\n\nResults\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial website\nWWE.com\n\n2000s in Chicago\n2001 in Illinois\n2001\nProfessional wrestling in the Chicago metropolitan area\nEvents in Rosemont, Illinois\n2001 WWF pay-per-view events\nApril 2001 events in the United States"
]
|
[
"Richard Dawkins",
"Fathering the meme"
]
| C_1cf3f56cfdf247cf92ea0c78b9d8f358_1 | How was Dawkins responsible for the term meme? | 1 | How was Richard Dawkins responsible for the term meme? | Richard Dawkins | In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself. Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes. Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme). This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins. Laurent also found the term, mneme, used in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and has highlighted the similarities to Dawkins's concept. James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity". CANNOTANSWER | In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme | Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.
Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. With his book The Extended Phenotype (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. Dawkins's atheist stances have sometimes attracted controversy.
Dawkins has been awarded academic and writing awards, and he makes television, radio, and internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
Background
Early life
Clinton Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule. Dawkins later dropped Clinton from his name by deed poll. He is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan (née Ladner; 1916–2019) and Clinton John Dawkins (1915–2010), an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), of an Oxfordshire landed gentry family. His father was called up into the King's African Rifles during the Second World War and returned to England in 1949, when Dawkins was eight. His father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially. Dawkins lives in Oxford, England. He has a younger sister, Sarah.
His parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing". He embraced Christianity until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the theory of evolution alone was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god. Dawkins states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing." This understanding of atheism combined with his western cultural background, informs Dawkins as he describes himself in several interviews as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican".
Education
On his return to England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins joined Chafyn Grove School, in Wiltshire, and after that from 1954 to 1959 attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a Church of England ethos, where he was in Laundimer House. While at Oundle, Dawkins read Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian for the first time. He studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962; while there, he was tutored by Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. He graduated with second-class honours.
He continued as a research student under Tinbergen's supervision, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly in the areas of instinct, learning, and choice; Dawkins's research in this period concerned models of animal decision-making. He was awarded a DSc by Oxford in 1989.
Teaching
From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities. He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a reader in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field", and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins. He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.
Since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford, and he is now an emeritus fellow. He has delivered many lectures, including the Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture (1989), the first Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the Michael Faraday Lecture (1991), the T. H. Huxley Memorial Lecture (1992), the Irvine Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003). In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on Growing Up in the Universe. He also has edited several journals, and has acted as editorial advisor to the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine, and has been a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since its foundation.
Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards, and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford, instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities". In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."
In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London established by A. C. Grayling, which opened in September 2012.
Work
Evolutionary biology
Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the gene as the principal unit of selection in evolution; this view is most clearly set out in two of his books:
The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities".
The Extended Phenotype (1982), in which he describes natural selection as "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered niche construction to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.
Dawkins has consistently been sceptical about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as spandrels, described by Gould and Lewontin) and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene. He is particularly sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of group selection as a basis for understanding altruism.
This behaviour appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness. Previously, many had interpreted this as an aspect of group selection: individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton used gene-frequency analysis in his inclusive fitness theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism (including close relatives). Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. Dawkins popularised these ideas in The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his own work. In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist E. O. Wilson's 2012 book The Social Conquest of Earth as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection. Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the Gaia hypothesis of the independent scientist James Lovelock.
Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the gene as the unit of selection (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population). In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency". Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit". In The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.
Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as Richard Lewontin, David Sloan Wilson, and Elliott Sober) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher Mary Midgley, with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning The Selfish Gene, has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively reductionist; she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the Zeitgeist such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades. Besides, other, more recent views and analysis on his popular science works also exist.
In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'), one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas. In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical. A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin. Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are Steven Pinker and Daniel Dennett; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended reductionism in biology. Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.
When asked if Darwinism informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life," implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the consciousness of self.
Fathering the meme
In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.
Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.
Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists. Laurent also found the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work. In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by claiming that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme". Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity".
Foundation
In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are secular in nature. In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.
Criticism of religion
Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilised world could still be so uneducated in biology, and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins notes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die. He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA) and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".
On his spectrum of theistic probability, which has seven levels between 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) and 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden." In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion. In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized religious beliefs as irrational, such as that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006, which became an international bestseller. As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages. Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with the rise of New Atheism. In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion—"a fixed false belief". In his February 2002 TED talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination. These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview. He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school, which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence and be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history. Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.
While some critics, such as writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work, others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, academic and social critic Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian Alister McGrath, have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises. Atheist philosopher John Gray has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original," suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world." In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.
Dawkins has faced backlash over some of his public comments about Islam. In 2013, Dawkins tweeted "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.". In 2016, Dawkins' invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was withdrawn over his sharing of a "'highly offensive' video "mocking feminists and Islamists".
Criticism of creationism
Dawkins is a prominent critic of creationism, a religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity without recourse to evolution. He has described the young Earth creationist view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood". His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, contains a sustained critique of the argument from design, an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy made famous by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley via his book Natural Theology, in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, blind watchmaker.
In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against A. E. Wilder-Smith (a Young Earth creationist) and Edgar Andrews (president of the Biblical Creation Society). In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of engaging with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word theory, Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."
Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one". He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler", a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.
Political views
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement. Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind. He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority. Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly. He supported a UK atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of human population and about the matter of overpopulation. In The Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40 years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of starvation.
As a supporter of the Great Ape Project—a movement to extend certain moral and legal rights to all great apes—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative".
Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily. His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush, and the ethics of designer babies. Several such articles were included in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected president. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith. In the run up to the 2017 general election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.
In April 2021, Dawkins said on Twitter that "Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss." After receiving criticism for this tweet, Dawkins responded by saying that "I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic "Discuss" question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue."
Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
Dawkins identifies as a feminist. He has said that feminism is "enormously important".
Views on postmodernism
In 1998, in a book review published in Nature, Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the Sokal affair, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt and Intellectual Impostures by Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books are famous for their criticism of postmodernism in U.S. universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).
Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses obscurantist language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari:
"We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis."
This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or Lacan, according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career:
"Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."
Other fields
In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience and alternative medicine. His 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the rainbow, Isaac Newton diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "myths" and "pseudoscience". For John Diamond's posthumously published Snake Oil, a book devoted to debunking alternative medicine, Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes. Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film The Enemies of Reason, Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".
Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, Genius of Britain, along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.
In 2014, he joined the global awareness movement Asteroid Day as a "100x Signatory".
Awards and recognition
He holds honorary doctorates in science from the University of Huddersfield, University of Westminster, Durham University, the University of Hull, the University of Antwerp, the University of Oslo, the University of Aberdeen, Open University, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the University of Valencia. He also holds honorary doctorates of letters from the University of St Andrews and the Australian National University (HonLittD, 1996), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001. He is one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society.
In 1987, Dawkins received a Royal Society of Literature award and a Los Angeles Times Literary Prize for his book The Blind Watchmaker. In the same year, he received a Sci. Tech Prize for Best Television Documentary Science Programme of the Year for his work on the BBC's Horizon episode The Blind Watchmaker.
In 1996, the American Humanist Association gave him their Humanist of the Year Award, but the award was withdrawn in 2021, with the statement that he "demean[ed] marginalized groups", including transgender people, using "the guise of scientific discourse".
Other awards include the Zoological Society of London's Silver Medal (1989), the Finlay Innovation Award (1990), the Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize (1994), the fifth International Cosmos Prize (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (2001), the 2001 and 2012 Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Bicentennial Kelvin Medal of The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2002), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2006), and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009). He was awarded the Deschner Award, named after German anti-clerical author Karlheinz Deschner. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) has awarded Dawkins their highest award In Praise of Reason (1992).
Dawkins topped Prospect magazine's 2004 list of the top 100 public British intellectuals, as decided by the readers, receiving twice as many votes as the runner-up. He was shortlisted as a candidate in their 2008 follow-up poll. In a poll held by Prospect in 2013, Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker based on 65 names chosen by a largely US and UK-based expert panel.
In 2005, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded him its Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his "concise and accessible presentation of scientific knowledge". He won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2006, as well as the Galaxy British Book Awards's Author of the Year Award for 2007. In the same year, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007, and was ranked 20th in The Daily Telegraph 2007 list of 100 greatest living geniuses.
Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference, honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins's own efforts. In February 2010, Dawkins was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
In 2012, ichthyologists in Sri Lanka honored Dawkins by creating Dawkinsia as a new genus name (members of this genus were formerly members of the genus Puntius).
Personal life
Dawkins has been married three times and has a daughter. On 19 August 1967, Dawkins married ethologist Marian Stamp in the Protestant church in Annestown, County Waterford, Ireland; they divorced in 1984. On 1 June 1984, he married Eve Barham (1951–1999) in Oxford. They had a daughter, Juliet Emma Dawkins (born 1984, Oxford). Dawkins and Barham divorced. In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward in Kensington and Chelsea, London. Dawkins met her through their mutual friend Douglas Adams, who had worked with her on the BBC's Doctor Who. Dawkins and Ward separated in 2016 and they later described the separation as "entirely amicable". He identifies as an atheist who is a "cultural Anglican," associated with the Church of England, and a "secular Christian".
On 6 February 2016, Dawkins suffered a minor haemorrhagic stroke while at home. Dawkins reported later that same year that he had almost completely recovered.
Media
Selected publications
Book text
Documentary films
Nice Guys Finish First (1986)
The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
Break the Science Barrier (1996)
The Atheism Tapes (2004)
The Big Question (2005) – Part 3 of the TV series, titled "Why Are We Here?"
The Root of All Evil? (2006)
The Enemies of Reason (2007)
The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
Faith School Menace? (2010)
Beautiful Minds (April 2012) – BBC4 documentary
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
The Unbelievers (2013)
Other appearances
Dawkins has made many television appearances on news shows providing his political opinions and especially his views as an atheist. He has been interviewed on the radio, often as part of his book tours. He has debated many religious figures. He has made many university speaking appearances, again often in coordination with his book tours. As of 2016, he has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) – as himself, presented as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticise evidence supporting Darwinian evolution
Doctor Who: "The Stolen Earth" (2008) – as himself
Inside Nature's Giants (2009-12) - as guest expert
The Simpsons: "Black Eyed, Please" (2013) – appears in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell; provided voice as a demon version of himself
Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) – by Nightwish: Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had Dawkins as a guest star on the album. He provides narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful", in which he opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth", inspired by and named after his book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, and in which he quotes On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. He subsequently performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; the concert was later released as a part of a live album/DVD titled Vehicle of Spirit.
Notes
a. W. D. Hamilton influenced Dawkins and the influence can be seen throughout Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene. They became friends at Oxford and following Hamilton's death in 2000, Dawkins wrote his obituary and organised a secular memorial service.
b. The debate ended with the motion "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution" being defeated by 198 votes to 115.
References
Bibliography
External links
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Richard Dawkins – lasted news at The Independent
Richard Dawkins at The New York Times
Richard Dawkins at Big Think
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Writers about religion and science | false | [
"Memetics is the study of information and culture based on an analogy with Darwinian evolution. Proponents describe memetics as an approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer. Memetics describes how an idea can propagate successfully, but doesn't necessarily imply a concept is factual. Critics contend the theory is \"untested, unsupported or incorrect\". It has failed to become a mainstream approach to cultural evolution as the research community has favored models that exclude the concept of a cultural replicator (called \"meme\"), opting mostly for gene-culture co-evolution instead.\n\nThe term meme was coined in Richard Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene, but Dawkins later distanced himself from the resulting field of study. Analogous to a gene, the meme was conceived as a \"unit of culture\" (an idea, belief, pattern of behavior, etc.) which is \"hosted\" in the minds of one or more individuals, and which can reproduce itself in the sense of jumping from the mind of one person to the mind of another. Thus what would otherwise be regarded as one individual influencing another to adopt a belief is seen as an idea-replicator reproducing itself in a new host. As with genetics, particularly under a Dawkinsian interpretation, a meme's success may be due to its contribution to the effectiveness of its host.\n\nHistory\nIn his book The Selfish Gene (1976), the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins used the term meme to describe a unit of human cultural transmission analogous to the gene, arguing that replication also happens in culture, albeit in a different sense. While cultural evolution itself is a much older topic, with a history that dates back at least as far as Darwin's era, Dawkins (1976) proposed that the meme is a unit of information residing in the brain and is the mutating replicator in human cultural evolution. It is a pattern that can influence its surroundings – that is, it has causal agency – and can propagate. This proposal resulted in debate among sociologists, biologists, and scientists of other disciplines. Dawkins himself did not provide a sufficient explanation of how the replication of units of information in the brain controls human behaviour and ultimately culture, and the principal topic of the book was genetics. Dawkins apparently did not intend to present a comprehensive theory of memetics in The Selfish Gene, but rather coined the term meme in a speculative spirit. Accordingly, different researchers came to define the term \"unit of information\" in different ways.\n\nThe evolutionary model of cultural information transfer is based on the concept that units of information, or \"memes\", have an independent existence, are self-replicating, and are subject to selective evolution through environmental forces. Starting from a proposition put forward in the writings of Richard Dawkins, this model has formed the basis of a new area of study, one that looks at the self-replicating units of culture. It has been proposed that just as memes are analogous to genes, memetics is analogous to genetics.\n\nThe modern memetics movement dates from the mid-1980s. A January 1983 \"Metamagical Themas\" column by Douglas Hofstadter, in Scientific American, was influential – as was his 1985 book of the same name. \"Memeticist\" was coined as analogous to \"geneticist\" – originally in The Selfish Gene. Later Arel Lucas suggested that the discipline that studies memes and their connections to human and other carriers of them be known as \"memetics\" by analogy with \"genetics\". Dawkins' The Selfish Gene has been a factor in attracting the attention of people of disparate intellectual backgrounds. Another stimulus was the publication in 1991 of Consciousness Explained by Tufts University philosopher Daniel Dennett, which incorporated the meme concept into a theory of the mind. In his 1991 essay \"Viruses of the Mind\", Richard Dawkins used memetics to explain the phenomenon of religious belief and the various characteristics of organised religions. By then, memetics had also become a theme appearing in fiction (e.g. Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash).\n\nThe idea of language as a virus had already been introduced by William S. Burroughs as early as 1962 in his fictional book The Ticket That Exploded, and continued in The Electronic Revolution, published in 1970 in The Job.\n\nThe foundation of memetics in its full modern incarnation was launched by Douglas Rushkoff's Media Virus: Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture in 1995, and was accelerated with the publication in 1996 of two more books by authors outside the academic mainstream: Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme by former Microsoft executive turned motivational speaker and professional poker-player Richard Brodie, and Thought Contagion: How Belief Spreads Through Society by Aaron Lynch, a mathematician and philosopher who worked for many years as an engineer at Fermilab. Lynch claimed to have conceived his theory totally independently of any contact with academics in the cultural evolutionary sphere, and apparently was not aware of The Selfish Gene until his book was very close to publication.\n\nAround the same time as the publication of the books by Lynch and Brodie the e-journal Journal of Memetics – Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission (published electronically from 1997 to 2005) first appeared. It was first hosted by the Centre for Policy Modelling at Manchester Metropolitan University. The e-journal soon became the central point for publication and debate within the nascent memeticist community. (There had been a short-lived paper-based memetics publication starting in 1990, the Journal of Ideas edited by Elan Moritz.) In 1999, Susan Blackmore, a psychologist at the University of the West of England, published The Meme Machine, which more fully worked out the ideas of Dennett, Lynch, and Brodie and attempted to compare and contrast them with various approaches from the cultural evolutionary mainstream, as well as providing novel, and controversial, memetics-based theories for the evolution of language and the human sense of individual selfhood.\n\nEtymology \nThe term meme derives from the Ancient Greek μιμητής (mimētḗs), meaning \"imitator, pretender\". The similar term mneme was used in 1904, by the German evolutionary biologist Richard Semon, best known for his development of the engram theory of memory, in his work Die mnemischen Empfindungen in ihren Beziehungen zu den Originalempfindungen, translated into English in 1921 as The Mneme. Until Daniel Schacter published Forgotten Ideas, Neglected Pioneers: Richard Semon and the Story of Memory in 2000, Semon's work had little influence, though it was quoted extensively in Erwin Schrödinger’s 1956 Tarner Lecture “Mind and Matter”. Richard Dawkins (1976) apparently coined the word meme independently of Semon, writing this:\n\"'Mimeme' comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like 'gene'. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as being related to 'memory', or to the French word même.\"\n\nInternalists and externalists\nThe memetics movement split almost immediately into two. The first group were those who wanted to stick to Dawkins' definition of a meme as \"a unit of cultural transmission\". Gibron Burchett, another memeticist responsible for helping to research and co-coin the term memetic engineering, along with Leveious Rolando and Larry Lottman, has stated that a meme can be defined, more precisely, as \"a unit of cultural information that can be copied, located in the brain\". This thinking is more in line with Dawkins' second definition of the meme in his book The Extended Phenotype. The second group wants to redefine memes as observable cultural artifacts and behaviors. However, in contrast to those two positions, Blackmore does not reject either concept of external or internal memes.\n\nThese two schools became known as the \"internalists\" and the \"externalists.\" Prominent internalists included both Lynch and Brodie; the most vocal externalists included Derek Gatherer, a geneticist from Liverpool John Moores University, and William Benzon, a writer on cultural evolution and music. The main rationale for externalism was that internal brain entities are not observable, and memetics cannot advance as a science, especially a quantitative science, unless it moves its emphasis onto the directly quantifiable aspects of culture. Internalists countered with various arguments: that brain states will eventually be directly observable with advanced technology, that most cultural anthropologists agree that culture is about beliefs and not artifacts, or that artifacts cannot be replicators in the same sense as mental entities (or DNA) are replicators. The debate became so heated that a 1998 Symposium on Memetics, organised as part of the 15th International Conference on Cybernetics, passed a motion calling for an end to definitional debates. McNamara demonstrated in 2011 that functional connectivity profiling using neuroimaging tools enables the observation of the processing of internal memes, \"i-memes\", in response to external \"e-memes\".\n\nAn advanced statement of the internalist school came in 2002 with the publication of The Electric Meme, by Robert Aunger, an anthropologist from the University of Cambridge. Aunger also organised a conference in Cambridge in 1999, at which prominent sociologists and anthropologists were able to give their assessment of the progress made in memetics to that date. This resulted in the publication of Darwinizing Culture: The Status of Memetics as a Science, edited by Aunger and with a foreword by Dennett, in 2001.\n\nDecline\nIn 2005, the Journal of Memetics ceased publication and published a set of articles on the future of memetics. The website states that although \"there was to be a relaunch... after several years nothing has happened\". Susan Blackmore has left the University of the West of England to become a freelance science-writer and now concentrates more on the field of consciousness and cognitive science. Derek Gatherer moved to work as a computer programmer in the pharmaceutical industry, although he still occasionally publishes on memetics-related matters. Richard Brodie is now climbing the world professional poker rankings. Aaron Lynch disowned the memetics community and the words \"meme\" and \"memetics\" (without disowning the ideas in his book), adopting the self-description \"thought contagionist\". He died in 2005.\n\nSusan Blackmore (2002) re-stated the definition of meme as: whatever is copied from one person to another person, whether habits, skills, songs, stories, or any other kind of information. Further she said that memes, like genes, are replicators in the sense as defined by Dawkins.\nThat is, they are information that is copied. Memes are copied by imitation, teaching and other methods. The copies are not perfect: memes are copied with variation; moreover, they compete for space in our memories and for the chance to be copied again. Only some of the variants can survive. The combination of these three elements (copies; variation; competition for survival) forms precisely the condition for Darwinian evolution, and so memes (and hence human cultures) evolve. Large groups of memes that are copied and passed on together are called co-adapted meme complexes, or memeplexes. In Blackmore's definition, the way that a meme replicates is through imitation. This requires brain capacity to generally imitate a model or selectively imitate the model. Since the process of social learning varies from one person to another, the imitation process cannot be said to be completely imitated. The sameness of an idea may be expressed with different memes supporting it. This is to say that the mutation rate in memetic evolution is extremely high, and mutations are even possible within each and every iteration of the imitation process. It becomes very interesting when we see that a social system composed of a complex network of microinteractions exists, but at the macro level an order emerges to create culture.\n\nBy 2020, researchers of cultural evolution have come to regard memetics as a failed paradigm superseded by dual inheritance theory.\n\nCritics of memetics\n\nCritics contend that some proponents' assertions are \"untested, unsupported or incorrect.\" Luis Benitez-Bribiesca, a critic of memetics, calls it \"a pseudoscientific dogma\" and \"a dangerous idea that poses a threat to the serious study of consciousness and cultural evolution\" among other things. As factual criticism, he refers to the lack of a code script for memes, as the DNA is for genes, and to the fact that the meme mutation mechanism (i.e., an idea going from one brain to another) is too unstable (low replication accuracy and high mutation rate), which would render the evolutionary process chaotic. This, however, has been demonstrated (e.g. by Daniel C. Dennett, in Darwin's Dangerous Idea) to not be the case, in fact, due to the existence of self-regulating correction mechanisms (vaguely resembling those of gene transcription) enabled by the redundancy and other properties of most meme expression languages, which do stabilize information transfer. (E.g. spiritual narratives—including music and dance forms—can survive in full detail across any number of generations even in cultures with oral tradition only.) Memes for which stable copying methods are available will inevitably get selected for survival more often than those which can only have unstable mutations, therefore going extinct.\n \nAnother criticism comes from semiotics, (e.g., Deacon, Kull) stating that the concept of meme is a primitivized concept of Sign. Meme is thus described in memetics as a sign without its triadic nature. In other words, meme is a degenerate sign, which includes only its ability of being copied. Accordingly, in the broadest sense, the objects of copying are memes, whereas the objects of translation and interpretation are signs.\n\nMary Midgley criticizes memetics for at least two reasons: \n\nHenry Jenkins, Joshua Green, and Sam Ford, in their book Spreadable Media (2013), criticize Dawkins' idea of the meme, writing that \"while the idea of the meme is a compelling one, it may not adequately account for how content circulates through participatory culture.\" The three authors also criticize other interpretations of memetics, especially those which describe memes as \"self-replicating\", because they ignore the fact that \"culture is a human product and replicates through human agency.\"\n\nLike other critics, Maria Kronfeldner has criticized memetics for being based on an allegedly inaccurate analogy with the gene; alternately, she claims it is \"heuristically trivial\", being a mere redescription of what is already known without offering any useful novelty.\n\nNew developments\n\nAlternative definitions\nDawkins, in A Devil's Chaplain, expanded his definition of meme by saying there are actually two different types of memetic processes (controversial and informative). The first is a type of cultural idea, action, or expression, which does have high variance; for instance, a student of his who had inherited some of the mannerisms of Wittgenstein. The second type is a self-correcting meme that is highly resistant to mutation. As an example of this, he gives origami patterns taught to elementary students– the meme is either passed on in the exact sequence of instructions, or (in the case of a forgetful child) terminates. The self-correcting meme tends to not evolve, and to experience profound mutations in the rare event that it does.\nAnother definition, given by Hokky Situngkir, tried to offer a more rigorous formalism for the meme, memeplexes, and the deme, seeing the meme as a cultural unit in a cultural complex system. It is based on the Darwinian genetic algorithm with some modifications to account for the different patterns of evolution seen in genes and memes. In the method of memetics as the way to see culture as a complex adaptive system, he describes a way to see memetics as an alternative methodology of cultural evolution.\nDiCarlo (2010) developed the definition of meme further to include the idea of 'memetic equilibrium', which describe a culturally compatible state with biological equilibrium. In \"How Problem Solving and Neurotransmission in the Upper Paleolithic led to The Emergence and Maintenance of Memetic Equilibrium in Contemporary World Religions\", DiCarlo argues that as human consciousness evolved and developed, so too did our ancestors' capacity to consider and attempt to solve environmental problems in more conceptually sophisticated ways. When a satisfactory solution is found, the feeling of environmental stability, or memetic equilibrium, is achieved. The relationship between a gradually emerging conscious awareness and sophisticated languages in which to formulate representations combined with the desire to maintain biological equilibrium, generated the necessity for equilibrium to fill in conceptual gaps in terms of understanding three very important aspects in the Upper Paleolithic: causality, morality, and mortality. The desire to explain phenomena in relation to maintaining survival and reproductive stasis, generated a normative stance in the minds of our ancestors—Survival/Reproductive Value (or S-R Value).\n\nMemetic analysis\nThe possibility of quantitative analysis of memes using neuroimaging tools and the suggestion that such studies have already been done was given by McNamara (2011). This author proposes hyperscanning (concurrent scanning of two communicating individuals in two separate MRI machines) as a key tool in the future for investigating memetics.\nVelikovsky (2013) proposed the \"holon\" as the structure of the meme, synthesizing the major theories on memes of Richard Dawkins, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, E. O. Wilson, Frederick Turner (poet) and Arthur Koestler.\nProponents of memetics as described in the Journal of Memetics (out of print since 2005) believe that 'memetics' has the potential to be an important and promising analysis of culture using the framework of evolutionary concepts.\nKeith Henson in Memetics and the Modular-Mind (Analog Aug. 1987) makes the case that memetics needs to incorporate evolutionary psychology to understand the psychological traits of a meme's host.\n\nApplications\n\nResearch methodologies that apply memetics go by many names: Viral marketing, cultural evolution, the history of ideas, social analytics, and more. Many of these applications do not make reference to the literature on memes directly but are built upon the evolutionary lens of idea propagation that treats semantic units of culture as self-replicating and mutating patterns of information that are assumed to be relevant for scientific study. For example, the field of public relations is filled with attempts to introduce new ideas and alter social discourse. One means of doing this is to design a meme and deploy it through various media channels. One historic example of applied memetics is the PR campaign conducted in 1991 as part of the build-up to the first Gulf War in the United States.\n\nThe application of memetics to a difficult complex social system problem, environmental sustainability, has recently been attempted at thwink.org Using meme types and memetic infection in several stock and flow simulation models, Jack Harich has demonstrated several interesting phenomena that are best, and perhaps only, explained by memes. One model, The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace, argues that the fundamental reason corruption is the norm in politics is due to an inherent structural advantage of one feedback loop pitted against another. Another model, The Memetic Evolution of Solutions to Difficult Problems, uses memes, the evolutionary algorithm, and the scientific method to show how complex solutions evolve over time and how that process can be improved. The insights gained from these models are being used to engineer memetic solution elements to the sustainability problem.\n\nAnother application of memetics in the sustainability space is the crowdfunded Climate Meme Project conducted by Joe Brewer and Balazs Laszlo Karafiath in the spring of 2013. This study was based on a collection of 1000 unique text-based expressions gathered from Twitter, Facebook, and structured interviews with climate activists. The major finding was that the global warming meme is not effective at spreading because it causes emotional duress in the minds of people who learn about it. Five central tensions were revealed in the discourse about [climate change], each of which represents a resonance point through which dialogue can be engaged. The tensions were Harmony/Disharmony (whether or not humans are part of the natural world), Survival/Extinction (envisioning the future as either apocalyptic collapse of civilization or total extinction of the human race), Cooperation/Conflict (regarding whether or not humanity can come together to solve global problems), Momentum/Hesitation (about whether or not we are making progress at the collective scale to address climate change), and Elitism/Heretic (a general sentiment that each side of the debate considers the experts of its opposition to be untrustworthy).\n\nBen Cullen, in his book Contagious Ideas, brought the idea of the meme into the discipline of archaeology. He coined the term \"Cultural Virus Theory\", and used it to try to anchor archaeological theory in a neo-Darwinian paradigm. Archaeological memetics could assist the application of the meme concept to material culture in particular.\n\nFrancis Heylighen of the Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies has postulated what he calls \"memetic selection criteria\". These criteria opened the way to a specialized field of applied memetics to find out if these selection criteria could stand the test of quantitative analyses. In 2003 Klaas Chielens carried out these tests in a Masters thesis project on the testability of the selection criteria.\n\nIn Selfish Sounds and Linguistic Evolution, Austrian linguist Nikolaus Ritt has attempted to operationalise memetic concepts and use them for the explanation of long term sound changes and change conspiracies in early English. It is argued that a generalised Darwinian framework for handling cultural change can provide explanations where established, speaker centred approaches fail to do so. The book makes comparatively concrete suggestions about the possible material structure of memes, and provides two empirically rich case studies.\n\nAustralian academic S.J. Whitty has argued that project management is a memeplex with the language and stories of its practitioners at its core. This radical approach sees a project and its management as an illusion; a human construct about a collection of feelings, expectations, and sensations, which are created, fashioned, and labeled by the human brain. Whitty's approach requires project managers to consider that the reasons for using project management are not consciously driven to maximize profit, and are encouraged to consider project management as naturally occurring, self-serving, evolving process which shapes organizations for its own purpose.\n\nSwedish political scientist Mikael Sandberg argues against \"Lamarckian\" interpretations of institutional and technological evolution and studies creative innovation of information technologies in governmental and private organizations in Sweden in the 1990s from a memetic perspective. Comparing the effects of active (\"Lamarckian\") IT strategy versus user–producer interactivity (Darwinian co-evolution), evidence from Swedish organizations shows that co-evolutionary interactivity is almost four times as strong a factor behind IT creativity as the \"Lamarckian\" IT strategy.\n\nTerminology\n Memeplex – (an abbreviation of meme-complex) is a collection or grouping of memes that have evolved into a mutually supportive or symbiotic relationship. Simply put, a meme-complex is a set of ideas that reinforce each other. Meme-complexes are roughly analogous to the symbiotic collection of individual genes that make up the genetic codes of biological organisms. An example of a memeplex would be a religion.\n Meme pool – a population of interbreeding memes.\n Memetic engineering – The process of deliberately creating memes, using engineering principles.\n Memetic algorithms – an approach to evolutionary computation that attempts to emulate cultural evolution in order to solve optimization problems.\n Memotype – is the actual information-content of a meme.\n Memeoid – a neologism for people who have been taken over by a meme to the extent that their own survival becomes inconsequential. Examples include kamikazes, suicide bombers and cult members who commit mass suicide. The term was apparently coined by H. Keith Henson in \"Memes, L5 and the Religion of the Space Colonies,\" L5 News, September 1985 pp. 5–8, and referenced in the expanded second edition of Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene (p. 330). But in the strict sense all people are essentially memeoid, since no distinction can be made if one uses language, or memes use their host. In The Electronic Revolution William S. Burroughs writes: \"the word has not been recognised as a virus because it has achieved a state of stable symbiosis with the host.\"\n Memetic equilibrium – the cultural equivalent of species biological equilibrium. It is that which humans strive for in terms of personal value with respect to cultural artefacts and ideas. The term was coined by Christopher diCarlo.\n Metamemetic thinking - coined by Diego Fontanive, is the thinking skill & cognitive training capable of making individuals acknowledge illogical memes.\n Eumemics - the belief and practice of deliberately improving the quality of the meme pool.\n Memocide - intentional action to eradicate a meme or memeplex from the population, either by killing its carriers or by censorship.\n\nSee also\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n\n Apter, Emily (2019). Alphabetic Memes: Caricature, Satire, and Political Literacy in the Age of Trump (PDF). OCTOBER Journal 170, Fall 2019, MIT Press Journal\nBotz-Bornstein, Thorsten (2008). \"Can Memes Play Games? Memetics and the Problem of Space\" in T. Botz-Bornstein (ed.): Culture, Nature, Memes: Dynamic Cognitive Theories (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press), pp. 142–156. \nBoyd, Robert & Richerson, Peter J. (1985). Culture and the Evolutionary Process. University of Chicago Press. \n Boyd, Rob & Richerson, Peter J. (2005). Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution. Chicago University Press. \n \n DiCarlo, Christopher W. 2010. \"How Problem Solving and Neurotransmission in the Upper Paleolithic led to The Emergence and Maintenance of Memetic Equilibrium in Contemporary World Religions.\" Politics and Culture. https://politicsandculture.org/2010/04/27/how-problem-solving-and-neurotransmission-in-the-upper-paleolithic-led-to-the-emergence-and-maintenance-of-memetic-equilibrium-in-contemporary-world-religions/\n \n Edmonds, Bruce. 2002. \"Three challenges for the survival of memetics.\" Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 6. http://cfpm.org/jom-emit/2002/vol6/edmonds_b_letter.html\n Edmonds, Bruce. 2005. \"The revealed poverty of the gene-meme analogy – why memetics per se has failed.\" Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 9. http://cfpm.org/jom-emit/2005/vol9/edmonds_b.html\n Heylighen F. & Chielens K. (2009): Evolution of Culture, Memetics, in: Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science, ed. B. Meyers (Springer)\n Houben, Jan E.M. \"Memetics of Vedic Ritual, Morphology of the Agnistoma.\" Powerpoint presentation first presented at the Third International Vedic Workshop, Leiden 2002 www.academia.edu/7090834\n Houben, Jan E.M. \"A Tradição Sânscrita entre Memética Védica e Cultura Literária.\" (In Portuguese) Revista Linguagem & Ensino, vol. 17 n. 2 (2014), p. 441-469. www.rle.ucpel.tche.br/index.php/rle/article/view/1089/783\n The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Oxford University Press, 1976, 2nd edition, December 1989, hardcover, 352 pages, ; April 1992, ; trade paperback, September 1990, 352 pages, \n Aunger, Robert. The Electric Meme: A New Theory of How We Think. New York: Free Press, 2002. \n The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore, Oxford University Press, 1999, hardcover , trade paperback , May 2000, \n The Ideology of Cybernetic Totalist Intellectuals an essay by Jaron Lanier which is very strongly critical of \"meme totalists\" who assert memes over bodies.\n Culture as Complex Adaptive System by Hokky Situngkir – formal interplays between memetics and cultural analysis.\n Journal of Memetics – Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission\n Brodie, Richard. Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme. Seattle, Wash: Integral Press, 1996. \n Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology by Jack Balkin which uses memetics to explain the growth and spread of ideology.\n Can we Measure Memes? by Adam McNamara which presents neuroimaging tools to measure memes.\n Convivere con la memetica (in Italian) by Francesco Somigli, 2011 Lulu.com\n\nExternal links\n \"What’s in a Meme?\" – Richard Dawkins Foundation\n\n \n1980s neologisms\nConcepts in epistemology\nConcepts in the philosophy of mind\nConcepts in the philosophy of science\nGenetics\nMental content\n\nde:Mem",
"J.L. Dawkins (November 25, 1935 – May 30, 2000) was an American politician. Dawkins' served as the Mayor of Fayetteville, North Carolina, from 1987 until 2000, the longest tenure of any mayor in the city's history. He died in office on May 30, 2000.\n\nDawkins also served on the Fayetteville City Council for the twelve years prior to his election as mayor in 1987.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly life\nDawkins was born on November 25, 1935, in Cumberland County, North Carolina. His father, Johnny L. Dawkins, was a member of the North Carolina General Assembly. J.L. Dawkins reportedly proclaimed that he would be Mayor of Fayetteville when he was just 12 years old.\n\nPolitical career\nDawkins' career in Fayetteville city government spanned more than twenty-five years. He served on the Fayetteville City Council for twelve years, from 1975 to 1987. Dawkins was first elected Mayor of Fayetteville in 1987, succeeding outgoing Mayor Bill Hurley. Dawkins would ultimately win re-election for seven terms. (Mayors of Fayetteville are elected for two-year terms in office).\n\nDawkins was a proponent of the city's downtown revitalization. He sought to change downtown's former reputation for high crime and urban decay throughout his tenure as mayor. Dawkins was known for working more than 60 hours per week while in office.\n\nThe Fayetteville City Council honored Dawkins in 1998 with a plaque installed in a newly renovated area of downtown, which the council renamed Dawkins Plaza. The plaque reads, \"J.L. Dawkins' powerful devotion to service for all citizens of Fayetteville is strongly demonstrated by his quarter century of humble public service. His intense love of people and of his city motivated him to strive for quality development and beautification of his beloved community. The profound passion of J.L. Dawkins for his city is evident in his untiring endeavors to make Fayetteville a better place for all.\"\n\nIn 1993, Dawkins was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His cancer went into remission following surgery and chemotherapy. However, the cancer returned in 1998. He underwent months of chemotherapy at the UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He cited his granddaughter, Jill, who had been diagnosed with brain tumor at the age of 3, as his inspiration.\n\nIn September 1998, Dawkins announced his intention to run for re-election in 1999 during his treatment. Dawkins was re-elected to his seventh term as mayor in November 1999, winning nearly 75% of the vote. Dawkins stopped attending city council meetings beginning in February 2000 due to declining health, but he continued to work on official business from home until his death in May 2000.\n\nMayor J.L. Dawkins died in office at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville on Tuesday, May 30, 2000, at the age of 64. He was serving his seventh term as mayor at the time of his death. Dawkins was survived by his wife, Mary Anne Evans; two children, John L. Dawkins III and Dawn Marie Caison; and four grandchildren.\n\nMilo McBryde, the city council's Mayor Pro Tem at the time, became acting mayor following Dawkins death. In August 2000, after months of negotiations, McBryde was elected mayor by city council to fulfill the remainder of Dawkins' unexpired term. McBryde was sworn into office on August 21, 2000.\n\nReferences\n\n1935 births\n2000 deaths\nMayors of Fayetteville, North Carolina\nNorth Carolina city council members\n20th-century American politicians"
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"Richard Dawkins",
"Fathering the meme",
"How was Dawkins responsible for the term meme?",
"In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme"
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| C_1cf3f56cfdf247cf92ea0c78b9d8f358_1 | What was Dawkins referring to? | 2 | What was Richard Dawkins referring to with "meme"? | Richard Dawkins | In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself. Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes. Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme). This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins. Laurent also found the term, mneme, used in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and has highlighted the similarities to Dawkins's concept. James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity". CANNOTANSWER | Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. | Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.
Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. With his book The Extended Phenotype (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. Dawkins's atheist stances have sometimes attracted controversy.
Dawkins has been awarded academic and writing awards, and he makes television, radio, and internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
Background
Early life
Clinton Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule. Dawkins later dropped Clinton from his name by deed poll. He is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan (née Ladner; 1916–2019) and Clinton John Dawkins (1915–2010), an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), of an Oxfordshire landed gentry family. His father was called up into the King's African Rifles during the Second World War and returned to England in 1949, when Dawkins was eight. His father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially. Dawkins lives in Oxford, England. He has a younger sister, Sarah.
His parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing". He embraced Christianity until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the theory of evolution alone was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god. Dawkins states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing." This understanding of atheism combined with his western cultural background, informs Dawkins as he describes himself in several interviews as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican".
Education
On his return to England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins joined Chafyn Grove School, in Wiltshire, and after that from 1954 to 1959 attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a Church of England ethos, where he was in Laundimer House. While at Oundle, Dawkins read Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian for the first time. He studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962; while there, he was tutored by Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. He graduated with second-class honours.
He continued as a research student under Tinbergen's supervision, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly in the areas of instinct, learning, and choice; Dawkins's research in this period concerned models of animal decision-making. He was awarded a DSc by Oxford in 1989.
Teaching
From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities. He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a reader in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field", and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins. He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.
Since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford, and he is now an emeritus fellow. He has delivered many lectures, including the Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture (1989), the first Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the Michael Faraday Lecture (1991), the T. H. Huxley Memorial Lecture (1992), the Irvine Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003). In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on Growing Up in the Universe. He also has edited several journals, and has acted as editorial advisor to the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine, and has been a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since its foundation.
Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards, and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford, instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities". In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."
In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London established by A. C. Grayling, which opened in September 2012.
Work
Evolutionary biology
Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the gene as the principal unit of selection in evolution; this view is most clearly set out in two of his books:
The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities".
The Extended Phenotype (1982), in which he describes natural selection as "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered niche construction to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.
Dawkins has consistently been sceptical about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as spandrels, described by Gould and Lewontin) and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene. He is particularly sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of group selection as a basis for understanding altruism.
This behaviour appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness. Previously, many had interpreted this as an aspect of group selection: individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton used gene-frequency analysis in his inclusive fitness theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism (including close relatives). Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. Dawkins popularised these ideas in The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his own work. In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist E. O. Wilson's 2012 book The Social Conquest of Earth as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection. Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the Gaia hypothesis of the independent scientist James Lovelock.
Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the gene as the unit of selection (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population). In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency". Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit". In The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.
Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as Richard Lewontin, David Sloan Wilson, and Elliott Sober) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher Mary Midgley, with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning The Selfish Gene, has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively reductionist; she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the Zeitgeist such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades. Besides, other, more recent views and analysis on his popular science works also exist.
In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'), one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas. In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical. A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin. Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are Steven Pinker and Daniel Dennett; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended reductionism in biology. Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.
When asked if Darwinism informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life," implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the consciousness of self.
Fathering the meme
In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.
Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.
Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists. Laurent also found the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work. In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by claiming that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme". Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity".
Foundation
In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are secular in nature. In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.
Criticism of religion
Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilised world could still be so uneducated in biology, and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins notes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die. He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA) and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".
On his spectrum of theistic probability, which has seven levels between 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) and 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden." In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion. In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized religious beliefs as irrational, such as that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006, which became an international bestseller. As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages. Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with the rise of New Atheism. In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion—"a fixed false belief". In his February 2002 TED talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination. These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview. He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school, which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence and be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history. Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.
While some critics, such as writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work, others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, academic and social critic Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian Alister McGrath, have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises. Atheist philosopher John Gray has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original," suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world." In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.
Dawkins has faced backlash over some of his public comments about Islam. In 2013, Dawkins tweeted "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.". In 2016, Dawkins' invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was withdrawn over his sharing of a "'highly offensive' video "mocking feminists and Islamists".
Criticism of creationism
Dawkins is a prominent critic of creationism, a religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity without recourse to evolution. He has described the young Earth creationist view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood". His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, contains a sustained critique of the argument from design, an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy made famous by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley via his book Natural Theology, in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, blind watchmaker.
In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against A. E. Wilder-Smith (a Young Earth creationist) and Edgar Andrews (president of the Biblical Creation Society). In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of engaging with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word theory, Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."
Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one". He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler", a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.
Political views
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement. Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind. He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority. Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly. He supported a UK atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of human population and about the matter of overpopulation. In The Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40 years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of starvation.
As a supporter of the Great Ape Project—a movement to extend certain moral and legal rights to all great apes—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative".
Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily. His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush, and the ethics of designer babies. Several such articles were included in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected president. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith. In the run up to the 2017 general election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.
In April 2021, Dawkins said on Twitter that "Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss." After receiving criticism for this tweet, Dawkins responded by saying that "I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic "Discuss" question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue."
Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
Dawkins identifies as a feminist. He has said that feminism is "enormously important".
Views on postmodernism
In 1998, in a book review published in Nature, Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the Sokal affair, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt and Intellectual Impostures by Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books are famous for their criticism of postmodernism in U.S. universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).
Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses obscurantist language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari:
"We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis."
This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or Lacan, according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career:
"Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."
Other fields
In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience and alternative medicine. His 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the rainbow, Isaac Newton diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "myths" and "pseudoscience". For John Diamond's posthumously published Snake Oil, a book devoted to debunking alternative medicine, Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes. Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film The Enemies of Reason, Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".
Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, Genius of Britain, along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.
In 2014, he joined the global awareness movement Asteroid Day as a "100x Signatory".
Awards and recognition
He holds honorary doctorates in science from the University of Huddersfield, University of Westminster, Durham University, the University of Hull, the University of Antwerp, the University of Oslo, the University of Aberdeen, Open University, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the University of Valencia. He also holds honorary doctorates of letters from the University of St Andrews and the Australian National University (HonLittD, 1996), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001. He is one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society.
In 1987, Dawkins received a Royal Society of Literature award and a Los Angeles Times Literary Prize for his book The Blind Watchmaker. In the same year, he received a Sci. Tech Prize for Best Television Documentary Science Programme of the Year for his work on the BBC's Horizon episode The Blind Watchmaker.
In 1996, the American Humanist Association gave him their Humanist of the Year Award, but the award was withdrawn in 2021, with the statement that he "demean[ed] marginalized groups", including transgender people, using "the guise of scientific discourse".
Other awards include the Zoological Society of London's Silver Medal (1989), the Finlay Innovation Award (1990), the Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize (1994), the fifth International Cosmos Prize (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (2001), the 2001 and 2012 Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Bicentennial Kelvin Medal of The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2002), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2006), and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009). He was awarded the Deschner Award, named after German anti-clerical author Karlheinz Deschner. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) has awarded Dawkins their highest award In Praise of Reason (1992).
Dawkins topped Prospect magazine's 2004 list of the top 100 public British intellectuals, as decided by the readers, receiving twice as many votes as the runner-up. He was shortlisted as a candidate in their 2008 follow-up poll. In a poll held by Prospect in 2013, Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker based on 65 names chosen by a largely US and UK-based expert panel.
In 2005, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded him its Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his "concise and accessible presentation of scientific knowledge". He won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2006, as well as the Galaxy British Book Awards's Author of the Year Award for 2007. In the same year, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007, and was ranked 20th in The Daily Telegraph 2007 list of 100 greatest living geniuses.
Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference, honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins's own efforts. In February 2010, Dawkins was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
In 2012, ichthyologists in Sri Lanka honored Dawkins by creating Dawkinsia as a new genus name (members of this genus were formerly members of the genus Puntius).
Personal life
Dawkins has been married three times and has a daughter. On 19 August 1967, Dawkins married ethologist Marian Stamp in the Protestant church in Annestown, County Waterford, Ireland; they divorced in 1984. On 1 June 1984, he married Eve Barham (1951–1999) in Oxford. They had a daughter, Juliet Emma Dawkins (born 1984, Oxford). Dawkins and Barham divorced. In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward in Kensington and Chelsea, London. Dawkins met her through their mutual friend Douglas Adams, who had worked with her on the BBC's Doctor Who. Dawkins and Ward separated in 2016 and they later described the separation as "entirely amicable". He identifies as an atheist who is a "cultural Anglican," associated with the Church of England, and a "secular Christian".
On 6 February 2016, Dawkins suffered a minor haemorrhagic stroke while at home. Dawkins reported later that same year that he had almost completely recovered.
Media
Selected publications
Book text
Documentary films
Nice Guys Finish First (1986)
The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
Break the Science Barrier (1996)
The Atheism Tapes (2004)
The Big Question (2005) – Part 3 of the TV series, titled "Why Are We Here?"
The Root of All Evil? (2006)
The Enemies of Reason (2007)
The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
Faith School Menace? (2010)
Beautiful Minds (April 2012) – BBC4 documentary
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
The Unbelievers (2013)
Other appearances
Dawkins has made many television appearances on news shows providing his political opinions and especially his views as an atheist. He has been interviewed on the radio, often as part of his book tours. He has debated many religious figures. He has made many university speaking appearances, again often in coordination with his book tours. As of 2016, he has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) – as himself, presented as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticise evidence supporting Darwinian evolution
Doctor Who: "The Stolen Earth" (2008) – as himself
Inside Nature's Giants (2009-12) - as guest expert
The Simpsons: "Black Eyed, Please" (2013) – appears in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell; provided voice as a demon version of himself
Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) – by Nightwish: Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had Dawkins as a guest star on the album. He provides narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful", in which he opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth", inspired by and named after his book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, and in which he quotes On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. He subsequently performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; the concert was later released as a part of a live album/DVD titled Vehicle of Spirit.
Notes
a. W. D. Hamilton influenced Dawkins and the influence can be seen throughout Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene. They became friends at Oxford and following Hamilton's death in 2000, Dawkins wrote his obituary and organised a secular memorial service.
b. The debate ended with the motion "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution" being defeated by 198 votes to 115.
References
Bibliography
External links
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Richard Dawkins – lasted news at The Independent
Richard Dawkins at The New York Times
Richard Dawkins at Big Think
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Writers about religion and science | true | [
"Richard Dawkins is an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and writer. Dawkins himself has stated that his political views are left-leaning. However, many of Dawkins's political statements have created controversy among left-wing and atheist communities.\n\nPolitical affiliation\n\nLabour Party \n\nBefore the mid-2000s, Dawkins usually voted for Labour Party candidates. The party has often been described as social democratic.\n\nIn 2009 Dawkins participated in a New Statesman project called \"20 ways to save Labour\", in which 20 public figures, including Dawkins as well as Germaine Greer and John Pilger, among others gave suggestions about how to make the Labour Party better. Dawkins's contribution was as follows:\n\nLiberal Democrats \n\nStarting in the mid-2000s, Dawkins has also voted and expressed support for the Liberal Democrats. Dawkins spoke at the party's conference in 2009 and publicly expressed his support then. At the conference, Dawkins strongly criticised the English libel laws, and the party revised its policy on the issue at the same conference. Dawkins also called for an alliance of all Liberal Democrats based on an agreement on electoral reform.\n\nSocial views\n\nFree expression\nDawkins has argued for reform to the English defamation law, arguing that Simon Singh should have the right to criticise scientific claims made by the British Chiropractic Association. In 2009, he said \"I and many of my colleagues fear that if Simon loses it will have major implications on the freedom of scientists, researchers and other commentators to engage in robust criticism of scientific and pseudo-scientific work.\" The Defamation Act 2013 substantially reformed the law.\n\nIn 2008, Dawkins pointed out major factual errors in The Atlas of Creation, such as images of fishing lures mislabeled as insects, and subsequently his website has been banned in Turkey and Pakistan. Dawkins gave a speech at the 2012 Jaipur Literature Festival where a video link with Salman Rushdie was cancelled due to ongoing controversy over the Rushdie affair. He has given a high appraisal of Nick Cohen's book You Can't Read this Book, arguing that libel laws create a culture of \"tacit censorship\" in liberal democracies.\n\nIn 2009, Dawkins agreed to give a talk at the University of Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma House of Representatives introduced bills attacking him, declaring that his views on evolution are \"contrary and offensive to the views and opinions of most citizens of Oklahoma.\" In his speech, the professor argued that \"what's really offensive is the bizarre idea that a state university should only ever hear opinions that its citizens agree with. If that principle is ever accepted you can kiss goodbye anything that a university stands for. What on earth is a university for if it only reinforces opinions that students and the public already hold?\" Dawkins has argued against campaigns by far-left groups on university campuses to have speeches by internationally renowned figures cancelled. In a 2015 interview, Dawkins said \"If you only ever get exposed to ideas you agree with, what kind of university would that be?\" He has argued against campaigns to block speakers like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bill Maher, Maryam Namazie and Germaine Greer.\n\nDawkins expressed solidarity with Stephen Fry after Irish police investigated Fry over blasphemy allegations. Dawkins quoted his book, The God Delusion in The Irish Times: \"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.\" Dawkins added that he would be in Ireland on 12 June 2017 and challenged the Irish police to arrest him. Dawkins added in Twitter: \"The Irish blasphemy law must go. An embarrassment to the civilised world, it encourages the uncivilised one.\"\n\nFeminism and women's rights \nDawkins has said that feminism is \"enormously important\" and \"a political movement that deserves to be supported\". Dawkins also released a joint statement with Ophelia Benson that condemned \"death threats, rape threats, attacks on people's appearance, age, race, sex, size, haircut...[and] vulgar epithets.\" In a passage in The God Delusion, Dawkins wrote about how he wished to mirror the successes of feminism in the atheist movement.\n\nHowever, Dawkins has come under fire from feminists and feminist organizations for many reasons. Several of Dawkins's posts on Twitter were controversial, such as one where he seemed to victim blame the victims of rape when they are drunk. \"If you want to be in a position to testify & jail a man, don't get drunk,\" he tweeted. Amanda Marcotte, in Salon, criticized Dawkins by saying that \"For someone who is a supposed rationalist, Dawkins refused to even acknowledge the basic difference between making the choice to break the law and being the victim of a crime.\" Dawkins was also the subject of controversy when he tweeted, \"Date rape is bad. Stranger rape at knifepoint is worse. If you think that's an endorsement of date rape, go away and learn how to think.\" Amanda Marcotte heavily criticized him by saying that \"He made a pretty serious logical error...He assumed that the amount of pain that a victim of injustice suffers is directly proportional to the contemporary social norms surrounding it, i.e. if a form of abuse was considered no big deal to most people in a society, the people directly victimized would also feel that way.\"\n\nIn January 2016, Dawkins tweeted a link to a cartoon caricature of feminists and Islamists. Dawkins later deleted the tweet when he realized it mocked real people. Organizers of the 2016 Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism unilaterally declared his tweet \"very offensive\" and disinvited him without speaking to him. They later spoke to Dawkins on the phone, and apologised for disinviting him, and re-invited him.\n\nRebecca Watson incident \n\nDawkins was denounced for his comments about a video blog post by atheist blogger and writer Rebecca Watson. The scandal resulting from his comments was called \"Elevatorgate\". The controversy started at an atheist convention in Dublin, where Rebecca Watson spoke about feminism and the atheist movement. That night, when Watson was in an elevator, she was propositioned by a man, who said \"Don't take this the wrong way, but I find you very interesting, and I would like to talk more. Would you like to come to my hotel room for coffee?\" Watson found this extremely inappropriate, and afterwards, she made a video blog saying \"guys, don't do that.\" The comments exploded with divisive opinions, and PZ Myers reacted on his blog Pharyngula. On that post, Dawkins unexpectedly made the following comment in the form of a fictitious letter to a Muslim woman complaining of misogyny:\n\nDawkins was criticized by atheists and others for his remarks. David Allen Green in New Statesman wrote that \"One of the many problems here is that Rebecca didn't use her video to downplay the plight of Muslim women from the perspective of an American woman...Just because there is severe misogyny in one context doesn't remove the need to deal rationally and helpfully with its lesser manifestation in other contexts.\" PZ Myers responded by writing, \"This isn't slightly bad. It's very bad. Atheist men are alienating the people we want to work with us on the very same problems...that you cited in your comment.\"\n\nDawkins tried to clarify his argument, but this elicited several more negative responses:\n\nWatson herself issued the following boycott of Dawkins as a response to his posts:\n\nAs part of a reaction to the controversy, Skepchick writers wrote open letters to Dawkins explaining why they believed his comments were offensive and misguided.\n\nLGBT issues \nDawkins strongly argues for a genetic basis for homosexuality and postulates that the gene was preserved through various social and cultural processes. Dawkins has also stated that homosexuality does not conflict with the evolutionary principle. In a talk at Kennesaw State University, he said that \"[Evolution] is the explanation for why we exist. It is not something to guide our lives in our own society. [...] What we need is a truly anti-Darwinian society—anti-Darwinian in the sense that we do not wish to live in a society where...the strongest suppress the weak...I want to live in a society where we take care of the sick, take care of the weak, take care of the oppressed.\"\n\nAbortion \nDawkins has expressed pro-choice views. On March 13, 2013, Dawkins tweeted, \"With respect to those meanings of \"human\" that are relevant to the morality of abortion, any fetus is less human than an adult pig.\" This statement stirred controversy, with lawyer Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism saying that the statement was \"utter nonsense…[Dawkins would] fail high school biology\". Dawkins also made a heavily criticized tweet where he stated that it would be immoral not to abort a fetus who had Down syndrome. The Down's Syndrome Association issued a response by saying that \"At the Down's syndrome Association, we do not believe Down's syndrome in itself should be a reason for termination, however, we realize that families must make their own choice.\"\n\nDawkins later apologized.\n\nAnimal rights \nDawkins is a supporter of animal rights. He has stated that he believes many kinds of animals have consciousness. \"Consciousness has to be there, hasn't it? It's an evolved, emergent quality of brains. It's very likely that most mammals have consciousness, and probably birds, too.\" Dawkins has also been a major supporter of the Great Ape Project, a coalition of scientists and others who believe that non-human great apes should have the rights to life, the protection of individual liberty, and the prohibition of torture. Dawkins wrote an essay in The Great Ape Project, a book published by supporters of the project in which they expressed their views, along with Jane Goodall, Jared Diamond, and others. A passage from Dawkins's contribution is as follows:\n\nChild sexual abuse \n\nIn 2010, the Associated Press released a letter sent by Cardinal Ratzinger in 1985 to laicize Father Stephen Kiesle, a priest in Oakland, California. Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins in 2010 publicly called for Ratzinger (then Pope Benedict XVI) to stand trial for failure to report suspected sex crimes to the police. Dawkins put £10,000 towards a fund that helped publish Geoffrey Robertson's 2010 book The Case of the Pope: Vatican accountability for human rights abuse which argues that Ratzinger maintained a policy of swearing sex abuse victims to secrecy and moving abusers between parishes until 2002, and that the Vatican is not a sovereign state and the pope is not immune to prosecution.\n\nDawkins suffered what he describes as \"thirty seconds\" of a \"mild feeling-up\" by a school teacher when he was \"about nine or ten years old\". In the 2006 book The God Delusion, he discussed the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal in Ireland, and noted an anecdote from an American woman brought up Catholic that the fear of burning in hell was, in her recollection, greater than the psychological effects of molestation by a priest. Mehdi Hasan criticised his use of anecdotal evidence for the controversial claim in a 2012 Al Jazeera English interview.\n\nIn the 2013 book An Appetite for Wonder he penned a paragraph on his recollection of being molested by a teacher, telling friends who the same thing had happened to, and the teacher's suicide. He expressed that public responses to pedophilia in schools had changed between when he was a child and in 2013, due to public attention given to British child abuse scandals. He argued that the sexual abuse he had received was \"mild\" and that he would not judge his teacher by the \"standards of today\", for which he was heavily criticised. Dawkins expressed publicly that views in his own autobiography were intended as a reflection of his feelings about his own experiences, and that his comments in his autobiography were not intended to minimise the suffering of other people, and apologised for them. The comments generated controversy, with Peter Watt, the director of child protection at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, responded by saying that \"Mr. Dawkins seems to think that because a crime was committed a long time ago we should judge it in a different way. But we know that the victims of sexual abuse suffer the same effects whether it was 50 years ago or today.\"\n\nViews on religion\n\nDawkins is a noted critic of religion, atheist, anti-theist, anti-religionist and a secular humanist. Dawkins believes that there is a conflict between science and religion and that science prevails in the debate. Dawkins also thinks that parents forcing their religion on children is a form of mental child abuse and that religion in general is a form of cultural virus.\n\nDawkins advocates for what he calls \"militant atheism\" and believes that atheists should not hide their identities so that they can be better integrated into politics and society. Dawkins has written several books criticizing religion, most notably The God Delusion (2006). Dawkins has written that some of his main points in The God Delusion were that atheists can be happy and moral and that they should not be apologetic about their religious identities.\n\nChristianity \n\nDawkins has repeatedly criticized Christianity, believing that it has been a negative force throughout history. While he has praised the life of Jesus, he has been critical of the supernatural portions of Christianity and the effect it has on the world. Dawkins has argued that Jesus was a theist because everybody in his time was, and that his ethics should be separated from his theology. \"I think we owe Jesus the honour of separating his genuinely original and radical ethics from the supernatural nonsense which he inevitably espoused as a man of his time\", while also creating a T-shirt that read \"Atheists for Jesus\". Dawkins has also said that he is a \"secular Christian\"—in his words, \"in the same sense as secular Jews have a feeling for nostalgia and ceremonies.\"\n\nHowever, Dawkins, along with his criticism of Christian fundamentalists, has also criticized moderate Christians for fueling extremists by showing exterior niceness.\n\nIslam \n\nDawkins has also been critical of extreme Islam, while also indicating he has no great issue with the adherents of moderate Islam. Due to his views on Islamic extremism, Dawkins declared that \"Islam is the greatest force for evil in the world today\". In response, some commentators have accused Dawkins of Islamophobia.\n\nDawkins has criticized unscientific concepts in Islamic beliefs, such as the idea that an embryo starts as a blob, semen comes from the spine and the sun sets in a marsh. Dawkins furthered his criticism, saying moderate Christians and moderate Muslims inadvertently contribute to making the \"world safe for extremists\", but noted that \"It's very important that we should not demonize ordinary, law-abiding, very decent Muslims which of course is the vast majority in this country.\" In July 2017, Berkeley radio station KPFA cancelled a scheduled book event with Dawkins, after listeners called to complain about such comments, citing a 2013 tweet in which he called Islam \"the greatest force for evil in the world today\". Dawkins called the cancellation \"truly astonishing\", stating he had \"never used abusive speech against Islam\", but had criticized the \"oppressive cruelties of Islamism\". KPFA has since invited Dawkins to discuss his views on KPFA's airwaves.\n\nDawkins said that Islam is not the main problem behind the actions of ISIS: \"Religion itself is not responsible for this... It's also this feeling of political involvement.\" Dawkins has also described Islam as more problematic than Christianity:\n\nDawkins has generated controversy on Twitter when he wrote, \"All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.\" After receiving criticism for that, he tweeted in response, \"Something you can convert to is not a race. A statement of simple fact is not bigotry. And science by Muslims was great in the distant past. Interesting concept: a simple statement of undeniable FACT can be offensive. Other examples where facts should be hidden because offensive?\" Earlier that year, he also wrote, \"Of course you can have an opinion about Islam without having read Qur'an. You don't have to read Mein Kampf to have an opinion about Nazism.\" Among the critics of these comments were Channel 4 economics editor Faisal Islam, who said, \"I thought scientists were meant to upbraid journalists for use of spurious data points to 'prove' existing prejudgements,\" and columnist Tom Chivers in The Daily Telegraph. Dawkins has responded at length to the most common criticisms he has received in a post titled \"Calm reflections after a storm in a teacup\".\n\nDawkins has criticised the term Islamophobia. In 2015, along with the National Secular Society, he expressed opposition to a proposal by then Labour Party leader Ed Miliband to make Islamophobia an \"aggravated crime.\" Dawkins stated that the proposed law was too vague, put religion above scrutiny and questioned if it hypothetically could be used to prosecute Charlie Hebdo or if he could be jailed for quoting violent passages from Islamic scripture on Twitter.\n\nDawkins also commented on the short film Fitna produced by Geert Wilders, a film that argues that Islam promotes violence among its followers. Fitna caused an international uproar. Dawkins wrote that while Geert has done things that \"justify epithets such as 'disgusting', or 'racist,' as far as this film is concerned, I can see nothing in it to substantiate such extreme vilification...Geert Wilders, if it should turn out that you are a racist or a gratuitous stirrer and provocateur I withdraw my respect, but on the strength of Fitna alone I salute you as a man of courage, who has the balls to stand up to a monstrous enemy.\"\n\nPolitical views\n\nWar on Terror and Terrorism \nDawkins was opposed to the Iraq War. \"Well what I really objected to was the lying about the motives for going into Iraq…it was an act of political opportunism.\" However, Dawkins supported the Afghan War. \"I felt that America needed to try and find those responsible [for 9/11], and it did really appear as though Al-Qaeda was being actively encouraged by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.\"\n\nDawkins held Islamic doctrine responsible for the Charlie Hebdo shooting. His comments resulted in criticisms from several publications, including Al Jazeera, The Guardian, and Salon, deriding him as Islamophobic. Soon after the attacks, Dawkins tweeted, \"No, all religions are NOT equally violent. Some have never been violent, some gave it up centuries ago. One religion conspicuously didn't,\" referring to Islam.\n\nStem cell research \nIn the stem cell controversy, Dawkins favors stem cell research, even if it involves human embryos. \"The 'embryos' used for stem cell research are no bigger than a pinhead, and completely lacking in sentience of any kind. The illogical and hypocritical inconsistency between [George W.] Bush's stance on embryonic stem cell research on the one hand, and on slaughtered and maimed Iraqis and Lebanese on the other, is the subject of this article.\"\n\nGovernment\n\nUK government \n\nDawkins was highly critical of the UK government under former Prime Minister David Cameron. In an issue of New Statesman, Dawkins heavily criticized Cameron for what he saw as Cameron promoting religion, and specifically Christianity, in the UK and particularly denounced government-supported faith schools.\n\nOn Scottish independence, Dawkins joined more than 200 celebrities, including Helena Bonham Carter, Judi Dench, Stephen Hawking, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, in signing an open letter stating, \"We want to let you know how very much we value our bonds of citizenship with you, and to express our hope that you will vote to renew them. What unites us is much greater than what divides us. Let's stay together,\" urging the Scottish people to vote \"no\" on the 2014 referendum on the issue. After the Brexit referendum, he tweeted \"But if I were Scottish today I'd want to leave the nasty little backwater that England is becoming\".\n\nDawkins was opposed to the UK European Union membership referendum 2016 and criticised David Cameron for calling it.\n\nUnited States government \n\nDawkins was very critical of the United States government under George W. Bush, especially his Iraq War decisions. He criticized Bush by stating that \"George W. Bush says that God told him to invade Iraq (a pity God didn't vouchsafe him a revelation that there were no weapons of mass destruction).\" Dawkins has also said that he thinks American politicians should pay more attention to America's secular crowd. \"I think that may be a lesson politicians need to learn, that they don't only need to suck up to the Catholic lobby and the Jewish lobby and Islam, that lobby. Maybe the nonbelievers lobby is a lot more powerful than they realize.\" Also, Dawkins thinks that U.S. politicians should not invoke religion in their policies. \"Politicians shouldn't be promoting religion as part of their government legislation.\" Dawkins has also expressed his belief that Bush was not actually elected in the controversial 2000 U.S. presidential election through an editorial in The Guardian:\n\nDawkins was a harsh critic of President Donald Trump. After Trump won the 2016 presidential election, Dawkins described him as \"an unqualified, narcissistic, misogynistic sick joke\".\n\nIsraeli–Palestinian conflict \nDawkins has stated that he is \"on the fence\" about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and has stated on Twitter that \"It is reasonable to both deplore both the original foundation of the Jewish State of Israel & aspirations now to destroy it.\" Dawkins said that \"can you explain why Palestinian Arabs should be the ones to pay for Hitler's crimes? You surely aren't going to stoop to some kind of biblical justification for picking on that land rather than, say, Bavaria or Madagascar? Dawkins also expressed anger over Israeli actions during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. He tweeted, \"[t]he extent of the destruction in Gaza is obscene. Poor people. Poor people who have lost their homes, their relatives, everything.\"\n\nScientific views\n\nGlobal warming \nDawkins accepts that global warming is a major problem facing the world currently. He supported an initiative in which 56 newspapers from 47 countries simultaneously published a joint editorial expressing their views on climate change in order to promote awareness of the problem. He wrote, \"[w]hatever you think about global warming and whether humans are responsible, I think we have to salute this remarkable feat of international cooperation.\" Dawkins has also stated that he accepts that global warming is a threat to the human species. Dawkins has also commended Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth and in response to the question \"Is global warming a threat to the human species?\" has replied: \"Yes. You could say that the human species is a threat to the human species. I recommend Al Gore's film on global warming. See it and weep. Not just for the human species. Weep for what we could have had in 2000, but for the vote-rigging in Jeb Bush's Florida.\"\n\nReferences \n\nWorks cited\n \n\nRichard Dawkins\nDawkins, Richard\nArticles containing video clips",
"Over Norton Park is a farm of 210 acres (85 ha) at Over Norton, lying to the north of Chipping Norton, in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, England. It has been in the Dawkins family since the 1720s. Originally a larger country estate, it was inherited by John Dawkins (1915–2010), the father of the biologist Richard Dawkins, under whose management it became a single commercial farm which he farmed himself.\n\nHistory\nThe estate at Over Norton was bought in 1726 by James Dawkins (c. 1696–1766), the son of Colonel Richard Dawkins of Jamaica, and a Member of Parliament for . He was the uncle of Henry Dawkins the Younger (1728–1814), who inherited the property on his death. A Bodleian Library page comments on the build-up of Dawkins family holdings in the Chipping Norton area, including the purchase of Salford Manor by Henry Dawkins II.\n\nDown through the generations, Over Norton belonged to Henry Dawkins (1765–1852) (Henry Dawkins III), third son of Henry Dawkins; then Henry Dawkins (1788–1864) (Henry Dawkins IV), both Members of Parliament for , then to William Gregory Dawkins (1825–1914), passing down to the eldest sons. William Gregory Dawkins replaced the Georgian mansion in 1874. By 1945, a much-reduced estate was in the hands of his great-nephew Hereward Dawkins.\n\nThe passing of Over Norton to another branch of the Dawkins family went back to the line of another son of Henry Dawkins III, Clinton George Augustus Dawkins (1808–1871). He was the great-grandfather of John Dawkins.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Over Norton Park Farm Shop website\n\nCompanies based in Oxfordshire\nParks and open spaces in Oxfordshire\nFarms in Oxfordshire\nHistoric farms\nCotswolds\nRichard Dawkins"
]
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[
"Richard Dawkins",
"Fathering the meme",
"How was Dawkins responsible for the term meme?",
"In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme",
"What was Dawkins referring to?",
"Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas."
]
| C_1cf3f56cfdf247cf92ea0c78b9d8f358_1 | What is the selfish gene? | 3 | What is the book, The Selfish Gene? | Richard Dawkins | In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself. Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes. Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme). This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins. Laurent also found the term, mneme, used in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and has highlighted the similarities to Dawkins's concept. James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity". CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.
Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. With his book The Extended Phenotype (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. Dawkins's atheist stances have sometimes attracted controversy.
Dawkins has been awarded academic and writing awards, and he makes television, radio, and internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
Background
Early life
Clinton Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule. Dawkins later dropped Clinton from his name by deed poll. He is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan (née Ladner; 1916–2019) and Clinton John Dawkins (1915–2010), an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), of an Oxfordshire landed gentry family. His father was called up into the King's African Rifles during the Second World War and returned to England in 1949, when Dawkins was eight. His father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially. Dawkins lives in Oxford, England. He has a younger sister, Sarah.
His parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing". He embraced Christianity until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the theory of evolution alone was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god. Dawkins states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing." This understanding of atheism combined with his western cultural background, informs Dawkins as he describes himself in several interviews as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican".
Education
On his return to England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins joined Chafyn Grove School, in Wiltshire, and after that from 1954 to 1959 attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a Church of England ethos, where he was in Laundimer House. While at Oundle, Dawkins read Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian for the first time. He studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962; while there, he was tutored by Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. He graduated with second-class honours.
He continued as a research student under Tinbergen's supervision, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly in the areas of instinct, learning, and choice; Dawkins's research in this period concerned models of animal decision-making. He was awarded a DSc by Oxford in 1989.
Teaching
From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities. He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a reader in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field", and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins. He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.
Since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford, and he is now an emeritus fellow. He has delivered many lectures, including the Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture (1989), the first Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the Michael Faraday Lecture (1991), the T. H. Huxley Memorial Lecture (1992), the Irvine Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003). In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on Growing Up in the Universe. He also has edited several journals, and has acted as editorial advisor to the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine, and has been a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since its foundation.
Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards, and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford, instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities". In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."
In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London established by A. C. Grayling, which opened in September 2012.
Work
Evolutionary biology
Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the gene as the principal unit of selection in evolution; this view is most clearly set out in two of his books:
The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities".
The Extended Phenotype (1982), in which he describes natural selection as "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered niche construction to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.
Dawkins has consistently been sceptical about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as spandrels, described by Gould and Lewontin) and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene. He is particularly sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of group selection as a basis for understanding altruism.
This behaviour appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness. Previously, many had interpreted this as an aspect of group selection: individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton used gene-frequency analysis in his inclusive fitness theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism (including close relatives). Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. Dawkins popularised these ideas in The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his own work. In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist E. O. Wilson's 2012 book The Social Conquest of Earth as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection. Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the Gaia hypothesis of the independent scientist James Lovelock.
Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the gene as the unit of selection (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population). In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency". Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit". In The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.
Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as Richard Lewontin, David Sloan Wilson, and Elliott Sober) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher Mary Midgley, with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning The Selfish Gene, has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively reductionist; she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the Zeitgeist such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades. Besides, other, more recent views and analysis on his popular science works also exist.
In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'), one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas. In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical. A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin. Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are Steven Pinker and Daniel Dennett; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended reductionism in biology. Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.
When asked if Darwinism informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life," implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the consciousness of self.
Fathering the meme
In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.
Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.
Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists. Laurent also found the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work. In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by claiming that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme". Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity".
Foundation
In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are secular in nature. In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.
Criticism of religion
Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilised world could still be so uneducated in biology, and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins notes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die. He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA) and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".
On his spectrum of theistic probability, which has seven levels between 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) and 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden." In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion. In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized religious beliefs as irrational, such as that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006, which became an international bestseller. As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages. Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with the rise of New Atheism. In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion—"a fixed false belief". In his February 2002 TED talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination. These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview. He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school, which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence and be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history. Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.
While some critics, such as writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work, others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, academic and social critic Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian Alister McGrath, have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises. Atheist philosopher John Gray has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original," suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world." In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.
Dawkins has faced backlash over some of his public comments about Islam. In 2013, Dawkins tweeted "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.". In 2016, Dawkins' invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was withdrawn over his sharing of a "'highly offensive' video "mocking feminists and Islamists".
Criticism of creationism
Dawkins is a prominent critic of creationism, a religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity without recourse to evolution. He has described the young Earth creationist view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood". His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, contains a sustained critique of the argument from design, an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy made famous by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley via his book Natural Theology, in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, blind watchmaker.
In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against A. E. Wilder-Smith (a Young Earth creationist) and Edgar Andrews (president of the Biblical Creation Society). In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of engaging with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word theory, Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."
Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one". He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler", a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.
Political views
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement. Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind. He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority. Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly. He supported a UK atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of human population and about the matter of overpopulation. In The Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40 years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of starvation.
As a supporter of the Great Ape Project—a movement to extend certain moral and legal rights to all great apes—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative".
Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily. His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush, and the ethics of designer babies. Several such articles were included in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected president. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith. In the run up to the 2017 general election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.
In April 2021, Dawkins said on Twitter that "Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss." After receiving criticism for this tweet, Dawkins responded by saying that "I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic "Discuss" question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue."
Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
Dawkins identifies as a feminist. He has said that feminism is "enormously important".
Views on postmodernism
In 1998, in a book review published in Nature, Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the Sokal affair, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt and Intellectual Impostures by Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books are famous for their criticism of postmodernism in U.S. universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).
Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses obscurantist language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari:
"We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis."
This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or Lacan, according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career:
"Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."
Other fields
In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience and alternative medicine. His 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the rainbow, Isaac Newton diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "myths" and "pseudoscience". For John Diamond's posthumously published Snake Oil, a book devoted to debunking alternative medicine, Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes. Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film The Enemies of Reason, Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".
Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, Genius of Britain, along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.
In 2014, he joined the global awareness movement Asteroid Day as a "100x Signatory".
Awards and recognition
He holds honorary doctorates in science from the University of Huddersfield, University of Westminster, Durham University, the University of Hull, the University of Antwerp, the University of Oslo, the University of Aberdeen, Open University, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the University of Valencia. He also holds honorary doctorates of letters from the University of St Andrews and the Australian National University (HonLittD, 1996), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001. He is one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society.
In 1987, Dawkins received a Royal Society of Literature award and a Los Angeles Times Literary Prize for his book The Blind Watchmaker. In the same year, he received a Sci. Tech Prize for Best Television Documentary Science Programme of the Year for his work on the BBC's Horizon episode The Blind Watchmaker.
In 1996, the American Humanist Association gave him their Humanist of the Year Award, but the award was withdrawn in 2021, with the statement that he "demean[ed] marginalized groups", including transgender people, using "the guise of scientific discourse".
Other awards include the Zoological Society of London's Silver Medal (1989), the Finlay Innovation Award (1990), the Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize (1994), the fifth International Cosmos Prize (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (2001), the 2001 and 2012 Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Bicentennial Kelvin Medal of The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2002), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2006), and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009). He was awarded the Deschner Award, named after German anti-clerical author Karlheinz Deschner. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) has awarded Dawkins their highest award In Praise of Reason (1992).
Dawkins topped Prospect magazine's 2004 list of the top 100 public British intellectuals, as decided by the readers, receiving twice as many votes as the runner-up. He was shortlisted as a candidate in their 2008 follow-up poll. In a poll held by Prospect in 2013, Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker based on 65 names chosen by a largely US and UK-based expert panel.
In 2005, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded him its Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his "concise and accessible presentation of scientific knowledge". He won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2006, as well as the Galaxy British Book Awards's Author of the Year Award for 2007. In the same year, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007, and was ranked 20th in The Daily Telegraph 2007 list of 100 greatest living geniuses.
Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference, honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins's own efforts. In February 2010, Dawkins was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
In 2012, ichthyologists in Sri Lanka honored Dawkins by creating Dawkinsia as a new genus name (members of this genus were formerly members of the genus Puntius).
Personal life
Dawkins has been married three times and has a daughter. On 19 August 1967, Dawkins married ethologist Marian Stamp in the Protestant church in Annestown, County Waterford, Ireland; they divorced in 1984. On 1 June 1984, he married Eve Barham (1951–1999) in Oxford. They had a daughter, Juliet Emma Dawkins (born 1984, Oxford). Dawkins and Barham divorced. In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward in Kensington and Chelsea, London. Dawkins met her through their mutual friend Douglas Adams, who had worked with her on the BBC's Doctor Who. Dawkins and Ward separated in 2016 and they later described the separation as "entirely amicable". He identifies as an atheist who is a "cultural Anglican," associated with the Church of England, and a "secular Christian".
On 6 February 2016, Dawkins suffered a minor haemorrhagic stroke while at home. Dawkins reported later that same year that he had almost completely recovered.
Media
Selected publications
Book text
Documentary films
Nice Guys Finish First (1986)
The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
Break the Science Barrier (1996)
The Atheism Tapes (2004)
The Big Question (2005) – Part 3 of the TV series, titled "Why Are We Here?"
The Root of All Evil? (2006)
The Enemies of Reason (2007)
The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
Faith School Menace? (2010)
Beautiful Minds (April 2012) – BBC4 documentary
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
The Unbelievers (2013)
Other appearances
Dawkins has made many television appearances on news shows providing his political opinions and especially his views as an atheist. He has been interviewed on the radio, often as part of his book tours. He has debated many religious figures. He has made many university speaking appearances, again often in coordination with his book tours. As of 2016, he has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) – as himself, presented as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticise evidence supporting Darwinian evolution
Doctor Who: "The Stolen Earth" (2008) – as himself
Inside Nature's Giants (2009-12) - as guest expert
The Simpsons: "Black Eyed, Please" (2013) – appears in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell; provided voice as a demon version of himself
Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) – by Nightwish: Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had Dawkins as a guest star on the album. He provides narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful", in which he opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth", inspired by and named after his book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, and in which he quotes On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. He subsequently performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; the concert was later released as a part of a live album/DVD titled Vehicle of Spirit.
Notes
a. W. D. Hamilton influenced Dawkins and the influence can be seen throughout Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene. They became friends at Oxford and following Hamilton's death in 2000, Dawkins wrote his obituary and organised a secular memorial service.
b. The debate ended with the motion "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution" being defeated by 198 votes to 115.
References
Bibliography
External links
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Richard Dawkins – lasted news at The Independent
Richard Dawkins at The New York Times
Richard Dawkins at Big Think
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Writers about religion and science | false | [
"Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think is a festschrift of 25 essays written in recognition of the life and work of Richard Dawkins. It was published in 2006, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the publication of The Selfish Gene. A wide range of topics is covered from many fields including evolutionary biology, philosophy, and psychology. Space is also given to writers who are not in full agreement with Dawkins. The book is edited by two of Dawkins' former PhD students, Alan Grafen and Mark Ridley. ()\n\nReception\nThe reviews of the book have been mixed, but the controversial title phrase, \"How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think\" has been explained by considering Dawkins to have worked as an influential educator and concise author, of The Selfish Gene, who promoted the key ideas of others about evolutionary biology, also including some controversial ideas which are not as widely accepted.\nAs the author of a popular science book, Dawkins had popularized ideas by George Williams about group selection, William Hamilton on the theory of kin selection in evolution, biologist/geneticist John Maynard Smith on evolutionarily stable strategies, and Robert Trivers about reciprocal altruism and competition between siblings versus parent and child.\n\nContributions\nBiology\nAndrew F. Read – Ballooning Parrots and Semi-Lunar Germs\nHelena Cronin – The Battle of the Sexes Revisited\nJohn Krebs – Richard Dawkins: Intellectual Plumber—and More\nMichael Hansell – What is a Puma?\nThe Selfish Gene\nMarian Stamp Dawkins – Living with The Selfish Gene\nDavid Haig – The Gene Meme\nAlan Grafen – The Intellectual Contribution of The Selfish Gene to Evolutionary Theory\nUllica Segerstråle – An Eye on the Core: Dawkins and Sociobiology\nLogic\nDaniel C. Dennett – The Selfish Gene as a Philosophical Essay\nSeth Bullock – The Invention of an Algorithmic Biology\nDavid Deutsch – Selfish Genes and Information Flow\nSteven Pinker – Deep Commonalities between Life and Mind\nAntiphonal voices\nMichael Ruse – Richard Dawkins and the Problem of Progress\nPatrick Bateson – The Nest's Tale: Affectionate Disagreements with Richard Dawkins\nRobert Aunger – What's the Matter with Memes?\nHumans\nMartin Daly & Margo Wilson – Selfish Genes and Family Relations\nRandolph M. Nesse – Why a Lot of People with Selfish Genes Are Pretty Nice Except for their Hatred of The Selfish Gene\nKim Sterelny – The Perverse Primate\nControversy\nMichael Shermer – The Skeptic's Chaplain: Richard Dawkins as a Fountainhead of Skepticism\nRichard Harries – A Fellow Humanist\nA. C. Grayling – Dawkins and the Virus of Faith\nMarek Kohn – To Rise Above\nDavid P. Barash – What the Whale Wondered: Evolution, Existentialism, and the Search for \"Meaning\"\nWriting\nMatt Ridley – Richard Dawkins and the Golden Pen\nPhilip Pullman – Every Indication of Inadvertent Solicitude\n\nReferences\n\n2006 non-fiction books\nCognitive science literature\nScience studies\nRichard Dawkins\nFestschrifts\nOxford University Press books",
"R2d2 is a mouse gene that is sometimes a selfish gene. \n\nR2d2 is short for \"Responder to meiotic drive 2\", It was discovered by UNC School of Medicine researchers to display transmission bias.\n\nR2d2 is a stretch of DNA on mouse chromosome 2 that contains multiple copies of the Cwc22 gene. When seven or more copies of that latter gene are present, R2d2 becomes selfish.\n\nIn one lab breeding population, in a selective sweep, R2d2 increased from being in 50 percent of the lab mice's chromosomes to 85 percent in 10 generations. By 15 generations, it reached fixation.\n\nIn female mice, R2d2 somehow displaces the chromosome that doesn’t contain it and it is preferentially incorporated into eggs. It has spread in the wild to several parts of the world.\n\nSee also\ngene drive\nHoming endonuclease gene\n\nReferences\n\nGenes\nMice"
]
|
[
"Richard Dawkins",
"Fathering the meme",
"How was Dawkins responsible for the term meme?",
"In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme",
"What was Dawkins referring to?",
"Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas.",
"What is the selfish gene?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_1cf3f56cfdf247cf92ea0c78b9d8f358_1 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 4 | Besides Richard Dawkins coining the term meme, are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | Richard Dawkins | In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself. Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes. Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme). This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins. Laurent also found the term, mneme, used in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and has highlighted the similarities to Dawkins's concept. James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity". CANNOTANSWER | Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, | Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.
Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. With his book The Extended Phenotype (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. Dawkins's atheist stances have sometimes attracted controversy.
Dawkins has been awarded academic and writing awards, and he makes television, radio, and internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
Background
Early life
Clinton Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule. Dawkins later dropped Clinton from his name by deed poll. He is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan (née Ladner; 1916–2019) and Clinton John Dawkins (1915–2010), an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), of an Oxfordshire landed gentry family. His father was called up into the King's African Rifles during the Second World War and returned to England in 1949, when Dawkins was eight. His father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially. Dawkins lives in Oxford, England. He has a younger sister, Sarah.
His parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing". He embraced Christianity until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the theory of evolution alone was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god. Dawkins states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing." This understanding of atheism combined with his western cultural background, informs Dawkins as he describes himself in several interviews as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican".
Education
On his return to England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins joined Chafyn Grove School, in Wiltshire, and after that from 1954 to 1959 attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a Church of England ethos, where he was in Laundimer House. While at Oundle, Dawkins read Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian for the first time. He studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962; while there, he was tutored by Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. He graduated with second-class honours.
He continued as a research student under Tinbergen's supervision, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly in the areas of instinct, learning, and choice; Dawkins's research in this period concerned models of animal decision-making. He was awarded a DSc by Oxford in 1989.
Teaching
From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities. He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a reader in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field", and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins. He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.
Since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford, and he is now an emeritus fellow. He has delivered many lectures, including the Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture (1989), the first Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the Michael Faraday Lecture (1991), the T. H. Huxley Memorial Lecture (1992), the Irvine Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003). In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on Growing Up in the Universe. He also has edited several journals, and has acted as editorial advisor to the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine, and has been a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since its foundation.
Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards, and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford, instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities". In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."
In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London established by A. C. Grayling, which opened in September 2012.
Work
Evolutionary biology
Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the gene as the principal unit of selection in evolution; this view is most clearly set out in two of his books:
The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities".
The Extended Phenotype (1982), in which he describes natural selection as "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered niche construction to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.
Dawkins has consistently been sceptical about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as spandrels, described by Gould and Lewontin) and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene. He is particularly sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of group selection as a basis for understanding altruism.
This behaviour appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness. Previously, many had interpreted this as an aspect of group selection: individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton used gene-frequency analysis in his inclusive fitness theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism (including close relatives). Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. Dawkins popularised these ideas in The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his own work. In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist E. O. Wilson's 2012 book The Social Conquest of Earth as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection. Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the Gaia hypothesis of the independent scientist James Lovelock.
Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the gene as the unit of selection (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population). In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency". Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit". In The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.
Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as Richard Lewontin, David Sloan Wilson, and Elliott Sober) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher Mary Midgley, with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning The Selfish Gene, has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively reductionist; she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the Zeitgeist such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades. Besides, other, more recent views and analysis on his popular science works also exist.
In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'), one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas. In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical. A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin. Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are Steven Pinker and Daniel Dennett; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended reductionism in biology. Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.
When asked if Darwinism informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life," implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the consciousness of self.
Fathering the meme
In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.
Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.
Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists. Laurent also found the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work. In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by claiming that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme". Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity".
Foundation
In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are secular in nature. In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.
Criticism of religion
Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilised world could still be so uneducated in biology, and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins notes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die. He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA) and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".
On his spectrum of theistic probability, which has seven levels between 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) and 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden." In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion. In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized religious beliefs as irrational, such as that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006, which became an international bestseller. As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages. Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with the rise of New Atheism. In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion—"a fixed false belief". In his February 2002 TED talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination. These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview. He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school, which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence and be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history. Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.
While some critics, such as writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work, others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, academic and social critic Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian Alister McGrath, have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises. Atheist philosopher John Gray has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original," suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world." In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.
Dawkins has faced backlash over some of his public comments about Islam. In 2013, Dawkins tweeted "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.". In 2016, Dawkins' invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was withdrawn over his sharing of a "'highly offensive' video "mocking feminists and Islamists".
Criticism of creationism
Dawkins is a prominent critic of creationism, a religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity without recourse to evolution. He has described the young Earth creationist view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood". His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, contains a sustained critique of the argument from design, an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy made famous by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley via his book Natural Theology, in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, blind watchmaker.
In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against A. E. Wilder-Smith (a Young Earth creationist) and Edgar Andrews (president of the Biblical Creation Society). In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of engaging with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word theory, Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."
Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one". He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler", a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.
Political views
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement. Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind. He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority. Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly. He supported a UK atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of human population and about the matter of overpopulation. In The Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40 years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of starvation.
As a supporter of the Great Ape Project—a movement to extend certain moral and legal rights to all great apes—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative".
Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily. His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush, and the ethics of designer babies. Several such articles were included in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected president. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith. In the run up to the 2017 general election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.
In April 2021, Dawkins said on Twitter that "Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss." After receiving criticism for this tweet, Dawkins responded by saying that "I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic "Discuss" question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue."
Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
Dawkins identifies as a feminist. He has said that feminism is "enormously important".
Views on postmodernism
In 1998, in a book review published in Nature, Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the Sokal affair, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt and Intellectual Impostures by Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books are famous for their criticism of postmodernism in U.S. universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).
Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses obscurantist language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari:
"We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis."
This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or Lacan, according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career:
"Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."
Other fields
In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience and alternative medicine. His 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the rainbow, Isaac Newton diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "myths" and "pseudoscience". For John Diamond's posthumously published Snake Oil, a book devoted to debunking alternative medicine, Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes. Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film The Enemies of Reason, Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".
Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, Genius of Britain, along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.
In 2014, he joined the global awareness movement Asteroid Day as a "100x Signatory".
Awards and recognition
He holds honorary doctorates in science from the University of Huddersfield, University of Westminster, Durham University, the University of Hull, the University of Antwerp, the University of Oslo, the University of Aberdeen, Open University, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the University of Valencia. He also holds honorary doctorates of letters from the University of St Andrews and the Australian National University (HonLittD, 1996), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001. He is one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society.
In 1987, Dawkins received a Royal Society of Literature award and a Los Angeles Times Literary Prize for his book The Blind Watchmaker. In the same year, he received a Sci. Tech Prize for Best Television Documentary Science Programme of the Year for his work on the BBC's Horizon episode The Blind Watchmaker.
In 1996, the American Humanist Association gave him their Humanist of the Year Award, but the award was withdrawn in 2021, with the statement that he "demean[ed] marginalized groups", including transgender people, using "the guise of scientific discourse".
Other awards include the Zoological Society of London's Silver Medal (1989), the Finlay Innovation Award (1990), the Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize (1994), the fifth International Cosmos Prize (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (2001), the 2001 and 2012 Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Bicentennial Kelvin Medal of The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2002), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2006), and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009). He was awarded the Deschner Award, named after German anti-clerical author Karlheinz Deschner. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) has awarded Dawkins their highest award In Praise of Reason (1992).
Dawkins topped Prospect magazine's 2004 list of the top 100 public British intellectuals, as decided by the readers, receiving twice as many votes as the runner-up. He was shortlisted as a candidate in their 2008 follow-up poll. In a poll held by Prospect in 2013, Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker based on 65 names chosen by a largely US and UK-based expert panel.
In 2005, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded him its Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his "concise and accessible presentation of scientific knowledge". He won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2006, as well as the Galaxy British Book Awards's Author of the Year Award for 2007. In the same year, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007, and was ranked 20th in The Daily Telegraph 2007 list of 100 greatest living geniuses.
Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference, honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins's own efforts. In February 2010, Dawkins was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
In 2012, ichthyologists in Sri Lanka honored Dawkins by creating Dawkinsia as a new genus name (members of this genus were formerly members of the genus Puntius).
Personal life
Dawkins has been married three times and has a daughter. On 19 August 1967, Dawkins married ethologist Marian Stamp in the Protestant church in Annestown, County Waterford, Ireland; they divorced in 1984. On 1 June 1984, he married Eve Barham (1951–1999) in Oxford. They had a daughter, Juliet Emma Dawkins (born 1984, Oxford). Dawkins and Barham divorced. In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward in Kensington and Chelsea, London. Dawkins met her through their mutual friend Douglas Adams, who had worked with her on the BBC's Doctor Who. Dawkins and Ward separated in 2016 and they later described the separation as "entirely amicable". He identifies as an atheist who is a "cultural Anglican," associated with the Church of England, and a "secular Christian".
On 6 February 2016, Dawkins suffered a minor haemorrhagic stroke while at home. Dawkins reported later that same year that he had almost completely recovered.
Media
Selected publications
Book text
Documentary films
Nice Guys Finish First (1986)
The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
Break the Science Barrier (1996)
The Atheism Tapes (2004)
The Big Question (2005) – Part 3 of the TV series, titled "Why Are We Here?"
The Root of All Evil? (2006)
The Enemies of Reason (2007)
The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
Faith School Menace? (2010)
Beautiful Minds (April 2012) – BBC4 documentary
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
The Unbelievers (2013)
Other appearances
Dawkins has made many television appearances on news shows providing his political opinions and especially his views as an atheist. He has been interviewed on the radio, often as part of his book tours. He has debated many religious figures. He has made many university speaking appearances, again often in coordination with his book tours. As of 2016, he has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) – as himself, presented as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticise evidence supporting Darwinian evolution
Doctor Who: "The Stolen Earth" (2008) – as himself
Inside Nature's Giants (2009-12) - as guest expert
The Simpsons: "Black Eyed, Please" (2013) – appears in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell; provided voice as a demon version of himself
Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) – by Nightwish: Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had Dawkins as a guest star on the album. He provides narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful", in which he opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth", inspired by and named after his book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, and in which he quotes On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. He subsequently performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; the concert was later released as a part of a live album/DVD titled Vehicle of Spirit.
Notes
a. W. D. Hamilton influenced Dawkins and the influence can be seen throughout Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene. They became friends at Oxford and following Hamilton's death in 2000, Dawkins wrote his obituary and organised a secular memorial service.
b. The debate ended with the motion "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution" being defeated by 198 votes to 115.
References
Bibliography
External links
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Richard Dawkins – lasted news at The Independent
Richard Dawkins at The New York Times
Richard Dawkins at Big Think
1941 births
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White Kenyan people
Writers about religion and science | 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"
]
|
[
"Richard Dawkins",
"Fathering the meme",
"How was Dawkins responsible for the term meme?",
"In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme",
"What was Dawkins referring to?",
"Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas.",
"What is the selfish gene?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel,"
]
| C_1cf3f56cfdf247cf92ea0c78b9d8f358_1 | Why didn't he claim that it was a novel idea? | 5 | Why didn't Richard Dawkins claim that the term meme was a novel idea? | Richard Dawkins | In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself. Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes. Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme). This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins. Laurent also found the term, mneme, used in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and has highlighted the similarities to Dawkins's concept. James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity". CANNOTANSWER | For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. | Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.
Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. With his book The Extended Phenotype (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. Dawkins's atheist stances have sometimes attracted controversy.
Dawkins has been awarded academic and writing awards, and he makes television, radio, and internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
Background
Early life
Clinton Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule. Dawkins later dropped Clinton from his name by deed poll. He is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan (née Ladner; 1916–2019) and Clinton John Dawkins (1915–2010), an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), of an Oxfordshire landed gentry family. His father was called up into the King's African Rifles during the Second World War and returned to England in 1949, when Dawkins was eight. His father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially. Dawkins lives in Oxford, England. He has a younger sister, Sarah.
His parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing". He embraced Christianity until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the theory of evolution alone was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god. Dawkins states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing." This understanding of atheism combined with his western cultural background, informs Dawkins as he describes himself in several interviews as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican".
Education
On his return to England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins joined Chafyn Grove School, in Wiltshire, and after that from 1954 to 1959 attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a Church of England ethos, where he was in Laundimer House. While at Oundle, Dawkins read Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian for the first time. He studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962; while there, he was tutored by Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. He graduated with second-class honours.
He continued as a research student under Tinbergen's supervision, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly in the areas of instinct, learning, and choice; Dawkins's research in this period concerned models of animal decision-making. He was awarded a DSc by Oxford in 1989.
Teaching
From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities. He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a reader in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field", and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins. He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.
Since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford, and he is now an emeritus fellow. He has delivered many lectures, including the Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture (1989), the first Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the Michael Faraday Lecture (1991), the T. H. Huxley Memorial Lecture (1992), the Irvine Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003). In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on Growing Up in the Universe. He also has edited several journals, and has acted as editorial advisor to the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine, and has been a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since its foundation.
Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards, and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford, instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities". In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."
In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London established by A. C. Grayling, which opened in September 2012.
Work
Evolutionary biology
Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the gene as the principal unit of selection in evolution; this view is most clearly set out in two of his books:
The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities".
The Extended Phenotype (1982), in which he describes natural selection as "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered niche construction to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.
Dawkins has consistently been sceptical about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as spandrels, described by Gould and Lewontin) and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene. He is particularly sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of group selection as a basis for understanding altruism.
This behaviour appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness. Previously, many had interpreted this as an aspect of group selection: individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton used gene-frequency analysis in his inclusive fitness theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism (including close relatives). Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. Dawkins popularised these ideas in The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his own work. In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist E. O. Wilson's 2012 book The Social Conquest of Earth as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection. Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the Gaia hypothesis of the independent scientist James Lovelock.
Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the gene as the unit of selection (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population). In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency". Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit". In The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.
Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as Richard Lewontin, David Sloan Wilson, and Elliott Sober) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher Mary Midgley, with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning The Selfish Gene, has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively reductionist; she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the Zeitgeist such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades. Besides, other, more recent views and analysis on his popular science works also exist.
In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'), one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas. In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical. A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin. Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are Steven Pinker and Daniel Dennett; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended reductionism in biology. Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.
When asked if Darwinism informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life," implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the consciousness of self.
Fathering the meme
In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.
Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.
Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists. Laurent also found the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work. In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by claiming that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme". Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity".
Foundation
In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are secular in nature. In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.
Criticism of religion
Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilised world could still be so uneducated in biology, and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins notes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die. He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA) and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".
On his spectrum of theistic probability, which has seven levels between 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) and 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden." In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion. In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized religious beliefs as irrational, such as that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006, which became an international bestseller. As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages. Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with the rise of New Atheism. In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion—"a fixed false belief". In his February 2002 TED talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination. These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview. He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school, which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence and be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history. Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.
While some critics, such as writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work, others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, academic and social critic Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian Alister McGrath, have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises. Atheist philosopher John Gray has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original," suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world." In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.
Dawkins has faced backlash over some of his public comments about Islam. In 2013, Dawkins tweeted "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.". In 2016, Dawkins' invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was withdrawn over his sharing of a "'highly offensive' video "mocking feminists and Islamists".
Criticism of creationism
Dawkins is a prominent critic of creationism, a religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity without recourse to evolution. He has described the young Earth creationist view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood". His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, contains a sustained critique of the argument from design, an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy made famous by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley via his book Natural Theology, in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, blind watchmaker.
In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against A. E. Wilder-Smith (a Young Earth creationist) and Edgar Andrews (president of the Biblical Creation Society). In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of engaging with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word theory, Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."
Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one". He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler", a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.
Political views
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement. Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind. He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority. Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly. He supported a UK atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of human population and about the matter of overpopulation. In The Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40 years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of starvation.
As a supporter of the Great Ape Project—a movement to extend certain moral and legal rights to all great apes—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative".
Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily. His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush, and the ethics of designer babies. Several such articles were included in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected president. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith. In the run up to the 2017 general election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.
In April 2021, Dawkins said on Twitter that "Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss." After receiving criticism for this tweet, Dawkins responded by saying that "I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic "Discuss" question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue."
Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
Dawkins identifies as a feminist. He has said that feminism is "enormously important".
Views on postmodernism
In 1998, in a book review published in Nature, Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the Sokal affair, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt and Intellectual Impostures by Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books are famous for their criticism of postmodernism in U.S. universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).
Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses obscurantist language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari:
"We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis."
This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or Lacan, according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career:
"Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."
Other fields
In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience and alternative medicine. His 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the rainbow, Isaac Newton diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "myths" and "pseudoscience". For John Diamond's posthumously published Snake Oil, a book devoted to debunking alternative medicine, Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes. Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film The Enemies of Reason, Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".
Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, Genius of Britain, along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.
In 2014, he joined the global awareness movement Asteroid Day as a "100x Signatory".
Awards and recognition
He holds honorary doctorates in science from the University of Huddersfield, University of Westminster, Durham University, the University of Hull, the University of Antwerp, the University of Oslo, the University of Aberdeen, Open University, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the University of Valencia. He also holds honorary doctorates of letters from the University of St Andrews and the Australian National University (HonLittD, 1996), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001. He is one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society.
In 1987, Dawkins received a Royal Society of Literature award and a Los Angeles Times Literary Prize for his book The Blind Watchmaker. In the same year, he received a Sci. Tech Prize for Best Television Documentary Science Programme of the Year for his work on the BBC's Horizon episode The Blind Watchmaker.
In 1996, the American Humanist Association gave him their Humanist of the Year Award, but the award was withdrawn in 2021, with the statement that he "demean[ed] marginalized groups", including transgender people, using "the guise of scientific discourse".
Other awards include the Zoological Society of London's Silver Medal (1989), the Finlay Innovation Award (1990), the Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize (1994), the fifth International Cosmos Prize (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (2001), the 2001 and 2012 Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Bicentennial Kelvin Medal of The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2002), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2006), and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009). He was awarded the Deschner Award, named after German anti-clerical author Karlheinz Deschner. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) has awarded Dawkins their highest award In Praise of Reason (1992).
Dawkins topped Prospect magazine's 2004 list of the top 100 public British intellectuals, as decided by the readers, receiving twice as many votes as the runner-up. He was shortlisted as a candidate in their 2008 follow-up poll. In a poll held by Prospect in 2013, Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker based on 65 names chosen by a largely US and UK-based expert panel.
In 2005, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded him its Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his "concise and accessible presentation of scientific knowledge". He won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2006, as well as the Galaxy British Book Awards's Author of the Year Award for 2007. In the same year, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007, and was ranked 20th in The Daily Telegraph 2007 list of 100 greatest living geniuses.
Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference, honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins's own efforts. In February 2010, Dawkins was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
In 2012, ichthyologists in Sri Lanka honored Dawkins by creating Dawkinsia as a new genus name (members of this genus were formerly members of the genus Puntius).
Personal life
Dawkins has been married three times and has a daughter. On 19 August 1967, Dawkins married ethologist Marian Stamp in the Protestant church in Annestown, County Waterford, Ireland; they divorced in 1984. On 1 June 1984, he married Eve Barham (1951–1999) in Oxford. They had a daughter, Juliet Emma Dawkins (born 1984, Oxford). Dawkins and Barham divorced. In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward in Kensington and Chelsea, London. Dawkins met her through their mutual friend Douglas Adams, who had worked with her on the BBC's Doctor Who. Dawkins and Ward separated in 2016 and they later described the separation as "entirely amicable". He identifies as an atheist who is a "cultural Anglican," associated with the Church of England, and a "secular Christian".
On 6 February 2016, Dawkins suffered a minor haemorrhagic stroke while at home. Dawkins reported later that same year that he had almost completely recovered.
Media
Selected publications
Book text
Documentary films
Nice Guys Finish First (1986)
The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
Break the Science Barrier (1996)
The Atheism Tapes (2004)
The Big Question (2005) – Part 3 of the TV series, titled "Why Are We Here?"
The Root of All Evil? (2006)
The Enemies of Reason (2007)
The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
Faith School Menace? (2010)
Beautiful Minds (April 2012) – BBC4 documentary
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
The Unbelievers (2013)
Other appearances
Dawkins has made many television appearances on news shows providing his political opinions and especially his views as an atheist. He has been interviewed on the radio, often as part of his book tours. He has debated many religious figures. He has made many university speaking appearances, again often in coordination with his book tours. As of 2016, he has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) – as himself, presented as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticise evidence supporting Darwinian evolution
Doctor Who: "The Stolen Earth" (2008) – as himself
Inside Nature's Giants (2009-12) - as guest expert
The Simpsons: "Black Eyed, Please" (2013) – appears in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell; provided voice as a demon version of himself
Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) – by Nightwish: Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had Dawkins as a guest star on the album. He provides narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful", in which he opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth", inspired by and named after his book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, and in which he quotes On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. He subsequently performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; the concert was later released as a part of a live album/DVD titled Vehicle of Spirit.
Notes
a. W. D. Hamilton influenced Dawkins and the influence can be seen throughout Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene. They became friends at Oxford and following Hamilton's death in 2000, Dawkins wrote his obituary and organised a secular memorial service.
b. The debate ended with the motion "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution" being defeated by 198 votes to 115.
References
Bibliography
External links
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Richard Dawkins – lasted news at The Independent
Richard Dawkins at The New York Times
Richard Dawkins at Big Think
1941 births
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Writers about religion and science | true | [
"Bregarca is a ski jumping hill from 1952 or 1953 with calculation point at K25 and located in Dolenja vas, Železniki. Slovenia. Hill is managed by ŠD Dolenja vas.\n\nHistory \n\nPeople in those places were jumping on the edge of farm fields and hill wherever they could. That's why they came up with idea to build a real ski jumping hill. At first Bloudek constructed a hill that was little bigger hill than Bregarca which stood outside of the village towards neighbour's village Selca. There were held some competitions but the didn't really establish, it was to far from village and also terrain configuration wasn't appropriate.\n\nThat's why on an initiative of a local enthusiast Jože Megušar in the middle of the village at time a new Bregarca K20 hill was constructed by Stanko Bloudek. By various sources it isn't clear if it was built some claim in 1952 or by others in September 1953.\n\nPeople were so enthusiastic that they built this hill in eight days without machines and no money. Bloudek didn't believe it they were so fast and thought Megušar was mocking him until he didn't come and see.\n\nIn December 2001 Peter Prevc made his first ski jumping steps on this hill. His personal best on this hill is 21 metres (69 ft). Thanks to his success it became from unknown and unimportant to very famous hill. It is standing just couple of hundred metres away from his home. The competitors in youngest categories are still competing every winter.\n\nName \nHill was named after a nearby standing Bregar farm on which owner's land that hill is standing. Bregarca is diminutive word for Bregar.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Bregarca skisprungschanzen.com\n\nSki jumping venues in Slovenia\nSports venues completed in 1952",
"The Temple of Gold is a 1957 novel by William Goldman. It was Goldman's first novel, and launched his career.\n\nBackground\nThe novel was written in three weeks over the summer he graduated from college, in June–July 1956. Goldman had never written a novel before, but had several years experience writing short stories, though none had been published. \n\nThe title Temple of Gold was taken from the film Gunga Din. Another influence on the book was the novel Bonjour Tristesse. Goldman had recently done military service and met a man who had an agent. He sent the novel to the agent, and through him got representation from Joe McCrindle. McCrindle sent it to Knopf, who accepted it for publication. Goldman said Knopf:\nWanted me to double it in length and I didn't know what to do about that... That's still the most amazing thing I've ever heard any young writer be told. I was able to do it through some kind of madness but, Jesus, it's an insane thing for an editor to say.\nGoldman says he has \"no idea why\" Knopf accepted the novel \"but one of the things that happened, there was an interest in publishing books by young writers and I was one of those writers who basically got picked up along with it.\" \nGoldman later reflected:\nI never would have continued as a writer if The Temple of Gold had not been taken by the first publisher I sent it to. I'm not that masochistic. There was no way I was going to write anymore. I didn't know that then, but I know it now. There was no encouragement; no one ever said I had any talent. I had never written anything much over two pages long. I had done badly in school in terms of writing. I did not want to be a failure, but I did not have the courage to write a second book if the first had not been accepted.\nA 2001 Ballantine paperback edition of the novel included as an afterword a first chapter removed by Knopf.\n\nReception\nAccording to Goldman, \"the book, like most of my books, got crucified in hardcover and was a very, very successful book in paperback. Most of the books that I've written had their success in paperback.\"\n\nReferences\n\nEgan, Sean, William Goldman: The Reluctant Storyteller, Bear Manor Media 2014\n\n1957 American novels\nNovels by William Goldman\nAlfred A. Knopf books\n1957 debut novels"
]
|
[
"Richard Dawkins",
"Fathering the meme",
"How was Dawkins responsible for the term meme?",
"In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme",
"What was Dawkins referring to?",
"Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas.",
"What is the selfish gene?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel,",
"Why didn't he claim that it was a novel idea?",
"For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon."
]
| C_1cf3f56cfdf247cf92ea0c78b9d8f358_1 | Did Semon actually use the word meme? | 6 | Did Richard Semon actually use the word meme? | Richard Dawkins | In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself. Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes. Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme). This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins. Laurent also found the term, mneme, used in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and has highlighted the similarities to Dawkins's concept. James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity". CANNOTANSWER | In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme). | Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.
Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. With his book The Extended Phenotype (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. Dawkins's atheist stances have sometimes attracted controversy.
Dawkins has been awarded academic and writing awards, and he makes television, radio, and internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
Background
Early life
Clinton Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule. Dawkins later dropped Clinton from his name by deed poll. He is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan (née Ladner; 1916–2019) and Clinton John Dawkins (1915–2010), an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), of an Oxfordshire landed gentry family. His father was called up into the King's African Rifles during the Second World War and returned to England in 1949, when Dawkins was eight. His father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially. Dawkins lives in Oxford, England. He has a younger sister, Sarah.
His parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing". He embraced Christianity until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the theory of evolution alone was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god. Dawkins states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing." This understanding of atheism combined with his western cultural background, informs Dawkins as he describes himself in several interviews as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican".
Education
On his return to England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins joined Chafyn Grove School, in Wiltshire, and after that from 1954 to 1959 attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a Church of England ethos, where he was in Laundimer House. While at Oundle, Dawkins read Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian for the first time. He studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962; while there, he was tutored by Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. He graduated with second-class honours.
He continued as a research student under Tinbergen's supervision, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly in the areas of instinct, learning, and choice; Dawkins's research in this period concerned models of animal decision-making. He was awarded a DSc by Oxford in 1989.
Teaching
From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities. He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a reader in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field", and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins. He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.
Since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford, and he is now an emeritus fellow. He has delivered many lectures, including the Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture (1989), the first Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the Michael Faraday Lecture (1991), the T. H. Huxley Memorial Lecture (1992), the Irvine Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003). In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on Growing Up in the Universe. He also has edited several journals, and has acted as editorial advisor to the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine, and has been a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since its foundation.
Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards, and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford, instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities". In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."
In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London established by A. C. Grayling, which opened in September 2012.
Work
Evolutionary biology
Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the gene as the principal unit of selection in evolution; this view is most clearly set out in two of his books:
The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities".
The Extended Phenotype (1982), in which he describes natural selection as "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered niche construction to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.
Dawkins has consistently been sceptical about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as spandrels, described by Gould and Lewontin) and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene. He is particularly sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of group selection as a basis for understanding altruism.
This behaviour appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness. Previously, many had interpreted this as an aspect of group selection: individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton used gene-frequency analysis in his inclusive fitness theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism (including close relatives). Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. Dawkins popularised these ideas in The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his own work. In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist E. O. Wilson's 2012 book The Social Conquest of Earth as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection. Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the Gaia hypothesis of the independent scientist James Lovelock.
Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the gene as the unit of selection (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population). In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency". Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit". In The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.
Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as Richard Lewontin, David Sloan Wilson, and Elliott Sober) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher Mary Midgley, with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning The Selfish Gene, has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively reductionist; she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the Zeitgeist such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades. Besides, other, more recent views and analysis on his popular science works also exist.
In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'), one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas. In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical. A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin. Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are Steven Pinker and Daniel Dennett; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended reductionism in biology. Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.
When asked if Darwinism informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life," implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the consciousness of self.
Fathering the meme
In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.
Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.
Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists. Laurent also found the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work. In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by claiming that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme". Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity".
Foundation
In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are secular in nature. In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.
Criticism of religion
Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilised world could still be so uneducated in biology, and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins notes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die. He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA) and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".
On his spectrum of theistic probability, which has seven levels between 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) and 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden." In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion. In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized religious beliefs as irrational, such as that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006, which became an international bestseller. As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages. Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with the rise of New Atheism. In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion—"a fixed false belief". In his February 2002 TED talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination. These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview. He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school, which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence and be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history. Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.
While some critics, such as writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work, others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, academic and social critic Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian Alister McGrath, have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises. Atheist philosopher John Gray has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original," suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world." In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.
Dawkins has faced backlash over some of his public comments about Islam. In 2013, Dawkins tweeted "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.". In 2016, Dawkins' invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was withdrawn over his sharing of a "'highly offensive' video "mocking feminists and Islamists".
Criticism of creationism
Dawkins is a prominent critic of creationism, a religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity without recourse to evolution. He has described the young Earth creationist view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood". His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, contains a sustained critique of the argument from design, an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy made famous by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley via his book Natural Theology, in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, blind watchmaker.
In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against A. E. Wilder-Smith (a Young Earth creationist) and Edgar Andrews (president of the Biblical Creation Society). In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of engaging with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word theory, Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."
Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one". He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler", a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.
Political views
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement. Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind. He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority. Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly. He supported a UK atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of human population and about the matter of overpopulation. In The Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40 years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of starvation.
As a supporter of the Great Ape Project—a movement to extend certain moral and legal rights to all great apes—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative".
Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily. His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush, and the ethics of designer babies. Several such articles were included in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected president. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith. In the run up to the 2017 general election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.
In April 2021, Dawkins said on Twitter that "Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss." After receiving criticism for this tweet, Dawkins responded by saying that "I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic "Discuss" question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue."
Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
Dawkins identifies as a feminist. He has said that feminism is "enormously important".
Views on postmodernism
In 1998, in a book review published in Nature, Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the Sokal affair, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt and Intellectual Impostures by Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books are famous for their criticism of postmodernism in U.S. universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).
Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses obscurantist language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari:
"We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis."
This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or Lacan, according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career:
"Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."
Other fields
In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience and alternative medicine. His 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the rainbow, Isaac Newton diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "myths" and "pseudoscience". For John Diamond's posthumously published Snake Oil, a book devoted to debunking alternative medicine, Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes. Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film The Enemies of Reason, Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".
Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, Genius of Britain, along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.
In 2014, he joined the global awareness movement Asteroid Day as a "100x Signatory".
Awards and recognition
He holds honorary doctorates in science from the University of Huddersfield, University of Westminster, Durham University, the University of Hull, the University of Antwerp, the University of Oslo, the University of Aberdeen, Open University, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the University of Valencia. He also holds honorary doctorates of letters from the University of St Andrews and the Australian National University (HonLittD, 1996), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001. He is one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society.
In 1987, Dawkins received a Royal Society of Literature award and a Los Angeles Times Literary Prize for his book The Blind Watchmaker. In the same year, he received a Sci. Tech Prize for Best Television Documentary Science Programme of the Year for his work on the BBC's Horizon episode The Blind Watchmaker.
In 1996, the American Humanist Association gave him their Humanist of the Year Award, but the award was withdrawn in 2021, with the statement that he "demean[ed] marginalized groups", including transgender people, using "the guise of scientific discourse".
Other awards include the Zoological Society of London's Silver Medal (1989), the Finlay Innovation Award (1990), the Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize (1994), the fifth International Cosmos Prize (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (2001), the 2001 and 2012 Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Bicentennial Kelvin Medal of The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2002), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2006), and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009). He was awarded the Deschner Award, named after German anti-clerical author Karlheinz Deschner. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) has awarded Dawkins their highest award In Praise of Reason (1992).
Dawkins topped Prospect magazine's 2004 list of the top 100 public British intellectuals, as decided by the readers, receiving twice as many votes as the runner-up. He was shortlisted as a candidate in their 2008 follow-up poll. In a poll held by Prospect in 2013, Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker based on 65 names chosen by a largely US and UK-based expert panel.
In 2005, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded him its Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his "concise and accessible presentation of scientific knowledge". He won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2006, as well as the Galaxy British Book Awards's Author of the Year Award for 2007. In the same year, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007, and was ranked 20th in The Daily Telegraph 2007 list of 100 greatest living geniuses.
Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference, honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins's own efforts. In February 2010, Dawkins was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
In 2012, ichthyologists in Sri Lanka honored Dawkins by creating Dawkinsia as a new genus name (members of this genus were formerly members of the genus Puntius).
Personal life
Dawkins has been married three times and has a daughter. On 19 August 1967, Dawkins married ethologist Marian Stamp in the Protestant church in Annestown, County Waterford, Ireland; they divorced in 1984. On 1 June 1984, he married Eve Barham (1951–1999) in Oxford. They had a daughter, Juliet Emma Dawkins (born 1984, Oxford). Dawkins and Barham divorced. In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward in Kensington and Chelsea, London. Dawkins met her through their mutual friend Douglas Adams, who had worked with her on the BBC's Doctor Who. Dawkins and Ward separated in 2016 and they later described the separation as "entirely amicable". He identifies as an atheist who is a "cultural Anglican," associated with the Church of England, and a "secular Christian".
On 6 February 2016, Dawkins suffered a minor haemorrhagic stroke while at home. Dawkins reported later that same year that he had almost completely recovered.
Media
Selected publications
Book text
Documentary films
Nice Guys Finish First (1986)
The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
Break the Science Barrier (1996)
The Atheism Tapes (2004)
The Big Question (2005) – Part 3 of the TV series, titled "Why Are We Here?"
The Root of All Evil? (2006)
The Enemies of Reason (2007)
The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
Faith School Menace? (2010)
Beautiful Minds (April 2012) – BBC4 documentary
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
The Unbelievers (2013)
Other appearances
Dawkins has made many television appearances on news shows providing his political opinions and especially his views as an atheist. He has been interviewed on the radio, often as part of his book tours. He has debated many religious figures. He has made many university speaking appearances, again often in coordination with his book tours. As of 2016, he has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) – as himself, presented as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticise evidence supporting Darwinian evolution
Doctor Who: "The Stolen Earth" (2008) – as himself
Inside Nature's Giants (2009-12) - as guest expert
The Simpsons: "Black Eyed, Please" (2013) – appears in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell; provided voice as a demon version of himself
Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) – by Nightwish: Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had Dawkins as a guest star on the album. He provides narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful", in which he opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth", inspired by and named after his book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, and in which he quotes On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. He subsequently performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; the concert was later released as a part of a live album/DVD titled Vehicle of Spirit.
Notes
a. W. D. Hamilton influenced Dawkins and the influence can be seen throughout Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene. They became friends at Oxford and following Hamilton's death in 2000, Dawkins wrote his obituary and organised a secular memorial service.
b. The debate ended with the motion "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution" being defeated by 198 votes to 115.
References
Bibliography
External links
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Richard Dawkins – lasted news at The Independent
Richard Dawkins at The New York Times
Richard Dawkins at Big Think
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Writers about religion and science | false | [
"Richard Wolfgang Semon (22 August 1859, in Berlin – 27 December 1918, in Munich) was a German zoologist and evolutionary biologist, a memory researcher who believed in the inheritance of acquired characteristics and applied this to social evolution. He is known for coining the terms engram and ecphory.\n\nThesis\nSemon proposed psycho-physiological parallelism according to which every psychological state corresponds to alterations in the nerves. His ideas of the mneme (based on the Greek goddess, Mneme, the muse of memory) were developed early in the 20th century. The mneme represented the memory of an external-to-internal experience. The resulting \"mnemic trace\" (or \"engram\") would be revived when an element resembling a component of the original complex of stimuli was encountered. Semon’s mnemic principle was based upon how stimuli produce a \"permanent record,... written or engraved on the irritable substance,\" i.e. upon cellular material energetically predisposed to such inscription (Semon 1921, p. 24). According to historian Petteri Pietikainen:\n\nSemon argued not only that information is encoded into memory and that there are 'memory traces' (engrams) or after-effects of stimulation that conserve the changes in the nervous system, he also contended that these changes in the brain (that is, engrams) are inherited. Semon's mneme-theory fell into disrepute largely because in a Lamarckian fashion it proposed that memory units are passed from one generation to another.\n\nSemon was a proponent of the theory of organic memory, which was popular amongst biologists and psychologists from 1870 to 1918. The theory later lost scientific legitimacy as it yielded no reliable data and advances in genetics made the theory untenable.\n\nEvidence\nSemon found evidence in the way that different parts of the body relate to each other involuntarily, such as \"reflex spasms, co-movements, sensory radiations,\" to infer distribution of \"engraphic influence.\" He also took inventive recourse to phonography, the \"mneme machine,\" to explain the uneven distribution and revival of engrams.\n\nSemon's book Die Mneme directly influenced the Mnemosyne project of the idiosyncratic art historian Aby Warburg.\n\nMneme should not be confused with meme, a separate concept coined by Richard Dawkins.\n\nDeath\nIn 1918 in Munich, shortly after the end of World War I, Semon committed suicide wrapped in a German flag allegedly because he was depressed by Germany's role and defeat in that war and by the death of his wife.\n\nLegacy\nSemon is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of green-blooded skink (Prasinohaema semoni) and an Acantocephalan (Australiformis semoni).\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n\n (includes a summary, an actualization and extension of the Semonian theory of memory)\n\nExternal links\nIn the Australian bush and on the coast of the Coral Sea by Richard Semon (rendered into English with the assistance of G. B. Howes)\n\n19th-century German zoologists\n1859 births\n20th-century German zoologists\nSuicides in Germany\n1918 suicides",
"\"Don't talk to me or my son ever again\" is an internet meme that reached a high level of virality in 2016. Posts of the meme typically show a picture of a subject, whether it be a product or a person, with a miniature of that subject as the \"son\" and the use of the phrase \"Don't talk to me or my son ever again\". The Verge identified it as the \"meme of the summer\" of 2016.\n\nHistory\nThe first use of the phrase \"Don't talk to me or my son ever again\" online was in a 2014 Tumblr post by user splendidland. The post showed red-colored text displaying the phrase over a screenshot of Spike Spiegel in the anime Cowboy Bebop next to a smaller-sized duplicate of the character. The \"son\" referred to the miniature of Spiegel. The post garnered approximately 6,300 notes as of March 2016. The second Internet use of the meme was \"don’t you EVER talk to me or my son that way again\", in an August 2015 Tumblr post by konkeydongcountry, which depicted a picture of two Yoshi dolls of different sizes and the phrase. In October 2015, a Twitter user under the name yoshibot used the phrase \"don't you ever talk to me or my son again\" in a picture he posted showing two Yoshi costumes, one much bigger than the other one. This time, the word \"you\" was added and the word \"ever\" was removed.\n\nVocativ suggested a Twitter post by ghostmajesty on November 30, 2015 using the phrase is what began the launch of the meme's publicity. The Daily Dot wrote that the meme \"exploded in popularity\" around February to March 2016 on services like Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook, and publications like Paper also covered the meme around this time. As of March 2016, the phrase has been used in 47,727 Twitter posts, according to Vocativ. PopSugar wrote that \"A mixture of bad photoshopping and then actual photos have made this meme one that you can look at over and over again.\" Websites such as Smosh and Gurl.com did compilations of their favorite posts of the meme. In August 2016, The Verge's Kaitlyn Tiffany identified \"Don't talk to me or my son ever again\" to be the \"meme of the summer.\" In a year-end list, Slate magazine labeled the meme \"a stand-in for everything wrong with 2016 in the first half of this year.\"\n\nConcept\nMost of the posts of the \"Don't talk to me or my son ever again\" meme use a miniature of a bigger person in the picture as the \"son\". However, there are also other forms of the meme that use actual smaller-sized versions of a product for the son, rather than using a smaller-sized visual of that product made through image editing. There are also versions of the meme that don't use a smaller copy of a large subject but make fun of the subject, an example being a post where Justin Bieber is the \"son\" of Ellen DeGeneres. Another example of the meme is a post on Twitter of Danny DeVito and Bernie Sanders, pointing out their similarities in demeanor but discrepancies in height. A journalist for New York magazine opined that the weirdest posts of the meme were from Tumblr.\n\nReferences\n\nInternet memes introduced in 2015\n2015 neologisms"
]
|
[
"Richard Dawkins",
"Fathering the meme",
"How was Dawkins responsible for the term meme?",
"In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme",
"What was Dawkins referring to?",
"Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas.",
"What is the selfish gene?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel,",
"Why didn't he claim that it was a novel idea?",
"For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon.",
"Did Semon actually use the word meme?",
"In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme)."
]
| C_1cf3f56cfdf247cf92ea0c78b9d8f358_1 | What was Die Mneme about? | 7 | What was the book Die Mneme by Richard Sermon about? | Richard Dawkins | In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself. Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes. Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme). This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins. Laurent also found the term, mneme, used in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and has highlighted the similarities to Dawkins's concept. James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity". CANNOTANSWER | This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins. | Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.
Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. With his book The Extended Phenotype (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. Dawkins's atheist stances have sometimes attracted controversy.
Dawkins has been awarded academic and writing awards, and he makes television, radio, and internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
Background
Early life
Clinton Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule. Dawkins later dropped Clinton from his name by deed poll. He is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan (née Ladner; 1916–2019) and Clinton John Dawkins (1915–2010), an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), of an Oxfordshire landed gentry family. His father was called up into the King's African Rifles during the Second World War and returned to England in 1949, when Dawkins was eight. His father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially. Dawkins lives in Oxford, England. He has a younger sister, Sarah.
His parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing". He embraced Christianity until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the theory of evolution alone was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god. Dawkins states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing." This understanding of atheism combined with his western cultural background, informs Dawkins as he describes himself in several interviews as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican".
Education
On his return to England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins joined Chafyn Grove School, in Wiltshire, and after that from 1954 to 1959 attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a Church of England ethos, where he was in Laundimer House. While at Oundle, Dawkins read Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian for the first time. He studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962; while there, he was tutored by Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. He graduated with second-class honours.
He continued as a research student under Tinbergen's supervision, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly in the areas of instinct, learning, and choice; Dawkins's research in this period concerned models of animal decision-making. He was awarded a DSc by Oxford in 1989.
Teaching
From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities. He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a reader in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field", and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins. He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.
Since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford, and he is now an emeritus fellow. He has delivered many lectures, including the Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture (1989), the first Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the Michael Faraday Lecture (1991), the T. H. Huxley Memorial Lecture (1992), the Irvine Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003). In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on Growing Up in the Universe. He also has edited several journals, and has acted as editorial advisor to the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine, and has been a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since its foundation.
Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards, and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford, instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities". In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."
In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London established by A. C. Grayling, which opened in September 2012.
Work
Evolutionary biology
Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the gene as the principal unit of selection in evolution; this view is most clearly set out in two of his books:
The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities".
The Extended Phenotype (1982), in which he describes natural selection as "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered niche construction to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.
Dawkins has consistently been sceptical about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as spandrels, described by Gould and Lewontin) and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene. He is particularly sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of group selection as a basis for understanding altruism.
This behaviour appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness. Previously, many had interpreted this as an aspect of group selection: individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton used gene-frequency analysis in his inclusive fitness theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism (including close relatives). Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. Dawkins popularised these ideas in The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his own work. In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist E. O. Wilson's 2012 book The Social Conquest of Earth as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection. Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the Gaia hypothesis of the independent scientist James Lovelock.
Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the gene as the unit of selection (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population). In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency". Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit". In The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.
Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as Richard Lewontin, David Sloan Wilson, and Elliott Sober) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher Mary Midgley, with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning The Selfish Gene, has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively reductionist; she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the Zeitgeist such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades. Besides, other, more recent views and analysis on his popular science works also exist.
In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'), one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas. In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical. A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin. Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are Steven Pinker and Daniel Dennett; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended reductionism in biology. Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.
When asked if Darwinism informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life," implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the consciousness of self.
Fathering the meme
In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.
Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.
Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists. Laurent also found the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work. In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by claiming that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme". Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity".
Foundation
In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are secular in nature. In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.
Criticism of religion
Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilised world could still be so uneducated in biology, and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins notes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die. He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA) and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".
On his spectrum of theistic probability, which has seven levels between 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) and 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden." In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion. In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized religious beliefs as irrational, such as that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006, which became an international bestseller. As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages. Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with the rise of New Atheism. In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion—"a fixed false belief". In his February 2002 TED talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination. These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview. He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school, which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence and be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history. Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.
While some critics, such as writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work, others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, academic and social critic Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian Alister McGrath, have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises. Atheist philosopher John Gray has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original," suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world." In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.
Dawkins has faced backlash over some of his public comments about Islam. In 2013, Dawkins tweeted "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.". In 2016, Dawkins' invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was withdrawn over his sharing of a "'highly offensive' video "mocking feminists and Islamists".
Criticism of creationism
Dawkins is a prominent critic of creationism, a religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity without recourse to evolution. He has described the young Earth creationist view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood". His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, contains a sustained critique of the argument from design, an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy made famous by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley via his book Natural Theology, in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, blind watchmaker.
In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against A. E. Wilder-Smith (a Young Earth creationist) and Edgar Andrews (president of the Biblical Creation Society). In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of engaging with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word theory, Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."
Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one". He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler", a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.
Political views
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement. Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind. He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority. Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly. He supported a UK atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of human population and about the matter of overpopulation. In The Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40 years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of starvation.
As a supporter of the Great Ape Project—a movement to extend certain moral and legal rights to all great apes—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative".
Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily. His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush, and the ethics of designer babies. Several such articles were included in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected president. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith. In the run up to the 2017 general election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.
In April 2021, Dawkins said on Twitter that "Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss." After receiving criticism for this tweet, Dawkins responded by saying that "I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic "Discuss" question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue."
Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
Dawkins identifies as a feminist. He has said that feminism is "enormously important".
Views on postmodernism
In 1998, in a book review published in Nature, Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the Sokal affair, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt and Intellectual Impostures by Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books are famous for their criticism of postmodernism in U.S. universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).
Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses obscurantist language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari:
"We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis."
This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or Lacan, according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career:
"Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."
Other fields
In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience and alternative medicine. His 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the rainbow, Isaac Newton diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "myths" and "pseudoscience". For John Diamond's posthumously published Snake Oil, a book devoted to debunking alternative medicine, Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes. Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film The Enemies of Reason, Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".
Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, Genius of Britain, along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.
In 2014, he joined the global awareness movement Asteroid Day as a "100x Signatory".
Awards and recognition
He holds honorary doctorates in science from the University of Huddersfield, University of Westminster, Durham University, the University of Hull, the University of Antwerp, the University of Oslo, the University of Aberdeen, Open University, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the University of Valencia. He also holds honorary doctorates of letters from the University of St Andrews and the Australian National University (HonLittD, 1996), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001. He is one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society.
In 1987, Dawkins received a Royal Society of Literature award and a Los Angeles Times Literary Prize for his book The Blind Watchmaker. In the same year, he received a Sci. Tech Prize for Best Television Documentary Science Programme of the Year for his work on the BBC's Horizon episode The Blind Watchmaker.
In 1996, the American Humanist Association gave him their Humanist of the Year Award, but the award was withdrawn in 2021, with the statement that he "demean[ed] marginalized groups", including transgender people, using "the guise of scientific discourse".
Other awards include the Zoological Society of London's Silver Medal (1989), the Finlay Innovation Award (1990), the Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize (1994), the fifth International Cosmos Prize (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (2001), the 2001 and 2012 Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Bicentennial Kelvin Medal of The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2002), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2006), and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009). He was awarded the Deschner Award, named after German anti-clerical author Karlheinz Deschner. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) has awarded Dawkins their highest award In Praise of Reason (1992).
Dawkins topped Prospect magazine's 2004 list of the top 100 public British intellectuals, as decided by the readers, receiving twice as many votes as the runner-up. He was shortlisted as a candidate in their 2008 follow-up poll. In a poll held by Prospect in 2013, Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker based on 65 names chosen by a largely US and UK-based expert panel.
In 2005, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded him its Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his "concise and accessible presentation of scientific knowledge". He won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2006, as well as the Galaxy British Book Awards's Author of the Year Award for 2007. In the same year, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007, and was ranked 20th in The Daily Telegraph 2007 list of 100 greatest living geniuses.
Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference, honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins's own efforts. In February 2010, Dawkins was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
In 2012, ichthyologists in Sri Lanka honored Dawkins by creating Dawkinsia as a new genus name (members of this genus were formerly members of the genus Puntius).
Personal life
Dawkins has been married three times and has a daughter. On 19 August 1967, Dawkins married ethologist Marian Stamp in the Protestant church in Annestown, County Waterford, Ireland; they divorced in 1984. On 1 June 1984, he married Eve Barham (1951–1999) in Oxford. They had a daughter, Juliet Emma Dawkins (born 1984, Oxford). Dawkins and Barham divorced. In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward in Kensington and Chelsea, London. Dawkins met her through their mutual friend Douglas Adams, who had worked with her on the BBC's Doctor Who. Dawkins and Ward separated in 2016 and they later described the separation as "entirely amicable". He identifies as an atheist who is a "cultural Anglican," associated with the Church of England, and a "secular Christian".
On 6 February 2016, Dawkins suffered a minor haemorrhagic stroke while at home. Dawkins reported later that same year that he had almost completely recovered.
Media
Selected publications
Book text
Documentary films
Nice Guys Finish First (1986)
The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
Break the Science Barrier (1996)
The Atheism Tapes (2004)
The Big Question (2005) – Part 3 of the TV series, titled "Why Are We Here?"
The Root of All Evil? (2006)
The Enemies of Reason (2007)
The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
Faith School Menace? (2010)
Beautiful Minds (April 2012) – BBC4 documentary
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
The Unbelievers (2013)
Other appearances
Dawkins has made many television appearances on news shows providing his political opinions and especially his views as an atheist. He has been interviewed on the radio, often as part of his book tours. He has debated many religious figures. He has made many university speaking appearances, again often in coordination with his book tours. As of 2016, he has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) – as himself, presented as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticise evidence supporting Darwinian evolution
Doctor Who: "The Stolen Earth" (2008) – as himself
Inside Nature's Giants (2009-12) - as guest expert
The Simpsons: "Black Eyed, Please" (2013) – appears in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell; provided voice as a demon version of himself
Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) – by Nightwish: Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had Dawkins as a guest star on the album. He provides narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful", in which he opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth", inspired by and named after his book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, and in which he quotes On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. He subsequently performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; the concert was later released as a part of a live album/DVD titled Vehicle of Spirit.
Notes
a. W. D. Hamilton influenced Dawkins and the influence can be seen throughout Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene. They became friends at Oxford and following Hamilton's death in 2000, Dawkins wrote his obituary and organised a secular memorial service.
b. The debate ended with the motion "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution" being defeated by 198 votes to 115.
References
Bibliography
External links
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Richard Dawkins – lasted news at The Independent
Richard Dawkins at The New York Times
Richard Dawkins at Big Think
1941 births
20th-century atheists
20th-century British biologists
20th-century English male writers
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Articles containing video clips
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White Kenyan people
Writers about religion and science | false | [
"Mneme , also known as , is a retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by teams of astronomers led by Brett J. Gladman and Scott S. Sheppard in 2003, and was provisionally designated S/2003 J 21.\n \nMneme is about 2 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 21,427,000 kilometres in 640.769 days, at an inclination of 149° to the ecliptic (148° to Jupiter's equator) with an eccentricity of 0.2214. Its average orbital speed is 2.43 km/s.\n\nIt was named in March 2005 after Mneme, one of the three original Muses. She is sometimes confused with Mnemosyne, mother of the Muses (the three or the nine, depending on the author) by Zeus (Jupiter).\n\nMneme belongs to the Ananke group, retrograde irregular moons which orbit Jupiter between 19.3 and 22.7 million kilometres, at inclinations of roughly 150°.\n\nReferences\n\nAnanke group\nMoons of Jupiter\nDiscoveries by Brett J. Gladman\nIrregular satellites\nAstronomical objects discovered in 2003",
"In Greek mythology, Mneme () was one of the three original Boeotian muses, along with her sisters Aoede and Melete before Arche and Thelxinoë were identified, increasing the number to five. Later, the Nine Olympian Muses were named. Mneme was the muse of memory.\n\nNamesake\n Mneme Lake in Antarctica is named after the muse.\n\nSee also\n Meme\n Memo (disambiguation)\n Memento (disambiguation)\n\nReferences\n\nGreek Muses\n\nBoeotian characters in Greek mythology\nCharacters in Greek mythology"
]
|
[
"Richard Dawkins",
"Fathering the meme",
"How was Dawkins responsible for the term meme?",
"In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme",
"What was Dawkins referring to?",
"Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas.",
"What is the selfish gene?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel,",
"Why didn't he claim that it was a novel idea?",
"For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon.",
"Did Semon actually use the word meme?",
"In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme).",
"What was Die Mneme about?",
"This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins."
]
| C_1cf3f56cfdf247cf92ea0c78b9d8f358_1 | Has anyone else been credited with coining "meme"? | 8 | Besides Richard Dawkins, has anyone else been credited with coining "meme"? | Richard Dawkins | In his book, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself. Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes. Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. In 1904, Semon published Die Mneme (which appeared in English in 1924 as The Mneme). This book discusses the cultural transmission of experiences, with insights parallel to those of Dawkins. Laurent also found the term, mneme, used in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and has highlighted the similarities to Dawkins's concept. James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity". CANNOTANSWER | Laurent also found the term, mneme, used in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and has highlighted the similarities to Dawkins's concept. | Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.
Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. With his book The Extended Phenotype (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. Dawkins's atheist stances have sometimes attracted controversy.
Dawkins has been awarded academic and writing awards, and he makes television, radio, and internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
Background
Early life
Clinton Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule. Dawkins later dropped Clinton from his name by deed poll. He is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan (née Ladner; 1916–2019) and Clinton John Dawkins (1915–2010), an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), of an Oxfordshire landed gentry family. His father was called up into the King's African Rifles during the Second World War and returned to England in 1949, when Dawkins was eight. His father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially. Dawkins lives in Oxford, England. He has a younger sister, Sarah.
His parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing". He embraced Christianity until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the theory of evolution alone was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god. Dawkins states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing." This understanding of atheism combined with his western cultural background, informs Dawkins as he describes himself in several interviews as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican".
Education
On his return to England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins joined Chafyn Grove School, in Wiltshire, and after that from 1954 to 1959 attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a Church of England ethos, where he was in Laundimer House. While at Oundle, Dawkins read Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian for the first time. He studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962; while there, he was tutored by Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. He graduated with second-class honours.
He continued as a research student under Tinbergen's supervision, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly in the areas of instinct, learning, and choice; Dawkins's research in this period concerned models of animal decision-making. He was awarded a DSc by Oxford in 1989.
Teaching
From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities. He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a reader in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field", and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins. He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.
Since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford, and he is now an emeritus fellow. He has delivered many lectures, including the Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture (1989), the first Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the Michael Faraday Lecture (1991), the T. H. Huxley Memorial Lecture (1992), the Irvine Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003). In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on Growing Up in the Universe. He also has edited several journals, and has acted as editorial advisor to the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine, and has been a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since its foundation.
Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards, and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford, instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities". In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."
In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London established by A. C. Grayling, which opened in September 2012.
Work
Evolutionary biology
Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the gene as the principal unit of selection in evolution; this view is most clearly set out in two of his books:
The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities".
The Extended Phenotype (1982), in which he describes natural selection as "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered niche construction to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.
Dawkins has consistently been sceptical about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as spandrels, described by Gould and Lewontin) and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene. He is particularly sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of group selection as a basis for understanding altruism.
This behaviour appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness. Previously, many had interpreted this as an aspect of group selection: individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton used gene-frequency analysis in his inclusive fitness theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism (including close relatives). Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. Dawkins popularised these ideas in The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his own work. In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist E. O. Wilson's 2012 book The Social Conquest of Earth as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection. Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the Gaia hypothesis of the independent scientist James Lovelock.
Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the gene as the unit of selection (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population). In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency". Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit". In The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.
Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as Richard Lewontin, David Sloan Wilson, and Elliott Sober) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher Mary Midgley, with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning The Selfish Gene, has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively reductionist; she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the Zeitgeist such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades. Besides, other, more recent views and analysis on his popular science works also exist.
In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'), one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas. In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical. A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin. Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are Steven Pinker and Daniel Dennett; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended reductionism in biology. Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.
When asked if Darwinism informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life," implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the consciousness of self.
Fathering the meme
In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.
Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.
Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel, and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon. Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists. Laurent also found the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work. In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by claiming that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme". Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity".
Foundation
In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are secular in nature. In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.
Criticism of religion
Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilised world could still be so uneducated in biology, and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins notes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die. He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA) and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".
On his spectrum of theistic probability, which has seven levels between 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) and 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden." In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion. In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized religious beliefs as irrational, such as that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006, which became an international bestseller. As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages. Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with the rise of New Atheism. In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion—"a fixed false belief". In his February 2002 TED talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination. These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview. He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school, which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence and be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history. Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.
While some critics, such as writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work, others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, academic and social critic Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian Alister McGrath, have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises. Atheist philosopher John Gray has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original," suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world." In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.
Dawkins has faced backlash over some of his public comments about Islam. In 2013, Dawkins tweeted "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.". In 2016, Dawkins' invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was withdrawn over his sharing of a "'highly offensive' video "mocking feminists and Islamists".
Criticism of creationism
Dawkins is a prominent critic of creationism, a religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity without recourse to evolution. He has described the young Earth creationist view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood". His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, contains a sustained critique of the argument from design, an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy made famous by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley via his book Natural Theology, in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, blind watchmaker.
In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against A. E. Wilder-Smith (a Young Earth creationist) and Edgar Andrews (president of the Biblical Creation Society). In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of engaging with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word theory, Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."
Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one". He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler", a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.
Political views
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement. Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind. He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority. Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly. He supported a UK atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of human population and about the matter of overpopulation. In The Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40 years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of starvation.
As a supporter of the Great Ape Project—a movement to extend certain moral and legal rights to all great apes—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative".
Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily. His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush, and the ethics of designer babies. Several such articles were included in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected president. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith. In the run up to the 2017 general election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.
In April 2021, Dawkins said on Twitter that "Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss." After receiving criticism for this tweet, Dawkins responded by saying that "I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic "Discuss" question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue."
Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
Dawkins identifies as a feminist. He has said that feminism is "enormously important".
Views on postmodernism
In 1998, in a book review published in Nature, Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the Sokal affair, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt and Intellectual Impostures by Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books are famous for their criticism of postmodernism in U.S. universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).
Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses obscurantist language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari:
"We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis."
This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or Lacan, according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career:
"Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."
Other fields
In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience and alternative medicine. His 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the rainbow, Isaac Newton diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "myths" and "pseudoscience". For John Diamond's posthumously published Snake Oil, a book devoted to debunking alternative medicine, Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes. Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film The Enemies of Reason, Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".
Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, Genius of Britain, along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.
In 2014, he joined the global awareness movement Asteroid Day as a "100x Signatory".
Awards and recognition
He holds honorary doctorates in science from the University of Huddersfield, University of Westminster, Durham University, the University of Hull, the University of Antwerp, the University of Oslo, the University of Aberdeen, Open University, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the University of Valencia. He also holds honorary doctorates of letters from the University of St Andrews and the Australian National University (HonLittD, 1996), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001. He is one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society.
In 1987, Dawkins received a Royal Society of Literature award and a Los Angeles Times Literary Prize for his book The Blind Watchmaker. In the same year, he received a Sci. Tech Prize for Best Television Documentary Science Programme of the Year for his work on the BBC's Horizon episode The Blind Watchmaker.
In 1996, the American Humanist Association gave him their Humanist of the Year Award, but the award was withdrawn in 2021, with the statement that he "demean[ed] marginalized groups", including transgender people, using "the guise of scientific discourse".
Other awards include the Zoological Society of London's Silver Medal (1989), the Finlay Innovation Award (1990), the Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize (1994), the fifth International Cosmos Prize (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (2001), the 2001 and 2012 Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Bicentennial Kelvin Medal of The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2002), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2006), and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009). He was awarded the Deschner Award, named after German anti-clerical author Karlheinz Deschner. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) has awarded Dawkins their highest award In Praise of Reason (1992).
Dawkins topped Prospect magazine's 2004 list of the top 100 public British intellectuals, as decided by the readers, receiving twice as many votes as the runner-up. He was shortlisted as a candidate in their 2008 follow-up poll. In a poll held by Prospect in 2013, Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker based on 65 names chosen by a largely US and UK-based expert panel.
In 2005, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded him its Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his "concise and accessible presentation of scientific knowledge". He won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2006, as well as the Galaxy British Book Awards's Author of the Year Award for 2007. In the same year, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007, and was ranked 20th in The Daily Telegraph 2007 list of 100 greatest living geniuses.
Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference, honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins's own efforts. In February 2010, Dawkins was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
In 2012, ichthyologists in Sri Lanka honored Dawkins by creating Dawkinsia as a new genus name (members of this genus were formerly members of the genus Puntius).
Personal life
Dawkins has been married three times and has a daughter. On 19 August 1967, Dawkins married ethologist Marian Stamp in the Protestant church in Annestown, County Waterford, Ireland; they divorced in 1984. On 1 June 1984, he married Eve Barham (1951–1999) in Oxford. They had a daughter, Juliet Emma Dawkins (born 1984, Oxford). Dawkins and Barham divorced. In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward in Kensington and Chelsea, London. Dawkins met her through their mutual friend Douglas Adams, who had worked with her on the BBC's Doctor Who. Dawkins and Ward separated in 2016 and they later described the separation as "entirely amicable". He identifies as an atheist who is a "cultural Anglican," associated with the Church of England, and a "secular Christian".
On 6 February 2016, Dawkins suffered a minor haemorrhagic stroke while at home. Dawkins reported later that same year that he had almost completely recovered.
Media
Selected publications
Book text
Documentary films
Nice Guys Finish First (1986)
The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
Break the Science Barrier (1996)
The Atheism Tapes (2004)
The Big Question (2005) – Part 3 of the TV series, titled "Why Are We Here?"
The Root of All Evil? (2006)
The Enemies of Reason (2007)
The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
Faith School Menace? (2010)
Beautiful Minds (April 2012) – BBC4 documentary
Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
The Unbelievers (2013)
Other appearances
Dawkins has made many television appearances on news shows providing his political opinions and especially his views as an atheist. He has been interviewed on the radio, often as part of his book tours. He has debated many religious figures. He has made many university speaking appearances, again often in coordination with his book tours. As of 2016, he has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) – as himself, presented as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticise evidence supporting Darwinian evolution
Doctor Who: "The Stolen Earth" (2008) – as himself
Inside Nature's Giants (2009-12) - as guest expert
The Simpsons: "Black Eyed, Please" (2013) – appears in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell; provided voice as a demon version of himself
Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015) – by Nightwish: Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had Dawkins as a guest star on the album. He provides narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful", in which he opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth", inspired by and named after his book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, and in which he quotes On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. He subsequently performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; the concert was later released as a part of a live album/DVD titled Vehicle of Spirit.
Notes
a. W. D. Hamilton influenced Dawkins and the influence can be seen throughout Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene. They became friends at Oxford and following Hamilton's death in 2000, Dawkins wrote his obituary and organised a secular memorial service.
b. The debate ended with the motion "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution" being defeated by 198 votes to 115.
References
Bibliography
External links
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Richard Dawkins – lasted news at The Independent
Richard Dawkins at The New York Times
Richard Dawkins at Big Think
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Writers about religion and science | false | [
"Adulting is a neologism for growing up that became popular on English-speaking social media in the second half of 2010s. American writer Kelly Williams Brown has been credited with coining the term.\n\nReferences\n\nNeologisms",
"Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage is a 2008 book about the new media by Axel Bruns.\n\nThe book has been credited with coining and popularizing the term produsage.\n\nSynopsis\n\nReviews\n\nSee also \nprosumer\n\nReferences \n\n2008 non-fiction books\nEnglish-language books\nBooks about the media\nSociology books\nNew media\nInternet culture"
]
|
[
"Hole (band)",
"Live performances"
]
| C_e4799c7ab09e48849d2675f52a95608b_0 | What live performances did they have? | 1 | What live performances did the Hole band have? | Hole (band) | Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage. The band often destroyed equipment and guitars at the end of concerts, and Love would ramble between songs, bring fans onstage, and stage dive, sometimes returning with her clothes torn off of her or sustaining injuries. In a 1995 New York Magazine article, journalist John Homans addressed Love's frequent stage diving during Hole's concerts: The most shocking, frightening, and fascinating image in rock in the last few years is Courtney Love's stage dive... When some male performers do it, it looks like muscular, frat-boy fun, controlled aggression... For obvious reasons, the practice was strictly no-girls-allowed, but Love, typically, decided that she wanted to do it, too. Groped, ravaged, she compared the experience to being raped, wrote a song about it, and now does it just about every show. Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, who toured with Hole in 1995, recalled Love's erratic behavior onstage, saying "She would just go off and [the rest of the band] would just kind of stand there." The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: "I was completely high on dope; I cannot remember much about it." She later criticized her behavior during that time, saying: "I [saw] pictures of how I looked. It's disgusting. I'm ashamed. There's death and there's disease and there's misery and there's giving up your soul... The human spirit mixed with certain powders is not the person, it's [a] demonic presence." Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956). The style was later dubbed "kinderwhore" by the media, and consisted of babydoll dresses, slips and nightgowns, and smeared makeup. Kurt Loder likened her onstage attire to a "debauched ragdoll", and John Peel noted in his review of the band's 1994 Reading Festival performance, that "[Love], swaying wildly and with lipstick smeared on her face, hands and, I think, her back, as well as on the collar of her dress, [...] would have drawn whistles of astonishment in Bedlam. The band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage." Rolling Stone referred to the style as "a slightly more politically charged version of grunge; apathy turned into ruinous angst, which soon became high fashion's favorite pose." The band's set lists for live shows were often loose, featuring improvisational jams and rough performances of unreleased songs. By 1998, their live performances had become less aggressive and more restrained, although Love continued to bring fans onstage, and would often go into the crowd while singing. CANNOTANSWER | Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage. | Hole was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1989. It was founded by singer Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. It had several different bassists and drummers, the most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff (d. 1994) and Melissa Auf der Maur. Hole released a total of four studio albums between two incarnations spanning the 1990s and early-2010s and became one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history fronted by a woman.
Influenced by Los Angeles' punk rock scene, the band's debut album, Pretty on the Inside (1991), was produced by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, and attracted critical interest from British and American alternative press. Their second album, Live Through This, released 1994 by DGC Records, which featured less aggressive melodies and more restrained lyrical content, was widely acclaimed and reached platinum status within a year of its release. Their third album, Celebrity Skin (1998), marked a notable departure from their earlier punk influences, boasting a more commercially viable sound; the album sold around 2 million copies worldwide, and earned them significant critical acclaim.
They disbanded in 2002, and the members individually pursued other projects. Eight years later in 2010, Hole was reformed by Love with new members, despite Erlandson's claim that the reformation breached a mutual contract he had with her. The reformed band released the album Nobody's Daughter (2010), which had originally been conceived as Love's second solo album. In 2013, Love retired the Hole name, releasing new material and touring as a solo artist.
Hole received several accolades, including four Grammy Award nominations. They were also commercially successful, selling over three million records in the United States alone, and had a far-reaching influence on contemporary female artists. Music and feminist scholars have also recognized the band as the most high-profile musical group of the 1990s to discuss gender issues in their songs, due to Love's aggressive and violent lyrical content, which often addressed themes of body image, abuse, and sexual exploitation.
Background
Hole formed after Eric Erlandson responded to an advertisement placed by Courtney Love in The Recycler in the summer of 1989. The advertisement simply read: "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac." "She called me up and talked my ear off," said Erlandson. "We met at this coffee shop, and I saw her and I thought "Oh, God. Oh, no, What am I getting myself into?" She grabbed me and started talking, and she's like "I know you're the right one", and I hadn't even opened my mouth yet." In retrospect, Love said that Erlandson "had a Thurston [Moore] quality about him" and was an "intensely weird, good guitarist." In his 2012 book, Letters to Kurt, Erlandson revealed that he and Love had a sexual relationship during their first year together in the band, which Love also confirmed.
Love had been living a nomadic life prior, immersing herself in numerous music scenes and living in various cities along the West Coast. After unsuccessful attempts at forming bands in San Francisco (where she was briefly a member of Faith No More) and Portland, Love relocated to Los Angeles, where she found work as an actress in two Alex Cox films (Sid and Nancy and Straight to Hell). Erlandson, a Los Angeles native and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, was working as a royalties manager for Capitol Records at the time he met Love.
Love had originally wanted to name the band Sweet Baby Crystal Powered by God, but opted for the name Hole instead. During an interview on Later... with Jools Holland, Love claimed the name for the band was partly inspired by a quote from Euripides' Medea that read: "There is a hole that pierces right through me." She also cited a conversation with her mother as the primary inspiration for the band's name, in which her mother told her that she couldn't live her life "with a hole running through her." Love also acknowledged the "obvious" genital reference in the band's name, alluding to the vagina.
Career
1989 – 1991: Early work and indie success
In the months preceding the band's full formation, Love and Erlandson would write and record in the evenings at a rehearsal space in Hollywood, loaned to them by the Red Hot Chili Peppers; during the day, Love worked as a stripper to support the band and purchase amplifiers and their backline for live shows. Hole's first official rehearsal took place at Fortress Studios in Hollywood with Love, Erlandson and Lisa Roberts on bass. According to Erlandson, "these two girls show up dressed completely crazy, we set up and they said, "okay, just start playing something." I started playing and they started screaming at the top of their lungs for two or three hours. Crazy lyrics and screaming. I said to myself, "most people would just run away from this really fast. But I heard something in Courtney's voice and lyrics." Initially, the band had no percussion until Love met drummer Caroline Rue, and later recruited a third guitarist, Mike Geisbrecht. Hole's first show took place at Raji's, a small bar in Hollywood, in September 1989. By early 1990, Geisbrecht and Roberts had both left the band, which led to the recruitment of bassist Jill Emery.
Hole released their no wave-influenced debut single "Retard Girl" in April 1990, and followed it with "Dicknail" in 1991, released on Sympathy for the Record Industry and Sub Pop, respectively. According to disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer, Love would often approach him at a Denny's on Sunset Blvd. where he went for coffee in the mornings, and convinced him to give "Retard Girl" airtime on his station KROQ-FM.
In 1991, the band signed onto Caroline Records to release their debut album, and Love sought Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth to produce the record. She sent a letter, a Hello Kitty barrette, and copies of the band's early singles to her, mentioning that the band greatly admired Gordon's work and appreciated "... the production of the SST record" (either referring to Sonic Youth's album Sister or EVOL). Gordon, impressed by the band's singles, agreed to produce the album, with assistance from Gumball's Don Fleming. The album, titled Pretty on the Inside, was released in September 1991 to positive reception from underground critics, branded "loud, ugly and deliberately shocking," and earned a spot on Spins "20 Best Albums of the Year" list. It was also voted album of the year by New York's Village Voice and peaked at number 59 on the UK albums chart. The album spawned one single, "Teenage Whore", which entered the UK Indie Chart at number one, as well as the band's debut music video for the song "Garbadge Man".
Musically and lyrically, Pretty on the Inside was abrasive and drew on elements of punk rock and sludge metal, characterized by overt noise and feedback, chaotic guitar riffs, contrasting tempos, graphic lyrics, and a variation of Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screaming. In later years, Love referred to the album as "unlistenable", despite its critical accolades and eventual cult following. The band embarked on a European tour in the fall of 1991 supporting Mudhoney. They also toured intermittently in the United States between July and December 1991, playing primarily at hard rock and punk clubs, including CBGB and the Whisky A Go Go, where they opened for The Smashing Pumpkins. In a write-up by the Los Angeles Times on the band's final show of the tour, it was noted that Love smashed the headstock of her Rickenbacker guitar onstage.
In mid-1991, the band began to get the attention of the major labels. The first to court them was Maverick — a Warner subsidiary founded by Madonna and music executive Freddy DeMann. Love, however, was uninterested: "[They] would have me riding on elephants. They don't know what I am. For them, I'm a visual, period." She was also uneasy about sharing the spotlight on a label so heavily associated with one of the industry's most iconic female performers. In a 1992 interview with Vanity Fair, Love described Madonna's interest as "kind of like Dracula's interest in his latest victim."
1992 – 1999: Mainstream success
1992 – 1995: Live Through This
Love and Erlandson began writing new material for a second Hole album in 1992, in the midst of Love's pregnancy with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Love's desire to take the band in a more melodic and controlled rock format led bassist Emery to leave the band, and drummer Caroline Rue followed. In an advertisement to find a new bass player, Love wrote: "[I want] someone who can play ok, and stand in front of 30,000 people, take off her shirt and have 'fuck you' written on her tits. If you're not afraid of me and you're not afraid to fucking say it, send a letter. No more pussies, no more fake girls, I want a whore from hell." In April 1992, drummer Patty Schemel was recruited after an audition in Los Angeles, but the band spent the remainder of the year without a bassist; Love, Schemel, and Erlandson began to write material together in the interim.
Hole signed to Geffen's subsidiary DGC label with an eight-album contract in late 1992. In the spring of 1993, the band released their single "Beautiful Son", which was recorded in Seattle with producer Jack Endino as a fill-in bass player; Love also played bass on the single's b-side "20 Years In the Dakota", as well as on their contribution to the 1993 Germs tribute album A Small Circle of Friends. In the spring of 1993, Love and Erlandson recruited Janitor Joe bassist Kristen Pfaff, and the band toured the United Kingdom in the summer of that year (including the Phoenix Festival on July 16), mainly performing material from their upcoming major label debut, Live Through This, which they recorded at Triclops Studios in Marietta, Georgia in October 1993.
Live Through This was released on April 12, 1994, one week after Love's husband, Kurt Cobain, was found dead in his Seattle home. In the wake of Love's family tragedy, Live Through This was a critical success. It spawned several popular singles, including "Doll Parts", "Violet", and "Miss World", going multi-platinum and being hailed "Album of the Year" by Spin magazine. NME called the album "a personal but secretive thrash-pop opera of urban nihilism and passionate dumb thinks," and Rolling Stone said the album "may be the most potent blast of female insurgency ever committed to tape."
Despite the critical praise for Live Through This, rumors circulated insinuating that Cobain had actually written the majority of the album, though the band vehemently denies this. The band's drummer Patty Schemel, who had been friends with Cobain since the late 1980s, said: "There's that myth that Kurt [Cobain] wrote all our songs— it's not true. Courtney and Eric wrote Live Through This." The band did, however, state that Love convinced Cobain to provide backing vocals on "Asking for It" and "Softer, Softest" while visiting the studio, and music producers and engineers present during the recording sessions noted that Cobain seemed "completely unfamiliar" with the songs. According to Rolling Stone rock journalist Gavin Edwards, Love and Cobain had written songs together in the past, but opted to not release them because it was "a bit too redolent of John and Yoko."
In 1994, bassist Kristen Pfaff went into a drug treatment facility to treat her heroin addiction. Pfaff contemplated leaving the band for health reasons. In June 1994, she was found dead of a heroin overdose in the bathroom of her Seattle home, 2 months after the death of Cobain. The band put their impending tour on hold, pulling out of the upcoming Lollapalooza festival. Pfaff's life is, according to Pfaff's brother, the subject of an upcoming book by British authors Sara Hawys Roberts and Guy Mankowski, who he's collaborating with.
Recruiting bassist Melissa Auf der Maur over the summer, they commenced their world tour on August 26 at the Reading Festival in England, giving a performance that John Peel described as "teetering on the edge of chaos." The band embarked on a worldwide tour throughout late 1994 and for the duration of 1995, with appearances at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Saturday Night Live, the Big Day Out festival, MTV Unplugged, the 1995 Reading Festival, Lollapalooza 1995, and at the MTV Video Music Awards, where they were nominated for the "Doll Parts" music video.
Love's reckless stage presence during the tour became a media spectacle, drawing press from MTV and other outlets due to her unpredictable performances. While touring with Sonic Youth, Love got into a physical fight with Kathleen Hanna backstage at a 1995 Lollapalooza festival and punched her in the face. In an August 1995 band interview with Rolling Stone, drummer Patty Schemel formally came out as a lesbian, saying: "It's important. I'm not out there with that fucking pink flag or anything, but it's good for other people who live somewhere else in some small town who feel freaky about being gay to know that there's other people who are and that it's okay." In a retrospective interview, Schemel said:
Toward the end of the tour, the band released their first EP, titled Ask for It, in September 1995; it featured 1991 Peel session recordings, as well as covers of songs by Wipers and The Velvet Underground. The band performed its last show of the year on September 3, 1995 at the Molson Polar Beach Party in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada. The concert was a promotional event for the Molson Brewery, and also featured performances by Metallica, Veruca Salt, and Moist.
1996 – 1999: Celebrity Skin
In 1996, the band recorded and released a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman" for The Crow: City of Angels (1996) soundtrack, the band's first studio song to feature Melissa Auf der Maur on bass, and produced by Ric Ocasek. Hole released two retrospective albums during this time: firstly, their second EP, titled The First Session (1997), which consisted of a complete version of the band's first recording session at Rudy's Rising Star in Los Angeles in March 1990, some of which had been bootlegged widely years prior. It featured the group's first ever recorded track, "Turpentine", which had previously been unreleased to the public. The same year, the band released their first compilation album, My Body, The Hand Grenade (1997), featuring early singles, b-sides and recent live tracks.
In 1997, the band entered Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles after attempts to write new material in Miami, New Orleans, London, and New York. Recorded over a ten-month period, Hole's third studio album, Celebrity Skin (1998), adopted a complete new sound for the band, incorporating elements of power pop, and had Love drawing influences from Fleetwood Mac and My Bloody Valentine. According to Erlandson, Love was more focused on song-writing and singing than playing guitar on the record; Love stated that her aim for the album was to "deconstruct the California sound" in the L.A. tradition of bands like The Doors, The Beach Boys and The Byrds. In addition to Hole, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan entered the studio and helped perfect five of the album's twelve songs. Love, who felt she was in a creative slump, likened Corgan's presence in the studio to "a math teacher who wouldn't give you the answers but was making you solve the problems yourself."
Upon the album's release, Corgan told CNN that he should have "been given credit [for writing the entire album]." Erlandson responded to Corgan's statements in a Rolling Stone interview, commenting: "We were working on all the stuff that Courtney and I had already written. Billy really facilitated things, in a way ... I would bring in the music, Courtney would start coming up with lyrics right away, and [Billy] would help map it all out." Erlandson also stated: "Courtney writes all her own lyrics. Nobody else is writing those lyrics and nobody ever has." One journalist took note of the controversy when reviewing the album, stating: "Back in 1994, the acclaim for Live Through This was undercut by whispers that Love's late husband wrote the album. Combine those conspiracy theories with the unfounded but persistent rumor that Cobain was actually murdered, and it is no surprise that, in the song "Celebrity Skin", Love calls herself a walking study in demonology."
Although Schemel is listed as drummer in the liner notes of the record, her drumming does not actually appear on the record; she was replaced by session drummer Deen Castronovo, under pressure from producer Michael Beinhorn. After the replacement, Schemel quit the band. Though Love and Erlandson had authorized Schemel's replacement, both expressed regret in retrospect, and Love stated in 2011 that Beinhorn was notorious for replacing drummers on records, and referred to him as "a Nazi". After Schemel's departure, the band hired drummer Samantha Maloney for their upcoming tours and music videos.
Celebrity Skin was a critical success with strong sales and successful singles, including the title track, "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu", and "Awful". The album received largely positive reviews, with praise from music periodicals such as Rolling Stone, NME, and Blender, as well as a four-star review from the Los Angeles Times, calling it a "wild emotional ride" sure to be "one of the most dissected and debated collections of the year." The album peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200, and garnered the band its first and only number 1 single, "Celebrity Skin", which topped the Modern Rock Tracks. "Malibu", released December 29, 1998, was the album's second single; it charted at number 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks.
1999 – 2002: Final tour and disbandment
In the winter of 1998–99, Hole went on tour to promote Celebrity Skin, joining Marilyn Manson, who was promoting his album, Mechanical Animals (1998) on the "Beautiful Monsters Tour". The tour turned into a publicity magnet, and Hole dropped out of the tour nine dates in, due to both the majority of the fans being Manson's, and the 50/50 financial arrangement between the groups, with Hole's production costs being disproportionately less than Manson's. Manson and Love often mocked one another onstage, and Love attacked Manson's stage antics, which included tearing up a Bible during performances: "You know, whenever somebody rips up the Bible in front of 40,000 people, I think it's a big deal," she said during a 1999 interview. Hole officially announced that they would be dropping out of the tour after a poorly received concert at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon, which ended with Manson fans booing the band.
The band continued to book shows and headline festivals after dropping off Manson's tour, and according to Auf der Maur, it was a "daily event" for Love to invite audience members onstage to sing with her for the last song at nearly every concert performance. On June 17, 1999 during Hole's set at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, a 19-year-old girl died after being crushed by the mosh pit behind the mixing board. Hole played its final show at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver on July 14, 1999.
In October 1999, Auf der Maur quit Hole and went on to become a touring bassist for The Smashing Pumpkins. Samantha Maloney also quit a few months later. The band's final release was a single for the movie Any Given Sunday (1999). "Be a Man", released in March 2000, was an outtake from the Celebrity Skin sessions. In April 2002, Love called The Howard Stern Show and said she had written nine songs with songwriter Linda Perry, but less than a month later Love and Erlandson officially disbanded Hole via a message posted on the band's website. After the split, the four musicians each took on projects of their own: Erlandson continued to work as a producer and session musician, eventually forming the experimental group RRIICCEE with controversial artist Vincent Gallo. Love began a solo career, releasing her debut, America's Sweetheart, in 2004, featuring several of the songs written with Perry. Melissa Auf der Maur also embarked on a solo career, and released her self-titled debut album in 2004, which included Erlandson performing lead guitar on the track, "Would If I Could." Her second album, Out of Our Minds, was released in March 2010. Hole's body of work from its inception to its first disbandment includes thirteen singles, three LPs, three EPs, and one compilation album.
2009 – 2013: Reformation and name dispute
On June 17, 2009, seven years after Hole's disbandment, NME reported that Love was re-forming the band with guitarist Micko Larkin for an upcoming album, on which Melissa Auf der Maur would be providing backup vocals. Days later, Melissa Auf der Maur stated in an interview that she was unaware of any reunion, but said Love had asked her to contribute harmonies to an upcoming album. In response, Eric Erlandson stated in an interview with Spin magazine that a reunion could not take place without his involvement, citing that he and Love "have a contract."
Hole launched a new website and various social media pages on January 1, 2010, and performed on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in February. On February 17, 2010 they played a full set at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, with support from Little Fish. On March 16, the first Hole single in ten years was released, titled "Skinny Little Bitch"; it peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Rock Chart, and at No. 21 on the Alternative Singles chart. The track also received airplay on Active rock and alternative radio.
Nobody's Daughter was released on April 26, 2010 worldwide on Mercury Records, and was received moderately well by music critics. Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars, but noted "[while Love] was an absolute monster vocalist in the nineties, the greatest era ever for rock singers ... She doesn't have that power in her lungs anymore – barely a trace. But at least she remembers, and that means something in itself." The magazine also referred to the album as "not a true success", but a "noble effort". Love's voice, which had become noticeably raspier, was compared to the likes of Bob Dylan. NME gave the album a 6/10 rating, and Robert Christgau rated it an "A-", saying, "Thing is, I can use some new punk rage in my life, and unless you're a fan of Goldman Sachs and BP Petroleum, so can you. What's more, better it come from a 45-year-old woman who knows how to throw her weight around than from the zitty newbies and tattooed road dogs who churn most of it out these days. I know—for her, BP Petroleum is just something else to pretend about. But the emotion fueling her pretense is cathartic nevertheless." In support of the release, Hole toured extensively between 2010 and 2012 throughout North America and Europe, as well as performing in Russia and Brazil.
On March 28, 2011, Love, Erlandson, Patty Schemel and Auf der Maur appeared at the New York screening of Schemel's documentary Hit So Hard: The Life and Near-Death Story of Patty Schemel at the Museum of Modern Art. The appearance was the first time in thirteen years that all four members appeared together in public. Schemel had expressed a desire to record with Love, Erlandson and Auf der Maur stating "nothing has been discussed, but I have a feeling." After the screening, the four took part in a Q&A session where Love stated: "For me, as much as I love playing with Patty – and I would play with her in five seconds again, and everyone onstage – if it's not moving forward, I don't wanna do it. That's just my thing. There's rumblings; there's always bloody rumblings. But if it's not miserable and it's going forward and I'm happy with it ... that's all I have to say about that question."
In May 2011, a music video for "Samantha" was shot in Istanbul, although it remained officially unreleased. In September 2011, Scott Lipps joined the band, replacing drummer Stu Fisher. In April 2012, Love, Erlandson, Auf der Maur and Schemel reunited at the Public Assembly in New York for a two-song set, including "Miss World" and the Wipers' "Over the Edge," at an after-party for the Hit So Hard documentary. The performance marked the first time the four members performed together since 1998 after Schemel's departure and the 2002 breakup of the band.
On December 29, 2012, Love performed a solo acoustic set in New York City, and in January 2013, performed at the Sundance Film Festival under her own name. She booked further performances across North America as a solo act, with Larkin, bassist Shawn Dailey, and Lipps as her backing band.
2014 – 2016: Second disbandment
On December 28, 2013, Love posted two photos of herself with Erlandson on Facebook and Twitter, with a caption reading: "And this just happened ... 2014 going to be a very interesting year." Love also tagged Melissa Auf der Maur as well as Hole's former manager, Peter Mensch, in the post, alluding to a reconciliation with Erlandson and possible reunion in 2014.
On April 2, 2014, Rolling Stone reported that the Celebrity Skin line-up of the band had reunited (with Patty Schemel in lieu of Samantha Maloney). Rolling Stone erroneously reported Love's upcoming solo single, "Wedding Day" to be a product of this reunion. Shortly after, Love curtailed her statement, saying: "We may have made out but there is no talk of marriage. It's very frail, nothing might happen, and now the band are all flipping out on me." On May 1, in an interview with Pitchfork, Love discussed the possibility of a reunion, and also stated it had been "a mistake" releasing Nobody's Daughter as a Hole record in 2010. "Eric was right—I kind of cheapened the name, even though I'm legally allowed to use it. I should save "Hole" for the lineup everybody wants to see and had the balls to put Nobody's Daughter under my own name." Love further discussed the possibility of reuniting the band, saying:
No one's been dormant. Patty teaches drumming and drums in three indie bands. Melissa has her metal-nerd thing going on—her dream is to play Castle Donington with Dokken. Eric hasn't flipped—I jammed with him, he's still doing his Thurston [Moore]-crazy tunings, still corresponding with Kevin Shields. We all get along great. There are bands who reunite and hate each others' guts.
2019 – present: Possible reformation and attempted reunions
In October 2019, Hole rehearsed at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in Los Angeles. Nothing transpired after the event, since Love had relocated to the United Kingdom afterwards. In March 2020, Love and Auf Der Maur planned a performance at the "Bans Off My Body" event, which was eventually canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Artistry
Composition
Initially, Hole drew inspiration from no wave and experimental bands, which is evident in their earliest recordings, specifically "Retard Girl", but frontwoman Love also drew from a variety of influences. Love cited post-punk group Echo & the Bunnymen and classic rock such as Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac. The band's first album, Pretty on the Inside, was heavily influenced by noise and punk rock, using discordant melodies, distortion, and feedback, with Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screams. Love described the band's earliest songwriting as being based on "really crazy Sonic Youth tunings." Nonetheless, Love claimed to have aimed for a pop sound early on: "There's a part of me that wants to have a grindcore band and another that wants to have a Raspberries-type pop band," she told Flipside magazine in 1991. Both Love and Erlandson were fans of the notorious LA punk band the Germs. In a 1996 interview for a Germs tribute documentary, Erlandson said: "I think every band is based on one song, and our band was based on "Forming"... Courtney brought it into rehearsal, and she knew, like, three chords and it was the only punk rock song we could play."
The band's second album Live Through This, captured a less abrasive sound, while maintaining the group's original punk roots. "I want this record to be shocking to the people who don't think we have a soft edge, and at the same time, [to know] that we haven't lost our very, very hard edge," Love told VH1 in 1994. The group's third album, Celebrity Skin, incorporated power pop into their hard rock sound, and was heavily inspired by California bands; Love was also influenced by Fleetwood Mac and My Bloody Valentine while writing the album. The group's 2010 release, Nobody's Daughter, featured a more folk rock-oriented sound, utilizing acoustic guitar and softer melodies.
The group's chord progressions by and large drew on elements of punk music, which Love described as "grungey", although not necessarily grunge. Critics described their song style as "deceptively wispy and strummy," combined with "gunshot guitar choruses." Although the group's sound changed over the course of their career, the dynamic between beauty and ugliness has often been noted, particularly due to the layering of harsh and abrasive riffs which often bury more sophisticated arrangements.
Lyrical content
In a 1991 interview, Love stated that lyrics were "the most important" element of songwriting for her. Her lyrics explored a variety of themes throughout Hole's career, including body image, rape, child abuse, addiction, celebrity, suicide, elitism, and inferiority complex; all of which were addressed mainly from a female, and often feminist standpoint. This underlying feminism in Love's lyrics often led the public and critics to mistakenly associate her with the riot grrrl movement, of which Love was highly critical.
In a 1991 interview with Everett True, Love said: "I try to place [beautiful imagery] next to fucked up imagery, because that's how I view things ... I sometimes feel that no one's taken the time to write about certain things in rock, that there's a certain female point of view that's never been given space." Charles Cross has referred to her lyrics on Live Through This as being "true extensions of her diary," and she has admitted that a great deal of the lyrics from Pretty on the Inside were excisions from her journals.
Throughout Hole's career, Love's lyrics were often influenced by literature: The title of the band's second album Live Through This, for example (as well as lyrics from the track "Asking for It") is directly drawn from Gone With the Wind; and the group's single "Celebrity Skin" (the title track to their 1998 album), contains quotes from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Dante Rossetti's poem A Superscription. Love had had a minor background in literature, having briefly studied English literature in her early twenties.
Performances
Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage. The band often destroyed equipment and guitars at the end of concerts, and Love would ramble between songs, bring fans onstage, and stage dive, sometimes returning with her clothes torn off of her or sustaining injuries. In a 1995 New York Magazine article, journalist John Homans addressed Love's frequent stage diving during Hole's concerts:
The most shocking, frightening, and fascinating image in rock in the last few years is Courtney Love's stage dive ... When some male performers do it, it looks like muscular, frat-boy fun, controlled aggression ... For obvious reasons, the practice was strictly no-girls-allowed, but Love, typically, decided that she wanted to do it, too. Groped, ravaged, she compared the experience to being raped, wrote a song about it, and now does it just about every show.
Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, who toured with Hole in 1995, recalled Love's erratic behavior onstage, saying "She would just go off and [the rest of the band] would just kind of stand there." The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: "I was completely high on dope; I cannot remember much about it." She later criticized her behavior during that time, saying: "I [saw] pictures of how I looked. It's disgusting. I'm ashamed. There's death and there's disease and there's misery and there's giving up your soul ... The human spirit mixed with certain powders is not the person, it's [a] demonic presence."
Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956). The style was later dubbed "kinderwhore" by the media, and consisted of babydoll dresses, slips and nightgowns, and smeared makeup. Kurt Loder likened her onstage attire to a "debauched ragdoll", and John Peel noted in his review of the band's 1994 Reading Festival performance, that "[Love], swaying wildly and with lipstick smeared on her face, hands and, I think, her back, as well as on the collar of her dress, ... would have drawn whistles of astonishment in Bedlam. The band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage." Rolling Stone referred to the style as "a slightly more politically charged version of grunge; apathy turned into ruinous angst, which soon became high fashion's favorite pose."
The band's set lists for live shows were often loose, featuring improvisational jams and rough performances of unreleased songs. By 1998, their live performances had become less aggressive and more restrained, although Love continued to bring fans onstage, and would often go into the crowd while singing.
Legacy
Hole was one of the most commercially successful female-fronted alternative rock bands in history, selling over 3 million records in the United States between 1991 and 2010. In spite of Love's often polarizing reputation in the media, Hole received consistent critical praise for their output, and was often noted for the predominant feminist commentary found in Love's lyrics, which scholars have credited as "articulating a third-wave feminist consciousness". Love's subversive onstage persona and public image coincided with the band's songs, which expressed "pain, sorrow, and anger, but [an] underlying message of survival, particularly survival in the face of overwhelming circumstances." Music journalist Maria Raha expressed a similar sentiment in regard to the band's significance to third-wave feminism, stating, "Whether you love Courtney [Love] or hate her, Hole was the highest-profile female-fronted band of the '90s to openly and directly sing about feminism."
While Rolling Stone compared the effect of Love's marriage to Cobain on the band to that of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, they noted that "Love's confrontational stage presence, as well as her gut-wrenching vocals and powerful punk-pop songcraft, made her an alternative-rock star in her own right." Author Nick Wise made a similar comparison in discussion of the band's public image, stating, "Not since Yoko Ono's marriage to John Lennon has a woman's personal life and exploits within the rock arena been so analyzed and dissected." The band has been cited as a major influence on several contemporary artists, including indie singer-songwriter Scout Niblett, Brody Dalle (of The Distillers and Spinnerette), Sky Ferreira, Lana Del Rey, Tove Lo, Tegan and Sara, and the British rock band Nine Black Alps. The band ranked at number 77 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists list.
Materials loss
In 2008 a fire swept through Universal Studios Hollywood destroying buildings belonging to Universal Music Group. It was confirmed, in 2019, that the entire Hole back catalogue, along with hundreds of other artists' music, was completely lost, meaning reissues and remasters are now unlikely. Courtney Love and the band were one of the artists suing UMG for the loss; however, on August 16, 2019, the band was removed from that lawsuit as it was amended "based on UMG's representations that none of Hole's original masters were destroyed (subject to confirmation)".
Members
Timeline
Discography
Pretty on the Inside (1991)
Live Through This (1994)
Celebrity Skin (1998)
Nobody's Daughter (2010)
Accolades
{| class="wikitable unsortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Nominated work(s)
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=4|Grammy Awards
| rowspan=3|1999
| Best Rock Album
| Celebrity Skin
|
|rowspan=3 style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Best Rock Song
| rowspan=2|"Celebrity Skin"
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
| 2000
| "Malibu"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=2|MTV Video Music Awards
| 1995
| Best Alternative Video
| "Doll Parts"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 1999
| Best Cinematography
| "Malibu"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=3|NME Awards
| rowspan=3|1999
| Best Band
| Hole
|
|rowspan=3|
|-
| Best Album
| Celebrity Skin
|
|-
| Best Single
| "Celebrity Skin"
|
|-
! scope="row"|Spin Readers' Poll Awards
| 1994
| Album of the Year
| Live Through This
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
References
Sources
External links
Hole at Billboard
1989 establishments in California
2002 disestablishments in California
2009 establishments in California
2012 disestablishments in California
Alternative rock groups from California
American noise rock music groups
Punk rock groups from California
Musical groups established in 1989
Musical groups disestablished in 2002
Musical groups reestablished in 2009
Musical groups disestablished in 2012
Sympathy for the Record Industry artists
Caroline Records artists
DGC Records artists
Geffen Records artists
Sub Pop artists
Mercury Records artists
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical quartets
Feminist musicians
Third-wave feminism
Grunge musical groups
Courtney Love
Articles which contain graphical timelines
20th-century American guitarists
City Slang artists
Female-fronted musical groups | true | [
"\"What Have You Done\" is the first single from Dutch symphonic metal and rock band Within Temptation's fourth studio album The Heart of Everything (2007). The song features guest vocals from Life of Agony's lead singer Mina Caputo and it was released as the album's first single in early 2007 (see 2007 in music). It became their first charting single in Canada and in the United States. A new edit and version of the song was released in the US through iTunes on 26 June 2007.\n\nMusic video\nThere are two music videos for \"What Have You Done\".\n\nIn the first video, Sharon den Adel is a spy. Mina Caputo is an FBI agent who has been assigned the task of capturing den Adel. They were formerly lovers, but an unconfirmed issue rose between them, causing them to separate. Caputo searches the world for Adel before finally locating her singing with the band in a bar in Thailand; however, he is thrown out by the bouncer and is refused re-entry. Den Adel stands behind the bouncer, grinning suspiciously. She makes her way through a jungle in the next scene, with Caputo following her. After reaching a cliff with no escape, den Adel faces Caputo and whispers \"I love you.\" She turns and jumps off the cliff. Although Caputo is under the impression that den Adel did not survive the fall, at the end she is lying on rocks, smiling.\n\nIn the alternative video, den Adel seems to be leaving an abusive partner. Her partner is left behind in a house, and trashes it, smashing mirrors and vases. This video has a more sinister and dark atmosphere present. This video also contains footage of Caputo, although not together with any member of Within Temptation.\n\nThe first video was quickly replaced by this version. The band stated that they wanted to replace the video because the \"band shots were too dark and the 'jungle' part didn't look very convincing.\"\nOnly the second version was released on DVD with the special edition of The Heart of Everything and with Black Symphony. A new edit of this version was also used to promote the single in the United States.\n\nLive versions\n\n\"What Have You Done\" (feat. Mina Caputo) was also released as a live version on the band's Black Symphony release. Roadrunner Records USA/Australia used this version to promote Black Symphony before its release. This recording with the Metropole Orchestra in Ahoy, Rotterdam, 2008 was one of the two only live performances of the song in which Mina Caputo sang along live (the other one being at the Dauwpop festival in 2007). In other performances, the band plays a video of Mina Caputo singing on screen and encourages the audience to sing the parts.\n\nIn acoustic performances of this song, as found on the \"Frozen\" maxi-single and the special edition of The Heart of Everything, Caputo's vocals are absent and Sharon den Adel sings Caputo's parts as well. On the live album An Acoustic Night at the Theatre, \"What Have You Done\" appears as a duet with Caputo once again, although Caputo's vocals were not recorded live.\n\n\"What Have You Done\" in other media\nThis song is available as a downloadable song in the games Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero 5, and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. In 2008, Dutch TV program Koefnoen made a parody on this song titled \"What Am I Doing Here\".\n\nFormats and track listings\nThese are the formats and track listings of major single releases of \"What Have You Done\".\n\nEuropean CD promotional single\n\"What Have You Done\" (European radio version) a.k.a. (single version) (3:59)\n\"What Have You Done\" (rock mix) (3:52)\n\nCanadian and European CD single\n\"What Have You Done\" (European radio version) a.k.a. (single version) (3:59)\n\"What Have You Done\" (album version) (5:16)\n\nEuropean maxi CD single\n\"What Have You Done\" (European radio version) a.k.a. (single version) (3:59)\n\"What Have You Done\" (album version) (5:16)\n\"Blue Eyes\" (non-album track) (5:26)\n\"Aquarius\" (Live at Java-eiland, Amsterdam) (4:46)\n\"Caged\" (Live at Java-eiland, Amsterdam) (5:44)\n\nUS promotional single number one\n\"What Have You Done\" (US edit) (3:24)\n\nUS promotional single number two\n\"What Have You Done\" (US pop mix) (4:00)\n\nUS iTunes EP (digital exclusive)\n\"What Have You Done\" (US edit) (3:24)\n\"What Have You Done\" (album version) (5:16)\n\"What Have You Done\" (acoustic live) (4:33)\n\"What Have You Done\" (video)\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n2007 singles\nWithin Temptation songs\nSongs written by Sharon den Adel\nSongs written by Robert Westerholt\n2007 songs\nRoadrunner Records singles",
"Look at What the Light Did Now is a documentary/live album DVD/CD by Canadian indie pop artist Feist, first released in December 2010. The DVD comprises an 80-minute documentary directed by Anthony Seck, five music videos from 2007 album The Reminder, and a number of live performances recorded between 2007 and 2009, including covers of songs by artists such as Little River Band and Ron Sexsmith.\n\nThe set's accompanying CD features live tracks and solo piano takes of tracks from The Reminder, along with live covers of songs by artists such as The Kinks and Peggy Lee, and two studio recordings of a new song, Look at What the Light Did Now, written by Little Wings.\n\nPrior to its December 2010 home video release, the documentary screened at number of international fall festivals, including the 2010 Raindance Film Festival in London, CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, and the Pop Montreal music festival in Quebec. Look at What the Light Did Now marks both Feist's first official documentary and first official live album.\n\nReception\nLook at What the Light Did Now received limited reviews upon release that were mostly positive. Music site Drowned in Sound gave the release 8/10, stating that it is \"absolutely worth your time and attention,\" while at AllMusic, reviewer Andrew Leahey gave the release 3.5/5, commenting: \"Feist sounds great throughout, with a quirky alto voice that, although imperfect, only seems to break at the right moments.\"\n\nMeanwhile, film site Indiewire gave the film a B+ rating, stating that it was not a typical rock documentary. Reviewer Kimber Myers said it \"sets itself apart with an aesthetic that veers between art film and hipster craft fair, a tone that perfectly matches Feist’s own music, itself a mixture of polished and smartly produced tracks and earthy, quirky additions\".\n\nAccolades\nLook at What the Light Did Now won the 'DVD of the Year' prize at the 2012 Juno Awards in Canada, and was nominated for the Sound & Vision Award at CPH:DOX in Denmark.\n\nTour dates\n\nTrack listing\n\nDisc one (DVD)\nFeature Length Documentary \n Look at What the Light Did Now directed by Anthony Seck\n\nMusic videos\n My Moon My Man directed by Patrick Daughters\n 1234 directed by Patrick Daughters\n I Feel It All directed by Patrick Daughters\n The Water directed by Kevin Drew and starring Cillian Murphy\n Honey Honey directed by Anthony Seck\n\nLive Performances from The Reminder Tour 2007-2009\n Limit to Your Love \n Secret Heart (Ron Sexsmith cover) \n Help is On Its Way (Little River Band cover)\n The Water\n\nDisc two (CD)\nLook at What the Light Did Now (Solo) – 3:59 \nLimit To Your Love (Live) – 5:22 \nWhen I Was a Young Girl (Live) – 4:55 \nMy Moon My Man (Live at the Cameron House, 29 October 2008) – 3:41 \nSecret Heart (Live Ron Sexsmith cover) – 4:40 \nStrangers (Live at the Cameron House, 29 October 2008, The Kinks cover) – 2:34 \nSo Sorry (Live) – 3:46 \nWhere Can I Go Without You? (Live in Paris 2007, Peggy Lee cover) – 3:37\nIntuition (Chilly Gonzales solo) – 4:33\nThe Water (Chilly Gonzales solo) – 7:04 \nSea Lion Woman (Chilly Gonzales solo) – 3:35 \n1234 (Chilly Gonzales solo) – 6:39\nLook at What the Light Did Now (Duet with Little Wings) – 4:09\n\nTracks 9-12: Chilly Gonzales Original Score - Songs from The Reminder improvised and performed on solo piano.\n\nTotal running time: 58:43\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nLive video albums\n2010 live albums\n2010 video albums\nConcert films"
]
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[
"Hole (band)",
"Live performances",
"What live performances did they have?",
"Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage."
]
| C_e4799c7ab09e48849d2675f52a95608b_0 | Where did the incidents take place? | 2 | Where did the Hole band live performances take place? | Hole (band) | Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage. The band often destroyed equipment and guitars at the end of concerts, and Love would ramble between songs, bring fans onstage, and stage dive, sometimes returning with her clothes torn off of her or sustaining injuries. In a 1995 New York Magazine article, journalist John Homans addressed Love's frequent stage diving during Hole's concerts: The most shocking, frightening, and fascinating image in rock in the last few years is Courtney Love's stage dive... When some male performers do it, it looks like muscular, frat-boy fun, controlled aggression... For obvious reasons, the practice was strictly no-girls-allowed, but Love, typically, decided that she wanted to do it, too. Groped, ravaged, she compared the experience to being raped, wrote a song about it, and now does it just about every show. Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, who toured with Hole in 1995, recalled Love's erratic behavior onstage, saying "She would just go off and [the rest of the band] would just kind of stand there." The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: "I was completely high on dope; I cannot remember much about it." She later criticized her behavior during that time, saying: "I [saw] pictures of how I looked. It's disgusting. I'm ashamed. There's death and there's disease and there's misery and there's giving up your soul... The human spirit mixed with certain powders is not the person, it's [a] demonic presence." Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956). The style was later dubbed "kinderwhore" by the media, and consisted of babydoll dresses, slips and nightgowns, and smeared makeup. Kurt Loder likened her onstage attire to a "debauched ragdoll", and John Peel noted in his review of the band's 1994 Reading Festival performance, that "[Love], swaying wildly and with lipstick smeared on her face, hands and, I think, her back, as well as on the collar of her dress, [...] would have drawn whistles of astonishment in Bedlam. The band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage." Rolling Stone referred to the style as "a slightly more politically charged version of grunge; apathy turned into ruinous angst, which soon became high fashion's favorite pose." The band's set lists for live shows were often loose, featuring improvisational jams and rough performances of unreleased songs. By 1998, their live performances had become less aggressive and more restrained, although Love continued to bring fans onstage, and would often go into the crowd while singing. CANNOTANSWER | onstage. | Hole was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1989. It was founded by singer Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. It had several different bassists and drummers, the most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff (d. 1994) and Melissa Auf der Maur. Hole released a total of four studio albums between two incarnations spanning the 1990s and early-2010s and became one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history fronted by a woman.
Influenced by Los Angeles' punk rock scene, the band's debut album, Pretty on the Inside (1991), was produced by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, and attracted critical interest from British and American alternative press. Their second album, Live Through This, released 1994 by DGC Records, which featured less aggressive melodies and more restrained lyrical content, was widely acclaimed and reached platinum status within a year of its release. Their third album, Celebrity Skin (1998), marked a notable departure from their earlier punk influences, boasting a more commercially viable sound; the album sold around 2 million copies worldwide, and earned them significant critical acclaim.
They disbanded in 2002, and the members individually pursued other projects. Eight years later in 2010, Hole was reformed by Love with new members, despite Erlandson's claim that the reformation breached a mutual contract he had with her. The reformed band released the album Nobody's Daughter (2010), which had originally been conceived as Love's second solo album. In 2013, Love retired the Hole name, releasing new material and touring as a solo artist.
Hole received several accolades, including four Grammy Award nominations. They were also commercially successful, selling over three million records in the United States alone, and had a far-reaching influence on contemporary female artists. Music and feminist scholars have also recognized the band as the most high-profile musical group of the 1990s to discuss gender issues in their songs, due to Love's aggressive and violent lyrical content, which often addressed themes of body image, abuse, and sexual exploitation.
Background
Hole formed after Eric Erlandson responded to an advertisement placed by Courtney Love in The Recycler in the summer of 1989. The advertisement simply read: "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac." "She called me up and talked my ear off," said Erlandson. "We met at this coffee shop, and I saw her and I thought "Oh, God. Oh, no, What am I getting myself into?" She grabbed me and started talking, and she's like "I know you're the right one", and I hadn't even opened my mouth yet." In retrospect, Love said that Erlandson "had a Thurston [Moore] quality about him" and was an "intensely weird, good guitarist." In his 2012 book, Letters to Kurt, Erlandson revealed that he and Love had a sexual relationship during their first year together in the band, which Love also confirmed.
Love had been living a nomadic life prior, immersing herself in numerous music scenes and living in various cities along the West Coast. After unsuccessful attempts at forming bands in San Francisco (where she was briefly a member of Faith No More) and Portland, Love relocated to Los Angeles, where she found work as an actress in two Alex Cox films (Sid and Nancy and Straight to Hell). Erlandson, a Los Angeles native and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, was working as a royalties manager for Capitol Records at the time he met Love.
Love had originally wanted to name the band Sweet Baby Crystal Powered by God, but opted for the name Hole instead. During an interview on Later... with Jools Holland, Love claimed the name for the band was partly inspired by a quote from Euripides' Medea that read: "There is a hole that pierces right through me." She also cited a conversation with her mother as the primary inspiration for the band's name, in which her mother told her that she couldn't live her life "with a hole running through her." Love also acknowledged the "obvious" genital reference in the band's name, alluding to the vagina.
Career
1989 – 1991: Early work and indie success
In the months preceding the band's full formation, Love and Erlandson would write and record in the evenings at a rehearsal space in Hollywood, loaned to them by the Red Hot Chili Peppers; during the day, Love worked as a stripper to support the band and purchase amplifiers and their backline for live shows. Hole's first official rehearsal took place at Fortress Studios in Hollywood with Love, Erlandson and Lisa Roberts on bass. According to Erlandson, "these two girls show up dressed completely crazy, we set up and they said, "okay, just start playing something." I started playing and they started screaming at the top of their lungs for two or three hours. Crazy lyrics and screaming. I said to myself, "most people would just run away from this really fast. But I heard something in Courtney's voice and lyrics." Initially, the band had no percussion until Love met drummer Caroline Rue, and later recruited a third guitarist, Mike Geisbrecht. Hole's first show took place at Raji's, a small bar in Hollywood, in September 1989. By early 1990, Geisbrecht and Roberts had both left the band, which led to the recruitment of bassist Jill Emery.
Hole released their no wave-influenced debut single "Retard Girl" in April 1990, and followed it with "Dicknail" in 1991, released on Sympathy for the Record Industry and Sub Pop, respectively. According to disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer, Love would often approach him at a Denny's on Sunset Blvd. where he went for coffee in the mornings, and convinced him to give "Retard Girl" airtime on his station KROQ-FM.
In 1991, the band signed onto Caroline Records to release their debut album, and Love sought Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth to produce the record. She sent a letter, a Hello Kitty barrette, and copies of the band's early singles to her, mentioning that the band greatly admired Gordon's work and appreciated "... the production of the SST record" (either referring to Sonic Youth's album Sister or EVOL). Gordon, impressed by the band's singles, agreed to produce the album, with assistance from Gumball's Don Fleming. The album, titled Pretty on the Inside, was released in September 1991 to positive reception from underground critics, branded "loud, ugly and deliberately shocking," and earned a spot on Spins "20 Best Albums of the Year" list. It was also voted album of the year by New York's Village Voice and peaked at number 59 on the UK albums chart. The album spawned one single, "Teenage Whore", which entered the UK Indie Chart at number one, as well as the band's debut music video for the song "Garbadge Man".
Musically and lyrically, Pretty on the Inside was abrasive and drew on elements of punk rock and sludge metal, characterized by overt noise and feedback, chaotic guitar riffs, contrasting tempos, graphic lyrics, and a variation of Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screaming. In later years, Love referred to the album as "unlistenable", despite its critical accolades and eventual cult following. The band embarked on a European tour in the fall of 1991 supporting Mudhoney. They also toured intermittently in the United States between July and December 1991, playing primarily at hard rock and punk clubs, including CBGB and the Whisky A Go Go, where they opened for The Smashing Pumpkins. In a write-up by the Los Angeles Times on the band's final show of the tour, it was noted that Love smashed the headstock of her Rickenbacker guitar onstage.
In mid-1991, the band began to get the attention of the major labels. The first to court them was Maverick — a Warner subsidiary founded by Madonna and music executive Freddy DeMann. Love, however, was uninterested: "[They] would have me riding on elephants. They don't know what I am. For them, I'm a visual, period." She was also uneasy about sharing the spotlight on a label so heavily associated with one of the industry's most iconic female performers. In a 1992 interview with Vanity Fair, Love described Madonna's interest as "kind of like Dracula's interest in his latest victim."
1992 – 1999: Mainstream success
1992 – 1995: Live Through This
Love and Erlandson began writing new material for a second Hole album in 1992, in the midst of Love's pregnancy with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Love's desire to take the band in a more melodic and controlled rock format led bassist Emery to leave the band, and drummer Caroline Rue followed. In an advertisement to find a new bass player, Love wrote: "[I want] someone who can play ok, and stand in front of 30,000 people, take off her shirt and have 'fuck you' written on her tits. If you're not afraid of me and you're not afraid to fucking say it, send a letter. No more pussies, no more fake girls, I want a whore from hell." In April 1992, drummer Patty Schemel was recruited after an audition in Los Angeles, but the band spent the remainder of the year without a bassist; Love, Schemel, and Erlandson began to write material together in the interim.
Hole signed to Geffen's subsidiary DGC label with an eight-album contract in late 1992. In the spring of 1993, the band released their single "Beautiful Son", which was recorded in Seattle with producer Jack Endino as a fill-in bass player; Love also played bass on the single's b-side "20 Years In the Dakota", as well as on their contribution to the 1993 Germs tribute album A Small Circle of Friends. In the spring of 1993, Love and Erlandson recruited Janitor Joe bassist Kristen Pfaff, and the band toured the United Kingdom in the summer of that year (including the Phoenix Festival on July 16), mainly performing material from their upcoming major label debut, Live Through This, which they recorded at Triclops Studios in Marietta, Georgia in October 1993.
Live Through This was released on April 12, 1994, one week after Love's husband, Kurt Cobain, was found dead in his Seattle home. In the wake of Love's family tragedy, Live Through This was a critical success. It spawned several popular singles, including "Doll Parts", "Violet", and "Miss World", going multi-platinum and being hailed "Album of the Year" by Spin magazine. NME called the album "a personal but secretive thrash-pop opera of urban nihilism and passionate dumb thinks," and Rolling Stone said the album "may be the most potent blast of female insurgency ever committed to tape."
Despite the critical praise for Live Through This, rumors circulated insinuating that Cobain had actually written the majority of the album, though the band vehemently denies this. The band's drummer Patty Schemel, who had been friends with Cobain since the late 1980s, said: "There's that myth that Kurt [Cobain] wrote all our songs— it's not true. Courtney and Eric wrote Live Through This." The band did, however, state that Love convinced Cobain to provide backing vocals on "Asking for It" and "Softer, Softest" while visiting the studio, and music producers and engineers present during the recording sessions noted that Cobain seemed "completely unfamiliar" with the songs. According to Rolling Stone rock journalist Gavin Edwards, Love and Cobain had written songs together in the past, but opted to not release them because it was "a bit too redolent of John and Yoko."
In 1994, bassist Kristen Pfaff went into a drug treatment facility to treat her heroin addiction. Pfaff contemplated leaving the band for health reasons. In June 1994, she was found dead of a heroin overdose in the bathroom of her Seattle home, 2 months after the death of Cobain. The band put their impending tour on hold, pulling out of the upcoming Lollapalooza festival. Pfaff's life is, according to Pfaff's brother, the subject of an upcoming book by British authors Sara Hawys Roberts and Guy Mankowski, who he's collaborating with.
Recruiting bassist Melissa Auf der Maur over the summer, they commenced their world tour on August 26 at the Reading Festival in England, giving a performance that John Peel described as "teetering on the edge of chaos." The band embarked on a worldwide tour throughout late 1994 and for the duration of 1995, with appearances at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Saturday Night Live, the Big Day Out festival, MTV Unplugged, the 1995 Reading Festival, Lollapalooza 1995, and at the MTV Video Music Awards, where they were nominated for the "Doll Parts" music video.
Love's reckless stage presence during the tour became a media spectacle, drawing press from MTV and other outlets due to her unpredictable performances. While touring with Sonic Youth, Love got into a physical fight with Kathleen Hanna backstage at a 1995 Lollapalooza festival and punched her in the face. In an August 1995 band interview with Rolling Stone, drummer Patty Schemel formally came out as a lesbian, saying: "It's important. I'm not out there with that fucking pink flag or anything, but it's good for other people who live somewhere else in some small town who feel freaky about being gay to know that there's other people who are and that it's okay." In a retrospective interview, Schemel said:
Toward the end of the tour, the band released their first EP, titled Ask for It, in September 1995; it featured 1991 Peel session recordings, as well as covers of songs by Wipers and The Velvet Underground. The band performed its last show of the year on September 3, 1995 at the Molson Polar Beach Party in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada. The concert was a promotional event for the Molson Brewery, and also featured performances by Metallica, Veruca Salt, and Moist.
1996 – 1999: Celebrity Skin
In 1996, the band recorded and released a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman" for The Crow: City of Angels (1996) soundtrack, the band's first studio song to feature Melissa Auf der Maur on bass, and produced by Ric Ocasek. Hole released two retrospective albums during this time: firstly, their second EP, titled The First Session (1997), which consisted of a complete version of the band's first recording session at Rudy's Rising Star in Los Angeles in March 1990, some of which had been bootlegged widely years prior. It featured the group's first ever recorded track, "Turpentine", which had previously been unreleased to the public. The same year, the band released their first compilation album, My Body, The Hand Grenade (1997), featuring early singles, b-sides and recent live tracks.
In 1997, the band entered Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles after attempts to write new material in Miami, New Orleans, London, and New York. Recorded over a ten-month period, Hole's third studio album, Celebrity Skin (1998), adopted a complete new sound for the band, incorporating elements of power pop, and had Love drawing influences from Fleetwood Mac and My Bloody Valentine. According to Erlandson, Love was more focused on song-writing and singing than playing guitar on the record; Love stated that her aim for the album was to "deconstruct the California sound" in the L.A. tradition of bands like The Doors, The Beach Boys and The Byrds. In addition to Hole, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan entered the studio and helped perfect five of the album's twelve songs. Love, who felt she was in a creative slump, likened Corgan's presence in the studio to "a math teacher who wouldn't give you the answers but was making you solve the problems yourself."
Upon the album's release, Corgan told CNN that he should have "been given credit [for writing the entire album]." Erlandson responded to Corgan's statements in a Rolling Stone interview, commenting: "We were working on all the stuff that Courtney and I had already written. Billy really facilitated things, in a way ... I would bring in the music, Courtney would start coming up with lyrics right away, and [Billy] would help map it all out." Erlandson also stated: "Courtney writes all her own lyrics. Nobody else is writing those lyrics and nobody ever has." One journalist took note of the controversy when reviewing the album, stating: "Back in 1994, the acclaim for Live Through This was undercut by whispers that Love's late husband wrote the album. Combine those conspiracy theories with the unfounded but persistent rumor that Cobain was actually murdered, and it is no surprise that, in the song "Celebrity Skin", Love calls herself a walking study in demonology."
Although Schemel is listed as drummer in the liner notes of the record, her drumming does not actually appear on the record; she was replaced by session drummer Deen Castronovo, under pressure from producer Michael Beinhorn. After the replacement, Schemel quit the band. Though Love and Erlandson had authorized Schemel's replacement, both expressed regret in retrospect, and Love stated in 2011 that Beinhorn was notorious for replacing drummers on records, and referred to him as "a Nazi". After Schemel's departure, the band hired drummer Samantha Maloney for their upcoming tours and music videos.
Celebrity Skin was a critical success with strong sales and successful singles, including the title track, "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu", and "Awful". The album received largely positive reviews, with praise from music periodicals such as Rolling Stone, NME, and Blender, as well as a four-star review from the Los Angeles Times, calling it a "wild emotional ride" sure to be "one of the most dissected and debated collections of the year." The album peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200, and garnered the band its first and only number 1 single, "Celebrity Skin", which topped the Modern Rock Tracks. "Malibu", released December 29, 1998, was the album's second single; it charted at number 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks.
1999 – 2002: Final tour and disbandment
In the winter of 1998–99, Hole went on tour to promote Celebrity Skin, joining Marilyn Manson, who was promoting his album, Mechanical Animals (1998) on the "Beautiful Monsters Tour". The tour turned into a publicity magnet, and Hole dropped out of the tour nine dates in, due to both the majority of the fans being Manson's, and the 50/50 financial arrangement between the groups, with Hole's production costs being disproportionately less than Manson's. Manson and Love often mocked one another onstage, and Love attacked Manson's stage antics, which included tearing up a Bible during performances: "You know, whenever somebody rips up the Bible in front of 40,000 people, I think it's a big deal," she said during a 1999 interview. Hole officially announced that they would be dropping out of the tour after a poorly received concert at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon, which ended with Manson fans booing the band.
The band continued to book shows and headline festivals after dropping off Manson's tour, and according to Auf der Maur, it was a "daily event" for Love to invite audience members onstage to sing with her for the last song at nearly every concert performance. On June 17, 1999 during Hole's set at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, a 19-year-old girl died after being crushed by the mosh pit behind the mixing board. Hole played its final show at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver on July 14, 1999.
In October 1999, Auf der Maur quit Hole and went on to become a touring bassist for The Smashing Pumpkins. Samantha Maloney also quit a few months later. The band's final release was a single for the movie Any Given Sunday (1999). "Be a Man", released in March 2000, was an outtake from the Celebrity Skin sessions. In April 2002, Love called The Howard Stern Show and said she had written nine songs with songwriter Linda Perry, but less than a month later Love and Erlandson officially disbanded Hole via a message posted on the band's website. After the split, the four musicians each took on projects of their own: Erlandson continued to work as a producer and session musician, eventually forming the experimental group RRIICCEE with controversial artist Vincent Gallo. Love began a solo career, releasing her debut, America's Sweetheart, in 2004, featuring several of the songs written with Perry. Melissa Auf der Maur also embarked on a solo career, and released her self-titled debut album in 2004, which included Erlandson performing lead guitar on the track, "Would If I Could." Her second album, Out of Our Minds, was released in March 2010. Hole's body of work from its inception to its first disbandment includes thirteen singles, three LPs, three EPs, and one compilation album.
2009 – 2013: Reformation and name dispute
On June 17, 2009, seven years after Hole's disbandment, NME reported that Love was re-forming the band with guitarist Micko Larkin for an upcoming album, on which Melissa Auf der Maur would be providing backup vocals. Days later, Melissa Auf der Maur stated in an interview that she was unaware of any reunion, but said Love had asked her to contribute harmonies to an upcoming album. In response, Eric Erlandson stated in an interview with Spin magazine that a reunion could not take place without his involvement, citing that he and Love "have a contract."
Hole launched a new website and various social media pages on January 1, 2010, and performed on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in February. On February 17, 2010 they played a full set at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, with support from Little Fish. On March 16, the first Hole single in ten years was released, titled "Skinny Little Bitch"; it peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Rock Chart, and at No. 21 on the Alternative Singles chart. The track also received airplay on Active rock and alternative radio.
Nobody's Daughter was released on April 26, 2010 worldwide on Mercury Records, and was received moderately well by music critics. Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars, but noted "[while Love] was an absolute monster vocalist in the nineties, the greatest era ever for rock singers ... She doesn't have that power in her lungs anymore – barely a trace. But at least she remembers, and that means something in itself." The magazine also referred to the album as "not a true success", but a "noble effort". Love's voice, which had become noticeably raspier, was compared to the likes of Bob Dylan. NME gave the album a 6/10 rating, and Robert Christgau rated it an "A-", saying, "Thing is, I can use some new punk rage in my life, and unless you're a fan of Goldman Sachs and BP Petroleum, so can you. What's more, better it come from a 45-year-old woman who knows how to throw her weight around than from the zitty newbies and tattooed road dogs who churn most of it out these days. I know—for her, BP Petroleum is just something else to pretend about. But the emotion fueling her pretense is cathartic nevertheless." In support of the release, Hole toured extensively between 2010 and 2012 throughout North America and Europe, as well as performing in Russia and Brazil.
On March 28, 2011, Love, Erlandson, Patty Schemel and Auf der Maur appeared at the New York screening of Schemel's documentary Hit So Hard: The Life and Near-Death Story of Patty Schemel at the Museum of Modern Art. The appearance was the first time in thirteen years that all four members appeared together in public. Schemel had expressed a desire to record with Love, Erlandson and Auf der Maur stating "nothing has been discussed, but I have a feeling." After the screening, the four took part in a Q&A session where Love stated: "For me, as much as I love playing with Patty – and I would play with her in five seconds again, and everyone onstage – if it's not moving forward, I don't wanna do it. That's just my thing. There's rumblings; there's always bloody rumblings. But if it's not miserable and it's going forward and I'm happy with it ... that's all I have to say about that question."
In May 2011, a music video for "Samantha" was shot in Istanbul, although it remained officially unreleased. In September 2011, Scott Lipps joined the band, replacing drummer Stu Fisher. In April 2012, Love, Erlandson, Auf der Maur and Schemel reunited at the Public Assembly in New York for a two-song set, including "Miss World" and the Wipers' "Over the Edge," at an after-party for the Hit So Hard documentary. The performance marked the first time the four members performed together since 1998 after Schemel's departure and the 2002 breakup of the band.
On December 29, 2012, Love performed a solo acoustic set in New York City, and in January 2013, performed at the Sundance Film Festival under her own name. She booked further performances across North America as a solo act, with Larkin, bassist Shawn Dailey, and Lipps as her backing band.
2014 – 2016: Second disbandment
On December 28, 2013, Love posted two photos of herself with Erlandson on Facebook and Twitter, with a caption reading: "And this just happened ... 2014 going to be a very interesting year." Love also tagged Melissa Auf der Maur as well as Hole's former manager, Peter Mensch, in the post, alluding to a reconciliation with Erlandson and possible reunion in 2014.
On April 2, 2014, Rolling Stone reported that the Celebrity Skin line-up of the band had reunited (with Patty Schemel in lieu of Samantha Maloney). Rolling Stone erroneously reported Love's upcoming solo single, "Wedding Day" to be a product of this reunion. Shortly after, Love curtailed her statement, saying: "We may have made out but there is no talk of marriage. It's very frail, nothing might happen, and now the band are all flipping out on me." On May 1, in an interview with Pitchfork, Love discussed the possibility of a reunion, and also stated it had been "a mistake" releasing Nobody's Daughter as a Hole record in 2010. "Eric was right—I kind of cheapened the name, even though I'm legally allowed to use it. I should save "Hole" for the lineup everybody wants to see and had the balls to put Nobody's Daughter under my own name." Love further discussed the possibility of reuniting the band, saying:
No one's been dormant. Patty teaches drumming and drums in three indie bands. Melissa has her metal-nerd thing going on—her dream is to play Castle Donington with Dokken. Eric hasn't flipped—I jammed with him, he's still doing his Thurston [Moore]-crazy tunings, still corresponding with Kevin Shields. We all get along great. There are bands who reunite and hate each others' guts.
2019 – present: Possible reformation and attempted reunions
In October 2019, Hole rehearsed at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in Los Angeles. Nothing transpired after the event, since Love had relocated to the United Kingdom afterwards. In March 2020, Love and Auf Der Maur planned a performance at the "Bans Off My Body" event, which was eventually canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Artistry
Composition
Initially, Hole drew inspiration from no wave and experimental bands, which is evident in their earliest recordings, specifically "Retard Girl", but frontwoman Love also drew from a variety of influences. Love cited post-punk group Echo & the Bunnymen and classic rock such as Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac. The band's first album, Pretty on the Inside, was heavily influenced by noise and punk rock, using discordant melodies, distortion, and feedback, with Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screams. Love described the band's earliest songwriting as being based on "really crazy Sonic Youth tunings." Nonetheless, Love claimed to have aimed for a pop sound early on: "There's a part of me that wants to have a grindcore band and another that wants to have a Raspberries-type pop band," she told Flipside magazine in 1991. Both Love and Erlandson were fans of the notorious LA punk band the Germs. In a 1996 interview for a Germs tribute documentary, Erlandson said: "I think every band is based on one song, and our band was based on "Forming"... Courtney brought it into rehearsal, and she knew, like, three chords and it was the only punk rock song we could play."
The band's second album Live Through This, captured a less abrasive sound, while maintaining the group's original punk roots. "I want this record to be shocking to the people who don't think we have a soft edge, and at the same time, [to know] that we haven't lost our very, very hard edge," Love told VH1 in 1994. The group's third album, Celebrity Skin, incorporated power pop into their hard rock sound, and was heavily inspired by California bands; Love was also influenced by Fleetwood Mac and My Bloody Valentine while writing the album. The group's 2010 release, Nobody's Daughter, featured a more folk rock-oriented sound, utilizing acoustic guitar and softer melodies.
The group's chord progressions by and large drew on elements of punk music, which Love described as "grungey", although not necessarily grunge. Critics described their song style as "deceptively wispy and strummy," combined with "gunshot guitar choruses." Although the group's sound changed over the course of their career, the dynamic between beauty and ugliness has often been noted, particularly due to the layering of harsh and abrasive riffs which often bury more sophisticated arrangements.
Lyrical content
In a 1991 interview, Love stated that lyrics were "the most important" element of songwriting for her. Her lyrics explored a variety of themes throughout Hole's career, including body image, rape, child abuse, addiction, celebrity, suicide, elitism, and inferiority complex; all of which were addressed mainly from a female, and often feminist standpoint. This underlying feminism in Love's lyrics often led the public and critics to mistakenly associate her with the riot grrrl movement, of which Love was highly critical.
In a 1991 interview with Everett True, Love said: "I try to place [beautiful imagery] next to fucked up imagery, because that's how I view things ... I sometimes feel that no one's taken the time to write about certain things in rock, that there's a certain female point of view that's never been given space." Charles Cross has referred to her lyrics on Live Through This as being "true extensions of her diary," and she has admitted that a great deal of the lyrics from Pretty on the Inside were excisions from her journals.
Throughout Hole's career, Love's lyrics were often influenced by literature: The title of the band's second album Live Through This, for example (as well as lyrics from the track "Asking for It") is directly drawn from Gone With the Wind; and the group's single "Celebrity Skin" (the title track to their 1998 album), contains quotes from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Dante Rossetti's poem A Superscription. Love had had a minor background in literature, having briefly studied English literature in her early twenties.
Performances
Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage. The band often destroyed equipment and guitars at the end of concerts, and Love would ramble between songs, bring fans onstage, and stage dive, sometimes returning with her clothes torn off of her or sustaining injuries. In a 1995 New York Magazine article, journalist John Homans addressed Love's frequent stage diving during Hole's concerts:
The most shocking, frightening, and fascinating image in rock in the last few years is Courtney Love's stage dive ... When some male performers do it, it looks like muscular, frat-boy fun, controlled aggression ... For obvious reasons, the practice was strictly no-girls-allowed, but Love, typically, decided that she wanted to do it, too. Groped, ravaged, she compared the experience to being raped, wrote a song about it, and now does it just about every show.
Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, who toured with Hole in 1995, recalled Love's erratic behavior onstage, saying "She would just go off and [the rest of the band] would just kind of stand there." The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: "I was completely high on dope; I cannot remember much about it." She later criticized her behavior during that time, saying: "I [saw] pictures of how I looked. It's disgusting. I'm ashamed. There's death and there's disease and there's misery and there's giving up your soul ... The human spirit mixed with certain powders is not the person, it's [a] demonic presence."
Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956). The style was later dubbed "kinderwhore" by the media, and consisted of babydoll dresses, slips and nightgowns, and smeared makeup. Kurt Loder likened her onstage attire to a "debauched ragdoll", and John Peel noted in his review of the band's 1994 Reading Festival performance, that "[Love], swaying wildly and with lipstick smeared on her face, hands and, I think, her back, as well as on the collar of her dress, ... would have drawn whistles of astonishment in Bedlam. The band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage." Rolling Stone referred to the style as "a slightly more politically charged version of grunge; apathy turned into ruinous angst, which soon became high fashion's favorite pose."
The band's set lists for live shows were often loose, featuring improvisational jams and rough performances of unreleased songs. By 1998, their live performances had become less aggressive and more restrained, although Love continued to bring fans onstage, and would often go into the crowd while singing.
Legacy
Hole was one of the most commercially successful female-fronted alternative rock bands in history, selling over 3 million records in the United States between 1991 and 2010. In spite of Love's often polarizing reputation in the media, Hole received consistent critical praise for their output, and was often noted for the predominant feminist commentary found in Love's lyrics, which scholars have credited as "articulating a third-wave feminist consciousness". Love's subversive onstage persona and public image coincided with the band's songs, which expressed "pain, sorrow, and anger, but [an] underlying message of survival, particularly survival in the face of overwhelming circumstances." Music journalist Maria Raha expressed a similar sentiment in regard to the band's significance to third-wave feminism, stating, "Whether you love Courtney [Love] or hate her, Hole was the highest-profile female-fronted band of the '90s to openly and directly sing about feminism."
While Rolling Stone compared the effect of Love's marriage to Cobain on the band to that of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, they noted that "Love's confrontational stage presence, as well as her gut-wrenching vocals and powerful punk-pop songcraft, made her an alternative-rock star in her own right." Author Nick Wise made a similar comparison in discussion of the band's public image, stating, "Not since Yoko Ono's marriage to John Lennon has a woman's personal life and exploits within the rock arena been so analyzed and dissected." The band has been cited as a major influence on several contemporary artists, including indie singer-songwriter Scout Niblett, Brody Dalle (of The Distillers and Spinnerette), Sky Ferreira, Lana Del Rey, Tove Lo, Tegan and Sara, and the British rock band Nine Black Alps. The band ranked at number 77 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists list.
Materials loss
In 2008 a fire swept through Universal Studios Hollywood destroying buildings belonging to Universal Music Group. It was confirmed, in 2019, that the entire Hole back catalogue, along with hundreds of other artists' music, was completely lost, meaning reissues and remasters are now unlikely. Courtney Love and the band were one of the artists suing UMG for the loss; however, on August 16, 2019, the band was removed from that lawsuit as it was amended "based on UMG's representations that none of Hole's original masters were destroyed (subject to confirmation)".
Members
Timeline
Discography
Pretty on the Inside (1991)
Live Through This (1994)
Celebrity Skin (1998)
Nobody's Daughter (2010)
Accolades
{| class="wikitable unsortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Nominated work(s)
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=4|Grammy Awards
| rowspan=3|1999
| Best Rock Album
| Celebrity Skin
|
|rowspan=3 style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Best Rock Song
| rowspan=2|"Celebrity Skin"
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
| 2000
| "Malibu"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=2|MTV Video Music Awards
| 1995
| Best Alternative Video
| "Doll Parts"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 1999
| Best Cinematography
| "Malibu"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=3|NME Awards
| rowspan=3|1999
| Best Band
| Hole
|
|rowspan=3|
|-
| Best Album
| Celebrity Skin
|
|-
| Best Single
| "Celebrity Skin"
|
|-
! scope="row"|Spin Readers' Poll Awards
| 1994
| Album of the Year
| Live Through This
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
References
Sources
External links
Hole at Billboard
1989 establishments in California
2002 disestablishments in California
2009 establishments in California
2012 disestablishments in California
Alternative rock groups from California
American noise rock music groups
Punk rock groups from California
Musical groups established in 1989
Musical groups disestablished in 2002
Musical groups reestablished in 2009
Musical groups disestablished in 2012
Sympathy for the Record Industry artists
Caroline Records artists
DGC Records artists
Geffen Records artists
Sub Pop artists
Mercury Records artists
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical quartets
Feminist musicians
Third-wave feminism
Grunge musical groups
Courtney Love
Articles which contain graphical timelines
20th-century American guitarists
City Slang artists
Female-fronted musical groups | true | [
"Mohawk Airlines Flight 121 was a scheduled passenger flight from Rochester-Monroe Airport in Rochester, New York to Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. On July 2, 1963, the aircraft operating the flight, a Martin 4-0-4 with a total of 15,970 operational hours, crashed during takeoff. The accident killed 7 people (2 crewmen and 5 passengers) and injured 36.\n\nFlight 121 attempted to take off on Rochester's runway 28 into a heavy thunderstorm. The co-pilot was unable to maintain control of the aircraft, and it fell to earth two minutes after takeoff. The plane struck the ground left wing-first. It then cartwheeled wing-over-wing and caught fire.\n\nThe co-pilot, as pilot flying, had attempted to keep the plane aloft, keeping a tight grip on the controls even after recovery was impossible. The captain managed to assume control and managed to guide the plane down to save most of the passengers.\n\nThe NTSB found the cause of the accident to be the pilot's decision to take off in bad weather, and cited the weather itself as a contributing factor. The captain had initially refused to take off, but was told he would be demoted if he did not commence the flight, as he had twice previously refused to take off in bad weather.\n\nReferences\n \nSummary by National Transportation Safety Board\n420 F.2d 115 136 U.S.App.D.C. 273 Joan S. NEFF, Administratrix of the Estate of John W. Neff v.UNITED STATES of America, Appellant. No. 22262. United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.\n\nExternal links\n 1963 Mohawk Airlines Crash at Monroe County Airport Professional Firefighters\n\nAirliner accidents and incidents caused by weather\nAccidents and incidents involving the Martin 4-0-4\nAirliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error\nAviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1963\n1963 in New York (state)\nMohawk Airlines accidents and incidents\nAirliner accidents and incidents in New York (state)\nHistory of Rochester, New York\n1963 meteorology\nJuly 1963 events in the United States",
"The Charlbury Riverside Festival is a regular open-air music festival held in the Cotswold town of Charlbury, Oxfordshire, England on an area of watermeadow which forms an 'island' in the River Evenlode. First held in 1996 it is the largest free festival of its type in Oxfordshire. As well as live music there are stands selling a variety of merchandise, and a beer tent. The festival did not take place in 2006 due to incidents involving the police at the previous year's event, but the festival made a return in 2007.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nCharlbury Riverside Festival website\n\nMusic festivals in Oxfordshire\nCharlbury"
]
|
[
"Hole (band)",
"Live performances",
"What live performances did they have?",
"Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage.",
"Where did the incidents take place?",
"onstage."
]
| C_e4799c7ab09e48849d2675f52a95608b_0 | What were some of the notable performances? | 3 | What were some of the Hole band's notable live performances? | Hole (band) | Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage. The band often destroyed equipment and guitars at the end of concerts, and Love would ramble between songs, bring fans onstage, and stage dive, sometimes returning with her clothes torn off of her or sustaining injuries. In a 1995 New York Magazine article, journalist John Homans addressed Love's frequent stage diving during Hole's concerts: The most shocking, frightening, and fascinating image in rock in the last few years is Courtney Love's stage dive... When some male performers do it, it looks like muscular, frat-boy fun, controlled aggression... For obvious reasons, the practice was strictly no-girls-allowed, but Love, typically, decided that she wanted to do it, too. Groped, ravaged, she compared the experience to being raped, wrote a song about it, and now does it just about every show. Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, who toured with Hole in 1995, recalled Love's erratic behavior onstage, saying "She would just go off and [the rest of the band] would just kind of stand there." The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: "I was completely high on dope; I cannot remember much about it." She later criticized her behavior during that time, saying: "I [saw] pictures of how I looked. It's disgusting. I'm ashamed. There's death and there's disease and there's misery and there's giving up your soul... The human spirit mixed with certain powders is not the person, it's [a] demonic presence." Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956). The style was later dubbed "kinderwhore" by the media, and consisted of babydoll dresses, slips and nightgowns, and smeared makeup. Kurt Loder likened her onstage attire to a "debauched ragdoll", and John Peel noted in his review of the band's 1994 Reading Festival performance, that "[Love], swaying wildly and with lipstick smeared on her face, hands and, I think, her back, as well as on the collar of her dress, [...] would have drawn whistles of astonishment in Bedlam. The band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage." Rolling Stone referred to the style as "a slightly more politically charged version of grunge; apathy turned into ruinous angst, which soon became high fashion's favorite pose." The band's set lists for live shows were often loose, featuring improvisational jams and rough performances of unreleased songs. By 1998, their live performances had become less aggressive and more restrained, although Love continued to bring fans onstage, and would often go into the crowd while singing. CANNOTANSWER | Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956). | Hole was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1989. It was founded by singer Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. It had several different bassists and drummers, the most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff (d. 1994) and Melissa Auf der Maur. Hole released a total of four studio albums between two incarnations spanning the 1990s and early-2010s and became one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history fronted by a woman.
Influenced by Los Angeles' punk rock scene, the band's debut album, Pretty on the Inside (1991), was produced by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, and attracted critical interest from British and American alternative press. Their second album, Live Through This, released 1994 by DGC Records, which featured less aggressive melodies and more restrained lyrical content, was widely acclaimed and reached platinum status within a year of its release. Their third album, Celebrity Skin (1998), marked a notable departure from their earlier punk influences, boasting a more commercially viable sound; the album sold around 2 million copies worldwide, and earned them significant critical acclaim.
They disbanded in 2002, and the members individually pursued other projects. Eight years later in 2010, Hole was reformed by Love with new members, despite Erlandson's claim that the reformation breached a mutual contract he had with her. The reformed band released the album Nobody's Daughter (2010), which had originally been conceived as Love's second solo album. In 2013, Love retired the Hole name, releasing new material and touring as a solo artist.
Hole received several accolades, including four Grammy Award nominations. They were also commercially successful, selling over three million records in the United States alone, and had a far-reaching influence on contemporary female artists. Music and feminist scholars have also recognized the band as the most high-profile musical group of the 1990s to discuss gender issues in their songs, due to Love's aggressive and violent lyrical content, which often addressed themes of body image, abuse, and sexual exploitation.
Background
Hole formed after Eric Erlandson responded to an advertisement placed by Courtney Love in The Recycler in the summer of 1989. The advertisement simply read: "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac." "She called me up and talked my ear off," said Erlandson. "We met at this coffee shop, and I saw her and I thought "Oh, God. Oh, no, What am I getting myself into?" She grabbed me and started talking, and she's like "I know you're the right one", and I hadn't even opened my mouth yet." In retrospect, Love said that Erlandson "had a Thurston [Moore] quality about him" and was an "intensely weird, good guitarist." In his 2012 book, Letters to Kurt, Erlandson revealed that he and Love had a sexual relationship during their first year together in the band, which Love also confirmed.
Love had been living a nomadic life prior, immersing herself in numerous music scenes and living in various cities along the West Coast. After unsuccessful attempts at forming bands in San Francisco (where she was briefly a member of Faith No More) and Portland, Love relocated to Los Angeles, where she found work as an actress in two Alex Cox films (Sid and Nancy and Straight to Hell). Erlandson, a Los Angeles native and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, was working as a royalties manager for Capitol Records at the time he met Love.
Love had originally wanted to name the band Sweet Baby Crystal Powered by God, but opted for the name Hole instead. During an interview on Later... with Jools Holland, Love claimed the name for the band was partly inspired by a quote from Euripides' Medea that read: "There is a hole that pierces right through me." She also cited a conversation with her mother as the primary inspiration for the band's name, in which her mother told her that she couldn't live her life "with a hole running through her." Love also acknowledged the "obvious" genital reference in the band's name, alluding to the vagina.
Career
1989 – 1991: Early work and indie success
In the months preceding the band's full formation, Love and Erlandson would write and record in the evenings at a rehearsal space in Hollywood, loaned to them by the Red Hot Chili Peppers; during the day, Love worked as a stripper to support the band and purchase amplifiers and their backline for live shows. Hole's first official rehearsal took place at Fortress Studios in Hollywood with Love, Erlandson and Lisa Roberts on bass. According to Erlandson, "these two girls show up dressed completely crazy, we set up and they said, "okay, just start playing something." I started playing and they started screaming at the top of their lungs for two or three hours. Crazy lyrics and screaming. I said to myself, "most people would just run away from this really fast. But I heard something in Courtney's voice and lyrics." Initially, the band had no percussion until Love met drummer Caroline Rue, and later recruited a third guitarist, Mike Geisbrecht. Hole's first show took place at Raji's, a small bar in Hollywood, in September 1989. By early 1990, Geisbrecht and Roberts had both left the band, which led to the recruitment of bassist Jill Emery.
Hole released their no wave-influenced debut single "Retard Girl" in April 1990, and followed it with "Dicknail" in 1991, released on Sympathy for the Record Industry and Sub Pop, respectively. According to disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer, Love would often approach him at a Denny's on Sunset Blvd. where he went for coffee in the mornings, and convinced him to give "Retard Girl" airtime on his station KROQ-FM.
In 1991, the band signed onto Caroline Records to release their debut album, and Love sought Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth to produce the record. She sent a letter, a Hello Kitty barrette, and copies of the band's early singles to her, mentioning that the band greatly admired Gordon's work and appreciated "... the production of the SST record" (either referring to Sonic Youth's album Sister or EVOL). Gordon, impressed by the band's singles, agreed to produce the album, with assistance from Gumball's Don Fleming. The album, titled Pretty on the Inside, was released in September 1991 to positive reception from underground critics, branded "loud, ugly and deliberately shocking," and earned a spot on Spins "20 Best Albums of the Year" list. It was also voted album of the year by New York's Village Voice and peaked at number 59 on the UK albums chart. The album spawned one single, "Teenage Whore", which entered the UK Indie Chart at number one, as well as the band's debut music video for the song "Garbadge Man".
Musically and lyrically, Pretty on the Inside was abrasive and drew on elements of punk rock and sludge metal, characterized by overt noise and feedback, chaotic guitar riffs, contrasting tempos, graphic lyrics, and a variation of Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screaming. In later years, Love referred to the album as "unlistenable", despite its critical accolades and eventual cult following. The band embarked on a European tour in the fall of 1991 supporting Mudhoney. They also toured intermittently in the United States between July and December 1991, playing primarily at hard rock and punk clubs, including CBGB and the Whisky A Go Go, where they opened for The Smashing Pumpkins. In a write-up by the Los Angeles Times on the band's final show of the tour, it was noted that Love smashed the headstock of her Rickenbacker guitar onstage.
In mid-1991, the band began to get the attention of the major labels. The first to court them was Maverick — a Warner subsidiary founded by Madonna and music executive Freddy DeMann. Love, however, was uninterested: "[They] would have me riding on elephants. They don't know what I am. For them, I'm a visual, period." She was also uneasy about sharing the spotlight on a label so heavily associated with one of the industry's most iconic female performers. In a 1992 interview with Vanity Fair, Love described Madonna's interest as "kind of like Dracula's interest in his latest victim."
1992 – 1999: Mainstream success
1992 – 1995: Live Through This
Love and Erlandson began writing new material for a second Hole album in 1992, in the midst of Love's pregnancy with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Love's desire to take the band in a more melodic and controlled rock format led bassist Emery to leave the band, and drummer Caroline Rue followed. In an advertisement to find a new bass player, Love wrote: "[I want] someone who can play ok, and stand in front of 30,000 people, take off her shirt and have 'fuck you' written on her tits. If you're not afraid of me and you're not afraid to fucking say it, send a letter. No more pussies, no more fake girls, I want a whore from hell." In April 1992, drummer Patty Schemel was recruited after an audition in Los Angeles, but the band spent the remainder of the year without a bassist; Love, Schemel, and Erlandson began to write material together in the interim.
Hole signed to Geffen's subsidiary DGC label with an eight-album contract in late 1992. In the spring of 1993, the band released their single "Beautiful Son", which was recorded in Seattle with producer Jack Endino as a fill-in bass player; Love also played bass on the single's b-side "20 Years In the Dakota", as well as on their contribution to the 1993 Germs tribute album A Small Circle of Friends. In the spring of 1993, Love and Erlandson recruited Janitor Joe bassist Kristen Pfaff, and the band toured the United Kingdom in the summer of that year (including the Phoenix Festival on July 16), mainly performing material from their upcoming major label debut, Live Through This, which they recorded at Triclops Studios in Marietta, Georgia in October 1993.
Live Through This was released on April 12, 1994, one week after Love's husband, Kurt Cobain, was found dead in his Seattle home. In the wake of Love's family tragedy, Live Through This was a critical success. It spawned several popular singles, including "Doll Parts", "Violet", and "Miss World", going multi-platinum and being hailed "Album of the Year" by Spin magazine. NME called the album "a personal but secretive thrash-pop opera of urban nihilism and passionate dumb thinks," and Rolling Stone said the album "may be the most potent blast of female insurgency ever committed to tape."
Despite the critical praise for Live Through This, rumors circulated insinuating that Cobain had actually written the majority of the album, though the band vehemently denies this. The band's drummer Patty Schemel, who had been friends with Cobain since the late 1980s, said: "There's that myth that Kurt [Cobain] wrote all our songs— it's not true. Courtney and Eric wrote Live Through This." The band did, however, state that Love convinced Cobain to provide backing vocals on "Asking for It" and "Softer, Softest" while visiting the studio, and music producers and engineers present during the recording sessions noted that Cobain seemed "completely unfamiliar" with the songs. According to Rolling Stone rock journalist Gavin Edwards, Love and Cobain had written songs together in the past, but opted to not release them because it was "a bit too redolent of John and Yoko."
In 1994, bassist Kristen Pfaff went into a drug treatment facility to treat her heroin addiction. Pfaff contemplated leaving the band for health reasons. In June 1994, she was found dead of a heroin overdose in the bathroom of her Seattle home, 2 months after the death of Cobain. The band put their impending tour on hold, pulling out of the upcoming Lollapalooza festival. Pfaff's life is, according to Pfaff's brother, the subject of an upcoming book by British authors Sara Hawys Roberts and Guy Mankowski, who he's collaborating with.
Recruiting bassist Melissa Auf der Maur over the summer, they commenced their world tour on August 26 at the Reading Festival in England, giving a performance that John Peel described as "teetering on the edge of chaos." The band embarked on a worldwide tour throughout late 1994 and for the duration of 1995, with appearances at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Saturday Night Live, the Big Day Out festival, MTV Unplugged, the 1995 Reading Festival, Lollapalooza 1995, and at the MTV Video Music Awards, where they were nominated for the "Doll Parts" music video.
Love's reckless stage presence during the tour became a media spectacle, drawing press from MTV and other outlets due to her unpredictable performances. While touring with Sonic Youth, Love got into a physical fight with Kathleen Hanna backstage at a 1995 Lollapalooza festival and punched her in the face. In an August 1995 band interview with Rolling Stone, drummer Patty Schemel formally came out as a lesbian, saying: "It's important. I'm not out there with that fucking pink flag or anything, but it's good for other people who live somewhere else in some small town who feel freaky about being gay to know that there's other people who are and that it's okay." In a retrospective interview, Schemel said:
Toward the end of the tour, the band released their first EP, titled Ask for It, in September 1995; it featured 1991 Peel session recordings, as well as covers of songs by Wipers and The Velvet Underground. The band performed its last show of the year on September 3, 1995 at the Molson Polar Beach Party in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada. The concert was a promotional event for the Molson Brewery, and also featured performances by Metallica, Veruca Salt, and Moist.
1996 – 1999: Celebrity Skin
In 1996, the band recorded and released a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman" for The Crow: City of Angels (1996) soundtrack, the band's first studio song to feature Melissa Auf der Maur on bass, and produced by Ric Ocasek. Hole released two retrospective albums during this time: firstly, their second EP, titled The First Session (1997), which consisted of a complete version of the band's first recording session at Rudy's Rising Star in Los Angeles in March 1990, some of which had been bootlegged widely years prior. It featured the group's first ever recorded track, "Turpentine", which had previously been unreleased to the public. The same year, the band released their first compilation album, My Body, The Hand Grenade (1997), featuring early singles, b-sides and recent live tracks.
In 1997, the band entered Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles after attempts to write new material in Miami, New Orleans, London, and New York. Recorded over a ten-month period, Hole's third studio album, Celebrity Skin (1998), adopted a complete new sound for the band, incorporating elements of power pop, and had Love drawing influences from Fleetwood Mac and My Bloody Valentine. According to Erlandson, Love was more focused on song-writing and singing than playing guitar on the record; Love stated that her aim for the album was to "deconstruct the California sound" in the L.A. tradition of bands like The Doors, The Beach Boys and The Byrds. In addition to Hole, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan entered the studio and helped perfect five of the album's twelve songs. Love, who felt she was in a creative slump, likened Corgan's presence in the studio to "a math teacher who wouldn't give you the answers but was making you solve the problems yourself."
Upon the album's release, Corgan told CNN that he should have "been given credit [for writing the entire album]." Erlandson responded to Corgan's statements in a Rolling Stone interview, commenting: "We were working on all the stuff that Courtney and I had already written. Billy really facilitated things, in a way ... I would bring in the music, Courtney would start coming up with lyrics right away, and [Billy] would help map it all out." Erlandson also stated: "Courtney writes all her own lyrics. Nobody else is writing those lyrics and nobody ever has." One journalist took note of the controversy when reviewing the album, stating: "Back in 1994, the acclaim for Live Through This was undercut by whispers that Love's late husband wrote the album. Combine those conspiracy theories with the unfounded but persistent rumor that Cobain was actually murdered, and it is no surprise that, in the song "Celebrity Skin", Love calls herself a walking study in demonology."
Although Schemel is listed as drummer in the liner notes of the record, her drumming does not actually appear on the record; she was replaced by session drummer Deen Castronovo, under pressure from producer Michael Beinhorn. After the replacement, Schemel quit the band. Though Love and Erlandson had authorized Schemel's replacement, both expressed regret in retrospect, and Love stated in 2011 that Beinhorn was notorious for replacing drummers on records, and referred to him as "a Nazi". After Schemel's departure, the band hired drummer Samantha Maloney for their upcoming tours and music videos.
Celebrity Skin was a critical success with strong sales and successful singles, including the title track, "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu", and "Awful". The album received largely positive reviews, with praise from music periodicals such as Rolling Stone, NME, and Blender, as well as a four-star review from the Los Angeles Times, calling it a "wild emotional ride" sure to be "one of the most dissected and debated collections of the year." The album peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200, and garnered the band its first and only number 1 single, "Celebrity Skin", which topped the Modern Rock Tracks. "Malibu", released December 29, 1998, was the album's second single; it charted at number 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks.
1999 – 2002: Final tour and disbandment
In the winter of 1998–99, Hole went on tour to promote Celebrity Skin, joining Marilyn Manson, who was promoting his album, Mechanical Animals (1998) on the "Beautiful Monsters Tour". The tour turned into a publicity magnet, and Hole dropped out of the tour nine dates in, due to both the majority of the fans being Manson's, and the 50/50 financial arrangement between the groups, with Hole's production costs being disproportionately less than Manson's. Manson and Love often mocked one another onstage, and Love attacked Manson's stage antics, which included tearing up a Bible during performances: "You know, whenever somebody rips up the Bible in front of 40,000 people, I think it's a big deal," she said during a 1999 interview. Hole officially announced that they would be dropping out of the tour after a poorly received concert at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon, which ended with Manson fans booing the band.
The band continued to book shows and headline festivals after dropping off Manson's tour, and according to Auf der Maur, it was a "daily event" for Love to invite audience members onstage to sing with her for the last song at nearly every concert performance. On June 17, 1999 during Hole's set at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, a 19-year-old girl died after being crushed by the mosh pit behind the mixing board. Hole played its final show at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver on July 14, 1999.
In October 1999, Auf der Maur quit Hole and went on to become a touring bassist for The Smashing Pumpkins. Samantha Maloney also quit a few months later. The band's final release was a single for the movie Any Given Sunday (1999). "Be a Man", released in March 2000, was an outtake from the Celebrity Skin sessions. In April 2002, Love called The Howard Stern Show and said she had written nine songs with songwriter Linda Perry, but less than a month later Love and Erlandson officially disbanded Hole via a message posted on the band's website. After the split, the four musicians each took on projects of their own: Erlandson continued to work as a producer and session musician, eventually forming the experimental group RRIICCEE with controversial artist Vincent Gallo. Love began a solo career, releasing her debut, America's Sweetheart, in 2004, featuring several of the songs written with Perry. Melissa Auf der Maur also embarked on a solo career, and released her self-titled debut album in 2004, which included Erlandson performing lead guitar on the track, "Would If I Could." Her second album, Out of Our Minds, was released in March 2010. Hole's body of work from its inception to its first disbandment includes thirteen singles, three LPs, three EPs, and one compilation album.
2009 – 2013: Reformation and name dispute
On June 17, 2009, seven years after Hole's disbandment, NME reported that Love was re-forming the band with guitarist Micko Larkin for an upcoming album, on which Melissa Auf der Maur would be providing backup vocals. Days later, Melissa Auf der Maur stated in an interview that she was unaware of any reunion, but said Love had asked her to contribute harmonies to an upcoming album. In response, Eric Erlandson stated in an interview with Spin magazine that a reunion could not take place without his involvement, citing that he and Love "have a contract."
Hole launched a new website and various social media pages on January 1, 2010, and performed on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in February. On February 17, 2010 they played a full set at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, with support from Little Fish. On March 16, the first Hole single in ten years was released, titled "Skinny Little Bitch"; it peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Rock Chart, and at No. 21 on the Alternative Singles chart. The track also received airplay on Active rock and alternative radio.
Nobody's Daughter was released on April 26, 2010 worldwide on Mercury Records, and was received moderately well by music critics. Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars, but noted "[while Love] was an absolute monster vocalist in the nineties, the greatest era ever for rock singers ... She doesn't have that power in her lungs anymore – barely a trace. But at least she remembers, and that means something in itself." The magazine also referred to the album as "not a true success", but a "noble effort". Love's voice, which had become noticeably raspier, was compared to the likes of Bob Dylan. NME gave the album a 6/10 rating, and Robert Christgau rated it an "A-", saying, "Thing is, I can use some new punk rage in my life, and unless you're a fan of Goldman Sachs and BP Petroleum, so can you. What's more, better it come from a 45-year-old woman who knows how to throw her weight around than from the zitty newbies and tattooed road dogs who churn most of it out these days. I know—for her, BP Petroleum is just something else to pretend about. But the emotion fueling her pretense is cathartic nevertheless." In support of the release, Hole toured extensively between 2010 and 2012 throughout North America and Europe, as well as performing in Russia and Brazil.
On March 28, 2011, Love, Erlandson, Patty Schemel and Auf der Maur appeared at the New York screening of Schemel's documentary Hit So Hard: The Life and Near-Death Story of Patty Schemel at the Museum of Modern Art. The appearance was the first time in thirteen years that all four members appeared together in public. Schemel had expressed a desire to record with Love, Erlandson and Auf der Maur stating "nothing has been discussed, but I have a feeling." After the screening, the four took part in a Q&A session where Love stated: "For me, as much as I love playing with Patty – and I would play with her in five seconds again, and everyone onstage – if it's not moving forward, I don't wanna do it. That's just my thing. There's rumblings; there's always bloody rumblings. But if it's not miserable and it's going forward and I'm happy with it ... that's all I have to say about that question."
In May 2011, a music video for "Samantha" was shot in Istanbul, although it remained officially unreleased. In September 2011, Scott Lipps joined the band, replacing drummer Stu Fisher. In April 2012, Love, Erlandson, Auf der Maur and Schemel reunited at the Public Assembly in New York for a two-song set, including "Miss World" and the Wipers' "Over the Edge," at an after-party for the Hit So Hard documentary. The performance marked the first time the four members performed together since 1998 after Schemel's departure and the 2002 breakup of the band.
On December 29, 2012, Love performed a solo acoustic set in New York City, and in January 2013, performed at the Sundance Film Festival under her own name. She booked further performances across North America as a solo act, with Larkin, bassist Shawn Dailey, and Lipps as her backing band.
2014 – 2016: Second disbandment
On December 28, 2013, Love posted two photos of herself with Erlandson on Facebook and Twitter, with a caption reading: "And this just happened ... 2014 going to be a very interesting year." Love also tagged Melissa Auf der Maur as well as Hole's former manager, Peter Mensch, in the post, alluding to a reconciliation with Erlandson and possible reunion in 2014.
On April 2, 2014, Rolling Stone reported that the Celebrity Skin line-up of the band had reunited (with Patty Schemel in lieu of Samantha Maloney). Rolling Stone erroneously reported Love's upcoming solo single, "Wedding Day" to be a product of this reunion. Shortly after, Love curtailed her statement, saying: "We may have made out but there is no talk of marriage. It's very frail, nothing might happen, and now the band are all flipping out on me." On May 1, in an interview with Pitchfork, Love discussed the possibility of a reunion, and also stated it had been "a mistake" releasing Nobody's Daughter as a Hole record in 2010. "Eric was right—I kind of cheapened the name, even though I'm legally allowed to use it. I should save "Hole" for the lineup everybody wants to see and had the balls to put Nobody's Daughter under my own name." Love further discussed the possibility of reuniting the band, saying:
No one's been dormant. Patty teaches drumming and drums in three indie bands. Melissa has her metal-nerd thing going on—her dream is to play Castle Donington with Dokken. Eric hasn't flipped—I jammed with him, he's still doing his Thurston [Moore]-crazy tunings, still corresponding with Kevin Shields. We all get along great. There are bands who reunite and hate each others' guts.
2019 – present: Possible reformation and attempted reunions
In October 2019, Hole rehearsed at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in Los Angeles. Nothing transpired after the event, since Love had relocated to the United Kingdom afterwards. In March 2020, Love and Auf Der Maur planned a performance at the "Bans Off My Body" event, which was eventually canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Artistry
Composition
Initially, Hole drew inspiration from no wave and experimental bands, which is evident in their earliest recordings, specifically "Retard Girl", but frontwoman Love also drew from a variety of influences. Love cited post-punk group Echo & the Bunnymen and classic rock such as Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac. The band's first album, Pretty on the Inside, was heavily influenced by noise and punk rock, using discordant melodies, distortion, and feedback, with Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screams. Love described the band's earliest songwriting as being based on "really crazy Sonic Youth tunings." Nonetheless, Love claimed to have aimed for a pop sound early on: "There's a part of me that wants to have a grindcore band and another that wants to have a Raspberries-type pop band," she told Flipside magazine in 1991. Both Love and Erlandson were fans of the notorious LA punk band the Germs. In a 1996 interview for a Germs tribute documentary, Erlandson said: "I think every band is based on one song, and our band was based on "Forming"... Courtney brought it into rehearsal, and she knew, like, three chords and it was the only punk rock song we could play."
The band's second album Live Through This, captured a less abrasive sound, while maintaining the group's original punk roots. "I want this record to be shocking to the people who don't think we have a soft edge, and at the same time, [to know] that we haven't lost our very, very hard edge," Love told VH1 in 1994. The group's third album, Celebrity Skin, incorporated power pop into their hard rock sound, and was heavily inspired by California bands; Love was also influenced by Fleetwood Mac and My Bloody Valentine while writing the album. The group's 2010 release, Nobody's Daughter, featured a more folk rock-oriented sound, utilizing acoustic guitar and softer melodies.
The group's chord progressions by and large drew on elements of punk music, which Love described as "grungey", although not necessarily grunge. Critics described their song style as "deceptively wispy and strummy," combined with "gunshot guitar choruses." Although the group's sound changed over the course of their career, the dynamic between beauty and ugliness has often been noted, particularly due to the layering of harsh and abrasive riffs which often bury more sophisticated arrangements.
Lyrical content
In a 1991 interview, Love stated that lyrics were "the most important" element of songwriting for her. Her lyrics explored a variety of themes throughout Hole's career, including body image, rape, child abuse, addiction, celebrity, suicide, elitism, and inferiority complex; all of which were addressed mainly from a female, and often feminist standpoint. This underlying feminism in Love's lyrics often led the public and critics to mistakenly associate her with the riot grrrl movement, of which Love was highly critical.
In a 1991 interview with Everett True, Love said: "I try to place [beautiful imagery] next to fucked up imagery, because that's how I view things ... I sometimes feel that no one's taken the time to write about certain things in rock, that there's a certain female point of view that's never been given space." Charles Cross has referred to her lyrics on Live Through This as being "true extensions of her diary," and she has admitted that a great deal of the lyrics from Pretty on the Inside were excisions from her journals.
Throughout Hole's career, Love's lyrics were often influenced by literature: The title of the band's second album Live Through This, for example (as well as lyrics from the track "Asking for It") is directly drawn from Gone With the Wind; and the group's single "Celebrity Skin" (the title track to their 1998 album), contains quotes from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Dante Rossetti's poem A Superscription. Love had had a minor background in literature, having briefly studied English literature in her early twenties.
Performances
Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage. The band often destroyed equipment and guitars at the end of concerts, and Love would ramble between songs, bring fans onstage, and stage dive, sometimes returning with her clothes torn off of her or sustaining injuries. In a 1995 New York Magazine article, journalist John Homans addressed Love's frequent stage diving during Hole's concerts:
The most shocking, frightening, and fascinating image in rock in the last few years is Courtney Love's stage dive ... When some male performers do it, it looks like muscular, frat-boy fun, controlled aggression ... For obvious reasons, the practice was strictly no-girls-allowed, but Love, typically, decided that she wanted to do it, too. Groped, ravaged, she compared the experience to being raped, wrote a song about it, and now does it just about every show.
Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, who toured with Hole in 1995, recalled Love's erratic behavior onstage, saying "She would just go off and [the rest of the band] would just kind of stand there." The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: "I was completely high on dope; I cannot remember much about it." She later criticized her behavior during that time, saying: "I [saw] pictures of how I looked. It's disgusting. I'm ashamed. There's death and there's disease and there's misery and there's giving up your soul ... The human spirit mixed with certain powders is not the person, it's [a] demonic presence."
Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956). The style was later dubbed "kinderwhore" by the media, and consisted of babydoll dresses, slips and nightgowns, and smeared makeup. Kurt Loder likened her onstage attire to a "debauched ragdoll", and John Peel noted in his review of the band's 1994 Reading Festival performance, that "[Love], swaying wildly and with lipstick smeared on her face, hands and, I think, her back, as well as on the collar of her dress, ... would have drawn whistles of astonishment in Bedlam. The band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage." Rolling Stone referred to the style as "a slightly more politically charged version of grunge; apathy turned into ruinous angst, which soon became high fashion's favorite pose."
The band's set lists for live shows were often loose, featuring improvisational jams and rough performances of unreleased songs. By 1998, their live performances had become less aggressive and more restrained, although Love continued to bring fans onstage, and would often go into the crowd while singing.
Legacy
Hole was one of the most commercially successful female-fronted alternative rock bands in history, selling over 3 million records in the United States between 1991 and 2010. In spite of Love's often polarizing reputation in the media, Hole received consistent critical praise for their output, and was often noted for the predominant feminist commentary found in Love's lyrics, which scholars have credited as "articulating a third-wave feminist consciousness". Love's subversive onstage persona and public image coincided with the band's songs, which expressed "pain, sorrow, and anger, but [an] underlying message of survival, particularly survival in the face of overwhelming circumstances." Music journalist Maria Raha expressed a similar sentiment in regard to the band's significance to third-wave feminism, stating, "Whether you love Courtney [Love] or hate her, Hole was the highest-profile female-fronted band of the '90s to openly and directly sing about feminism."
While Rolling Stone compared the effect of Love's marriage to Cobain on the band to that of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, they noted that "Love's confrontational stage presence, as well as her gut-wrenching vocals and powerful punk-pop songcraft, made her an alternative-rock star in her own right." Author Nick Wise made a similar comparison in discussion of the band's public image, stating, "Not since Yoko Ono's marriage to John Lennon has a woman's personal life and exploits within the rock arena been so analyzed and dissected." The band has been cited as a major influence on several contemporary artists, including indie singer-songwriter Scout Niblett, Brody Dalle (of The Distillers and Spinnerette), Sky Ferreira, Lana Del Rey, Tove Lo, Tegan and Sara, and the British rock band Nine Black Alps. The band ranked at number 77 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists list.
Materials loss
In 2008 a fire swept through Universal Studios Hollywood destroying buildings belonging to Universal Music Group. It was confirmed, in 2019, that the entire Hole back catalogue, along with hundreds of other artists' music, was completely lost, meaning reissues and remasters are now unlikely. Courtney Love and the band were one of the artists suing UMG for the loss; however, on August 16, 2019, the band was removed from that lawsuit as it was amended "based on UMG's representations that none of Hole's original masters were destroyed (subject to confirmation)".
Members
Timeline
Discography
Pretty on the Inside (1991)
Live Through This (1994)
Celebrity Skin (1998)
Nobody's Daughter (2010)
Accolades
{| class="wikitable unsortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Nominated work(s)
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=4|Grammy Awards
| rowspan=3|1999
| Best Rock Album
| Celebrity Skin
|
|rowspan=3 style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Best Rock Song
| rowspan=2|"Celebrity Skin"
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
| 2000
| "Malibu"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=2|MTV Video Music Awards
| 1995
| Best Alternative Video
| "Doll Parts"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 1999
| Best Cinematography
| "Malibu"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=3|NME Awards
| rowspan=3|1999
| Best Band
| Hole
|
|rowspan=3|
|-
| Best Album
| Celebrity Skin
|
|-
| Best Single
| "Celebrity Skin"
|
|-
! scope="row"|Spin Readers' Poll Awards
| 1994
| Album of the Year
| Live Through This
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
References
Sources
External links
Hole at Billboard
1989 establishments in California
2002 disestablishments in California
2009 establishments in California
2012 disestablishments in California
Alternative rock groups from California
American noise rock music groups
Punk rock groups from California
Musical groups established in 1989
Musical groups disestablished in 2002
Musical groups reestablished in 2009
Musical groups disestablished in 2012
Sympathy for the Record Industry artists
Caroline Records artists
DGC Records artists
Geffen Records artists
Sub Pop artists
Mercury Records artists
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical quartets
Feminist musicians
Third-wave feminism
Grunge musical groups
Courtney Love
Articles which contain graphical timelines
20th-century American guitarists
City Slang artists
Female-fronted musical groups | true | [
"The opening ceremonies of the 2015 Cricket World Cup took place in New Zealand and Australia on 12 February 2015, the eve of the beginning of the World Cup hosted by them after 23 years. Two ceremonies took place at the same time, one in North Hagley Park, Christchurch in New Zealand while the other in Melbourne, Australia. Thousands of fans turned up to watch the opening ceremony in both locations.\n\nPerformances\n\nThere were performances showcasing the culture of each of the participating nation at both the venues. These included the following:\n\nAt Christchurch\n Performance by a Maori troupe.\n Solo musical performances by popular Kiwi singer Hayley Westenra.\n Performances by popular New Zealand musical band Shapeshifter.\n\nAt Melbourne\n Kandyan dance performance by a Sri Lankan troupe.\n Performance by a British Bagpiper.\n An Irish River Dance performance.\n Performance by Pakistani artists of the popular anthem Jazba Junoon.\n\nNotable guests\n\nAt Christchurch\nApart from the performing singers, some notable guests were also present in the event at Christchurch like Mayor of Christchurch Lianne Dalziel, Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key, All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, Hollywood director Peter Jackson, cricketers Lasith Malinga, Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers and the other members of the New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe cricket teams playing in the tournament. There were also some former cricketers present there, namely Chris Harris, Rod Latham, Geoff Allott, Stephen Fleming and Richard Hadlee.\n\nSee also\n2015 Cricket World Cup\n2011 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony\n\nReferences\n\nOpening Ceremony\nCricket World Cup opening ceremonies",
"Tältprojektet – The Tent Project (Sweden, 1977) was a musical theater performance on the history of the Swedish working class, which toured the country the summer of 1977 in a huge circus tent. The group included over 100 people, musicians, actors, and members of some of the biggest progg bands of Sweden at the time, most notable Nationalteatern. The Tent Project was a radical, leftist political movement, but it included different political groups from anarchists to different types of communists and socialists.\n\nThe story of the approximately four-hour play was on the history of the Swedish working class movement from 1879 to the present (1977), and the cast of characters included August Palm, Kata Dalström, Hjalmar Branting and Zeth Höglund. The central story telling character was the beggar, played by Totta Näslund. Another major role was played by Sven Wollter who, as the clown, was sort of the host of the show. Most of the songs performed in the Tent Project were written by Ulf Dageby.\n\nThe tour made 82 performances, and over 100,000 people went to see the show, as it toured through almost every city in Sweden and some in Denmark. Some of the songs were later released on a LP.\n\nSome of the most notable songs from Tältprojektet are Aldrig mera krig (Never War Again) and Vi äro tusenden (We are thousands), both sung by Totta Näslund and written by Ulf Dageby.\n\nCast \nSome of the most notable of the people who performed in Tältprojektet.\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \nArticle in magazine Tekla 3-4, dec 1977 (in Swedish)\n\n1977 musicals\n1977 in Sweden\nSocial history of Sweden\nHistoriography of Sweden\nSwedish musicals"
]
|
[
"Hole (band)",
"Live performances",
"What live performances did they have?",
"Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage.",
"Where did the incidents take place?",
"onstage.",
"What were some of the notable performances?",
"Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956)."
]
| C_e4799c7ab09e48849d2675f52a95608b_0 | What else is interesting about their performances? | 4 | In addition to Love's often unpredictable behavior onstage and stage attire, what else is interesting about the Hole live performances? | Hole (band) | Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage. The band often destroyed equipment and guitars at the end of concerts, and Love would ramble between songs, bring fans onstage, and stage dive, sometimes returning with her clothes torn off of her or sustaining injuries. In a 1995 New York Magazine article, journalist John Homans addressed Love's frequent stage diving during Hole's concerts: The most shocking, frightening, and fascinating image in rock in the last few years is Courtney Love's stage dive... When some male performers do it, it looks like muscular, frat-boy fun, controlled aggression... For obvious reasons, the practice was strictly no-girls-allowed, but Love, typically, decided that she wanted to do it, too. Groped, ravaged, she compared the experience to being raped, wrote a song about it, and now does it just about every show. Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, who toured with Hole in 1995, recalled Love's erratic behavior onstage, saying "She would just go off and [the rest of the band] would just kind of stand there." The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: "I was completely high on dope; I cannot remember much about it." She later criticized her behavior during that time, saying: "I [saw] pictures of how I looked. It's disgusting. I'm ashamed. There's death and there's disease and there's misery and there's giving up your soul... The human spirit mixed with certain powders is not the person, it's [a] demonic presence." Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956). The style was later dubbed "kinderwhore" by the media, and consisted of babydoll dresses, slips and nightgowns, and smeared makeup. Kurt Loder likened her onstage attire to a "debauched ragdoll", and John Peel noted in his review of the band's 1994 Reading Festival performance, that "[Love], swaying wildly and with lipstick smeared on her face, hands and, I think, her back, as well as on the collar of her dress, [...] would have drawn whistles of astonishment in Bedlam. The band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage." Rolling Stone referred to the style as "a slightly more politically charged version of grunge; apathy turned into ruinous angst, which soon became high fashion's favorite pose." The band's set lists for live shows were often loose, featuring improvisational jams and rough performances of unreleased songs. By 1998, their live performances had become less aggressive and more restrained, although Love continued to bring fans onstage, and would often go into the crowd while singing. CANNOTANSWER | The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: | Hole was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1989. It was founded by singer Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. It had several different bassists and drummers, the most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff (d. 1994) and Melissa Auf der Maur. Hole released a total of four studio albums between two incarnations spanning the 1990s and early-2010s and became one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history fronted by a woman.
Influenced by Los Angeles' punk rock scene, the band's debut album, Pretty on the Inside (1991), was produced by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, and attracted critical interest from British and American alternative press. Their second album, Live Through This, released 1994 by DGC Records, which featured less aggressive melodies and more restrained lyrical content, was widely acclaimed and reached platinum status within a year of its release. Their third album, Celebrity Skin (1998), marked a notable departure from their earlier punk influences, boasting a more commercially viable sound; the album sold around 2 million copies worldwide, and earned them significant critical acclaim.
They disbanded in 2002, and the members individually pursued other projects. Eight years later in 2010, Hole was reformed by Love with new members, despite Erlandson's claim that the reformation breached a mutual contract he had with her. The reformed band released the album Nobody's Daughter (2010), which had originally been conceived as Love's second solo album. In 2013, Love retired the Hole name, releasing new material and touring as a solo artist.
Hole received several accolades, including four Grammy Award nominations. They were also commercially successful, selling over three million records in the United States alone, and had a far-reaching influence on contemporary female artists. Music and feminist scholars have also recognized the band as the most high-profile musical group of the 1990s to discuss gender issues in their songs, due to Love's aggressive and violent lyrical content, which often addressed themes of body image, abuse, and sexual exploitation.
Background
Hole formed after Eric Erlandson responded to an advertisement placed by Courtney Love in The Recycler in the summer of 1989. The advertisement simply read: "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac." "She called me up and talked my ear off," said Erlandson. "We met at this coffee shop, and I saw her and I thought "Oh, God. Oh, no, What am I getting myself into?" She grabbed me and started talking, and she's like "I know you're the right one", and I hadn't even opened my mouth yet." In retrospect, Love said that Erlandson "had a Thurston [Moore] quality about him" and was an "intensely weird, good guitarist." In his 2012 book, Letters to Kurt, Erlandson revealed that he and Love had a sexual relationship during their first year together in the band, which Love also confirmed.
Love had been living a nomadic life prior, immersing herself in numerous music scenes and living in various cities along the West Coast. After unsuccessful attempts at forming bands in San Francisco (where she was briefly a member of Faith No More) and Portland, Love relocated to Los Angeles, where she found work as an actress in two Alex Cox films (Sid and Nancy and Straight to Hell). Erlandson, a Los Angeles native and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, was working as a royalties manager for Capitol Records at the time he met Love.
Love had originally wanted to name the band Sweet Baby Crystal Powered by God, but opted for the name Hole instead. During an interview on Later... with Jools Holland, Love claimed the name for the band was partly inspired by a quote from Euripides' Medea that read: "There is a hole that pierces right through me." She also cited a conversation with her mother as the primary inspiration for the band's name, in which her mother told her that she couldn't live her life "with a hole running through her." Love also acknowledged the "obvious" genital reference in the band's name, alluding to the vagina.
Career
1989 – 1991: Early work and indie success
In the months preceding the band's full formation, Love and Erlandson would write and record in the evenings at a rehearsal space in Hollywood, loaned to them by the Red Hot Chili Peppers; during the day, Love worked as a stripper to support the band and purchase amplifiers and their backline for live shows. Hole's first official rehearsal took place at Fortress Studios in Hollywood with Love, Erlandson and Lisa Roberts on bass. According to Erlandson, "these two girls show up dressed completely crazy, we set up and they said, "okay, just start playing something." I started playing and they started screaming at the top of their lungs for two or three hours. Crazy lyrics and screaming. I said to myself, "most people would just run away from this really fast. But I heard something in Courtney's voice and lyrics." Initially, the band had no percussion until Love met drummer Caroline Rue, and later recruited a third guitarist, Mike Geisbrecht. Hole's first show took place at Raji's, a small bar in Hollywood, in September 1989. By early 1990, Geisbrecht and Roberts had both left the band, which led to the recruitment of bassist Jill Emery.
Hole released their no wave-influenced debut single "Retard Girl" in April 1990, and followed it with "Dicknail" in 1991, released on Sympathy for the Record Industry and Sub Pop, respectively. According to disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer, Love would often approach him at a Denny's on Sunset Blvd. where he went for coffee in the mornings, and convinced him to give "Retard Girl" airtime on his station KROQ-FM.
In 1991, the band signed onto Caroline Records to release their debut album, and Love sought Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth to produce the record. She sent a letter, a Hello Kitty barrette, and copies of the band's early singles to her, mentioning that the band greatly admired Gordon's work and appreciated "... the production of the SST record" (either referring to Sonic Youth's album Sister or EVOL). Gordon, impressed by the band's singles, agreed to produce the album, with assistance from Gumball's Don Fleming. The album, titled Pretty on the Inside, was released in September 1991 to positive reception from underground critics, branded "loud, ugly and deliberately shocking," and earned a spot on Spins "20 Best Albums of the Year" list. It was also voted album of the year by New York's Village Voice and peaked at number 59 on the UK albums chart. The album spawned one single, "Teenage Whore", which entered the UK Indie Chart at number one, as well as the band's debut music video for the song "Garbadge Man".
Musically and lyrically, Pretty on the Inside was abrasive and drew on elements of punk rock and sludge metal, characterized by overt noise and feedback, chaotic guitar riffs, contrasting tempos, graphic lyrics, and a variation of Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screaming. In later years, Love referred to the album as "unlistenable", despite its critical accolades and eventual cult following. The band embarked on a European tour in the fall of 1991 supporting Mudhoney. They also toured intermittently in the United States between July and December 1991, playing primarily at hard rock and punk clubs, including CBGB and the Whisky A Go Go, where they opened for The Smashing Pumpkins. In a write-up by the Los Angeles Times on the band's final show of the tour, it was noted that Love smashed the headstock of her Rickenbacker guitar onstage.
In mid-1991, the band began to get the attention of the major labels. The first to court them was Maverick — a Warner subsidiary founded by Madonna and music executive Freddy DeMann. Love, however, was uninterested: "[They] would have me riding on elephants. They don't know what I am. For them, I'm a visual, period." She was also uneasy about sharing the spotlight on a label so heavily associated with one of the industry's most iconic female performers. In a 1992 interview with Vanity Fair, Love described Madonna's interest as "kind of like Dracula's interest in his latest victim."
1992 – 1999: Mainstream success
1992 – 1995: Live Through This
Love and Erlandson began writing new material for a second Hole album in 1992, in the midst of Love's pregnancy with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Love's desire to take the band in a more melodic and controlled rock format led bassist Emery to leave the band, and drummer Caroline Rue followed. In an advertisement to find a new bass player, Love wrote: "[I want] someone who can play ok, and stand in front of 30,000 people, take off her shirt and have 'fuck you' written on her tits. If you're not afraid of me and you're not afraid to fucking say it, send a letter. No more pussies, no more fake girls, I want a whore from hell." In April 1992, drummer Patty Schemel was recruited after an audition in Los Angeles, but the band spent the remainder of the year without a bassist; Love, Schemel, and Erlandson began to write material together in the interim.
Hole signed to Geffen's subsidiary DGC label with an eight-album contract in late 1992. In the spring of 1993, the band released their single "Beautiful Son", which was recorded in Seattle with producer Jack Endino as a fill-in bass player; Love also played bass on the single's b-side "20 Years In the Dakota", as well as on their contribution to the 1993 Germs tribute album A Small Circle of Friends. In the spring of 1993, Love and Erlandson recruited Janitor Joe bassist Kristen Pfaff, and the band toured the United Kingdom in the summer of that year (including the Phoenix Festival on July 16), mainly performing material from their upcoming major label debut, Live Through This, which they recorded at Triclops Studios in Marietta, Georgia in October 1993.
Live Through This was released on April 12, 1994, one week after Love's husband, Kurt Cobain, was found dead in his Seattle home. In the wake of Love's family tragedy, Live Through This was a critical success. It spawned several popular singles, including "Doll Parts", "Violet", and "Miss World", going multi-platinum and being hailed "Album of the Year" by Spin magazine. NME called the album "a personal but secretive thrash-pop opera of urban nihilism and passionate dumb thinks," and Rolling Stone said the album "may be the most potent blast of female insurgency ever committed to tape."
Despite the critical praise for Live Through This, rumors circulated insinuating that Cobain had actually written the majority of the album, though the band vehemently denies this. The band's drummer Patty Schemel, who had been friends with Cobain since the late 1980s, said: "There's that myth that Kurt [Cobain] wrote all our songs— it's not true. Courtney and Eric wrote Live Through This." The band did, however, state that Love convinced Cobain to provide backing vocals on "Asking for It" and "Softer, Softest" while visiting the studio, and music producers and engineers present during the recording sessions noted that Cobain seemed "completely unfamiliar" with the songs. According to Rolling Stone rock journalist Gavin Edwards, Love and Cobain had written songs together in the past, but opted to not release them because it was "a bit too redolent of John and Yoko."
In 1994, bassist Kristen Pfaff went into a drug treatment facility to treat her heroin addiction. Pfaff contemplated leaving the band for health reasons. In June 1994, she was found dead of a heroin overdose in the bathroom of her Seattle home, 2 months after the death of Cobain. The band put their impending tour on hold, pulling out of the upcoming Lollapalooza festival. Pfaff's life is, according to Pfaff's brother, the subject of an upcoming book by British authors Sara Hawys Roberts and Guy Mankowski, who he's collaborating with.
Recruiting bassist Melissa Auf der Maur over the summer, they commenced their world tour on August 26 at the Reading Festival in England, giving a performance that John Peel described as "teetering on the edge of chaos." The band embarked on a worldwide tour throughout late 1994 and for the duration of 1995, with appearances at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Saturday Night Live, the Big Day Out festival, MTV Unplugged, the 1995 Reading Festival, Lollapalooza 1995, and at the MTV Video Music Awards, where they were nominated for the "Doll Parts" music video.
Love's reckless stage presence during the tour became a media spectacle, drawing press from MTV and other outlets due to her unpredictable performances. While touring with Sonic Youth, Love got into a physical fight with Kathleen Hanna backstage at a 1995 Lollapalooza festival and punched her in the face. In an August 1995 band interview with Rolling Stone, drummer Patty Schemel formally came out as a lesbian, saying: "It's important. I'm not out there with that fucking pink flag or anything, but it's good for other people who live somewhere else in some small town who feel freaky about being gay to know that there's other people who are and that it's okay." In a retrospective interview, Schemel said:
Toward the end of the tour, the band released their first EP, titled Ask for It, in September 1995; it featured 1991 Peel session recordings, as well as covers of songs by Wipers and The Velvet Underground. The band performed its last show of the year on September 3, 1995 at the Molson Polar Beach Party in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada. The concert was a promotional event for the Molson Brewery, and also featured performances by Metallica, Veruca Salt, and Moist.
1996 – 1999: Celebrity Skin
In 1996, the band recorded and released a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman" for The Crow: City of Angels (1996) soundtrack, the band's first studio song to feature Melissa Auf der Maur on bass, and produced by Ric Ocasek. Hole released two retrospective albums during this time: firstly, their second EP, titled The First Session (1997), which consisted of a complete version of the band's first recording session at Rudy's Rising Star in Los Angeles in March 1990, some of which had been bootlegged widely years prior. It featured the group's first ever recorded track, "Turpentine", which had previously been unreleased to the public. The same year, the band released their first compilation album, My Body, The Hand Grenade (1997), featuring early singles, b-sides and recent live tracks.
In 1997, the band entered Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles after attempts to write new material in Miami, New Orleans, London, and New York. Recorded over a ten-month period, Hole's third studio album, Celebrity Skin (1998), adopted a complete new sound for the band, incorporating elements of power pop, and had Love drawing influences from Fleetwood Mac and My Bloody Valentine. According to Erlandson, Love was more focused on song-writing and singing than playing guitar on the record; Love stated that her aim for the album was to "deconstruct the California sound" in the L.A. tradition of bands like The Doors, The Beach Boys and The Byrds. In addition to Hole, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan entered the studio and helped perfect five of the album's twelve songs. Love, who felt she was in a creative slump, likened Corgan's presence in the studio to "a math teacher who wouldn't give you the answers but was making you solve the problems yourself."
Upon the album's release, Corgan told CNN that he should have "been given credit [for writing the entire album]." Erlandson responded to Corgan's statements in a Rolling Stone interview, commenting: "We were working on all the stuff that Courtney and I had already written. Billy really facilitated things, in a way ... I would bring in the music, Courtney would start coming up with lyrics right away, and [Billy] would help map it all out." Erlandson also stated: "Courtney writes all her own lyrics. Nobody else is writing those lyrics and nobody ever has." One journalist took note of the controversy when reviewing the album, stating: "Back in 1994, the acclaim for Live Through This was undercut by whispers that Love's late husband wrote the album. Combine those conspiracy theories with the unfounded but persistent rumor that Cobain was actually murdered, and it is no surprise that, in the song "Celebrity Skin", Love calls herself a walking study in demonology."
Although Schemel is listed as drummer in the liner notes of the record, her drumming does not actually appear on the record; she was replaced by session drummer Deen Castronovo, under pressure from producer Michael Beinhorn. After the replacement, Schemel quit the band. Though Love and Erlandson had authorized Schemel's replacement, both expressed regret in retrospect, and Love stated in 2011 that Beinhorn was notorious for replacing drummers on records, and referred to him as "a Nazi". After Schemel's departure, the band hired drummer Samantha Maloney for their upcoming tours and music videos.
Celebrity Skin was a critical success with strong sales and successful singles, including the title track, "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu", and "Awful". The album received largely positive reviews, with praise from music periodicals such as Rolling Stone, NME, and Blender, as well as a four-star review from the Los Angeles Times, calling it a "wild emotional ride" sure to be "one of the most dissected and debated collections of the year." The album peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200, and garnered the band its first and only number 1 single, "Celebrity Skin", which topped the Modern Rock Tracks. "Malibu", released December 29, 1998, was the album's second single; it charted at number 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks.
1999 – 2002: Final tour and disbandment
In the winter of 1998–99, Hole went on tour to promote Celebrity Skin, joining Marilyn Manson, who was promoting his album, Mechanical Animals (1998) on the "Beautiful Monsters Tour". The tour turned into a publicity magnet, and Hole dropped out of the tour nine dates in, due to both the majority of the fans being Manson's, and the 50/50 financial arrangement between the groups, with Hole's production costs being disproportionately less than Manson's. Manson and Love often mocked one another onstage, and Love attacked Manson's stage antics, which included tearing up a Bible during performances: "You know, whenever somebody rips up the Bible in front of 40,000 people, I think it's a big deal," she said during a 1999 interview. Hole officially announced that they would be dropping out of the tour after a poorly received concert at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon, which ended with Manson fans booing the band.
The band continued to book shows and headline festivals after dropping off Manson's tour, and according to Auf der Maur, it was a "daily event" for Love to invite audience members onstage to sing with her for the last song at nearly every concert performance. On June 17, 1999 during Hole's set at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, a 19-year-old girl died after being crushed by the mosh pit behind the mixing board. Hole played its final show at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver on July 14, 1999.
In October 1999, Auf der Maur quit Hole and went on to become a touring bassist for The Smashing Pumpkins. Samantha Maloney also quit a few months later. The band's final release was a single for the movie Any Given Sunday (1999). "Be a Man", released in March 2000, was an outtake from the Celebrity Skin sessions. In April 2002, Love called The Howard Stern Show and said she had written nine songs with songwriter Linda Perry, but less than a month later Love and Erlandson officially disbanded Hole via a message posted on the band's website. After the split, the four musicians each took on projects of their own: Erlandson continued to work as a producer and session musician, eventually forming the experimental group RRIICCEE with controversial artist Vincent Gallo. Love began a solo career, releasing her debut, America's Sweetheart, in 2004, featuring several of the songs written with Perry. Melissa Auf der Maur also embarked on a solo career, and released her self-titled debut album in 2004, which included Erlandson performing lead guitar on the track, "Would If I Could." Her second album, Out of Our Minds, was released in March 2010. Hole's body of work from its inception to its first disbandment includes thirteen singles, three LPs, three EPs, and one compilation album.
2009 – 2013: Reformation and name dispute
On June 17, 2009, seven years after Hole's disbandment, NME reported that Love was re-forming the band with guitarist Micko Larkin for an upcoming album, on which Melissa Auf der Maur would be providing backup vocals. Days later, Melissa Auf der Maur stated in an interview that she was unaware of any reunion, but said Love had asked her to contribute harmonies to an upcoming album. In response, Eric Erlandson stated in an interview with Spin magazine that a reunion could not take place without his involvement, citing that he and Love "have a contract."
Hole launched a new website and various social media pages on January 1, 2010, and performed on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in February. On February 17, 2010 they played a full set at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, with support from Little Fish. On March 16, the first Hole single in ten years was released, titled "Skinny Little Bitch"; it peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Rock Chart, and at No. 21 on the Alternative Singles chart. The track also received airplay on Active rock and alternative radio.
Nobody's Daughter was released on April 26, 2010 worldwide on Mercury Records, and was received moderately well by music critics. Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars, but noted "[while Love] was an absolute monster vocalist in the nineties, the greatest era ever for rock singers ... She doesn't have that power in her lungs anymore – barely a trace. But at least she remembers, and that means something in itself." The magazine also referred to the album as "not a true success", but a "noble effort". Love's voice, which had become noticeably raspier, was compared to the likes of Bob Dylan. NME gave the album a 6/10 rating, and Robert Christgau rated it an "A-", saying, "Thing is, I can use some new punk rage in my life, and unless you're a fan of Goldman Sachs and BP Petroleum, so can you. What's more, better it come from a 45-year-old woman who knows how to throw her weight around than from the zitty newbies and tattooed road dogs who churn most of it out these days. I know—for her, BP Petroleum is just something else to pretend about. But the emotion fueling her pretense is cathartic nevertheless." In support of the release, Hole toured extensively between 2010 and 2012 throughout North America and Europe, as well as performing in Russia and Brazil.
On March 28, 2011, Love, Erlandson, Patty Schemel and Auf der Maur appeared at the New York screening of Schemel's documentary Hit So Hard: The Life and Near-Death Story of Patty Schemel at the Museum of Modern Art. The appearance was the first time in thirteen years that all four members appeared together in public. Schemel had expressed a desire to record with Love, Erlandson and Auf der Maur stating "nothing has been discussed, but I have a feeling." After the screening, the four took part in a Q&A session where Love stated: "For me, as much as I love playing with Patty – and I would play with her in five seconds again, and everyone onstage – if it's not moving forward, I don't wanna do it. That's just my thing. There's rumblings; there's always bloody rumblings. But if it's not miserable and it's going forward and I'm happy with it ... that's all I have to say about that question."
In May 2011, a music video for "Samantha" was shot in Istanbul, although it remained officially unreleased. In September 2011, Scott Lipps joined the band, replacing drummer Stu Fisher. In April 2012, Love, Erlandson, Auf der Maur and Schemel reunited at the Public Assembly in New York for a two-song set, including "Miss World" and the Wipers' "Over the Edge," at an after-party for the Hit So Hard documentary. The performance marked the first time the four members performed together since 1998 after Schemel's departure and the 2002 breakup of the band.
On December 29, 2012, Love performed a solo acoustic set in New York City, and in January 2013, performed at the Sundance Film Festival under her own name. She booked further performances across North America as a solo act, with Larkin, bassist Shawn Dailey, and Lipps as her backing band.
2014 – 2016: Second disbandment
On December 28, 2013, Love posted two photos of herself with Erlandson on Facebook and Twitter, with a caption reading: "And this just happened ... 2014 going to be a very interesting year." Love also tagged Melissa Auf der Maur as well as Hole's former manager, Peter Mensch, in the post, alluding to a reconciliation with Erlandson and possible reunion in 2014.
On April 2, 2014, Rolling Stone reported that the Celebrity Skin line-up of the band had reunited (with Patty Schemel in lieu of Samantha Maloney). Rolling Stone erroneously reported Love's upcoming solo single, "Wedding Day" to be a product of this reunion. Shortly after, Love curtailed her statement, saying: "We may have made out but there is no talk of marriage. It's very frail, nothing might happen, and now the band are all flipping out on me." On May 1, in an interview with Pitchfork, Love discussed the possibility of a reunion, and also stated it had been "a mistake" releasing Nobody's Daughter as a Hole record in 2010. "Eric was right—I kind of cheapened the name, even though I'm legally allowed to use it. I should save "Hole" for the lineup everybody wants to see and had the balls to put Nobody's Daughter under my own name." Love further discussed the possibility of reuniting the band, saying:
No one's been dormant. Patty teaches drumming and drums in three indie bands. Melissa has her metal-nerd thing going on—her dream is to play Castle Donington with Dokken. Eric hasn't flipped—I jammed with him, he's still doing his Thurston [Moore]-crazy tunings, still corresponding with Kevin Shields. We all get along great. There are bands who reunite and hate each others' guts.
2019 – present: Possible reformation and attempted reunions
In October 2019, Hole rehearsed at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in Los Angeles. Nothing transpired after the event, since Love had relocated to the United Kingdom afterwards. In March 2020, Love and Auf Der Maur planned a performance at the "Bans Off My Body" event, which was eventually canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Artistry
Composition
Initially, Hole drew inspiration from no wave and experimental bands, which is evident in their earliest recordings, specifically "Retard Girl", but frontwoman Love also drew from a variety of influences. Love cited post-punk group Echo & the Bunnymen and classic rock such as Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac. The band's first album, Pretty on the Inside, was heavily influenced by noise and punk rock, using discordant melodies, distortion, and feedback, with Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screams. Love described the band's earliest songwriting as being based on "really crazy Sonic Youth tunings." Nonetheless, Love claimed to have aimed for a pop sound early on: "There's a part of me that wants to have a grindcore band and another that wants to have a Raspberries-type pop band," she told Flipside magazine in 1991. Both Love and Erlandson were fans of the notorious LA punk band the Germs. In a 1996 interview for a Germs tribute documentary, Erlandson said: "I think every band is based on one song, and our band was based on "Forming"... Courtney brought it into rehearsal, and she knew, like, three chords and it was the only punk rock song we could play."
The band's second album Live Through This, captured a less abrasive sound, while maintaining the group's original punk roots. "I want this record to be shocking to the people who don't think we have a soft edge, and at the same time, [to know] that we haven't lost our very, very hard edge," Love told VH1 in 1994. The group's third album, Celebrity Skin, incorporated power pop into their hard rock sound, and was heavily inspired by California bands; Love was also influenced by Fleetwood Mac and My Bloody Valentine while writing the album. The group's 2010 release, Nobody's Daughter, featured a more folk rock-oriented sound, utilizing acoustic guitar and softer melodies.
The group's chord progressions by and large drew on elements of punk music, which Love described as "grungey", although not necessarily grunge. Critics described their song style as "deceptively wispy and strummy," combined with "gunshot guitar choruses." Although the group's sound changed over the course of their career, the dynamic between beauty and ugliness has often been noted, particularly due to the layering of harsh and abrasive riffs which often bury more sophisticated arrangements.
Lyrical content
In a 1991 interview, Love stated that lyrics were "the most important" element of songwriting for her. Her lyrics explored a variety of themes throughout Hole's career, including body image, rape, child abuse, addiction, celebrity, suicide, elitism, and inferiority complex; all of which were addressed mainly from a female, and often feminist standpoint. This underlying feminism in Love's lyrics often led the public and critics to mistakenly associate her with the riot grrrl movement, of which Love was highly critical.
In a 1991 interview with Everett True, Love said: "I try to place [beautiful imagery] next to fucked up imagery, because that's how I view things ... I sometimes feel that no one's taken the time to write about certain things in rock, that there's a certain female point of view that's never been given space." Charles Cross has referred to her lyrics on Live Through This as being "true extensions of her diary," and she has admitted that a great deal of the lyrics from Pretty on the Inside were excisions from her journals.
Throughout Hole's career, Love's lyrics were often influenced by literature: The title of the band's second album Live Through This, for example (as well as lyrics from the track "Asking for It") is directly drawn from Gone With the Wind; and the group's single "Celebrity Skin" (the title track to their 1998 album), contains quotes from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Dante Rossetti's poem A Superscription. Love had had a minor background in literature, having briefly studied English literature in her early twenties.
Performances
Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage. The band often destroyed equipment and guitars at the end of concerts, and Love would ramble between songs, bring fans onstage, and stage dive, sometimes returning with her clothes torn off of her or sustaining injuries. In a 1995 New York Magazine article, journalist John Homans addressed Love's frequent stage diving during Hole's concerts:
The most shocking, frightening, and fascinating image in rock in the last few years is Courtney Love's stage dive ... When some male performers do it, it looks like muscular, frat-boy fun, controlled aggression ... For obvious reasons, the practice was strictly no-girls-allowed, but Love, typically, decided that she wanted to do it, too. Groped, ravaged, she compared the experience to being raped, wrote a song about it, and now does it just about every show.
Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, who toured with Hole in 1995, recalled Love's erratic behavior onstage, saying "She would just go off and [the rest of the band] would just kind of stand there." The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: "I was completely high on dope; I cannot remember much about it." She later criticized her behavior during that time, saying: "I [saw] pictures of how I looked. It's disgusting. I'm ashamed. There's death and there's disease and there's misery and there's giving up your soul ... The human spirit mixed with certain powders is not the person, it's [a] demonic presence."
Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by Carroll Baker's wardrobe in the film Baby Doll (1956). The style was later dubbed "kinderwhore" by the media, and consisted of babydoll dresses, slips and nightgowns, and smeared makeup. Kurt Loder likened her onstage attire to a "debauched ragdoll", and John Peel noted in his review of the band's 1994 Reading Festival performance, that "[Love], swaying wildly and with lipstick smeared on her face, hands and, I think, her back, as well as on the collar of her dress, ... would have drawn whistles of astonishment in Bedlam. The band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage." Rolling Stone referred to the style as "a slightly more politically charged version of grunge; apathy turned into ruinous angst, which soon became high fashion's favorite pose."
The band's set lists for live shows were often loose, featuring improvisational jams and rough performances of unreleased songs. By 1998, their live performances had become less aggressive and more restrained, although Love continued to bring fans onstage, and would often go into the crowd while singing.
Legacy
Hole was one of the most commercially successful female-fronted alternative rock bands in history, selling over 3 million records in the United States between 1991 and 2010. In spite of Love's often polarizing reputation in the media, Hole received consistent critical praise for their output, and was often noted for the predominant feminist commentary found in Love's lyrics, which scholars have credited as "articulating a third-wave feminist consciousness". Love's subversive onstage persona and public image coincided with the band's songs, which expressed "pain, sorrow, and anger, but [an] underlying message of survival, particularly survival in the face of overwhelming circumstances." Music journalist Maria Raha expressed a similar sentiment in regard to the band's significance to third-wave feminism, stating, "Whether you love Courtney [Love] or hate her, Hole was the highest-profile female-fronted band of the '90s to openly and directly sing about feminism."
While Rolling Stone compared the effect of Love's marriage to Cobain on the band to that of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, they noted that "Love's confrontational stage presence, as well as her gut-wrenching vocals and powerful punk-pop songcraft, made her an alternative-rock star in her own right." Author Nick Wise made a similar comparison in discussion of the band's public image, stating, "Not since Yoko Ono's marriage to John Lennon has a woman's personal life and exploits within the rock arena been so analyzed and dissected." The band has been cited as a major influence on several contemporary artists, including indie singer-songwriter Scout Niblett, Brody Dalle (of The Distillers and Spinnerette), Sky Ferreira, Lana Del Rey, Tove Lo, Tegan and Sara, and the British rock band Nine Black Alps. The band ranked at number 77 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists list.
Materials loss
In 2008 a fire swept through Universal Studios Hollywood destroying buildings belonging to Universal Music Group. It was confirmed, in 2019, that the entire Hole back catalogue, along with hundreds of other artists' music, was completely lost, meaning reissues and remasters are now unlikely. Courtney Love and the band were one of the artists suing UMG for the loss; however, on August 16, 2019, the band was removed from that lawsuit as it was amended "based on UMG's representations that none of Hole's original masters were destroyed (subject to confirmation)".
Members
Timeline
Discography
Pretty on the Inside (1991)
Live Through This (1994)
Celebrity Skin (1998)
Nobody's Daughter (2010)
Accolades
{| class="wikitable unsortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Nominated work(s)
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=4|Grammy Awards
| rowspan=3|1999
| Best Rock Album
| Celebrity Skin
|
|rowspan=3 style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Best Rock Song
| rowspan=2|"Celebrity Skin"
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
| 2000
| "Malibu"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=2|MTV Video Music Awards
| 1995
| Best Alternative Video
| "Doll Parts"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 1999
| Best Cinematography
| "Malibu"
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=3|NME Awards
| rowspan=3|1999
| Best Band
| Hole
|
|rowspan=3|
|-
| Best Album
| Celebrity Skin
|
|-
| Best Single
| "Celebrity Skin"
|
|-
! scope="row"|Spin Readers' Poll Awards
| 1994
| Album of the Year
| Live Through This
|
|style="text-align:center;"|
References
Sources
External links
Hole at Billboard
1989 establishments in California
2002 disestablishments in California
2009 establishments in California
2012 disestablishments in California
Alternative rock groups from California
American noise rock music groups
Punk rock groups from California
Musical groups established in 1989
Musical groups disestablished in 2002
Musical groups reestablished in 2009
Musical groups disestablished in 2012
Sympathy for the Record Industry artists
Caroline Records artists
DGC Records artists
Geffen Records artists
Sub Pop artists
Mercury Records artists
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical quartets
Feminist musicians
Third-wave feminism
Grunge musical groups
Courtney Love
Articles which contain graphical timelines
20th-century American guitarists
City Slang artists
Female-fronted musical groups | true | [
"\"What Else Is There?\" is the third single from the Norwegian duo Röyksopp's second album The Understanding. It features the vocals of Karin Dreijer from the Swedish electronica duo The Knife. The album was released in the UK with the help of Astralwerks.\n\nThe single was used in an O2 television advertisement in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia during 2008. It was also used in the 2006 film Cashback and the 2007 film, Meet Bill. Trentemøller's remix of \"What Else is There?\" was featured in an episode of the HBO show Entourage.\n\nThe song was covered by extreme metal band Enslaved as a bonus track for their album E.\n\nThe song was listed as the 375th best song of the 2000s by Pitchfork Media.\n\nOfficial versions\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Album Version) – 5:17\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Radio Edit) – 3:38\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Jacques Lu Cont Radio Mix) – 3:46\n\"What Else Is There?\" (The Emperor Machine Vocal Version) – 8:03\n\"What Else Is There?\" (The Emperor Machine Dub Version) – 7:51\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Thin White Duke Mix) – 8:25\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Thin White Duke Edit) – 4:50\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Thin White Duke Remix) (Radio Edit) – 3:06\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Trentemøller Remix) – 7:42\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Vitalic Remix) – 5:14\n\nResponse\nThe single was officially released on 5 December 2005 in the UK. The single had a limited release on 21 November 2005 to promote the upcoming album. On the UK Singles Chart, it peaked at number 32, while on the UK Dance Chart, it reached number one.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video was directed by Martin de Thurah. It features Norwegian model Marianne Schröder who is shown lip-syncing Dreijer's voice. Schröder is depicted as a floating woman traveling across stormy landscapes and within empty houses. Dreijer makes a cameo appearance as a woman wearing an Elizabethan ruff while dining alone at a festive table.\n\nMovie spots\n\nThe song is also featured in the movie Meet Bill as characters played by Jessica Alba and Aaron Eckhart smoke marijuana while listening to it. It is also part of the end credits music of the film Cashback.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2005 singles\nRöyksopp songs\nAstralwerks singles\nSongs written by Svein Berge\nSongs written by Torbjørn Brundtland\n2004 songs\nSongs written by Roger Greenaway\nSongs written by Olof Dreijer\nSongs written by Karin Dreijer",
"\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" is a 2010 science fiction/magical realism short story by American writer Harlan Ellison. It was first published in Realms of Fantasy.\n\nPlot summary\nA scientist creates a tiny man. The tiny man is initially very popular, but then draws the hatred of the world, and so the tiny man must flee, together with the scientist (who is now likewise hated, for having created the tiny man).\n\nReception\n\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, tied with Kij Johnson's \"Ponies\". It was Ellison's final Nebula nomination and win, of his record-setting eight nominations and three wins.\n\nTor.com calls the story \"deceptively simple\", with \"execution (that) is flawless\" and a \"Geppetto-like\" narrator, while Publishers Weekly describes it as \"memorably depict(ing) humanity's smallness of spirit\". The SF Site, however, felt it was \"contrived and less than profound\".\n\nNick Mamatas compared \"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" negatively to Ellison's other Nebula-winning short stories, and stated that the story's two mutually exclusive endings (in one, the tiny man is killed; in the other, he becomes God) are evocative of the process of writing short stories. Ben Peek considered it to be \"more allegory than (...) anything else\", and interpreted it as being about how the media \"give(s) everyone a voice\", and also about how Ellison was treated by science fiction fandom.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAudio version of ''How Interesting: A Tiny Man, at StarShipSofa\nHow Interesting: A Tiny Man, at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database\n\nNebula Award for Best Short Story-winning works\nShort stories by Harlan Ellison"
]
|
[
"Charlie Parker",
"Death"
]
| C_95ca5aa2b05d42648743fe4590bee079_0 | When did Charlie Parker die? | 1 | When did Charlie Parker die? | Charlie Parker | Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patroness Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age. Since 1950, Parker had been living with Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died as an infant of cystic fibrosis). He considered Chan his wife although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City. Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road. Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management. CANNOTANSWER | Parker died on March 12, 1955, | Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies. Parker was an extremely fast virtuoso and introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. Primarily a player of the alto saxophone, Parker's tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. He was known for the very clear, sweet and articulate note he could produce from the saxophone.
Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career on the road with Jay McShann. This, and the shortened form "Bird", continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise". Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer.
Biography
Childhood
Charlie Parker Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas, at 852 Freeman Avenue, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, near Westport and later – in high school – near 15th and Olive Street. He was the only child of Charles Parker and Adelaide "Addie" Bailey, who was of mixed Choctaw and African-American background. He attended Lincoln High School in September 1934, but withdrew in December 1935, just before joining the local musicians' union and choosing to pursue his musical career full-time. His childhood sweetheart and future wife, Rebecca Ruffin, graduated from Lincoln High School in June 1935.
Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 he joined his high school band where he studied under Bandmaster Alonzo Lewis. His mother purchased a new alto saxophone around the same time. His father, Charles Sr., was often required to travel for work, but provided some musical influence because he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) circuit. He later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. Parker's mother Addie worked nights at the local Western Union office. His biggest influence at that time was a young trombone player named Robert Simpson, who taught him the basics of improvisation.
Early career
In the mid-1930s, Parker began to practice diligently. During this period he mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas that led to the later development of Bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, Parker said that he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day.
Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten certainly influenced Parker. He played with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time influenced Parker's developing style.
In late spring 1936, Parker played at a jam session at the Reno Club in Kansas City. His attempt to improvise failed when he lost track of the chord changes. This prompted Jo Jones, the drummer for Count Basie's Orchestra, to contemptuously take a cymbal off of his drum set and throw it at his feet as a signal to leave the stage. However, rather than discouraging Parker, the incident caused him to vow to practice harder, and turned out to be a seminal moment in the young musician's career when he returned as a new man a year later. Parker proposed to his wife, Rebecca Ruffin, the same year and the two were married on July 25, 1936. In the fall of 1936, Parker traveled with a band from Kansas City to the Ozarks for the opening of Clarence Musser's Tavern south of Eldon, Missouri. Along the way, the caravan of musicians had a car accident and Parker broke three ribs and fractured his spine. The accident led to Parker's ultimate troubles with painkillers and opioids, especially heroin. Parker struggled with drug use for the rest of his life.
Despite his near-death experience on the way to the Ozarks in 1936, Parker returned to the area in 1937 where he spent some serious time woodshedding and developing his sound. In 1938 Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band. The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann's band.
New York City
In 1939 Parker moved to New York City, to pursue a career in music. He held several other jobs as well. He worked for nine dollars a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack, where pianist Art Tatum performed. It was in 1939 in New York that Parker had his musical breakthrough that had begun in 1937 in the Missouri Ozarks. Playing through the changes on the song "Cherokee", Parker discovered a new musical vocabulary and sound that shifted the course of music history.
In 1940, he returned to Kansas City to perform with Jay McShann and to attend the funeral of his father, Charles Sr. He played Fairyland Park in the summer with McShann's band at 75th and Prospect for all-white audiences. The up-side of the summer was his introduction to Dizzy Gillespie by Step Buddy Anderson near 19th and Vine in the summer of 1940. After the summer season at Fairyland, Parker left with McShann's band for gigs in the region. On a trip to Omaha he earned his nickname from McShann and the band after an incident with a chicken and the tour bus.
In 1942 Parker left McShann's band and played for one year with Earl Hines, whose band included Dizzy Gillespie, who later played with Parker as a duo. This period is virtually undocumented, due to the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which time few professional recordings were made. Parker joined a group of young musicians, and played in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House. These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke. According to Mary Lou Williams, the group was formed in order "to challenge the practice of downtown musicians coming uptown and 'stealing' the music." She recalled: "Monk and some of the cleverest of the young musicians used to complain: 'We'll never get credit for what we're doing.' They had reason to say it... In the music business the going is tough for original talent. Everybody is being exploited through paid-for publicity and most anybody can become a great name if he can afford enough of it. In the end the public believes what it reads. So it is often difficult for the real talent to break through... Anyway, Monk said: 'We're going to get a big band started. We're going to create something they can't steal, because they can't play it.'"
Bebop
One night in 1939, Parker was playing "Cherokee" in a practice session with guitarist William "Biddy" Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musical innovations. He realized that the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing. He recalled: "I was jamming in a chili house on Seventh Avenue between 139th and 140th. It was December 1939. Now I'd been getting bored with the stereotyped changes that were being used all the time at the time, and I kept thinking there's bound to be something else. I could hear it sometimes but I couldn't play it ... Well, that night I was working over 'Cherokee' and, as I did, I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes, I could play the thing I'd been hearing. I came alive."
Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians who disdained their younger counterparts. The beboppers responded by calling these traditionalists "moldy figs". However, some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Tatum, were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.
Because of the two-year Musicians' Union ban of all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944, much of bebop's early development was not captured for posterity. As a result, it gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. (One of their first small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945.) Bebop soon gained wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.
On November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever". Recording as Charlie Parker's Reboppers, Parker enlisted such sidemen as Gillespie and Miles Davis on trumpet, Curley Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko", "Billie's Bounce", and "Now's the Time".
In December 1945, the Parker band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. He experienced great hardship in California, and was briefly jailed after setting the bed sheets of his Los Angeles hotel room on fire and then running naked through the lobby while intoxicated, after which he was committed to the Camarillo State Mental Hospital for six months.
When Parker received his discharge from the hospital, he was clean and healthy. Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo" in reference to his stay in the mental hospital. However, when he returned to New York he resumed his heroin usage. During this time he still managed to record dozens of sides for the Savoy and Dial labels, which remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classic quintet" including Davis and Roach.
In 1952, Parker and Gillespie released an album entitled Bird and Diz.
Charlie Parker with Strings
A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, and contemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky and longed to engage in a project akin to what later became known as Third Stream, a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz and classical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards. On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians. Six master takes from this session became the album Charlie Parker with Strings: "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You".
Jazz at Massey Hall
In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Powell and Roach. Unfortunately, the concert happened at the same time as a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott, so the musical event was poorly attended. Mingus recorded the concert, resulting in the album Jazz at Massey Hall. At this concert, Parker played a plastic Grafton saxophone.
Death
Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.
Since 1950, Parker had been living in New York City with his common-law wife, Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died at age 3). He considered Chan his wife, although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City.
Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road.
Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management.
Some amount of controversy continued after Parker's burial in the Kansas City area. His tomb was engraved with the image of a tenor saxophone, though Parker is primarily associated with the alto saxophone. Later, some people wanted to move Parker's remains to reinforce redevelopment of the historic 18th and Vine area.
Personal life
Parker's life was riddled with mental health problems and an addiction to heroin. Although unclear which came first, his addiction to opiates began at the age of 16, when he was injured in a car crash and a doctor prescribed morphine for the pain. The addiction that stemmed from this incident led him to miss performances, and to be considered unreliable. In the jazz scene heroin use was prevalent, and the substance could be acquired with little difficulty.
Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic. Heroin was difficult to obtain once he moved to California, where the drug was less abundant, so he used alcohol as a substitute. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Before this session, Parker drank a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1, Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track "Max Making Wax". When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, away from his microphone. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer Ross Russell physically supported Parker. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars; on his second eight bars, however, he begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at him. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings, despite its flaws. Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing it. He re-recorded the tune in 1951 for Verve.
Parker's life took a turn for the worse in March 1954 when his three-year-old daughter Pree died of cystic fibrosis and pneumonia. He attempted suicide twice in 1954, which once again landed him in a mental hospital.
Artistry
Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over existing jazz forms and standards, a practice known as contrafact and still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" (which borrows the chord progression of jazz standard "How High the Moon" and is said to be co-written with trumpet player Little Benny Harris), and "Moose The Mooche" (one of many Parker compositions based on the chord progression of "I Got Rhythm"). The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop, but it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and toward composing their own material. Perhaps Parker's most well-known contrafact is "Koko," which is based on the chord changes of the popular bebop tune "Cherokee," written by Ray Noble.
While tunes such as "Now's The Time", "Billie's Bounce", "Au Privave", "Barbados", "Relaxin' at Camarillo", "Bloomdido", and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional 12-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for tunes such as "Blues for Alice", "Laird Baird", and "Si Si." These unique chords are known popularly as "Bird Changes". Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition, although he did employ the use of repetition in some tunes, most notably "Now's The Time".
Parker contributed greatly to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists previously avoided. Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Through his recordings and the popularity of the posthumously published Charlie Parker Omnibook, Parker's identifiable style dominated jazz for many years to come.
Other well-known Parker compositions include "Ah-Leu-Cha", "Anthropology", co-written with Gillespie, "Confirmation", "Constellation", "Moose the Mooche", "Scrapple from the Apple" and "Yardbird Suite", the vocal version of which is called "What Price Love", with lyrics by Parker.
Miles Davis once said, "You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker".
Discography
Recognition
Awards
Grammy Award
Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance".
Inductions
Government honors
In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 32-cent commemorative postage stamp in Parker's honor.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.
Charlie Parker residence
From 1950 to 1954, Parker lived with Chan Berg on the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, across from Tompkins Square Park on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Gothic Revival building, which was built about 1849, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and was designated a New York City landmark in 1999. Avenue B between East 7th and East 10th Streets was given the honorary designation "Charlie Parker Place" in 1992.
Musical tributes
Jack Kerouac's spoken poem "Charlie Parker" to backing piano by Steve Allen on Poetry for the Beat Generation (1959)
In 2014, saxophonist and bandleader Aaron Johnson produced historically accurate recreations of the Charlie Parker with Strings albums.
Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death.
American composer Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory; published on the 1969 album Moondog.
Since 1972, the Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone section.
In 1973, guitarist Joe Pass released his album I Remember Charlie Parker in Parker's honor.
Weather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the Heavy Weather album (1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itself.
The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album Pretzel Logic.
Avant-garde jazz trombonist George E. Lewis recorded Homage to Charles Parker (1979).
The opera Charlie Parker's Yardbird by Daniel Schnyder, libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly, was premiered by Opera Philadelphia on June 5, 2015, with Lawrence Brownlee in the title role.
The name of British 1960s blues-rock band The Yardbirds was at least partially inspired by Parker's nickname.
Charles Mingus' song "Reincarnation of a Lovebird"
In 1993, Anthony Braxton recorded a 2-CD album titled Charlie Parker Project, released in 1995. This material was re-released in 2018 as part of an 11-CD set titled Sextet (Parker) 1993.
Other tributes
In 1949, the New York night club Birdland was named in his honor. Three years later, George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland", named for both Parker and the nightclub.
The 1957 short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin features a jazz/blues playing virtuoso who names Bird as the "greatest" jazz musician, whose style he hopes to emulate.
In 1959, Jack Kerouac completed his only full-length poetry work, Mexico City Blues, with two poems about Parker's importance, writing in those works that Parker's contribution to music was comparable to Ludwig van Beethoven's.
The 1959 Beat comedy album How to Speak Hip, by comedians Del Close and John Brent, lists the three top most "uncool" actions (both in the audio and in the liner notes) as follows: "It is uncool to claim that you used to room with Bird. It is uncool to claim that you have Bird's axe. It is even less cool to ask 'Who is Bird?'"
A memorial to Parker was dedicated in 1999 in Kansas City at 17th Terrace and The Paseo, near the American Jazz Museum located at 18th and Vine, featuring a tall bronze head sculpted by Robert Graham.
The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free two-day music festival that takes place every summer on the last weekend of August in Manhattan, New York City, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and Tompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side, sponsored by the non-profit organization City Parks Foundation.
The Annual Charlie Parker Celebration is an annual festival held in Kansas City, Kansas since 2014. It is held for 10 days and celebrates all aspects of Parker, from live jazz music and bootcamps, to tours of his haunts in the city, to exhibits at the American Jazz Museum.
In the short-story collection Las armas secretas (The Secret Weapons), Julio Cortázar dedicated "El perseguidor" ("The Pursuer") to Charlie Parker. This story examines the last days of a drug-addicted saxophonist through the eyes of his biographer.
In 1981, jazz historian Phil Schaap began to host Bird Flight, a radio show on WKCR New York dedicated entirely to Parker's music. The program continues to be broadcast on WKCR in 2022.
In 1984, modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey created the piece For Bird – With Love in honor of Parker. The piece chronicles his life from his early career to his failing health.
A biographical film called Bird, starring Forest Whitaker as Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1988.
In 1999 the Spanish metal band Saratoga created the song Charlie se Fue in honor of Charlie Parker, for the album Vientos de Guerra.
In 2005, the Selmer Paris saxophone manufacturer commissioned a special "Tribute to Bird" alto saxophone, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Parker's death (1955–2005).
Parker's performances of "I Remember You" (recorded for Clef Records in 1953, with the Charlie Parker Quartet, comprising Parker on alto sax, Al Haig on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Max Roach on drums) and "Parker's Mood" (recorded for the Savoy label in 1948, with the Charlie Parker All Stars, comprising Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, John Lewis on piano, Curley Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums) were selected by literary critic Harold Bloom for inclusion on his shortlist of the "twentieth-century American Sublime", the greatest works of American art produced in the 20th century. A vocalese version of "Parker's Mood" was a popular success for King Pleasure.
Jean-Michel Basquiat created many paintings to honor Charlie Parker, including Charles the First, CPRKR, Bird on Money, Bird of Paradise, and Discography I.
Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, wrote a children's book entitled Ode to a High Flying Bird as a tribute to Parker. Watts has cited Parker as a large influence on his life when he was a boy learning jazz.
The 2014 film Whiplash repeatedly refers to the 1937 incident at the Reno Club, changing the aim point of the cymbals to his head and pointing to it as evidence that genius is not born but made by relentless practice and pitiless peers.
Citations
References
Bibliography
Further reading
Aebersold, Jamey, editor (1978). Charlie Parker Omnibook. New York: Michael H. Goldsen.
Koch, Lawrence (1999). Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Boston, Northeastern University Press.
Parker, Chan (1999). My Life In E-Flat. University Of South Carolina Press.
Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books.
Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). Yardbird Originals. New York: Charles Colin, reprinted 2005.
External links
The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
Charlie Parker discography at Discogs
Charlie Parker discography
Charlie Parker Sessionography
Clips and notes about Parker
Bird Lives – Thinking About Charlie Parker
1920 births
1955 deaths
20th-century African-American musicians
20th-century American composers
20th-century atheists
20th-century jazz composers
20th-century saxophonists
African-American atheists
African-American jazz composers
African-American jazz musicians
African Americans in New York City
American atheists
American male jazz composers
American jazz composers
American male saxophonists
Bebop saxophonists
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state)
Jazz alto saxophonists
Jazz musicians from Missouri
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri
Musicians from New York City
People from Manhattan
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Verve Records artists
Alcohol-related deaths in New York (state)
Deaths from ulcers
Sonet Records artists
20th-century American male musicians | true | [
"This is a list of recordings by American jazz alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. Parker primarily recorded for three labels: Savoy, Dial, and Verve. His work with these labels has been chronicled in box sets. Charlie Parker's Savoy and Dial Sessions have been issued on The Complete Savoy Sessions, Charlie Parker on Dial and Complete Charlie Parker on Dial and The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes. His Verve recordings are available on Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve and The Complete Verve Master Takes.\n\nThe listing below is in the form of a sessionography as opposed to a discography. Although organized chronologically the release titles listed refer to compilations of Parker material appearing decades after the recording sessions. In general they do not refer to records in the formats actually issued during Parker's lifetime, so with a few exceptions technically they should all come under the heading of compilations. For instance, no record label in 1944 would have issued an album of 78s entitled The Immortal Charlie Parker to describe a relative unknown at that time, and in 1948 there would never have been a record entitled Newly Discovered Sides by Charlie Parker as if an unearthed archeological artifact - anything by Bird in 1948 would have been fairly new. It is also worth noting that a significant proportion of the listings outside of the live list are in fact live recordings.\n\nSavoy\n1944\nThe Immortal Charlie Parker\nBird: Master Takes\nEncores\n1945\nDizzy Gillespie - Groovin' High\nThe Genius of Charlie Parker\nThe Charlie Parker Story\nCharlie Parker Memorial, Vol. 2\n1947\nCharlie Parker Memorial, Vol. 1\n1948\nBird At The Roost, Vol. 1\nNewly Discovered Sides By Charlie Parker\nThe 'Bird' Returns\n1949\nBird At The Roost, Vol. 2\nBird At The Roost\n1950\nAn Evening At Home With Charlie Parker Sextet\n\nDial\n1945\nRed Norvo's Fabulous Jam Session\n1946\nAlternate Masters, Vol. 2\n1947\nThe Bird Blows The Blues\nCool Blues c/w Bird's Nest\nAlternate Masters, Vol. 1\nCrazeology c/w Crazeology, II: 3 Ways Of Playing A Chorus\nCharlie Parker, Vol. 4\n\nVerve\n1946\nJazz At The Philharmonic, Vol. 2\nJazz At The Philharmonic, Vol. 4\n1948\nVarious Artists - Potpourri Of Jazz\nThe Charlie Parker Story, #1\n1949\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #7 - Jazz Perennial\nJazz At The Philharmonic, Vol. 7\nJazz At The Philharmonic - The Ella Fitzgerald Set\nThe Complete Charlie Parker On Verve - Bird\n1950\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #4 - Bird And Diz (released on Verve's subsidiary label Clef)\nThe Charlie Parker Story, #3\n1951\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #8 - Swedish Schnapps\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #6 - Fiesta\n1952\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #3 - Now's The Time\n1953\nThe Quartet Of Charlie Parker\n1954\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #5 - Charlie Parker Plays Cole Porter (released posthumously)\n1957\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #1 - night and day - Verve MGV-8003- mono (released posthumously)\n\nCompilations\n1940\nBird's Eyes, Vol. 1 (Philology)\nCharlie Parker With Jay McShann And His Orchestra - Early Bird (Stash)\nJay McShann Orchestra Featuring Charlie Parker - Early Bird (Spotlight)\n1941\nJay McShann - The Early Bird Charlie Parker, 1941-1943: Jazz Heritage Series (MCA)\nThe Complete Birth Of The Bebop (Stash)\n1943\nBirth Of The Bebop: Bird On Tenor 1943 (Stash)\n1945\nEvery Bit Of It 1945 (Spotlight)\nCharlie Parker, Vol. 3 Young Bird 1945 (Masters of Jazz)\nDizzy Gillespie - In The Beginning (Prestige)\nBird's Eyes, Vol. 17 (Philology)\nCharlie Parker On Dial, Vol. 5 (Spotlight)\nRed Norvo's Fabulous Jam Session (Spotlight)\nDizzy Gillespie/Charlie Parker - Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945 (Uptown Records)\nBird's Eyes, Vol. 4 (Philology)\nYardbird In Lotus Land (Spotlight)\n1946\nRappin' With Bird (Meexa)\nJazz At The Philharmonic - How High The Moon (Mercury)\nCharlie Parker On Dial, Vol. 1 (Spotlight)\n1947\nThe Legendary Dial Masters, Vol. 2 (Stash)\nVarious Artists - Lullaby In Rhythm (Spotlight)\nCharlie Parker On Dial, Vol. 2 (Spotlight)\nCharlie Parker On Dial, Vol. 3 (Spotlight)\nCharlie Parker On Dial, Vol. 4 (Spotlight)\nVarious Artists - Anthropology (Spotlight)\nAllen Eager - In The Land Of Oo-Bla-Dee 1947-1953 (Uptown)\nCharlie Parker On Dial, Vol. 6 (Spotlight)\nVarious Artists The Jazz Scene (Clef)\n1948\nGene Roland Band Featuring Charlie Parker - The Band That Never Was (Spotlight)\nBird's Eyes, Vol. 6 (Philology)\nBird on 52nd St. (Jazz Workshop)\nCharlie Parker (Prestige)\nCharlie Parker - Live Performances (ESP)\nCharlie Parker On The Air, Vol. 1 (Everest)\n1949\nCharlie Parker - Broadcast Performances, Vol. 2 (ESP)\nThe Metronome All Stars - From Swing To Be-Bop (RCA Camden)\nJazz At The Philharmonic - J.A.T.P. At Carnegie Hall 1949 (Pablo)\nRara Avis Avis, Rare Bird (Stash)\nVarious Artists - Alto Saxes (Norgran)\nBird On The Road (Jazz Showcase)\nCharlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie - Bird And Diz (Universal (Japan))\nCharlie Parker - Bird In Paris (Bird in Paris)\nCharlie Parker In France 1949 (Jazz O.P. (France))\nCharlie Parker - Bird Box, Vol. 2 (Jazz Up (Italy))\nBird's Eyes, Vol. 5 (Philology)\nCharlie Parker with Strings (Clef)\nBird's Eyes, Vol. 2 (Philology)\nBird's Eyes, Vol. 3 (Philology)\nDance Of The Infidels (S.C.A.M.)\n1950 \nCharlie Parker Live Birdland 1950 (EPM Musique (F) FDC 5710)\nCharlie Parker - Bird at St. Nick's (Jazz Workshop JWS 500)\nCharlie Parker At The Apollo Theater And St. Nick's Arena (Zim ZM 1007)\nCharlie Parker - Bird's Eyes, Vol. 15 (Philology (It) W 845-2)\nCharlie Parker - Fats Navarro - Bud Powell (Ozone 4)\nCharlie Parker - One Night In Birdland (Columbia JG 34808)\nCharlie Parker - Bud Powell - Fats Navarro (Ozone 9)\nCharlie Parker - Just Friends (S.C.A.M. JPG 4)\nCharlie Parker - Apartment Jam Sessions (Zim ZM 1006)\nV.A. - Our Best (Clef MGC 639)\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #4 - Bird And Diz (Verve MGV 8006)\nThe Persuasively Coherent Miles Davis (Alto AL 701)\nCharlie Parker - Ultimate Bird 1949-50 (Grotto 495)\nCharlie Parker - Ballads And Birdland (Klacto (E) MG 101)\nCharlie Parker Big Band (Mercury MGC 609)\nCharlie Parker - Parker Plus Strings (Charlie Parker PLP 513)\nCharlie Parker - Bird With Strings Live At The Apollo, Carnegie Hall And Birdland (Columbia JC 34832)\nCharlie Parker - The Bird You Never Heard (Stash STCD 10)\nNorman Granz Jazz Concert (Norgran MGN 3501-2)\nCharlie Parker At The Pershing Ballroom Chicago 1950 (Zim ZM 1003)\nThe Charlie Parker Story, #3 (Verve MGV 8002)\nCharlie Parker - Bird In Sweden (Spotlite (E) SPJ 124/25)\nCharlie Parker - More Unissued, Vol. 2 (Royal Jazz (D) RJD 506)\nMachito - Afro-Cuban Jazz (Clef MGC 689)\nAn Evening At Home With Charlie Parker Sextet (Savoy MG 12152)\n1951 \nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #8 - Swedish Schnapps (Verve MGV 8010)\nThe Magnificent Charlie Parker (Clef MGC 646)\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #6 - Fiesta (Verve MGV 8008)\nCharlie Parker - Summit Meeting At Birdland (Columbia JC 34831)\nCharlie Parker - Bird Meets Birks (Klacto (E) MG 102)\nCharlie Parker - The Happy \"Bird\" (Charlie Parker PLP 404)\nCharlie Parker Live Boston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn 1951 (EPM Musique (F) FDC 5711)\nCharlie Parker - Bird With The Herd 1951 (Alamac QSR 2442)\nCharlie Parker - More Unissued, Vol. 1 (Royal Jazz (D) RJD 505)\n1952\nCharlie Parker - New Bird, Vol. 2 (Phoenix LP 12)\nCharlie Parker/Sonny Criss/Chet Baker - Inglewood Jam 6-16-'52 (Jazz Chronicles JCS 102)\nNorman Granz' Jam Session, #1 (Clef MGC 601)\nNorman Granz' Jam Session, #2 (Clef MGC 602)\nCharlie Parker Live At Rockland Palace (Charlie Parker PLP 502)\nCharlie Parker - Cheers (S.C.A.M. JPG 2)\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #3 - Now's The Time (Verve MGV 8005)\n1953\nMiles Davis - Collectors' Items (Prestige PRLP 7044, released posthumously in 1956)\nCharlie Parker - Montreal 1953 (Uptown UP 27.36)\nCharlie Parker/Miles Davis/Dizzy Gillespie - Bird With Miles And Dizzy (Queen Disc (It) Q-002)\nCharlie Parker - One Night In Washington (Elektra/Musician E1 60019)\nCharlie Parker - Yardbird-DC-53 (VGM 0009)\nCharlie Parker At Storyville (Blue Note BT 85108)\nCharlie Parker - Star Eyes (Klacto (E) MG 100)\nCharles Mingus - The Complete Debut Recordings (Debut 12DCD 4402-2)\nThe Quintet - Jazz At Massey Hall, Vol. 1 (Debut DLP 2)\nThe Quintet - Jazz At Massey Hall (Debut DEB 124)\nCharlie Parker - Bird Meets Birks (Mark Gardner (E) MG 102)\nBud Powell - Summer Broadcasts 1953 (ESP-Disk' ESP 3023)\nCharlie Parker - New Bird: Hi Hat Broadcasts 1953 (Phoenix LP 10)\nThe Quartet Of Charlie Parker (Verve 825 671-2)\n1954\nHi-Hat All Stars, Guest Artists, Charlie Parker (Fresh Sound (Sp) FSR 303)\nCharlie Parker - Kenton And Bird (Jazz Supreme JS 703)\nThe Genius Of Charlie Parker, #5 - Charlie Parker Plays Cole Porter (Verve MGV 8007)\nCharlie Parker - Miles Davis - Lee Konitz (Ozone 2)\nV.A. - Echoes Of An Era: The Birdland All Stars Live At Carnegie Hall (Roulette RE 127)\n\nLive\n\nLive at Townhall w. Dizzy (1945)\nYardbird in Lotus Land (1945)\nBird and Pres (1946) (Verve)\nJazz at the Philharmonic (1946) (Polygram)\nRapping with Bird (1946-1951)\nDiz 'N Bird at Carnegie Hall (1947) (Blue Note)\nThe Complete Savoy Live Performances (1947–1950)\nBird on 52nd Street (1948) (Jazz Workshop)\nThe Complete Dean Benedetti Recordings (1948–1951) (7 cds)\nJazz at the Philharmonic (1949) (Verve)\nCharlie Parker and the Stars of Modern Jazz at Carnegie Hall (1949) (Jass)\nBird in Paris (1949)\nBird in France (1949)\nCharlie Parker All Stars Live at the Royal Roost (1949)\nOne Night in Birdland (1950) (Columbia)\nBird at St. Nick's (1950) (Jazz Workshop)\nBird at the Apollo Theatre and St. Nicklas Arena (1950)\nApartment Jam Sessions (1950)\nCharlie Parker at the Pershing Ballroom Chicago 1950 (1950)\nBird in Sweden (1950) (Storyville)\nHappy Bird (1951)\nSummit Meeting at Birdland (1951) (Columbia)\nLive at Rockland Palace (1952)\nBoston - 1952 (1952) (Uptown Records)\nJam Session (1952) (Polygram)\nAt Jirayr Zorthian's Ranch, July 14, 1952 (1952) (Rare Live Recordings)\nThe Complete Legendary Rockland Palace Concert (1952)\nCharlie Parker: Montreal 1953 (1953)\nOne Night in Washington (1953) (VGM)\nBird at the High Hat (1953) (Blue Note)\nCharlie Parker at Storyville (1953)\nJazz at Massey Hall aka The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever (1953)\n\nAs sideman\nWith Dizzy Gillespie\nThe Complete RCA Victor Recordings (Bluebird, 1937-1949 [1995])\n\nIncomplete list of compositions\n\nThe following is an incomplete list of compositions written by Charlie Parker:\n\"Ah-Leu-Cha\"\n\"Air Conditioning (Drifting On A Reed)\"\n\"Another Hairdo\"\n\"Anthropology\" (AKA \"Thriving from a Riff\")\n\"Au Privave\"\n\"An Oscar for Treadwell\"\n\"Back Home Blues\"\n\"Ballade\"\n\"Barbados\"\n\"Billie's Bounce\"\n\"Bird Feathers\"\n\"Bird Gets the Worm\"\n\"Bird of Paradise\"\n\"Bloomdido\"\n\"Blue Bird\"\n\"Blues (Fast)\"\n\"Blues for Alice\"\n\"Buzzy\"\n\"Card Board\"\n\"Celebrity\"\n\"Chasing the Bird\"\n\"Cheryl\"\n\"Chi Chi\"\n\"Confirmation\"\n\"Constellation\"\n\"Cool Blues\"\n\"Cosmic Rays\"\n\"Dewey Square\"\n\"Dexterity\"\n\"Diverse\"\n\"Donna Lee\" (Miles Davis also claimed authorship)\n\"Kim\"\n\"K.C. Blues\"\n\"Klaun Stance\"\n\"Ko-Ko\"\n\"Laird Baird\"\n\"Leap Frog\"\n\"Marmaduke\"\n\"Merry-Go-Round\"\n\"Moose the Mooche\"\n\"Mohawk\"\n\"My Little Suede Shoes\"\n\"Now’s the Time\"\n\"Ornithology\"\n\"Parker's Mood\"\n\"Passport\"\n\"Perhaps\"\n\"Quasimodo\"\n\"Red Cross\"\n\"Relaxin' at Camarillo\"\n\"Relaxing with Lee\"\n\"Scrapple from the Apple\"\n\"Segment\"\n\"Shawnuff\" (with Dizzy Gillespie)\n\"She Rote\"\n\"Si Si\"\n\"Steeplechase\"\n\"The Bird\"\n\"Visa\"\n\"Warming Up a Riff\"\n\"Yardbird Suite\"\n\nExternal links\n Charlie Parker CD Discography\n Charlie Parker - JazzDiscography Project\n Discogs\n\nJazz discographies\nDiscography\nDiscographies of American artists",
"Chan Woods (born Beverly Delores Berg, also known as Chan Richardson; 29 June 1925 – 9 September 1999), was a common-law wife of jazz musician Charlie Parker; she later married musician Phil Woods.\n\nShe was born in New York City to an inter-religious couple; her father, a producer of vaudeville shows, was Jewish, while her mother, a dancer in Florenz Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic, was not. Adopting the name \"Chan Richardson,\" Parker became a nightclub dancer. An early jazz enthusiast, she was romantically connected in the 1940s and early 1950s with jazz musicians Johnny Bothwell and later Don Lanphere.\n\nChan met Charlie Parker in the 1940s, but their friendship did not become romantic until around 1950. Chan and Charlie lived together in a common law relationship on New York's Lower East Side for the last five years of Charlie's life, from 1950 to 1955, although Charlie had not formally terminated a prior marriage. Chan already had one child, her daughter Kim, at the time they established their household; together, Chan and Charlie had had two more children, Blair and Pree. Although they never legally wed, Chan took Charlie's surname, as did all the children.Their relationship was dealt a severe blow with the 1953 death from cystic fibrosis of their 2-1/2 year old daughter, Pree.\n\nLater years and death\nCharlie Parker died just a year and a week after their daughter, in 1955, not long before he would have turned 35. \nTwo years after Parker's death, Chan married saxophonist Phil Woods and moved to France, where she spent much of the rest of her life. From this marriage, she had another daughter, Aimée Francesca Woods (1961-1993). In 1981, Chan helped write and edit a book of photographs of Charlie Parker entitled To Bird with Love and later authored an autobiographical memoir, My Life in E-Flat. The second book was published in 1999, the year of her death from cancer, aged 74, in Étampes, France.\n\nJust before her death, Chan was interviewed by Ken Burns, and she is seen posthumously in Burns' 2001 documentary Jazz.\n\nChan Parker was the mother of jazz vocalist Kim Parker (b 1947).\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\"Bird Lives\" website\n\n1925 births\n1999 deaths\nAmerican expatriates in France\nCharlie Parker"
]
|
[
"Charlie Parker",
"Death",
"When did Charlie Parker die?",
"Parker died on March 12, 1955,"
]
| C_95ca5aa2b05d42648743fe4590bee079_0 | What did he die from? | 2 | What did Charlie Parker die from? | Charlie Parker | Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patroness Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age. Since 1950, Parker had been living with Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died as an infant of cystic fibrosis). He considered Chan his wife although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City. Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road. Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management. CANNOTANSWER | The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. | Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies. Parker was an extremely fast virtuoso and introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. Primarily a player of the alto saxophone, Parker's tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. He was known for the very clear, sweet and articulate note he could produce from the saxophone.
Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career on the road with Jay McShann. This, and the shortened form "Bird", continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise". Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer.
Biography
Childhood
Charlie Parker Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas, at 852 Freeman Avenue, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, near Westport and later – in high school – near 15th and Olive Street. He was the only child of Charles Parker and Adelaide "Addie" Bailey, who was of mixed Choctaw and African-American background. He attended Lincoln High School in September 1934, but withdrew in December 1935, just before joining the local musicians' union and choosing to pursue his musical career full-time. His childhood sweetheart and future wife, Rebecca Ruffin, graduated from Lincoln High School in June 1935.
Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 he joined his high school band where he studied under Bandmaster Alonzo Lewis. His mother purchased a new alto saxophone around the same time. His father, Charles Sr., was often required to travel for work, but provided some musical influence because he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) circuit. He later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. Parker's mother Addie worked nights at the local Western Union office. His biggest influence at that time was a young trombone player named Robert Simpson, who taught him the basics of improvisation.
Early career
In the mid-1930s, Parker began to practice diligently. During this period he mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas that led to the later development of Bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, Parker said that he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day.
Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten certainly influenced Parker. He played with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time influenced Parker's developing style.
In late spring 1936, Parker played at a jam session at the Reno Club in Kansas City. His attempt to improvise failed when he lost track of the chord changes. This prompted Jo Jones, the drummer for Count Basie's Orchestra, to contemptuously take a cymbal off of his drum set and throw it at his feet as a signal to leave the stage. However, rather than discouraging Parker, the incident caused him to vow to practice harder, and turned out to be a seminal moment in the young musician's career when he returned as a new man a year later. Parker proposed to his wife, Rebecca Ruffin, the same year and the two were married on July 25, 1936. In the fall of 1936, Parker traveled with a band from Kansas City to the Ozarks for the opening of Clarence Musser's Tavern south of Eldon, Missouri. Along the way, the caravan of musicians had a car accident and Parker broke three ribs and fractured his spine. The accident led to Parker's ultimate troubles with painkillers and opioids, especially heroin. Parker struggled with drug use for the rest of his life.
Despite his near-death experience on the way to the Ozarks in 1936, Parker returned to the area in 1937 where he spent some serious time woodshedding and developing his sound. In 1938 Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band. The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann's band.
New York City
In 1939 Parker moved to New York City, to pursue a career in music. He held several other jobs as well. He worked for nine dollars a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack, where pianist Art Tatum performed. It was in 1939 in New York that Parker had his musical breakthrough that had begun in 1937 in the Missouri Ozarks. Playing through the changes on the song "Cherokee", Parker discovered a new musical vocabulary and sound that shifted the course of music history.
In 1940, he returned to Kansas City to perform with Jay McShann and to attend the funeral of his father, Charles Sr. He played Fairyland Park in the summer with McShann's band at 75th and Prospect for all-white audiences. The up-side of the summer was his introduction to Dizzy Gillespie by Step Buddy Anderson near 19th and Vine in the summer of 1940. After the summer season at Fairyland, Parker left with McShann's band for gigs in the region. On a trip to Omaha he earned his nickname from McShann and the band after an incident with a chicken and the tour bus.
In 1942 Parker left McShann's band and played for one year with Earl Hines, whose band included Dizzy Gillespie, who later played with Parker as a duo. This period is virtually undocumented, due to the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which time few professional recordings were made. Parker joined a group of young musicians, and played in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House. These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke. According to Mary Lou Williams, the group was formed in order "to challenge the practice of downtown musicians coming uptown and 'stealing' the music." She recalled: "Monk and some of the cleverest of the young musicians used to complain: 'We'll never get credit for what we're doing.' They had reason to say it... In the music business the going is tough for original talent. Everybody is being exploited through paid-for publicity and most anybody can become a great name if he can afford enough of it. In the end the public believes what it reads. So it is often difficult for the real talent to break through... Anyway, Monk said: 'We're going to get a big band started. We're going to create something they can't steal, because they can't play it.'"
Bebop
One night in 1939, Parker was playing "Cherokee" in a practice session with guitarist William "Biddy" Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musical innovations. He realized that the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing. He recalled: "I was jamming in a chili house on Seventh Avenue between 139th and 140th. It was December 1939. Now I'd been getting bored with the stereotyped changes that were being used all the time at the time, and I kept thinking there's bound to be something else. I could hear it sometimes but I couldn't play it ... Well, that night I was working over 'Cherokee' and, as I did, I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes, I could play the thing I'd been hearing. I came alive."
Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians who disdained their younger counterparts. The beboppers responded by calling these traditionalists "moldy figs". However, some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Tatum, were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.
Because of the two-year Musicians' Union ban of all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944, much of bebop's early development was not captured for posterity. As a result, it gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. (One of their first small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945.) Bebop soon gained wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.
On November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever". Recording as Charlie Parker's Reboppers, Parker enlisted such sidemen as Gillespie and Miles Davis on trumpet, Curley Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko", "Billie's Bounce", and "Now's the Time".
In December 1945, the Parker band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. He experienced great hardship in California, and was briefly jailed after setting the bed sheets of his Los Angeles hotel room on fire and then running naked through the lobby while intoxicated, after which he was committed to the Camarillo State Mental Hospital for six months.
When Parker received his discharge from the hospital, he was clean and healthy. Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo" in reference to his stay in the mental hospital. However, when he returned to New York he resumed his heroin usage. During this time he still managed to record dozens of sides for the Savoy and Dial labels, which remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classic quintet" including Davis and Roach.
In 1952, Parker and Gillespie released an album entitled Bird and Diz.
Charlie Parker with Strings
A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, and contemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky and longed to engage in a project akin to what later became known as Third Stream, a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz and classical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards. On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians. Six master takes from this session became the album Charlie Parker with Strings: "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You".
Jazz at Massey Hall
In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Powell and Roach. Unfortunately, the concert happened at the same time as a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott, so the musical event was poorly attended. Mingus recorded the concert, resulting in the album Jazz at Massey Hall. At this concert, Parker played a plastic Grafton saxophone.
Death
Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.
Since 1950, Parker had been living in New York City with his common-law wife, Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died at age 3). He considered Chan his wife, although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City.
Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road.
Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management.
Some amount of controversy continued after Parker's burial in the Kansas City area. His tomb was engraved with the image of a tenor saxophone, though Parker is primarily associated with the alto saxophone. Later, some people wanted to move Parker's remains to reinforce redevelopment of the historic 18th and Vine area.
Personal life
Parker's life was riddled with mental health problems and an addiction to heroin. Although unclear which came first, his addiction to opiates began at the age of 16, when he was injured in a car crash and a doctor prescribed morphine for the pain. The addiction that stemmed from this incident led him to miss performances, and to be considered unreliable. In the jazz scene heroin use was prevalent, and the substance could be acquired with little difficulty.
Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic. Heroin was difficult to obtain once he moved to California, where the drug was less abundant, so he used alcohol as a substitute. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Before this session, Parker drank a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1, Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track "Max Making Wax". When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, away from his microphone. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer Ross Russell physically supported Parker. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars; on his second eight bars, however, he begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at him. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings, despite its flaws. Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing it. He re-recorded the tune in 1951 for Verve.
Parker's life took a turn for the worse in March 1954 when his three-year-old daughter Pree died of cystic fibrosis and pneumonia. He attempted suicide twice in 1954, which once again landed him in a mental hospital.
Artistry
Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over existing jazz forms and standards, a practice known as contrafact and still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" (which borrows the chord progression of jazz standard "How High the Moon" and is said to be co-written with trumpet player Little Benny Harris), and "Moose The Mooche" (one of many Parker compositions based on the chord progression of "I Got Rhythm"). The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop, but it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and toward composing their own material. Perhaps Parker's most well-known contrafact is "Koko," which is based on the chord changes of the popular bebop tune "Cherokee," written by Ray Noble.
While tunes such as "Now's The Time", "Billie's Bounce", "Au Privave", "Barbados", "Relaxin' at Camarillo", "Bloomdido", and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional 12-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for tunes such as "Blues for Alice", "Laird Baird", and "Si Si." These unique chords are known popularly as "Bird Changes". Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition, although he did employ the use of repetition in some tunes, most notably "Now's The Time".
Parker contributed greatly to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists previously avoided. Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Through his recordings and the popularity of the posthumously published Charlie Parker Omnibook, Parker's identifiable style dominated jazz for many years to come.
Other well-known Parker compositions include "Ah-Leu-Cha", "Anthropology", co-written with Gillespie, "Confirmation", "Constellation", "Moose the Mooche", "Scrapple from the Apple" and "Yardbird Suite", the vocal version of which is called "What Price Love", with lyrics by Parker.
Miles Davis once said, "You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker".
Discography
Recognition
Awards
Grammy Award
Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance".
Inductions
Government honors
In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 32-cent commemorative postage stamp in Parker's honor.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.
Charlie Parker residence
From 1950 to 1954, Parker lived with Chan Berg on the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, across from Tompkins Square Park on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Gothic Revival building, which was built about 1849, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and was designated a New York City landmark in 1999. Avenue B between East 7th and East 10th Streets was given the honorary designation "Charlie Parker Place" in 1992.
Musical tributes
Jack Kerouac's spoken poem "Charlie Parker" to backing piano by Steve Allen on Poetry for the Beat Generation (1959)
In 2014, saxophonist and bandleader Aaron Johnson produced historically accurate recreations of the Charlie Parker with Strings albums.
Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death.
American composer Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory; published on the 1969 album Moondog.
Since 1972, the Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone section.
In 1973, guitarist Joe Pass released his album I Remember Charlie Parker in Parker's honor.
Weather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the Heavy Weather album (1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itself.
The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album Pretzel Logic.
Avant-garde jazz trombonist George E. Lewis recorded Homage to Charles Parker (1979).
The opera Charlie Parker's Yardbird by Daniel Schnyder, libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly, was premiered by Opera Philadelphia on June 5, 2015, with Lawrence Brownlee in the title role.
The name of British 1960s blues-rock band The Yardbirds was at least partially inspired by Parker's nickname.
Charles Mingus' song "Reincarnation of a Lovebird"
In 1993, Anthony Braxton recorded a 2-CD album titled Charlie Parker Project, released in 1995. This material was re-released in 2018 as part of an 11-CD set titled Sextet (Parker) 1993.
Other tributes
In 1949, the New York night club Birdland was named in his honor. Three years later, George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland", named for both Parker and the nightclub.
The 1957 short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin features a jazz/blues playing virtuoso who names Bird as the "greatest" jazz musician, whose style he hopes to emulate.
In 1959, Jack Kerouac completed his only full-length poetry work, Mexico City Blues, with two poems about Parker's importance, writing in those works that Parker's contribution to music was comparable to Ludwig van Beethoven's.
The 1959 Beat comedy album How to Speak Hip, by comedians Del Close and John Brent, lists the three top most "uncool" actions (both in the audio and in the liner notes) as follows: "It is uncool to claim that you used to room with Bird. It is uncool to claim that you have Bird's axe. It is even less cool to ask 'Who is Bird?'"
A memorial to Parker was dedicated in 1999 in Kansas City at 17th Terrace and The Paseo, near the American Jazz Museum located at 18th and Vine, featuring a tall bronze head sculpted by Robert Graham.
The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free two-day music festival that takes place every summer on the last weekend of August in Manhattan, New York City, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and Tompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side, sponsored by the non-profit organization City Parks Foundation.
The Annual Charlie Parker Celebration is an annual festival held in Kansas City, Kansas since 2014. It is held for 10 days and celebrates all aspects of Parker, from live jazz music and bootcamps, to tours of his haunts in the city, to exhibits at the American Jazz Museum.
In the short-story collection Las armas secretas (The Secret Weapons), Julio Cortázar dedicated "El perseguidor" ("The Pursuer") to Charlie Parker. This story examines the last days of a drug-addicted saxophonist through the eyes of his biographer.
In 1981, jazz historian Phil Schaap began to host Bird Flight, a radio show on WKCR New York dedicated entirely to Parker's music. The program continues to be broadcast on WKCR in 2022.
In 1984, modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey created the piece For Bird – With Love in honor of Parker. The piece chronicles his life from his early career to his failing health.
A biographical film called Bird, starring Forest Whitaker as Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1988.
In 1999 the Spanish metal band Saratoga created the song Charlie se Fue in honor of Charlie Parker, for the album Vientos de Guerra.
In 2005, the Selmer Paris saxophone manufacturer commissioned a special "Tribute to Bird" alto saxophone, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Parker's death (1955–2005).
Parker's performances of "I Remember You" (recorded for Clef Records in 1953, with the Charlie Parker Quartet, comprising Parker on alto sax, Al Haig on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Max Roach on drums) and "Parker's Mood" (recorded for the Savoy label in 1948, with the Charlie Parker All Stars, comprising Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, John Lewis on piano, Curley Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums) were selected by literary critic Harold Bloom for inclusion on his shortlist of the "twentieth-century American Sublime", the greatest works of American art produced in the 20th century. A vocalese version of "Parker's Mood" was a popular success for King Pleasure.
Jean-Michel Basquiat created many paintings to honor Charlie Parker, including Charles the First, CPRKR, Bird on Money, Bird of Paradise, and Discography I.
Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, wrote a children's book entitled Ode to a High Flying Bird as a tribute to Parker. Watts has cited Parker as a large influence on his life when he was a boy learning jazz.
The 2014 film Whiplash repeatedly refers to the 1937 incident at the Reno Club, changing the aim point of the cymbals to his head and pointing to it as evidence that genius is not born but made by relentless practice and pitiless peers.
Citations
References
Bibliography
Further reading
Aebersold, Jamey, editor (1978). Charlie Parker Omnibook. New York: Michael H. Goldsen.
Koch, Lawrence (1999). Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Boston, Northeastern University Press.
Parker, Chan (1999). My Life In E-Flat. University Of South Carolina Press.
Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books.
Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). Yardbird Originals. New York: Charles Colin, reprinted 2005.
External links
The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
Charlie Parker discography at Discogs
Charlie Parker discography
Charlie Parker Sessionography
Clips and notes about Parker
Bird Lives – Thinking About Charlie Parker
1920 births
1955 deaths
20th-century African-American musicians
20th-century American composers
20th-century atheists
20th-century jazz composers
20th-century saxophonists
African-American atheists
African-American jazz composers
African-American jazz musicians
African Americans in New York City
American atheists
American male jazz composers
American jazz composers
American male saxophonists
Bebop saxophonists
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state)
Jazz alto saxophonists
Jazz musicians from Missouri
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri
Musicians from New York City
People from Manhattan
Savoy Records artists
Verve Records artists
Alcohol-related deaths in New York (state)
Deaths from ulcers
Sonet Records artists
20th-century American male musicians | 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",
"Gefangen im Schattenreich von Die Ärzte (\"Imprisoned in the netherworld of Die Ärzte\") is the third VHS by German rock band Die Ärzte. It features live and backstage videos. It is the first part of the tour videos from 1993 to 1996.\n\nTrack listing \n \"Super Drei\" (Super three)\n \"Geh mit mir\" (Date me lit. Go with me)\n \"FaFaFa\"\n \"Friedenspanzer\" (Peace tank)\n \"Der Misanthrop\" (The misanthrope)\n \"Teddybär\" (Teddy bear)\n \"2000 Mädchen\" (2,000 girls)\n \"Vermissen, Baby\" (Missing, baby)\n \"Omaboy\" (Grandma boy)\n \"Schunder-Song\"\n \"Ich bin reich\" (I'm rich)\n \"Anneliese Schmidt\"\n \"Westerland\"\n \"Revolution\"\n \"Ist das alles?\" (Is that all?)\n Video clip: \"Hurra\" (Hooray!)\n \"Making of: Quark\"\n\nNoch mehr gefangen im Schattenreich von Die Ärzte \nNoch mehr gefangen im Schattenreich von Die Ärzte (\"Even more imprisoned in the netherworld of Die Ärzte\") is the fourth VHS by the German rock band Die Ärzte. It features the second part of the tour videos from 1993 to 1996.\n\nTrack listing \n \"Making of: Planet Punk\"\n \"Zum Bäcker\" (To the baker)\n \"Mysteryland\"\n \"Making of: 3-Tage-Bart\" (Designer stubble; lit: 3-days-beard)\n \"Trick 17 m.S\"\n \"Elke\"\n \"Die Banane\" (The banana)\n \"Frank'n'Stein\"\n \"Westerland\"\n \"Paul\"\n \"BGS\" (Bundesgrenzschutz - Federal Border Guard)\n \"Making of: Hurra\" (Hooray!)\n \"Die traurige Ballade von Susi Spakowski\"\n \"Die Allerschürfste\" (The Superhottest)\n \"Tour-Charts - Was Die Ärzte so hinter der Bühne singen…\" (Tour charts - What Die Ärzte sing backstage)\n \"Alleine in der Nacht\" (Alone at night)\n \"Sweet Sweet Gwendoline\"\n \"Making of: Schunder-Song\"\n \"Schopenhauer\"\n \"Punk Rock - Die Ärzte als Gesangstrio, das alte deutsche Lieder vorträgt\" (Punk Rock - Die Ärzte as a singing-trio, singing old German songs)\n \"B.S.L.\" (Brutaler, schneller Lärm - Brutal, rapid noise)\n \"Wie am ersten Tag\" (Like the first day)\n \"Blumen\" (Flowers)\n \"Erna P.\"\n \"Vollmilch\" (Whole milk)\n \"Schrei nach Liebe\" (Cry for love)\n \"Rod Loves You\"\n\nVollkommen gefangen im Schattenreich von Die Ärzte \nVollkommen gefangen im Schattenreich von Die Ärzte (\"Completely imprisoned in the netherworld of Die Ärzte\") is the third DVD by German rock band Die Ärzte. It is a DVD sampler of the tour videos from 1993 to 1996.\n\nSong information \nVHS 1\n Track 6, 12 from the EP Zu schön, um wahr zu sein!\n Track 11 from the album Die Ärzte\n Track 7 from the album Ist das alles? (13 Höhepunkte mit den Ärzten)\n Track 13 from the album Das ist nicht die ganze Wahrheit...\n Track 3, 4, 9, 14 from the album Die Bestie in Menschengestalt\n Track 1, 2, 5, 8, 10 from the album Planet Punk\n\nVHS 2\n Track 24 from the single \"Paul\"\n Track 8, 10 from the album Debil\n Track 3, 16, 17 from the album Die Ärzte\n Track 6, 9, 22, 23 from the album Das ist nicht die ganze Wahrheit...\n Track 2, 25 from the album Die Ärzte früher!\n Track 11 from the EP 1, 2, 3, 4 – Bullenstaat!\n Track 14, 19, 26 from the album Die Bestie in Menschengestalt\n Track 5, 7, 13, 21, 27 from the album Planet Punk\n\nChart performance\nVollkommen gefangen im Schattenreich von Die Ärzte peaked at No. 71 in Germany.\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\nDie Ärzte video albums\n1996 video albums\nLive video albums\n1996 live albums"
]
|
[
"Charlie Parker",
"Death",
"When did Charlie Parker die?",
"Parker died on March 12, 1955,",
"What did he die from?",
"The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack."
]
| C_95ca5aa2b05d42648743fe4590bee079_0 | Is there more interesting facts about his death? | 3 | Are there any more interesting facts about Parker's death? | Charlie Parker | Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patroness Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age. Since 1950, Parker had been living with Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died as an infant of cystic fibrosis). He considered Chan his wife although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City. Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road. Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management. CANNOTANSWER | The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age. | Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies. Parker was an extremely fast virtuoso and introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. Primarily a player of the alto saxophone, Parker's tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. He was known for the very clear, sweet and articulate note he could produce from the saxophone.
Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career on the road with Jay McShann. This, and the shortened form "Bird", continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise". Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer.
Biography
Childhood
Charlie Parker Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas, at 852 Freeman Avenue, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, near Westport and later – in high school – near 15th and Olive Street. He was the only child of Charles Parker and Adelaide "Addie" Bailey, who was of mixed Choctaw and African-American background. He attended Lincoln High School in September 1934, but withdrew in December 1935, just before joining the local musicians' union and choosing to pursue his musical career full-time. His childhood sweetheart and future wife, Rebecca Ruffin, graduated from Lincoln High School in June 1935.
Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 he joined his high school band where he studied under Bandmaster Alonzo Lewis. His mother purchased a new alto saxophone around the same time. His father, Charles Sr., was often required to travel for work, but provided some musical influence because he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) circuit. He later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. Parker's mother Addie worked nights at the local Western Union office. His biggest influence at that time was a young trombone player named Robert Simpson, who taught him the basics of improvisation.
Early career
In the mid-1930s, Parker began to practice diligently. During this period he mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas that led to the later development of Bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, Parker said that he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day.
Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten certainly influenced Parker. He played with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time influenced Parker's developing style.
In late spring 1936, Parker played at a jam session at the Reno Club in Kansas City. His attempt to improvise failed when he lost track of the chord changes. This prompted Jo Jones, the drummer for Count Basie's Orchestra, to contemptuously take a cymbal off of his drum set and throw it at his feet as a signal to leave the stage. However, rather than discouraging Parker, the incident caused him to vow to practice harder, and turned out to be a seminal moment in the young musician's career when he returned as a new man a year later. Parker proposed to his wife, Rebecca Ruffin, the same year and the two were married on July 25, 1936. In the fall of 1936, Parker traveled with a band from Kansas City to the Ozarks for the opening of Clarence Musser's Tavern south of Eldon, Missouri. Along the way, the caravan of musicians had a car accident and Parker broke three ribs and fractured his spine. The accident led to Parker's ultimate troubles with painkillers and opioids, especially heroin. Parker struggled with drug use for the rest of his life.
Despite his near-death experience on the way to the Ozarks in 1936, Parker returned to the area in 1937 where he spent some serious time woodshedding and developing his sound. In 1938 Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band. The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann's band.
New York City
In 1939 Parker moved to New York City, to pursue a career in music. He held several other jobs as well. He worked for nine dollars a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack, where pianist Art Tatum performed. It was in 1939 in New York that Parker had his musical breakthrough that had begun in 1937 in the Missouri Ozarks. Playing through the changes on the song "Cherokee", Parker discovered a new musical vocabulary and sound that shifted the course of music history.
In 1940, he returned to Kansas City to perform with Jay McShann and to attend the funeral of his father, Charles Sr. He played Fairyland Park in the summer with McShann's band at 75th and Prospect for all-white audiences. The up-side of the summer was his introduction to Dizzy Gillespie by Step Buddy Anderson near 19th and Vine in the summer of 1940. After the summer season at Fairyland, Parker left with McShann's band for gigs in the region. On a trip to Omaha he earned his nickname from McShann and the band after an incident with a chicken and the tour bus.
In 1942 Parker left McShann's band and played for one year with Earl Hines, whose band included Dizzy Gillespie, who later played with Parker as a duo. This period is virtually undocumented, due to the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which time few professional recordings were made. Parker joined a group of young musicians, and played in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House. These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke. According to Mary Lou Williams, the group was formed in order "to challenge the practice of downtown musicians coming uptown and 'stealing' the music." She recalled: "Monk and some of the cleverest of the young musicians used to complain: 'We'll never get credit for what we're doing.' They had reason to say it... In the music business the going is tough for original talent. Everybody is being exploited through paid-for publicity and most anybody can become a great name if he can afford enough of it. In the end the public believes what it reads. So it is often difficult for the real talent to break through... Anyway, Monk said: 'We're going to get a big band started. We're going to create something they can't steal, because they can't play it.'"
Bebop
One night in 1939, Parker was playing "Cherokee" in a practice session with guitarist William "Biddy" Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musical innovations. He realized that the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing. He recalled: "I was jamming in a chili house on Seventh Avenue between 139th and 140th. It was December 1939. Now I'd been getting bored with the stereotyped changes that were being used all the time at the time, and I kept thinking there's bound to be something else. I could hear it sometimes but I couldn't play it ... Well, that night I was working over 'Cherokee' and, as I did, I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes, I could play the thing I'd been hearing. I came alive."
Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians who disdained their younger counterparts. The beboppers responded by calling these traditionalists "moldy figs". However, some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Tatum, were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.
Because of the two-year Musicians' Union ban of all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944, much of bebop's early development was not captured for posterity. As a result, it gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. (One of their first small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945.) Bebop soon gained wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.
On November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever". Recording as Charlie Parker's Reboppers, Parker enlisted such sidemen as Gillespie and Miles Davis on trumpet, Curley Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko", "Billie's Bounce", and "Now's the Time".
In December 1945, the Parker band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. He experienced great hardship in California, and was briefly jailed after setting the bed sheets of his Los Angeles hotel room on fire and then running naked through the lobby while intoxicated, after which he was committed to the Camarillo State Mental Hospital for six months.
When Parker received his discharge from the hospital, he was clean and healthy. Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo" in reference to his stay in the mental hospital. However, when he returned to New York he resumed his heroin usage. During this time he still managed to record dozens of sides for the Savoy and Dial labels, which remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classic quintet" including Davis and Roach.
In 1952, Parker and Gillespie released an album entitled Bird and Diz.
Charlie Parker with Strings
A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, and contemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky and longed to engage in a project akin to what later became known as Third Stream, a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz and classical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards. On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians. Six master takes from this session became the album Charlie Parker with Strings: "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You".
Jazz at Massey Hall
In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Powell and Roach. Unfortunately, the concert happened at the same time as a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott, so the musical event was poorly attended. Mingus recorded the concert, resulting in the album Jazz at Massey Hall. At this concert, Parker played a plastic Grafton saxophone.
Death
Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.
Since 1950, Parker had been living in New York City with his common-law wife, Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died at age 3). He considered Chan his wife, although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City.
Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road.
Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management.
Some amount of controversy continued after Parker's burial in the Kansas City area. His tomb was engraved with the image of a tenor saxophone, though Parker is primarily associated with the alto saxophone. Later, some people wanted to move Parker's remains to reinforce redevelopment of the historic 18th and Vine area.
Personal life
Parker's life was riddled with mental health problems and an addiction to heroin. Although unclear which came first, his addiction to opiates began at the age of 16, when he was injured in a car crash and a doctor prescribed morphine for the pain. The addiction that stemmed from this incident led him to miss performances, and to be considered unreliable. In the jazz scene heroin use was prevalent, and the substance could be acquired with little difficulty.
Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic. Heroin was difficult to obtain once he moved to California, where the drug was less abundant, so he used alcohol as a substitute. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Before this session, Parker drank a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1, Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track "Max Making Wax". When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, away from his microphone. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer Ross Russell physically supported Parker. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars; on his second eight bars, however, he begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at him. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings, despite its flaws. Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing it. He re-recorded the tune in 1951 for Verve.
Parker's life took a turn for the worse in March 1954 when his three-year-old daughter Pree died of cystic fibrosis and pneumonia. He attempted suicide twice in 1954, which once again landed him in a mental hospital.
Artistry
Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over existing jazz forms and standards, a practice known as contrafact and still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" (which borrows the chord progression of jazz standard "How High the Moon" and is said to be co-written with trumpet player Little Benny Harris), and "Moose The Mooche" (one of many Parker compositions based on the chord progression of "I Got Rhythm"). The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop, but it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and toward composing their own material. Perhaps Parker's most well-known contrafact is "Koko," which is based on the chord changes of the popular bebop tune "Cherokee," written by Ray Noble.
While tunes such as "Now's The Time", "Billie's Bounce", "Au Privave", "Barbados", "Relaxin' at Camarillo", "Bloomdido", and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional 12-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for tunes such as "Blues for Alice", "Laird Baird", and "Si Si." These unique chords are known popularly as "Bird Changes". Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition, although he did employ the use of repetition in some tunes, most notably "Now's The Time".
Parker contributed greatly to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists previously avoided. Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Through his recordings and the popularity of the posthumously published Charlie Parker Omnibook, Parker's identifiable style dominated jazz for many years to come.
Other well-known Parker compositions include "Ah-Leu-Cha", "Anthropology", co-written with Gillespie, "Confirmation", "Constellation", "Moose the Mooche", "Scrapple from the Apple" and "Yardbird Suite", the vocal version of which is called "What Price Love", with lyrics by Parker.
Miles Davis once said, "You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker".
Discography
Recognition
Awards
Grammy Award
Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance".
Inductions
Government honors
In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 32-cent commemorative postage stamp in Parker's honor.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.
Charlie Parker residence
From 1950 to 1954, Parker lived with Chan Berg on the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, across from Tompkins Square Park on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Gothic Revival building, which was built about 1849, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and was designated a New York City landmark in 1999. Avenue B between East 7th and East 10th Streets was given the honorary designation "Charlie Parker Place" in 1992.
Musical tributes
Jack Kerouac's spoken poem "Charlie Parker" to backing piano by Steve Allen on Poetry for the Beat Generation (1959)
In 2014, saxophonist and bandleader Aaron Johnson produced historically accurate recreations of the Charlie Parker with Strings albums.
Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death.
American composer Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory; published on the 1969 album Moondog.
Since 1972, the Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone section.
In 1973, guitarist Joe Pass released his album I Remember Charlie Parker in Parker's honor.
Weather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the Heavy Weather album (1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itself.
The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album Pretzel Logic.
Avant-garde jazz trombonist George E. Lewis recorded Homage to Charles Parker (1979).
The opera Charlie Parker's Yardbird by Daniel Schnyder, libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly, was premiered by Opera Philadelphia on June 5, 2015, with Lawrence Brownlee in the title role.
The name of British 1960s blues-rock band The Yardbirds was at least partially inspired by Parker's nickname.
Charles Mingus' song "Reincarnation of a Lovebird"
In 1993, Anthony Braxton recorded a 2-CD album titled Charlie Parker Project, released in 1995. This material was re-released in 2018 as part of an 11-CD set titled Sextet (Parker) 1993.
Other tributes
In 1949, the New York night club Birdland was named in his honor. Three years later, George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland", named for both Parker and the nightclub.
The 1957 short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin features a jazz/blues playing virtuoso who names Bird as the "greatest" jazz musician, whose style he hopes to emulate.
In 1959, Jack Kerouac completed his only full-length poetry work, Mexico City Blues, with two poems about Parker's importance, writing in those works that Parker's contribution to music was comparable to Ludwig van Beethoven's.
The 1959 Beat comedy album How to Speak Hip, by comedians Del Close and John Brent, lists the three top most "uncool" actions (both in the audio and in the liner notes) as follows: "It is uncool to claim that you used to room with Bird. It is uncool to claim that you have Bird's axe. It is even less cool to ask 'Who is Bird?'"
A memorial to Parker was dedicated in 1999 in Kansas City at 17th Terrace and The Paseo, near the American Jazz Museum located at 18th and Vine, featuring a tall bronze head sculpted by Robert Graham.
The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free two-day music festival that takes place every summer on the last weekend of August in Manhattan, New York City, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and Tompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side, sponsored by the non-profit organization City Parks Foundation.
The Annual Charlie Parker Celebration is an annual festival held in Kansas City, Kansas since 2014. It is held for 10 days and celebrates all aspects of Parker, from live jazz music and bootcamps, to tours of his haunts in the city, to exhibits at the American Jazz Museum.
In the short-story collection Las armas secretas (The Secret Weapons), Julio Cortázar dedicated "El perseguidor" ("The Pursuer") to Charlie Parker. This story examines the last days of a drug-addicted saxophonist through the eyes of his biographer.
In 1981, jazz historian Phil Schaap began to host Bird Flight, a radio show on WKCR New York dedicated entirely to Parker's music. The program continues to be broadcast on WKCR in 2022.
In 1984, modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey created the piece For Bird – With Love in honor of Parker. The piece chronicles his life from his early career to his failing health.
A biographical film called Bird, starring Forest Whitaker as Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1988.
In 1999 the Spanish metal band Saratoga created the song Charlie se Fue in honor of Charlie Parker, for the album Vientos de Guerra.
In 2005, the Selmer Paris saxophone manufacturer commissioned a special "Tribute to Bird" alto saxophone, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Parker's death (1955–2005).
Parker's performances of "I Remember You" (recorded for Clef Records in 1953, with the Charlie Parker Quartet, comprising Parker on alto sax, Al Haig on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Max Roach on drums) and "Parker's Mood" (recorded for the Savoy label in 1948, with the Charlie Parker All Stars, comprising Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, John Lewis on piano, Curley Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums) were selected by literary critic Harold Bloom for inclusion on his shortlist of the "twentieth-century American Sublime", the greatest works of American art produced in the 20th century. A vocalese version of "Parker's Mood" was a popular success for King Pleasure.
Jean-Michel Basquiat created many paintings to honor Charlie Parker, including Charles the First, CPRKR, Bird on Money, Bird of Paradise, and Discography I.
Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, wrote a children's book entitled Ode to a High Flying Bird as a tribute to Parker. Watts has cited Parker as a large influence on his life when he was a boy learning jazz.
The 2014 film Whiplash repeatedly refers to the 1937 incident at the Reno Club, changing the aim point of the cymbals to his head and pointing to it as evidence that genius is not born but made by relentless practice and pitiless peers.
Citations
References
Bibliography
Further reading
Aebersold, Jamey, editor (1978). Charlie Parker Omnibook. New York: Michael H. Goldsen.
Koch, Lawrence (1999). Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Boston, Northeastern University Press.
Parker, Chan (1999). My Life In E-Flat. University Of South Carolina Press.
Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books.
Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). Yardbird Originals. New York: Charles Colin, reprinted 2005.
External links
The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
Charlie Parker discography at Discogs
Charlie Parker discography
Charlie Parker Sessionography
Clips and notes about Parker
Bird Lives – Thinking About Charlie Parker
1920 births
1955 deaths
20th-century African-American musicians
20th-century American composers
20th-century atheists
20th-century jazz composers
20th-century saxophonists
African-American atheists
African-American jazz composers
African-American jazz musicians
African Americans in New York City
American atheists
American male jazz composers
American jazz composers
American male saxophonists
Bebop saxophonists
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state)
Jazz alto saxophonists
Jazz musicians from Missouri
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri
Musicians from New York City
People from Manhattan
Savoy Records artists
Verve Records artists
Alcohol-related deaths in New York (state)
Deaths from ulcers
Sonet Records artists
20th-century American male musicians | true | [
"Now I Know is a daily email newsletter about trivia written by Dan Lewis. Described as \"a newer, less snarky iteration of Cecil Adams’ The Straight Dope,\" it has been running since 2010 with over 100,000 subscribers as of 2018. The newsletter won a Webby Award for email newsletters in 2013 and 2014. Lewis credits his success to his engagement with his community, claiming he replies to nearly every email sent to him. He also notes his Jewish background saying \"[T]here's an oral tradition in Judaism to explain and analyze things\" which is the general theme of his newsletter which uses seemingly obscure facts to tell a bigger story.\n\nThe newsletter has been turned into two books, Now I Know: The Revealing Stories Behind the World’s Most Interesting Facts and Now I Know More: The Revealing Stories Behind Even More of the World's Most Interesting Facts. The newsletter is also being expanded to a YouTube series featuring Matt Silverman. Topics in the newsletter range from to topical coverage such as the history of collect calling in the United States, to where the fear of poisoned Halloween candy comes from.\n\nLewis is a lawyer and co-founder of ArmchairGM, which was purchased by Wikia. He was an early blogger and is currently the Senior Director of Digital Marketing at Sesame Workshop where he used to tweet for Big Bird and started most of Sesame Street's social media accounts. Lewis was also the Connecticut State Magic the Gathering Champion in 1997.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official Website\n Dan Lewis home page\n\nNewsletters\nTrivia",
"The Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, written by Matthew Bunson in 1994 and published by Facts on File, is a detailed depiction of the history of the Roman Empire. This work, of roughly 494 pages (a 2002 revised version contains 636 pages) stores more than 2,000 entries.\n\nVersions\n US Hardcover revised edition (July 2002), published by Facts on File: \n\nThe book gives the reader much information about the life and decay of Rome, bringing the reader through an interesting voyage in time.\n\nReferences\n\n \n\n1994 non-fiction books\nRoman Empire\nHistory books about ancient Rome"
]
|
[
"Charlie Parker",
"Death",
"When did Charlie Parker die?",
"Parker died on March 12, 1955,",
"What did he die from?",
"The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack.",
"Is there more interesting facts about his death?",
"The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age."
]
| C_95ca5aa2b05d42648743fe4590bee079_0 | What else did the coroner find out about his autopsy? | 4 | Besides finding out Parker was 34, what else did the coroner find out anything else about his autopsy? | Charlie Parker | Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patroness Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age. Since 1950, Parker had been living with Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died as an infant of cystic fibrosis). He considered Chan his wife although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City. Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road. Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies. Parker was an extremely fast virtuoso and introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. Primarily a player of the alto saxophone, Parker's tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. He was known for the very clear, sweet and articulate note he could produce from the saxophone.
Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career on the road with Jay McShann. This, and the shortened form "Bird", continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise". Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer.
Biography
Childhood
Charlie Parker Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas, at 852 Freeman Avenue, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, near Westport and later – in high school – near 15th and Olive Street. He was the only child of Charles Parker and Adelaide "Addie" Bailey, who was of mixed Choctaw and African-American background. He attended Lincoln High School in September 1934, but withdrew in December 1935, just before joining the local musicians' union and choosing to pursue his musical career full-time. His childhood sweetheart and future wife, Rebecca Ruffin, graduated from Lincoln High School in June 1935.
Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 he joined his high school band where he studied under Bandmaster Alonzo Lewis. His mother purchased a new alto saxophone around the same time. His father, Charles Sr., was often required to travel for work, but provided some musical influence because he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) circuit. He later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. Parker's mother Addie worked nights at the local Western Union office. His biggest influence at that time was a young trombone player named Robert Simpson, who taught him the basics of improvisation.
Early career
In the mid-1930s, Parker began to practice diligently. During this period he mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas that led to the later development of Bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, Parker said that he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day.
Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten certainly influenced Parker. He played with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time influenced Parker's developing style.
In late spring 1936, Parker played at a jam session at the Reno Club in Kansas City. His attempt to improvise failed when he lost track of the chord changes. This prompted Jo Jones, the drummer for Count Basie's Orchestra, to contemptuously take a cymbal off of his drum set and throw it at his feet as a signal to leave the stage. However, rather than discouraging Parker, the incident caused him to vow to practice harder, and turned out to be a seminal moment in the young musician's career when he returned as a new man a year later. Parker proposed to his wife, Rebecca Ruffin, the same year and the two were married on July 25, 1936. In the fall of 1936, Parker traveled with a band from Kansas City to the Ozarks for the opening of Clarence Musser's Tavern south of Eldon, Missouri. Along the way, the caravan of musicians had a car accident and Parker broke three ribs and fractured his spine. The accident led to Parker's ultimate troubles with painkillers and opioids, especially heroin. Parker struggled with drug use for the rest of his life.
Despite his near-death experience on the way to the Ozarks in 1936, Parker returned to the area in 1937 where he spent some serious time woodshedding and developing his sound. In 1938 Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band. The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann's band.
New York City
In 1939 Parker moved to New York City, to pursue a career in music. He held several other jobs as well. He worked for nine dollars a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack, where pianist Art Tatum performed. It was in 1939 in New York that Parker had his musical breakthrough that had begun in 1937 in the Missouri Ozarks. Playing through the changes on the song "Cherokee", Parker discovered a new musical vocabulary and sound that shifted the course of music history.
In 1940, he returned to Kansas City to perform with Jay McShann and to attend the funeral of his father, Charles Sr. He played Fairyland Park in the summer with McShann's band at 75th and Prospect for all-white audiences. The up-side of the summer was his introduction to Dizzy Gillespie by Step Buddy Anderson near 19th and Vine in the summer of 1940. After the summer season at Fairyland, Parker left with McShann's band for gigs in the region. On a trip to Omaha he earned his nickname from McShann and the band after an incident with a chicken and the tour bus.
In 1942 Parker left McShann's band and played for one year with Earl Hines, whose band included Dizzy Gillespie, who later played with Parker as a duo. This period is virtually undocumented, due to the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which time few professional recordings were made. Parker joined a group of young musicians, and played in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House. These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke. According to Mary Lou Williams, the group was formed in order "to challenge the practice of downtown musicians coming uptown and 'stealing' the music." She recalled: "Monk and some of the cleverest of the young musicians used to complain: 'We'll never get credit for what we're doing.' They had reason to say it... In the music business the going is tough for original talent. Everybody is being exploited through paid-for publicity and most anybody can become a great name if he can afford enough of it. In the end the public believes what it reads. So it is often difficult for the real talent to break through... Anyway, Monk said: 'We're going to get a big band started. We're going to create something they can't steal, because they can't play it.'"
Bebop
One night in 1939, Parker was playing "Cherokee" in a practice session with guitarist William "Biddy" Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musical innovations. He realized that the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing. He recalled: "I was jamming in a chili house on Seventh Avenue between 139th and 140th. It was December 1939. Now I'd been getting bored with the stereotyped changes that were being used all the time at the time, and I kept thinking there's bound to be something else. I could hear it sometimes but I couldn't play it ... Well, that night I was working over 'Cherokee' and, as I did, I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes, I could play the thing I'd been hearing. I came alive."
Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians who disdained their younger counterparts. The beboppers responded by calling these traditionalists "moldy figs". However, some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Tatum, were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.
Because of the two-year Musicians' Union ban of all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944, much of bebop's early development was not captured for posterity. As a result, it gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. (One of their first small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945.) Bebop soon gained wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.
On November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever". Recording as Charlie Parker's Reboppers, Parker enlisted such sidemen as Gillespie and Miles Davis on trumpet, Curley Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko", "Billie's Bounce", and "Now's the Time".
In December 1945, the Parker band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. He experienced great hardship in California, and was briefly jailed after setting the bed sheets of his Los Angeles hotel room on fire and then running naked through the lobby while intoxicated, after which he was committed to the Camarillo State Mental Hospital for six months.
When Parker received his discharge from the hospital, he was clean and healthy. Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo" in reference to his stay in the mental hospital. However, when he returned to New York he resumed his heroin usage. During this time he still managed to record dozens of sides for the Savoy and Dial labels, which remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classic quintet" including Davis and Roach.
In 1952, Parker and Gillespie released an album entitled Bird and Diz.
Charlie Parker with Strings
A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, and contemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky and longed to engage in a project akin to what later became known as Third Stream, a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz and classical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards. On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians. Six master takes from this session became the album Charlie Parker with Strings: "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You".
Jazz at Massey Hall
In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Powell and Roach. Unfortunately, the concert happened at the same time as a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott, so the musical event was poorly attended. Mingus recorded the concert, resulting in the album Jazz at Massey Hall. At this concert, Parker played a plastic Grafton saxophone.
Death
Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.
Since 1950, Parker had been living in New York City with his common-law wife, Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died at age 3). He considered Chan his wife, although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City.
Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road.
Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management.
Some amount of controversy continued after Parker's burial in the Kansas City area. His tomb was engraved with the image of a tenor saxophone, though Parker is primarily associated with the alto saxophone. Later, some people wanted to move Parker's remains to reinforce redevelopment of the historic 18th and Vine area.
Personal life
Parker's life was riddled with mental health problems and an addiction to heroin. Although unclear which came first, his addiction to opiates began at the age of 16, when he was injured in a car crash and a doctor prescribed morphine for the pain. The addiction that stemmed from this incident led him to miss performances, and to be considered unreliable. In the jazz scene heroin use was prevalent, and the substance could be acquired with little difficulty.
Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic. Heroin was difficult to obtain once he moved to California, where the drug was less abundant, so he used alcohol as a substitute. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Before this session, Parker drank a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1, Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track "Max Making Wax". When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, away from his microphone. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer Ross Russell physically supported Parker. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars; on his second eight bars, however, he begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at him. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings, despite its flaws. Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing it. He re-recorded the tune in 1951 for Verve.
Parker's life took a turn for the worse in March 1954 when his three-year-old daughter Pree died of cystic fibrosis and pneumonia. He attempted suicide twice in 1954, which once again landed him in a mental hospital.
Artistry
Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over existing jazz forms and standards, a practice known as contrafact and still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" (which borrows the chord progression of jazz standard "How High the Moon" and is said to be co-written with trumpet player Little Benny Harris), and "Moose The Mooche" (one of many Parker compositions based on the chord progression of "I Got Rhythm"). The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop, but it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and toward composing their own material. Perhaps Parker's most well-known contrafact is "Koko," which is based on the chord changes of the popular bebop tune "Cherokee," written by Ray Noble.
While tunes such as "Now's The Time", "Billie's Bounce", "Au Privave", "Barbados", "Relaxin' at Camarillo", "Bloomdido", and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional 12-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for tunes such as "Blues for Alice", "Laird Baird", and "Si Si." These unique chords are known popularly as "Bird Changes". Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition, although he did employ the use of repetition in some tunes, most notably "Now's The Time".
Parker contributed greatly to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists previously avoided. Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Through his recordings and the popularity of the posthumously published Charlie Parker Omnibook, Parker's identifiable style dominated jazz for many years to come.
Other well-known Parker compositions include "Ah-Leu-Cha", "Anthropology", co-written with Gillespie, "Confirmation", "Constellation", "Moose the Mooche", "Scrapple from the Apple" and "Yardbird Suite", the vocal version of which is called "What Price Love", with lyrics by Parker.
Miles Davis once said, "You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker".
Discography
Recognition
Awards
Grammy Award
Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance".
Inductions
Government honors
In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 32-cent commemorative postage stamp in Parker's honor.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.
Charlie Parker residence
From 1950 to 1954, Parker lived with Chan Berg on the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, across from Tompkins Square Park on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Gothic Revival building, which was built about 1849, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and was designated a New York City landmark in 1999. Avenue B between East 7th and East 10th Streets was given the honorary designation "Charlie Parker Place" in 1992.
Musical tributes
Jack Kerouac's spoken poem "Charlie Parker" to backing piano by Steve Allen on Poetry for the Beat Generation (1959)
In 2014, saxophonist and bandleader Aaron Johnson produced historically accurate recreations of the Charlie Parker with Strings albums.
Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death.
American composer Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory; published on the 1969 album Moondog.
Since 1972, the Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone section.
In 1973, guitarist Joe Pass released his album I Remember Charlie Parker in Parker's honor.
Weather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the Heavy Weather album (1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itself.
The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album Pretzel Logic.
Avant-garde jazz trombonist George E. Lewis recorded Homage to Charles Parker (1979).
The opera Charlie Parker's Yardbird by Daniel Schnyder, libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly, was premiered by Opera Philadelphia on June 5, 2015, with Lawrence Brownlee in the title role.
The name of British 1960s blues-rock band The Yardbirds was at least partially inspired by Parker's nickname.
Charles Mingus' song "Reincarnation of a Lovebird"
In 1993, Anthony Braxton recorded a 2-CD album titled Charlie Parker Project, released in 1995. This material was re-released in 2018 as part of an 11-CD set titled Sextet (Parker) 1993.
Other tributes
In 1949, the New York night club Birdland was named in his honor. Three years later, George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland", named for both Parker and the nightclub.
The 1957 short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin features a jazz/blues playing virtuoso who names Bird as the "greatest" jazz musician, whose style he hopes to emulate.
In 1959, Jack Kerouac completed his only full-length poetry work, Mexico City Blues, with two poems about Parker's importance, writing in those works that Parker's contribution to music was comparable to Ludwig van Beethoven's.
The 1959 Beat comedy album How to Speak Hip, by comedians Del Close and John Brent, lists the three top most "uncool" actions (both in the audio and in the liner notes) as follows: "It is uncool to claim that you used to room with Bird. It is uncool to claim that you have Bird's axe. It is even less cool to ask 'Who is Bird?'"
A memorial to Parker was dedicated in 1999 in Kansas City at 17th Terrace and The Paseo, near the American Jazz Museum located at 18th and Vine, featuring a tall bronze head sculpted by Robert Graham.
The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free two-day music festival that takes place every summer on the last weekend of August in Manhattan, New York City, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and Tompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side, sponsored by the non-profit organization City Parks Foundation.
The Annual Charlie Parker Celebration is an annual festival held in Kansas City, Kansas since 2014. It is held for 10 days and celebrates all aspects of Parker, from live jazz music and bootcamps, to tours of his haunts in the city, to exhibits at the American Jazz Museum.
In the short-story collection Las armas secretas (The Secret Weapons), Julio Cortázar dedicated "El perseguidor" ("The Pursuer") to Charlie Parker. This story examines the last days of a drug-addicted saxophonist through the eyes of his biographer.
In 1981, jazz historian Phil Schaap began to host Bird Flight, a radio show on WKCR New York dedicated entirely to Parker's music. The program continues to be broadcast on WKCR in 2022.
In 1984, modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey created the piece For Bird – With Love in honor of Parker. The piece chronicles his life from his early career to his failing health.
A biographical film called Bird, starring Forest Whitaker as Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1988.
In 1999 the Spanish metal band Saratoga created the song Charlie se Fue in honor of Charlie Parker, for the album Vientos de Guerra.
In 2005, the Selmer Paris saxophone manufacturer commissioned a special "Tribute to Bird" alto saxophone, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Parker's death (1955–2005).
Parker's performances of "I Remember You" (recorded for Clef Records in 1953, with the Charlie Parker Quartet, comprising Parker on alto sax, Al Haig on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Max Roach on drums) and "Parker's Mood" (recorded for the Savoy label in 1948, with the Charlie Parker All Stars, comprising Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, John Lewis on piano, Curley Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums) were selected by literary critic Harold Bloom for inclusion on his shortlist of the "twentieth-century American Sublime", the greatest works of American art produced in the 20th century. A vocalese version of "Parker's Mood" was a popular success for King Pleasure.
Jean-Michel Basquiat created many paintings to honor Charlie Parker, including Charles the First, CPRKR, Bird on Money, Bird of Paradise, and Discography I.
Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, wrote a children's book entitled Ode to a High Flying Bird as a tribute to Parker. Watts has cited Parker as a large influence on his life when he was a boy learning jazz.
The 2014 film Whiplash repeatedly refers to the 1937 incident at the Reno Club, changing the aim point of the cymbals to his head and pointing to it as evidence that genius is not born but made by relentless practice and pitiless peers.
Citations
References
Bibliography
Further reading
Aebersold, Jamey, editor (1978). Charlie Parker Omnibook. New York: Michael H. Goldsen.
Koch, Lawrence (1999). Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Boston, Northeastern University Press.
Parker, Chan (1999). My Life In E-Flat. University Of South Carolina Press.
Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books.
Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). Yardbird Originals. New York: Charles Colin, reprinted 2005.
External links
The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
Charlie Parker discography at Discogs
Charlie Parker discography
Charlie Parker Sessionography
Clips and notes about Parker
Bird Lives – Thinking About Charlie Parker
1920 births
1955 deaths
20th-century African-American musicians
20th-century American composers
20th-century atheists
20th-century jazz composers
20th-century saxophonists
African-American atheists
African-American jazz composers
African-American jazz musicians
African Americans in New York City
American atheists
American male jazz composers
American jazz composers
American male saxophonists
Bebop saxophonists
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state)
Jazz alto saxophonists
Jazz musicians from Missouri
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri
Musicians from New York City
People from Manhattan
Savoy Records artists
Verve Records artists
Alcohol-related deaths in New York (state)
Deaths from ulcers
Sonet Records artists
20th-century American male musicians | false | [
"is the former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles. He resigned from the office, under pressure, in 1968 over inappropriate comments he was alleged to have made, but was restored soon after. He was forced out a second time, in 1982, over allegations of mismanagement. He later worked at the University of Southern California and served as president of the American National Association of Medical Examiners.\n\nPopularly known as the \"coroner to the stars\", Noguchi determined the cause of death in many high-profile cases in Hollywood during the 1960s and 1970s. He performed autopsies on Marilyn Monroe, Albert Dekker, Robert F. Kennedy, Sharon Tate, Inger Stevens, Janis Joplin, Gia Scala, David Janssen, William Holden, and John Belushi. In 2016, he was criticized over his autopsy of Natalie Wood. His ruling in that case was later changed by his successor.\n\nEarly life and education \nNoguchi was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, raised in Yokosuka and graduated from Tokyo's Nippon Medical School in 1951 before interning at The University of Tokyo School of Medicine Hospital. Shortly thereafter he emigrated to the United States. He then served a second internship at Orange County General Hospital and a series of residencies at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and Barlow Sanatorium in Los Angeles.\n\nCareer\n\nEarly career \nNoguchi began working in the office of the Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles (CME) in 1961, and came to public attention after performing the autopsy of Marilyn Monroe.\n\nIn 1967, he was appointed Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles (CME) in a 3–2 vote of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, over the opposition of the Los Angeles County Medical Association and leadership of the UCLA and USC schools of medicine. As new CME, he succeeded his mentor Theodore Curphey and supervised autopsies on a range of celebrities and public figures that included Albert Dekker, Sharon Tate, Janis Joplin, Inger Stevens, Gia Scala, David Janssen, William Holden, Natalie Wood, and John Belushi.\n\nKennedy assassination and resignation \nNoguchi's autopsy of Robert Kennedy concluded that the fatal shot was fired into the back of Kennedy's head, behind the right ear, from an upward angle, and from a distance of no more than 0.5 to 3 inches (15–75 mm) away. Such a finding has given rise to conspiracy theories regarding the assassination, as no witnesses reported seeing the convicted assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, any closer to Kennedy than 1 meter away and in a position to fire such a shot. Noguchi himself points out in his memoir Coroner that he has never officially ruled that Sirhan fired the fatal shot.\n\nShortly after the Kennedy shooting, Noguchi came under scrutiny and resigned under pressure as Chief Medical Examiner after Deputy Los Angeles County Counsel Martin Weekes testified that he had seen a smiling Noguchi dancing in his office and that Noguchi had announced to associates \"I am going to be famous. I hope he dies\". A secretary in the coroner's office also testified she had heard Noguchi say he wanted to perform a vivisection on Lin Hollinger, the county's chief administrative officer with whom he had argued over budget matters.\n\nSecond term as CME and demotion \nShortly after signing his letter of resignation, Noguchi attempted to withdraw it, a move that was rejected by the Board of Supervisors. Noguchi's wife subsequently charged that the county had forced him out as a practice of racial discrimination. The county rebutted the accusation by accusing Noguchi himself of being racist, providing testimony from an Asian-American employee in the CME office who said she had heard Noguchi saying he hated Jews and using a racial epithet to describe Black Americans. Other CME staff disputed that testimony and characterized Noguchi as \"warm\" and \"articulate\".\n\nAfter a petition drive organized by Los Angeles' Japanese American community, Noguchi was restored to the office of CME.\n\nIn his second term, Noguchi was accused of speaking too freely to the media, particularly following the November 1981 deaths of William Holden and Natalie Wood, which, along with his moonlighting and alleged mismanagement – a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times alleged that Noguchi's attention to celebrity deaths was causing problems in the more mundane aspects of the CME office – led to his demotion from coroner to physician specialist in 1982. His autopsy of Wood's death as an accident has since been questioned. A former intern of Noguchi at the time of Wood's death stated that he saw bruises were substantial and fitting for someone who gets thrown out of a boat. He claimed that he made those observations to Noguchi, who reacted strangely as if he was involved in a cover-up. Noguchi came under public criticism for his handling of Wood's autopsy in 2016 and his ruling in that case was later changed by a successor.\n\nLater career, honors, and professional bodies \nNoguchi was later appointed Chief of Pathology at the University of Southern California and then as Administrative Pathologist for Anatomic Pathology services at LAC+USC Medical Center.\n\nNoguchi was appointed professor by both the University of Southern California and UCLA. He is a past president of the American National Association of Medical Examiners. In 1999 he was honored by the Emperor of Japan who awarded him the Order of the Sacred Treasure for his \"outstanding contributions to Japan in the area of forensic science\". He retired the same year.\n\n, Noguchi is the president of World Association for Medical Law (WAML), which is a medical body founded in 1967 to encourage the study of health law, legal medicine, and bioethics.\n\nPublications \n Coroner, 1983. A best selling memoir written with Joseph DiMona. (Published in the UK as Coroner to the Stars)\n Coroner at Large 1985. A book about historical coroners and famous deaths. (NYT review.)\n Unnatural Causes, 1988. A detective novel written with Arthur Lyons.\n Physical Evidence, 1990. A detective novel written with Arthur Lyons.\n\nFilm and other media \n He has appeared in the documentary The Killing of America (1982).\n He appeared as himself in the film Faces of Death (1980).\n In 2000, Noguchi appeared in Michael Kriegsman's autopsy-related documentaries, \"Autopsy: Through the Eyes of Death's Detectives\"; and \"Autopsy: Voices of Death\", wherein Noguchi takes the viewer through a complete autopsy.\n He is said to have been the inspiration for the TV series Quincy, M.E. (1976–1983), which starred Jack Klugman.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n Subject's USC web page, last updated in 1999\n\n1927 births\nLiving people\nWriters from Los Angeles\nPeople from Fukuoka Prefecture\nJapanese emigrants to the United States\nAmerican coroners\nRecipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure\nUniversity of Southern California faculty\nUniversity of California, Los Angeles faculty\nPersons involved with death and dying\nPhysicians from California\nAmerican physicians of Japanese descent",
"Joshua Perper (December 17, 1932 – July 12, 2021) was a noted forensic pathologist and toxicologist. He served as the Chief Medical Examiner of Broward County, Florida for seventeen years, during which time he conducted autopsies on a number of famous individuals, including Anna Nicole Smith. Prior to his appointment to that position, he served as Allegheny County's Coroner serving metro Pittsburgh.\n\nEarly life and professional career\nPerper was born in Bacău, Romania. Being Jewish, he escaped the Nazis during World War II and, following the war, the Russians. At the age of 18, he moved to Israel, graduating from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Medicine (medical school) in 1960 and Faculty of Law (law school) in 1966. In 1969, he finished post graduate studies in forensic pathology at Johns Hopkins University. He served as Associate Medical Examiner, Senior Research Fellow and then Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, Maryland from 1969 to 1971. Between 1971 and 1994, while living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Perper was a toxicologist and then Chief Forensic Pathologist in the Allegheny County Coroner's Office (now called the Medical Examiner's Office), serving under Cyril Wecht.\n\nAllegheny County Coroner\nIn 1980, Wecht was elected to the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners. Wecht did not resign as Coroner until January 9, two days after his swearing-in as Commissioner, as the law did not prohibit him from holding both the offices of Coroner and Commissioner. He resigned under pressure from a variety of sources, including his predecessor as coroner, Ralph Stalter, a Republican, and the administration of Governor Dick Thornburgh, also a Republican. Wecht initially recommended that Perper succeed him, and indeed Perper held the title of Acting Coroner until Thornburgh appointed Sanford Edburg to succeed Wecht. While Perper initially rejected the appointment as unconstitutional, the State Supreme Court upheld Thornburgh's right to appoint Edberg, who duly took over the office of Coroner on March 2, 1981. The transition was not met without a brief physical altercation between the two men. Perper would return to the Coroner's office in January 1982, after he defeated Edberg in the fall 1981 general election.\n\nLos Angeles County Medical Examiner appointment\nIn February 1991, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to name Perper the County's new Chief Medical Examiner. While Perper initially accepted the posting, he backed-out of the job two months before he was to begin his duties. Perper cited a variety of reasons behind his decision, including the economic–media reports which indicated Perper and his wife, a real estate agent, believed they could not afford the kind of home to which they had become accustomed—and the emotional—Perper's wife also did not want to leave behind the couple's friends.\n\nHe would therefore remain Allegheny County Coroner for another three years.\n\nBroward County Chief Medical Examiner\nPerper did resign as Allegheny County Coroner in 1994, after he was appointed Chief Medical Examiner of Broward County, Florida by Governor Lawton Chiles.\n\nNotable autopsies\n\nKrissy Taylor\nPerper performed the autopsy on Krissy Taylor, the 17-year-old model who died of bronchial asthma in 1995, after collapsing in her parents' home. Krissy was the younger sister of model Niki Taylor.\n\nSteve Bechler\nPerper performed the autopsy of Steve Bechler after the pitcher's death on February 17, 2003. According to Perper:\n\"It is my professional opinion that the toxicity of ephedra played a significant role in the death of Mr. Bechler, although it's impossible to define mathematically the contribution of each one of the factors in his unfortunate death due to heatstroke.\"\n\nDuring the investigation Perper interviewed Bechler's family. He found that Bechler was overweight, out of shape, was not yet accustomed to the warm and humid weather in South Florida, was on a primarily liquid or semi-liquid diet, did not feel well or eat the night before he collapsed and had high blood pressure, was using Xenadrine and had abnormal liver functions.\n\nAnna Nicole Smith\nPerper oversaw as Gertrude M. Juste and Stephen Cina examined and autopsied the body of Anna Nicole Smith in 2007. He also had significant involvement in the hearing deciding the fate of her body and has made numerous TV appearances on Nancy Grace and various other shows in relation to this. Perper revealed his findings that Smith's death was due to an accidental lethal combination of therapeutic levels of 3 benzodiazepines and chloral hydrate. Chloral hydrate was believed to be the major contributing factor. An infection in her left buttock was also a contributory factor. After reviewing evidence in collaboration with legal authorities, he judged the death \"accidental\" and not suicide or homicide, or death by natural causes.\n\nRetirement\nIn September 2011, Governor Rick Scott announced he would not reappoint Perper to another three-year term as Chief Medical Examiner. Perper expressed surprise at the decision, and subsequently announced his intention to resign at the end of October of that year, and enter retirement.\n\nHe died on July 12, 2021.\n\nSee also\n Microscopic Diagnosis in Forensic Pathology \n When to...CALL THE DOCTOR! Your A–Z Guide to Illness, Injury and Today's Medicine \n Self-assessment of current knowledge in forensic pathology and legal medicine: 1,100 multiple choice questions and referenced answers\n\nReferences\n\n \n \n \n\n1932 births\n2021 deaths\nMedical examiners\nPeople from Bacău\nRomanian emigrants to the United States\nAmerican people of Romanian-Jewish descent\nAmerican coroners\nPeople from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania\nPeople from Broward County, Florida"
]
|
[
"Charlie Parker",
"Death",
"When did Charlie Parker die?",
"Parker died on March 12, 1955,",
"What did he die from?",
"The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack.",
"Is there more interesting facts about his death?",
"The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.",
"What else did the coroner find out about his autopsy?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_95ca5aa2b05d42648743fe4590bee079_0 | How old was he when he died? | 5 | How old was Charlie Parker when he died? | Charlie Parker | Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patroness Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age. Since 1950, Parker had been living with Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died as an infant of cystic fibrosis). He considered Chan his wife although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City. Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road. Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management. CANNOTANSWER | 34-year-old | Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies. Parker was an extremely fast virtuoso and introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. Primarily a player of the alto saxophone, Parker's tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. He was known for the very clear, sweet and articulate note he could produce from the saxophone.
Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career on the road with Jay McShann. This, and the shortened form "Bird", continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise". Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer.
Biography
Childhood
Charlie Parker Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas, at 852 Freeman Avenue, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, near Westport and later – in high school – near 15th and Olive Street. He was the only child of Charles Parker and Adelaide "Addie" Bailey, who was of mixed Choctaw and African-American background. He attended Lincoln High School in September 1934, but withdrew in December 1935, just before joining the local musicians' union and choosing to pursue his musical career full-time. His childhood sweetheart and future wife, Rebecca Ruffin, graduated from Lincoln High School in June 1935.
Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 he joined his high school band where he studied under Bandmaster Alonzo Lewis. His mother purchased a new alto saxophone around the same time. His father, Charles Sr., was often required to travel for work, but provided some musical influence because he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) circuit. He later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. Parker's mother Addie worked nights at the local Western Union office. His biggest influence at that time was a young trombone player named Robert Simpson, who taught him the basics of improvisation.
Early career
In the mid-1930s, Parker began to practice diligently. During this period he mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas that led to the later development of Bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, Parker said that he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day.
Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten certainly influenced Parker. He played with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time influenced Parker's developing style.
In late spring 1936, Parker played at a jam session at the Reno Club in Kansas City. His attempt to improvise failed when he lost track of the chord changes. This prompted Jo Jones, the drummer for Count Basie's Orchestra, to contemptuously take a cymbal off of his drum set and throw it at his feet as a signal to leave the stage. However, rather than discouraging Parker, the incident caused him to vow to practice harder, and turned out to be a seminal moment in the young musician's career when he returned as a new man a year later. Parker proposed to his wife, Rebecca Ruffin, the same year and the two were married on July 25, 1936. In the fall of 1936, Parker traveled with a band from Kansas City to the Ozarks for the opening of Clarence Musser's Tavern south of Eldon, Missouri. Along the way, the caravan of musicians had a car accident and Parker broke three ribs and fractured his spine. The accident led to Parker's ultimate troubles with painkillers and opioids, especially heroin. Parker struggled with drug use for the rest of his life.
Despite his near-death experience on the way to the Ozarks in 1936, Parker returned to the area in 1937 where he spent some serious time woodshedding and developing his sound. In 1938 Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band. The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann's band.
New York City
In 1939 Parker moved to New York City, to pursue a career in music. He held several other jobs as well. He worked for nine dollars a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack, where pianist Art Tatum performed. It was in 1939 in New York that Parker had his musical breakthrough that had begun in 1937 in the Missouri Ozarks. Playing through the changes on the song "Cherokee", Parker discovered a new musical vocabulary and sound that shifted the course of music history.
In 1940, he returned to Kansas City to perform with Jay McShann and to attend the funeral of his father, Charles Sr. He played Fairyland Park in the summer with McShann's band at 75th and Prospect for all-white audiences. The up-side of the summer was his introduction to Dizzy Gillespie by Step Buddy Anderson near 19th and Vine in the summer of 1940. After the summer season at Fairyland, Parker left with McShann's band for gigs in the region. On a trip to Omaha he earned his nickname from McShann and the band after an incident with a chicken and the tour bus.
In 1942 Parker left McShann's band and played for one year with Earl Hines, whose band included Dizzy Gillespie, who later played with Parker as a duo. This period is virtually undocumented, due to the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which time few professional recordings were made. Parker joined a group of young musicians, and played in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House. These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke. According to Mary Lou Williams, the group was formed in order "to challenge the practice of downtown musicians coming uptown and 'stealing' the music." She recalled: "Monk and some of the cleverest of the young musicians used to complain: 'We'll never get credit for what we're doing.' They had reason to say it... In the music business the going is tough for original talent. Everybody is being exploited through paid-for publicity and most anybody can become a great name if he can afford enough of it. In the end the public believes what it reads. So it is often difficult for the real talent to break through... Anyway, Monk said: 'We're going to get a big band started. We're going to create something they can't steal, because they can't play it.'"
Bebop
One night in 1939, Parker was playing "Cherokee" in a practice session with guitarist William "Biddy" Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musical innovations. He realized that the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing. He recalled: "I was jamming in a chili house on Seventh Avenue between 139th and 140th. It was December 1939. Now I'd been getting bored with the stereotyped changes that were being used all the time at the time, and I kept thinking there's bound to be something else. I could hear it sometimes but I couldn't play it ... Well, that night I was working over 'Cherokee' and, as I did, I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes, I could play the thing I'd been hearing. I came alive."
Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians who disdained their younger counterparts. The beboppers responded by calling these traditionalists "moldy figs". However, some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Tatum, were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.
Because of the two-year Musicians' Union ban of all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944, much of bebop's early development was not captured for posterity. As a result, it gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. (One of their first small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945.) Bebop soon gained wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.
On November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever". Recording as Charlie Parker's Reboppers, Parker enlisted such sidemen as Gillespie and Miles Davis on trumpet, Curley Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko", "Billie's Bounce", and "Now's the Time".
In December 1945, the Parker band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. He experienced great hardship in California, and was briefly jailed after setting the bed sheets of his Los Angeles hotel room on fire and then running naked through the lobby while intoxicated, after which he was committed to the Camarillo State Mental Hospital for six months.
When Parker received his discharge from the hospital, he was clean and healthy. Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo" in reference to his stay in the mental hospital. However, when he returned to New York he resumed his heroin usage. During this time he still managed to record dozens of sides for the Savoy and Dial labels, which remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classic quintet" including Davis and Roach.
In 1952, Parker and Gillespie released an album entitled Bird and Diz.
Charlie Parker with Strings
A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, and contemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky and longed to engage in a project akin to what later became known as Third Stream, a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz and classical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards. On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians. Six master takes from this session became the album Charlie Parker with Strings: "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You".
Jazz at Massey Hall
In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Powell and Roach. Unfortunately, the concert happened at the same time as a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott, so the musical event was poorly attended. Mingus recorded the concert, resulting in the album Jazz at Massey Hall. At this concert, Parker played a plastic Grafton saxophone.
Death
Parker died on March 12, 1955, in the suite of his friend and patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City, while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer, but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.
Since 1950, Parker had been living in New York City with his common-law wife, Chan Berg, the mother of his son Baird (who lived until 2014) and his daughter Pree (who died at age 3). He considered Chan his wife, although he never married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris, whom he had married in 1948. His marital status complicated the settling of Parker's estate and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City.
Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Congressman and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert. Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Berg criticized Doris and Parker's family for giving him a Christian funeral, even though they knew he was a confirmed atheist. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit, located close to I-435 and East Truman Road.
Parker's estate is managed by Jampol Artist Management.
Some amount of controversy continued after Parker's burial in the Kansas City area. His tomb was engraved with the image of a tenor saxophone, though Parker is primarily associated with the alto saxophone. Later, some people wanted to move Parker's remains to reinforce redevelopment of the historic 18th and Vine area.
Personal life
Parker's life was riddled with mental health problems and an addiction to heroin. Although unclear which came first, his addiction to opiates began at the age of 16, when he was injured in a car crash and a doctor prescribed morphine for the pain. The addiction that stemmed from this incident led him to miss performances, and to be considered unreliable. In the jazz scene heroin use was prevalent, and the substance could be acquired with little difficulty.
Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic. Heroin was difficult to obtain once he moved to California, where the drug was less abundant, so he used alcohol as a substitute. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Before this session, Parker drank a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1, Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track "Max Making Wax". When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, away from his microphone. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer Ross Russell physically supported Parker. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars; on his second eight bars, however, he begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at him. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings, despite its flaws. Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing it. He re-recorded the tune in 1951 for Verve.
Parker's life took a turn for the worse in March 1954 when his three-year-old daughter Pree died of cystic fibrosis and pneumonia. He attempted suicide twice in 1954, which once again landed him in a mental hospital.
Artistry
Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over existing jazz forms and standards, a practice known as contrafact and still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" (which borrows the chord progression of jazz standard "How High the Moon" and is said to be co-written with trumpet player Little Benny Harris), and "Moose The Mooche" (one of many Parker compositions based on the chord progression of "I Got Rhythm"). The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop, but it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and toward composing their own material. Perhaps Parker's most well-known contrafact is "Koko," which is based on the chord changes of the popular bebop tune "Cherokee," written by Ray Noble.
While tunes such as "Now's The Time", "Billie's Bounce", "Au Privave", "Barbados", "Relaxin' at Camarillo", "Bloomdido", and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional 12-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for tunes such as "Blues for Alice", "Laird Baird", and "Si Si." These unique chords are known popularly as "Bird Changes". Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition, although he did employ the use of repetition in some tunes, most notably "Now's The Time".
Parker contributed greatly to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists previously avoided. Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Through his recordings and the popularity of the posthumously published Charlie Parker Omnibook, Parker's identifiable style dominated jazz for many years to come.
Other well-known Parker compositions include "Ah-Leu-Cha", "Anthropology", co-written with Gillespie, "Confirmation", "Constellation", "Moose the Mooche", "Scrapple from the Apple" and "Yardbird Suite", the vocal version of which is called "What Price Love", with lyrics by Parker.
Miles Davis once said, "You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker".
Discography
Recognition
Awards
Grammy Award
Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance".
Inductions
Government honors
In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 32-cent commemorative postage stamp in Parker's honor.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.
Charlie Parker residence
From 1950 to 1954, Parker lived with Chan Berg on the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, across from Tompkins Square Park on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Gothic Revival building, which was built about 1849, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and was designated a New York City landmark in 1999. Avenue B between East 7th and East 10th Streets was given the honorary designation "Charlie Parker Place" in 1992.
Musical tributes
Jack Kerouac's spoken poem "Charlie Parker" to backing piano by Steve Allen on Poetry for the Beat Generation (1959)
In 2014, saxophonist and bandleader Aaron Johnson produced historically accurate recreations of the Charlie Parker with Strings albums.
Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death.
American composer Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory; published on the 1969 album Moondog.
Since 1972, the Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone section.
In 1973, guitarist Joe Pass released his album I Remember Charlie Parker in Parker's honor.
Weather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the Heavy Weather album (1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itself.
The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album Pretzel Logic.
Avant-garde jazz trombonist George E. Lewis recorded Homage to Charles Parker (1979).
The opera Charlie Parker's Yardbird by Daniel Schnyder, libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly, was premiered by Opera Philadelphia on June 5, 2015, with Lawrence Brownlee in the title role.
The name of British 1960s blues-rock band The Yardbirds was at least partially inspired by Parker's nickname.
Charles Mingus' song "Reincarnation of a Lovebird"
In 1993, Anthony Braxton recorded a 2-CD album titled Charlie Parker Project, released in 1995. This material was re-released in 2018 as part of an 11-CD set titled Sextet (Parker) 1993.
Other tributes
In 1949, the New York night club Birdland was named in his honor. Three years later, George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland", named for both Parker and the nightclub.
The 1957 short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin features a jazz/blues playing virtuoso who names Bird as the "greatest" jazz musician, whose style he hopes to emulate.
In 1959, Jack Kerouac completed his only full-length poetry work, Mexico City Blues, with two poems about Parker's importance, writing in those works that Parker's contribution to music was comparable to Ludwig van Beethoven's.
The 1959 Beat comedy album How to Speak Hip, by comedians Del Close and John Brent, lists the three top most "uncool" actions (both in the audio and in the liner notes) as follows: "It is uncool to claim that you used to room with Bird. It is uncool to claim that you have Bird's axe. It is even less cool to ask 'Who is Bird?'"
A memorial to Parker was dedicated in 1999 in Kansas City at 17th Terrace and The Paseo, near the American Jazz Museum located at 18th and Vine, featuring a tall bronze head sculpted by Robert Graham.
The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free two-day music festival that takes place every summer on the last weekend of August in Manhattan, New York City, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and Tompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side, sponsored by the non-profit organization City Parks Foundation.
The Annual Charlie Parker Celebration is an annual festival held in Kansas City, Kansas since 2014. It is held for 10 days and celebrates all aspects of Parker, from live jazz music and bootcamps, to tours of his haunts in the city, to exhibits at the American Jazz Museum.
In the short-story collection Las armas secretas (The Secret Weapons), Julio Cortázar dedicated "El perseguidor" ("The Pursuer") to Charlie Parker. This story examines the last days of a drug-addicted saxophonist through the eyes of his biographer.
In 1981, jazz historian Phil Schaap began to host Bird Flight, a radio show on WKCR New York dedicated entirely to Parker's music. The program continues to be broadcast on WKCR in 2022.
In 1984, modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey created the piece For Bird – With Love in honor of Parker. The piece chronicles his life from his early career to his failing health.
A biographical film called Bird, starring Forest Whitaker as Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1988.
In 1999 the Spanish metal band Saratoga created the song Charlie se Fue in honor of Charlie Parker, for the album Vientos de Guerra.
In 2005, the Selmer Paris saxophone manufacturer commissioned a special "Tribute to Bird" alto saxophone, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Parker's death (1955–2005).
Parker's performances of "I Remember You" (recorded for Clef Records in 1953, with the Charlie Parker Quartet, comprising Parker on alto sax, Al Haig on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Max Roach on drums) and "Parker's Mood" (recorded for the Savoy label in 1948, with the Charlie Parker All Stars, comprising Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, John Lewis on piano, Curley Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums) were selected by literary critic Harold Bloom for inclusion on his shortlist of the "twentieth-century American Sublime", the greatest works of American art produced in the 20th century. A vocalese version of "Parker's Mood" was a popular success for King Pleasure.
Jean-Michel Basquiat created many paintings to honor Charlie Parker, including Charles the First, CPRKR, Bird on Money, Bird of Paradise, and Discography I.
Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, wrote a children's book entitled Ode to a High Flying Bird as a tribute to Parker. Watts has cited Parker as a large influence on his life when he was a boy learning jazz.
The 2014 film Whiplash repeatedly refers to the 1937 incident at the Reno Club, changing the aim point of the cymbals to his head and pointing to it as evidence that genius is not born but made by relentless practice and pitiless peers.
Citations
References
Bibliography
Further reading
Aebersold, Jamey, editor (1978). Charlie Parker Omnibook. New York: Michael H. Goldsen.
Koch, Lawrence (1999). Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Boston, Northeastern University Press.
Parker, Chan (1999). My Life In E-Flat. University Of South Carolina Press.
Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books.
Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). Yardbird Originals. New York: Charles Colin, reprinted 2005.
External links
The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
Charlie Parker discography at Discogs
Charlie Parker discography
Charlie Parker Sessionography
Clips and notes about Parker
Bird Lives – Thinking About Charlie Parker
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1955 deaths
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20th-century American male musicians | true | [
"Iosif Grigor'evich Alliluyev (; 22 May 1945 – 2 November 2008) was a Russian cardiologist and a grandson of Joseph Stalin.\n\nThe son of Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva, Iosif was seven years old when Stalin, his maternal grandfather, died in March 1953. Although he kept a low profile, he did take part in a television interview on Russian Channel One. He spoke about his relationship with his mother and how she fled to the United States.\n\nIn 1967, he was living in Moscow with his wife Yelena while studying to be a doctor. During this time, he was also serving his military service.\n\nAlliluyev died on 2 November 2008.\n\nHe is portrayed briefly as a 6-year-old in HBO's 1992 film Stalin.\n\nReferences\n\n1945 births\n2008 deaths\nPeople from Moscow\nRussian cardiologists\nSoviet cardiologists\nStalin family\nRussian people of Georgian descent",
"Henry W. How (September 29, 1919 – February 1, 2001) was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Kings South in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1970 to 1983. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia.\n\nBorn in 1919 in Granville Ferry, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, How was a graduate of the University of New Brunswick. How was a resident of Wolfville when he entered provincial politics in the 1970 election, being elected MLA for Kings South. He was re-elected in the 1974, 1978, and 1981 elections.\n\nOn October 5, 1978, How was appointed to the Executive Council of Nova Scotia as Attorney General and Provincial Secretary. He held the positions until November 1983, when he retired from politics and was appointed Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia. Prior to the 1993 election, How returned to provincial politics and defeated incumbent MLA Derrick Kimball for the Progressive Conservative nomination in his old riding of Kings South. In the general election, Liberal Robbie Harrison defeated How by 128 votes, while Kimball who ran as an independent finished third. How briefly returned to political life in 2000 when he joined the Canadian Alliance, and campaigned against federal Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark in the September 2000 Kings—Hants byelection.\n\nHow died in Kentville on February 1, 2001.\n\nReferences\n\n1919 births\n2001 deaths\nProgressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia MLAs\nMembers of the Executive Council of Nova Scotia\nPeople from Annapolis County, Nova Scotia\nPeople from Kings County, Nova Scotia\nUniversity of New Brunswick alumni\nJudges in Nova Scotia"
]
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[
"Ali Khamenei",
"Leadership council proposal"
]
| C_a2f43975a2fa421682c631d34e71caee_1 | what did he propose? | 1 | what did Ali Khamenei propose at the Leadership council? | Ali Khamenei | Initially, the idea of leadership council was proposed by some members of Assembly of experts. Various lists were proposed and Khamenei was named in all of them. For instance, a council of three members, Ali Meshkini, Mousavi Ardebili and Khamenei, was proposed to lead Iran. According to Rafsanjani, he and Khamenei were against the proposal while Ayatollah Haeri Shirazi and Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini were in favor of it. Supporters of the council proposal believed that having a council would produce a higher degree of unity in society and more positive characteristics would be found in a council, while the opposers believed that an individual leader was more efficient according to the past experiences in case of Judiciary council. Ebrahim Amini listed the summary of reasons presented by the two sides. According to him the opposers rejected the proposal because: i) Evidences for Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist were true only for the guardianship of an individual and it was not clear who held the guardianship when there was a council. Guardianship of a council was not rooted in Hadiths and Islamic jurisprudence. ii) Previous council type organizations such as broadcasting council and supreme judicial council were not successful in practice and leadership council would not do well for similar reasons. iii) People were accustomed to the leadership of an individual and a council of leaders was something unfamiliar to them. iv) An individual leader could act more decisive when dealing with critical and important decisions and solving problems and crisis. On the other hand, the supporters of the proposal believed that: i) At the time, there were no Faqih equal to Khomeini or even two or three levels lower than him so that he could fulfill the expectation of people. ii) In case of council of leaders, the members could compensate each other, if any of them had some shortage in a field. Finally, 45 members voted against the leadership council proposal while more than 20 people were in favor of it and the proposal was rejected. After the assembly rejected the idea of a Leadership Council, Khamenei was elected Leader by 60 of the 74 members present with Grand Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani receiving the remaining 14 votes. Though Khamenei opposed this and argued heavily against the decision, he eventually accepted it after debating with the mujtahids of the Assembly. CANNOTANSWER | Various lists were proposed and Khamenei was named in all of them. | Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei (, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia Marja' and the second and current supreme leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei is the longest serving head of state in the Middle East, as well as the second-longest serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
According to his official website, Khamenei was arrested six times before being sent into exile for three years during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's reign. After the Iranian revolution overthrowing the shah, he was the target of an attempted assassination in June 1981 that paralysed his right arm. Khamenei was one of Iran's leaders during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, and developed close ties with the now powerful Revolutionary Guards which he controls, and whose commanders are elected and dismissed by him. The Revolutionary Guards have been deployed to suppress opposition to him. Khamenei served as the third President of Iran from 1981 to 1989, while becoming a close ally of the first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini. Shortly before his death, Khomeini had a disagreement with the heir he had chosen — Hussein Ali Montazeri — so there was no agreed on successor when Khomeini died. The Assembly of Experts elected Khamenei as the next Supreme Leader on 4 June 1989, at age 50. According to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khamenei was the man Khomeini had chosen as his successor before dying. Khamenei has been head of the servants of Astan Quds Razavi since 14 April 1979.
As Supreme Leader, Khamenei is the most powerful political authority in the Islamic Republic. He is the head of state of Iran, the commander-in-chief of its armed forces, and can issue decrees and make the final decisions on the main policies of the government in many fields such as economy, the environment, foreign policy, and national planning in Iran. Khamenei has either direct or indirect control over the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as the military and media, according to Karim Sadjadpour. All candidates for the Assembly of Experts, the Presidency and the Majlis (Parliament) are vetted by the Guardian Council, whose members are selected directly or indirectly by the Supreme Leader of Iran. There have been also instances when the Guardian Council reversed its ban on particular people after being ordered to do so by Khamenei.
There have been major protests during Khamenei's reign, including the 1994 Qazvin Protests, the 1999 Iranian student protests, the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, the 2011–2012 Iranian protests, the 2017–2018 Iranian protests, the 2018–2019 Iranian general strikes and protests and the 2019–2020 Iranian protests. Journalists, bloggers and other individuals have been put on trial in Iran for the charge of insulting Supreme Leader Khamenei, often in conjunction with blasphemy charges. Their sentences have included lashing and jail time; some of them have died in custody. Regarding the nuclear program of Iran, Khamenei issued a fatwa in 2003 forbidding the production, stockpiling and use of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction.
Early life and education
Born to Seyyed Javad Khamenei, an Alim and Mujtahid born in Najaf, and Khadijeh Mirdamadi (daughter of Hashem Mirdamadi) in Mashhad, Khamenei is the second of eight children. Two of his brothers are also clerics; his younger brother, Hadi Khamenei, is a newspaper editor and cleric. His elder sister Fatemeh Hosseini Khamenei died in 2015, aged 89. His father was an ethnic Azerbaijani from Khamaneh, while his mother was an ethnic Persian from Yazd. Some of his ancestors are from Tafresh in today's Markazi Province and migrated from their original home in Tafresh to Khamaneh near the Tabriz. Khamenei's great ancestor was Sayyid Hossein Tafreshi, a descendant of the Aftasi Sayyids, whose lineage supposedly reached to Sultan ul-Ulama Ahmad, known as Sultan Sayyid, a grandchild of Shia fourth Imam, Ali ibn Husayn.
Education
His education began at the age of four, by learning Quran at Maktab; he spent his basic and advanced levels of seminary studies at the hawza of Mashhad, under mentors such as Sheikh Hashem Qazvini and Ayatollah Milani. Then, he went to Najaf in 1957, but soon returned to Mashhad due to his father's unwillingness to let him stay there. In 1958, he settled in Qom where he attended the classes of Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi and Ruhollah Khomeini. Like many other politically active clerics at the time, Khamenei was far more involved with politics than religious scholarship.
Personal life
Sanctions
On 24 June 2019, the United States imposed sanctions on Khamenei with the signing of Executive Order 13876.
Family
Khamenei is married to Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, with whom he has six children; four sons (Mostafa, Mojtaba, Masoud, and Meysam) and two daughters (Boshra and Hoda). One of his sons, Mojtaba, married a daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel. His eldest son, Mostafa, is married to a daughter of Azizollah Khoshvaght. Another son, Masoud, is married to the daughter of Mohsen Kharazi. He has two brothers, Mohammad Khamenei and Hadi Khamenei.
Home
As Supreme Leader, Khamenei moved to a house in Central Tehran on Palestine Street. A compound grew around it that now contains around fifty buildings. Around 500 people are employed at this "Beit Rahbari compound" according to The Telegraph, "many recruited from the military and security services".
Lifestyle
According to Mehdi Khalaji, an Iran expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Khamenei has a decent life "without it being luxurious". Robert Tait of The Daily Telegraph commented that Khamenei is "renowned for a spartan lifestyle." Dexter Filkins describes Khamenei as presenting himself "as an ascetic, dressing and eating simply". In an interview with a women's magazine, his wife declared that "we do not have decorations, in the usual sense. Years ago, we freed ourselves from these things."
On the other hand, Mother Nature Network claims Khamenei has been seen riding around in a BMW car and published a picture of him exiting one. In a 2011 report in The Daily Telegraph, defectors from Iran claimed Khamenei has a considerable appetite of caviar and trout, a stable of 100 horses, collects items such as pipes and (reputedly) 170 antique walking sticks, and has a private court stretching over six palaces. Intelligence sources have also said his family has extensive international business interests.
Health
Khamenei's health has been called into question. In January 2007, after he had not been seen in public for some weeks, and had not appeared as he traditionally does at celebrations for Eid al-Adha, rumours spread of his illness or death. Khamenei issued a statement declaring that "enemies of the Islamic system fabricated various rumors about death and health to demoralize the Iranian nation", but according to author Hooman Majd, he appeared to be "visibly weak" in photos released with the statement.
On 9 September 2014, Khamenei underwent prostate surgery in what his doctors described in state news media as a "routine operation". According to a report by Le Figaro, Western intelligence sources said Khamenei has prostate cancer.
Political life and presidency
Khamenei was a key figure in the Iranian Revolution in Iran and a close confidant of Ruhollah Khomeini.
Since the founding of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei has held many government posts.
Muhammad Sahimi claims that his political career began after the Iranian Revolution, when the former President of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then a confidant of Khomeini, brought Khamenei into Khomeini's inner circle. Later on, the current President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, then a member of Parliament, arranged for Khamenei to get his first major post in the provisional revolutionary government as deputy defense minister.
Khomeini appointed Khamenei to the post of Tehran's Friday prayers Imam in 1980, after resignation of Hussein-Ali Montazeri from the post. He served briefly as the vice Minister of National Defence from late July to 6 November 1979 and as a supervisor of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. He also went to the battlefield as a representative of the defense commission of the parliament.
Assassination attempt
Khamenei narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by the Mujahedin-e Khalq when a bomb, concealed in a tape recorder, exploded beside him.
On 27 June 1981, while Khamenei had returned from the frontline, he went to the Aboozar Mosque according to his Saturdays schedule. After the first prayer, he began to give a lecture to worshipers who had written their questions on a piece of paper. Meanwhile, a tape recorder accompanied with papers was put on the desk in front of Khamenei by a young man who pressed a button. After a minute the loud speaker's sound become like whistle and suddenly the tape recorder exploded. "A gift of Furqan Group to the Islamic Republic" was written on the inner wall of the tape recorder. Ayatollah Khamenei's treatment took several months and his arm, vocal cords and lungs were seriously injured. He was permanently injured, losing the use of his right arm.
As president
In 1981, after the assassination of Mohammad-Ali Rajai, Khamenei was elected President of Iran by a landslide vote (97%) in the October 1981 Iranian presidential election in which only four candidates were approved by the Council of Guardians. Khamenei became the first cleric to serve in the office. Ruhollah Khomeini had originally wanted to keep clerics out of the presidency but later changed his views. Khamenei was reelected in 1985 Iranian presidential election where only three candidates were approved by the Council of Guardians, receiving 87% of the votes. The only Iranian presidential election that had fewer candidates approved by the Council of Guardians was the 1989 Iranian presidential election, where only two candidates were approved by the Council of Guardians to run, and Rafsanjani easily won 96% of the votes.
In his presidential inaugural address Khamenei vowed to eliminate "deviation, liberalism, and American-influenced leftists". According to the Iran Chamber, vigorous opposition to the government, including nonviolent and violent protest, assassinations, guerrilla activity and insurrections, was answered by state repression and terror in the early 1980s, both before and during Khamenei's presidency. Thousands of rank-and-file members of insurgent groups were killed, often by revolutionary courts. By 1982, the government announced that the courts would be reined in, although various political groups continued to be repressed by the government in the first half of the 1980s.
During Iran–Iraq war
Khamenei was one of Iran's leaders during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, and developed close ties with the now-powerful Revolutionary Guards. As president, he had a reputation of being deeply interested in the military, budget and administrative details.
After the war
In its 10 April 1997 ruling regarding the Mykonos restaurant assassinations, the German court issued an international arrest warrant for Iranian intelligence minister Ali Fallahian after declaring that the assassination had been ordered by him with knowledge of Khamenei and Rafsanjani. Iranian officials, however, have categorically denied their involvement. The then Iranian Parliament speaker Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri dismissed the ruling as being political, untrue and unsubstantiated. The ruling led to a diplomatic crisis between the governments of Iran and several European countries, which lasted until November 1997. The accused assassins, Darabi and Rhayel, were finally released from prison on 10 December 2007 and deported back to their home countries.
Supreme Leader
Khamenei has fired and reinstated Presidential cabinet appointments. Iran's Chief Justice Sadeq Larijani, a Khamenei appointee, has warned the president of Iran against voicing opposition to Khamenei.
Election as Supreme Leader
In 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini dismissed Ayatollah Montazeri as his political successor, giving the position to Khamenei instead. Because Khamenei was neither a marja or ayatollah, the Assembly of Experts had to modify the constitution in order to award him the position of Iran's new Supreme Leader (a decision opposed by several grand ayatollahs).
Khamenei officially succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini after Khomeini's death, being elected as the new Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989.
Leadership council proposal
Initially, the idea of leadership council was proposed by some members of Assembly of Experts. Various lists were proposed and Khamenei was named in all of them. For instance, a council of three members, Ali Meshkini, Mousavi Ardebili and Khamenei, was proposed to lead Iran. According to Rafsanjani, he and Khamenei were against the proposal while Ayatollah Haeri Shirazi and Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini were in favor of it. Supporters of the council proposal believed that having a council would produce a higher degree of unity in society and more positive characteristics would be found in a council, while the opposers believed that an individual leader was more efficient according to the past experiences in case of Judiciary council.
Ebrahim Amini listed the summary of reasons presented by the two sides. According to him the opposers rejected the proposal because: i) Evidences for Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist were true only for the guardianship of an individual and it was not clear who held the guardianship when there was a council. Guardianship of a council was not rooted in Hadiths and Islamic jurisprudence. ii) Previous council type organizations such as broadcasting council and supreme judicial council were not successful in practice and leadership council would not do well for similar reasons. iii) People were accustomed to the leadership of an individual and a council of leaders was something unfamiliar to them. iv) An individual leader could act more decisive when dealing with critical and important decisions and solving problems and crisis. On the other hand, the supporters of the proposal believed that: i) At the time, there were no Faqih equal to Khomeini or even two or three levels lower than him so that he could fulfill the expectation of people. ii) In case of council of leaders, the members could compensate each other, if any of them had some shortage in a field.
Finally, 45 members voted against the leadership council proposal while more than 20 people were in favor of it and the proposal was rejected. After the assembly rejected the idea of a Leadership Council, Khamenei was elected Leader by 60 of the 74 members present with Grand Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani receiving the remaining 14 votes. Khamenei made protestations of his unworthiness -- "my nomination should make us all cry tears of blood" and debated with the mujtahids of the Assembly—but eventually accepted the post.
Marjaʿiyyat criteria
Since Khamenei was not a marja' at the time—which the Iranian constitution required—he was named as the temporary Supreme Leader. Later, the constitution was amended to remove that requirement and the Assembly of Experts reconvened on 6 August 1989, to reconfirm Khamenei with 60 votes out of 64 present. On 29 April 1989, responding to the letter of Ayatollah Meshkini, the head of committee responsible for revising the Constitution, asking Khomeini's viewpoint regarding the 'marjaʿiyyat criteria, Khomeini said: "From the very beginning, I believed and insisted that there is no need for the requirements of marjaʿiyyat (authority in jurisprudence). A pious mujtahid (jurist-intellectual), who is approved by the esteemed Assembly of Experts (Majlis-i Khobregan), will suffice." In a video that surfaced during the 2017–18 Iranian protests, Khamenei is seen before the assembly saying he was not religiously qualified to be Supreme leader. Khamenei, who was ranked as a Hujjat al-Islam and not a Marja' as required by the Iranian constitution, said he would only be a "ceremonial leader", and was reassured by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani the position would be "temporary" until a referendum, apparently planned for one year later.
Political strategy and philosophy
Khamenei's era has differed from that of his predecessor. He has, however, continued Khomeini's policy of "balancing one group against another, making sure that no single side gains too much power." But lacking Khomeini's charisma and clerical standing, he has developed personal networks, first inside the armed forces, and then among the clerics, while administering the major bonyads and seminaries of Qom and Mashhad. Having been Supreme Leader for three decades, Khamenei has been able to place many loyalists throughout Iran's major institutions, "building a system that serves and protects him". Former cleric Mehdi Khalaji and Saeid Golkar, describe Khamenei's system as having creating a "parallel structure" for each of the country's institutions (army, intelligence agencies, etc.) to keep those institutions weak.
According to Vali Nasr of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, "[Khamenei] [took] many of the powers of the presidency with him and [turned] the office of the supreme leader into the omnipotent overseer of Iran's political scene". In Nasr's view, Khamenei is an "unusual sort of dictator". Officials under Khamenei influence the country's various powerful, and sometimes bickering, institutions, including "the parliament, the presidency, the judiciary, the Revolutionary Guards, the military, the intelligence services, the police agencies, the clerical elite, the Friday prayer leaders and much of the media", as well as various "nongovernmental foundations, organizations, councils, seminaries and business groups".
Khamenei issues decrees and makes the final decisions on economy, environment, foreign policy and everything else in Iran. Khamenei regularly meets with president, cabinet members, head and officials of the judiciary branch, parliamentarians, among others, and tells them what to do. Khamenei has also fired and reinstated Presidential cabinet appointments. Khamenei meets with foreign dignitaries, however he does not travel overseas; if anyone wishes to see him, that person must travel to Iran. Apart from his time in Najaf as a student, Khamenei travelled to Libya during his time as President.
In his speeches Khamenei regularly mentions many familiar themes of the 1979 revolution: justice, independence, self-sufficiency, Islamic government and resolute opposition to Israel and United States, while rarely mentioning other revolutionary ideals such as democracy and greater government transparency. According to Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Khamenei has "resisted Rafsanjani's attempts to find a modus vivendi with the United States, Khatami's aspirations for a more democratic Islamic state, and Ahmadinejad's penchant for outright confrontation."
Privatization of state-owned businesses
In 2007, Khamenei called for the privatization of state-owned companies, including the telephone company, three banks and dozens of small oil and petrochemical enterprises. After a few months, at a televised meeting with then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Cabinet ministers, important clerics, the leader of parliament and provincial governors, the heads of state broadcasting and the Iranian chamber of commerce, Khamenei ordered "to pass some laws, sell off some businesses, and be quick about it." Khamenei warned that "those who are hostile to these policies are the ones who are going to lose their interests and influence."
Dispute regarding status as Grand Ayatollah
In 1994, after the death of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Araki, the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom declared Khamenei a new marja. Several ayatollahs, however, declined to recognize him as such. Some of those dissidents clerics included Mohammad Shirazi, Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Hassan Tabatabai-Qomi, and Yasubedin Rastegar Jooybari. In 1997, for example, Montazeri "questioned the powers of the Leader" and was subsequently punished for his comments with the closure of his religious school, an attack on his office in Qom, and a period of house arrest.
Appointments
The table below lists some of the incumbent senior officeholders in Iran directly appointed by the supreme leader (sorted by date of appointment):
Fatwas and messages
Fatwa regarding companions of Muhammad
In 2010, Khamenei issued a fatwa which bans any insult to the Sahabah (companions of Muhammad) as well as Muhammad's wives. The fatwa was issued in an effort to reconcile legal, social, and political disagreements between Sunni and Shia.
Amman Message
Khamenei is one of the Ulama signatories of the Amman Message, which gives a broad foundation for defining Muslim orthodoxy. as well as elaborating on the factors needed to create Islamic unity, he argues: "neither the Shia Muslims allied with the British MI6 are Shias, nor the Sunni mercenaries of the American CIA are Sunnis, as they are both anti-Islamic."
Fatwa against nuclear weapons
Khamenei has reportedly issued a fatwa saying the production, stockpiling, and use of nuclear weapons was forbidden under Islam.
The fatwa was cited in an official statement by the Iranian government at an August 2005 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. It's been widely discussed by international officials and specifically recognized by the US administration.
The Iranian official website for information regarding its nuclear program has provided numerous instances of public statements by Khamenei wherein he voices his opposition to pursuit and development of nuclear weapons in moral, religious and Islamic juridical terms. Khamenei's official website specifically cites a 2010 version of these statements in the fatwa section of the website in Farsi as a fatwa on "Prohibition of Weapons of Mass Destruction".
Doubts have been cast by experts on the existence of the fatwa as it can be changed or modified as and when deemed necessary, as well as doubts on its authenticity, its impact, and its apparently religious nature. Gareth Porter believes that the fatwa is "sincere" and Gholam-Hossein Elham commented that it will not change.
Message(s) to Hajj pilgrims
Sayyid Ali Khamenei annually issues message(s) on the occasion of Hajj for all Muslims (pilgrims) in Hajj. He commenced to issue such messages since the start of his responsibility as the supreme leader of Iran (1989). He continually invites all Muslims to Tawhid, and afterwards expresses concerning the significance of Hajj in spiritual/social life. He also asks the Muslims to be aware of what he considers "the conspiracy of the enemies" by having a right comprehension, and advises them to "not be deceived by them". So far, Iran's supreme leader has issued 32 messages (since 1989). A part of his last message (6 August 2019) is as follows:
The ritual of Bara’ah which means refusing every instance of mercilessness, cruelty, wrongdoing and corruption of the tyrants of any time, and rising against intimidation and extortion by the arrogant throughout history, is one of the great blessings of Hajj, and an opportunity for oppressed Muslim nations.
Women riding bicycles
He issued a fatwa declaring women riding bicycles haram.
Political power following reform era
Khamenei developed a cult of personality; with supporters describing him as a "divine gift to mankind" and in which Khamenei critics are persecuted.
According to Karim Sadjadpour of the American Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, several factors have strengthened Khamenei in recent years:
(1) A vast network of commissars stationed in strategic posts throughout government bureaucracies, dedicated to enforcing his authority; (2) the weak, conservative-dominated parliament, headed by Khamenei loyalist Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel (whose daughter is married to the Leader's son); (3) the rapidly rising political and economic influence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, whose top leaders are directly appointed by Khamenei and have always been publicly deferential to him; (4) the political disengagement of Iran's young population ...; and (5) most significant[ly], the 2005 presidential election, which saw hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trounce Khamenei's chief rival ... Hashemi Rafsanjani ...
According to Christopher Dickey, in order to consolidate his power base, Khamenei has developed close relations with the security and military establishment, while also expanding the bureaucracy inside the government and around his Beit Rahbari compound.
Financial assets
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat observed: "The ayatollah likes to cultivate an image of austerity but receives major commissions from the Iranian oil and arms industries and there have been regular claims that he and his son have amassed a fortune running into billions of dollars." A six-month investigation by Reuters has said that Khamenei controls a "financial empire" worth approximately US$95 billion that is not overseen by the Iranian Parliament, a figure much larger than the estimated wealth of the late Shah of Iran. According to the Reuters investigation, Khamenei uses the assets of a company called Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam or "Setad" in Farsi, in order to increase his grip on power. Reuters "found no evidence that Khamenei is tapping Setad to enrich himself," but did find that he used Setad's funds, which "rival the holdings of the shah", for political expedience – "Setad gives him the financial means to operate independently of parliament and the national budget, insulating him from Iran's messy factional infighting." According to The Daily Telegraph, money from Setad is used to fund Khamenei's Beit Rahbari compound, which employs over 500 stewards, as was reported in 2013. Hamid Vaezi, Setad's head of public relations, said the information "was far from realities and is not correct". The six-month investigation by Reuters into found that, regarding the source of Setad's funds, "Setad built its empire on the systematic seizure of thousands of properties belonging to ordinary Iranians: members of religious minorities like Vahdat-e-Hagh, who is Baha'i, as well as Shi'ite Muslims, business people and Iranians living abroad."
Despite the negative accounts of Western sources, Iranian official sources depict Setad as a vast charity foundation. In an interview in October 2014 with Islamic Republic News Agency, Muhammad Mukhber, the head of Setad, stated that over 90% of profits from Setad business activities are spent on improving infrastructure in the poor regions of the country, creating jobs and improving the well-being of people in these regions reflecting the top concerns of Iran's Supreme Leader, Khamenei for the Iranian society. He state that 85 percent of Setad's charitable works take place in poor regions of Iran. He cited construction of several hundred schools, mosques and hussainiyas, as well as direct and indirect contribution to formation of over 350 thousands jobs expecting a total of 700 thousands for the upcoming three years. Mukhber also cited a sum total grant of 2.21 trillion rials of Qard al-Hasan, interest-free loans, to 41 thousands families in poor regions of the country. He also revealed plans of gradual sell-off of Setad profitable businesses in the stock market with the aim of transferring their ownership into the hands of Iranian people. He also envisioned construction and delivery of 17 thousands housing units to families in poor regions of Iran by 2018.
Challenges following 2009 election protest
In mid-August 2009, a group of unnamed former reformist lawmakers appealed to the Assembly of Experts – the constitutional body charged with electing and (in theory) supervising and removing the Leader – to investigate Leader Ali Khamenei's qualification to rule. A week later another anonymous letter was issued "calling Iran's leader a dictator and demanding his removal", this one by a group of Iranian clerics. The letters were called a blow to Khamenei's "status as a neutral arbiter and Islamic figurehead" and an "unprecedented challenge to the country's most powerful man" though not a blow to his actual power as leader. The New York Times reports "the phrase 'death to Khamenei' has begun appearing in graffiti on Tehran walls, a phrase that would have been almost unimaginable not long ago."
The letter was addressed to the head of the Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a "powerful former president" who also questions the election results. According to the Associate Press it is unlikely the letter's demands would be met as "two-thirds of the 86-member assembly are considered strong loyalists of Khamenei and would oppose" any investigation of him.
According to The New York Times reporting in mid-August 2009, a "prominent Iranian cleric and a former lawmaker said on Sunday that they had spoken to some of the authors and had no doubt the letter was genuine". According to this cleric, the letter's signatories number "several dozen, and are mostly midranking figures from Qum, Isfahan and Mashhad", and that "the pressure on clerics in Qum is much worse than the pressure on activists because the establishment is afraid that if they say anything they can turn the more traditional sectors of society against the regime".
Relations with former President Ahmadinejad
Early in his presidency, Ahmadinejad was sometimes described as "enjoy[ing] the full backing" of the Supreme Leader , and even as being his "protege." In Ahmadinejad's 2005 inauguration the supreme leader allowed Ahmadinejad to kiss his hand and cheeks in what was called "a sign of closeness and loyalty," and after the 2009 election fully endorsed Ahmadinejad against protesters. However, as early as January 2008 signs of disagreement between the two men developed over domestic policies, and by the period of 2010–11 several sources detected a "growing rift" between them. The disagreement was described as centered on Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a top adviser and close confidant of Ahmadinejad and opponent of "greater involvement of clerics in politics", who was first vice president of Iran until being ordered to resign from the cabinet by the supreme leader.
In 2009, Ahmadinejad dismissed Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i, an opponent of Mashaei. In April 2011, another Intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, resigned after being asked to by Ahmadinejad, but was reinstated by the supreme leader within hours. Ahmadinejad declined to officially back Moslehi's reinstatement for two weeks and in protest engaged in an "11-day walkout" of cabinet meetings, religious ceremonies, and other official functions. Ahmadinejad's actions led to angry public attacks by clerics, parliamentarians and military commanders, who accused him of ignoring orders from the supreme leader. Conservative opponents in parliament launched an "impeachment drive" against him, four websites with ties to Ahmadinejad reportedly were "filtered and blocked", and several people "said to be close" to the president and Mashaei (such as Abbas Amirifar and Mohammed Sharif Malekzadeh) were arrested on charges of being "magicians" and invoking djinns. On 6 May 2011, it was reported that Ahmadinejad had been given an ultimatum to accept the leader's intervention or resign, and on 8 May he "apparently bowed" to the reinstatement, welcoming back Moslehi to a cabinet meeting. The events have been said to have "humiliated and weakened" Ahmadinejad, though the president denied that there had been any rift between the two, and according to the semiofficial Fars News Agency, he stated that his relationship with the supreme leader "is that of a father and a son."
In 2012, Khamenei ordered a halt to a parliamentary inquiry into Ahmadinejad's mishandling of the Iranian economy. In 2016, Khamenei advised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his former ally with whom his relationship was strained after Ahmadinejad accused his son Mojtaba Khamenei of embezzling from the state treasury, to not run for president again.
Domestic policy
Khamenei is regarded by some as the figurehead of the country's conservative establishment.
Khamenei supported Mesbah Yazdi describing him as one of Iran's most credible ideologues prior to the 2005 election, but has reportedly "recently been concerned about Mesbah's political ambitions."
In 2007, Khamenei requested that government officials speed up Iran's move towards economic privatization. Its last move towards such a goal was in 2004, when Article 44 of the constitution was overturned. Article 44 had decreed that Iran's core infrastructure should remain state-run. Khamenei also suggested that ownership rights should be protected in courts set up by the Justice Ministry; the hope was that this new protection would give a measure of security to and encourage private investment. In 2007, Iranian police under the direction of Khamenei launched a "Public Security Plan", arresting dozens of "thugs" to increase public security.
Additionally, Khamenei has stated that he believes in the importance of nuclear technology for civilian purposes because "oil and gas reserves cannot last forever."
On 30 April 2008, Ali Khamenei backed President Ahmadinejad's economic policy and said the West was struggling with more economic difficulties than Iran, with a "crisis" spreading from the United States to Europe, and inflation was a widespread problem. The Iranian leader said that the ongoing economic crisis which has crippled the world has been unprecedented in the past 60 years. "This crisis has forced the UN to declare state of emergency for food shortages around the globe but foreign radios have focused on Iran to imply that the current price hikes and inflation in the country are the results of carelessness on the part of Iranian officials which of course is not true", he said. Khamenei emphasized that no one has the right to blame the Iranian government for Iran's economic problems. He also advised people and the government to be content and avoid waste in order to solve economic problems. "I advise you to keep in your mind that this great nation is never afraid of economic sanctions", he added.
Presidential, parliamentary, and Assembly of Experts elections
As Supreme Leader, Khamenei has influence over elections in Iran since the Constitution of Iran allows him to appoint half of the members of the Guardian Council and the Chief Justice of Iran. The Constitution also establishes that the Council approves or disqualifies candidates for office while the Chief Justice presents the other half of the members of the Council to be selected by Parliament. These constitutional provisions give Khamenei direct and indirect influence over the Council; an entity that, in turn, has direct influence over who can run for government. This influence was evident in the 2004 parliamentary elections, in which the Guardian Council disqualified thousands of candidates from running—including 80 incumbents, many of the reformist members of Parliament, and all the candidates of the Islamic Iran Participation Front party. Subsequently, the conservatives won about 70 percent of parliamentary seats. The election became a key turning point in the country's political evolution as it marked the end of the campaign for political and social reform initiated by former President Mohammad Khatami.
During the 2005 presidential election, Khamenei's comments about importance of fighting corruption, being faithful to the ideals of the Islamic revolution, as well as on the superior intelligence and dynamism of those who studied engineering, were interpreted by some as a subtle endorsement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (who had a PhD in traffic engineering). After the election, and until recently, Khamenei was outspoken in his support for Ahmadinejad, and "defended him publicly in ways which he never" had reformist president Khatami. Khamenei would later certify the results of the 2009 Iranian Presidential election.
Khamenei took a firm stand against the 2009–10 Iranian election protests, and stated that he will neither reconsider vote results nor bow to public pressure over the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "By Allah's favor, the presidential election was accurately held, and the current matters should be pursued legally." In a public appearance on 19 June he expresses his support for the declared winner Ahmadinejad and accused foreign powers—including Britain, Israel and the United States—of helping foment protest against the election results. In particular, he singled out Britain, perceiving the country as the "most evil" of its enemies. He said that the Iranian people will respond with an "iron fist" if Western powers meddle in Iran's internal affairs.
In response to reformist gains in the 2015–2016 election cycle, Khamenei lamented the loss of conservative clerics from the Assembly of Experts and suggested changes to the law by which the Guardian Council vets candidates may be needed because it is currently too difficult for the Guardian Council to vet so large a number of candidates.
Science and technology
Ali Khamenei has been supportive of scientific progress in Iran. He was among the first Islamic clerics to allow stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. In 2004, Khamenei said that the country's progress is dependent on investment in the field of science and technology. He also said that attaching a high status to scholars and scientists in society would help talents to flourish and science and technology to become domesticated, thus ensuring the country's progress and development.
Foreign policy
Khamenei has "direct responsibility" for foreign policy, which "cannot be conducted without his direct involvement and approval". He has a foreign policy team independent of the president's "which includes two former foreign ministers" and "can at any time of his choosing inject himself into the process and 'correct' a flawed policy or decision." His foreign policy is said to steer a course that avoids either confrontation or accommodation with the West.
Khamenei condemned the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and compared Saudi Arabia to Israel.
Khamenei condemned the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and called Myanmar's de facto leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi a "brutal woman".
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized Khamenei for his refusal to condemn the Xinjiang re-education camps and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in China.
Beliefs about the United States and its foreign policy
The United States and Iran have had no formal diplomatic relations since the Iran hostage crisis of 1980 when US embassy was taken over and US diplomats were taken prisoner. According to study by Karim Sadjadpour, speeches by Khamenei regularly mention the principle of resolute opposition to the United States; and according to Karim Sadjadpour he has "resisted Rafsanjani's attempts to find a modus vivendi with the United States", and once told reformist president Mohammad Khatami that "we need the United States as an enemy".
On 4 June 2006, Khamenei said that Iran would disrupt energy shipments from the Persian Gulf region (about 20% of the world's daily supply of oil passes from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz very close to Iran's coast) should the country come under attack from the US, insisting that Tehran will not give up its right to produce nuclear fuel.
On 14 September 2007, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (on the 1st Friday prayer of Ramadan) predicted that George W. Bush and American officials will one day be tried in an international criminal court to be held "accountable" for the U.S. led invasion of Iraq. He asserts that the United States is the main cause of insecurity in Iraq.
On 21 March 2009, a day after US President Barack Obama advocated a "new beginning" in diplomatic relations between the two countries, Khamenei said a change of US "words" was not enough and added: "We will watch and we will judge (the new US administration) ... You change, our behavior will change." He rejected US foreign policy since the Islamic revolution, insisted the United States is "hated in the world" and should end its interference in other countries.
Khamenei criticized the NATO-led military intervention in Libya. On 21 March 2011, Khamenei accused the West of having "come after Libyan oil". He also stressed that "Iran utterly condemns the behaviour of the Libyan government against its people, the killings and pressure on people, and the bombing of its cities... but it (also) condemns the military action in Libya". Khamenei stated that he support sending mediators rather than bombing the country.
In June 2011, Khamenei accused the United States government of terrorism and rejected the American definition of terrorism; he was quoted as saying, "The U.S. and the European governments that follow it describe Palestinian combatant groups who fight for the liberation of their land as terrorists."
In June 2012, Khamenei warned Western governments that the mounting sanctions on the country will only deepen the Iranians' hatred of the West.
In October 2014, Khamenei said the U.S. and the U.K. created ISIS as a tool to fight Iran and "create insecurity" in the region.
On 19 July 2015, while speaking at a mosque in Tehran, Khamenei said to his supporters that the policies of the United States in the region were "180 degrees" opposed to Iran's political and religious movement. The speech was punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". Khamenei said in regards to the 2015 nuclear deal that "Even after this deal our policy towards the arrogant U.S. will not change." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that if the comments reflected policy, it was "very disturbing", and "very troubling".
In March 2020, Khamenei warned against a United States offer of aid to fight COVID-19 on the grounds that it could be a way to hurt Iran by further spreading the disease. He also suggested the US had developed a special variety of the virus "based on Iranian genetic information they have gathered", although he provided no evidence for the theory. Khamenei explained, “There are enemies who are demons, and there are enemies who are humans, and they help one another."
Condemnation of 11 September attacks
After the 11 September attacks, Khamenei condemned the act and the attackers and called for a condemnation of terrorist activities all over the world, but warned strongly against a military intervention in Afghanistan. He is quoted as saying, "Mass killings of human beings are catastrophic acts which are condemned wherever they may happen and whoever the perpetrators and the victims may be."
Zionism and Israel
Khamenei is an opponent of the State of Israel and Zionism, and has been criticized for anti-Semitic rhetoric and for making threats against Israel. On 15 December 2000, Khamenei called Israel a "cancerous tumor of a state" that "should be removed from the region" and in 2013 called Israel a "rabid dog", as well as in 2014 during the Gaza war, for what he called attacking innocent people. In 2014, a tweet from an account attributed to Khamenei, claimed that there was no cure for Israel but its annihilation.
In a September 2008 sermon for Friday prayers in Tehran, Khamenei stated that "it is incorrect, irrational, pointless and nonsense to say that we are friends of Israeli people", because he believed that the occupation is done by the means of them. "[U]surpation of houses, lands, and business [of Palestinian people] are carried out using these people. They are the background actors of Zionist elements," said Khamenei in his speech. "[W]e have no problem with Jews and Christians ... we have problem with the usurpers of Palestine land," he added. Also, he said that he had raised the issue "to spell an end to any debates". In 2013, Khamenei accused France of "kneeling" before Israel, while saying that Israel was led by people unworthy of the "title human".
Nevertheless, according to anti-regime change activist Abbas Edalat, in 2005 Khamenei responded to a remark by then-President Ahmadinejad which had been widely translated as saying that the "regime occupying Jerusalem should be wiped off the map" by saying that "the Islamic Republic has never threatened and will never threaten any country."
In a September 2009 sermon, Khamenei was quoted as saying, that "the Zionist cancer is gnawing into the lives of Islamic nations." In another report of the same speech, he added that "we will support and help any nations, any groups fighting against the Zionist regime across the world, and we are not afraid of declaring this."
Khamenei instead proposed that "Palestinian refugees should return and Muslims, Christians and Jews could choose a government for themselves, excluding immigrant Jews," adding "No one will allow a bunch of thugs, lechers and outcasts from London, America and Moscow to rule over the Palestinians."
On 10 September 2015, in a speech about Israel after agreement on the nuclear program of Iran, Khamenei made a remark "Israel will not exist in 25 years". For the first time, the remark was published in Khamenei's official website and his Twitter. This statement was reported as voted as the best and most important among Khamenei's statements in 2015 by an online poll conducted by his official website.
On 21 February, at the 6th International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada, Khamenei regarded withdrawal of Israel from south Lebanon in 2000 and from Gaza in 2005 as two major achievements so far. Also, he advised the Islamic countries to refrain from "useless" crises and differences and instead concentrate on the issue of Palestine which he regarded as the core issue of Islam. "Otherwise, the potentials and capabilities of the nations will go to waste in the face of vain struggles, which would provide opportunities for the Zionist regime to become even stronger," he added.
Khamenei condemned peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and charged UAE with betraying the Islamic world, the Arab countries and Palestine. He stated that the normalization will be only temporary, but the UAE will forever have to bear the shame regarding the deal.
Holocaust denial
On 21 March 2014, during a morning speech marking the Persian New Year, Nowruz, Khamenei called into question the Holocaust. He said that "the Holocaust is an event whose reality is uncertain and if it has happened, it's uncertain how it has happened". Additionally he commented that "No one in European countries dares to speak about [the] Holocaust" (because of the potential legal consequences in some countries), and said that in the West, "speaking about [the] Holocaust and expressing doubts about it is considered to be a great sin." The Anti-Defamation League accused Khamenei in March 2014 of making statements of explicit Holocaust denial.
On Holocaust Memorial Day, 27 January 2016, Khamenei posted a Holocaust denying video on his official website. In the video (drawing on the March 2014 speech), lasting about three minutes, the video features images of Holocaust deniers Roger Garaudy, Robert Faurisson, and David Irving. In a series of tweets in mid-December 2019, he praised Garaudy: "The fight he engaged in against the Zionists is a #DivineDuty for all those who respect the #Truth." France's conviction of Garaudy, he said, was against the concept of freedom of speech.
Human rights, freedoms, protests, Islamic law
Critics have accused Khamenei of overseeing the assassination of as many as 160 exiled defectors worldwide, the heavy handed repression of protesters, the killings of tens of thousands of members of the M.E.K. (People's Mujahedin of Iran) paramilitary group, and of making dissident writers and intellectuals in Iran "a special target" of repression, among other infractions of human rights.
However, Khamenei himself has insisted human rights are a fundamental principle underlying Islamic teachings, that precedes western concern for human rights by many centuries. He has attacked Western powers who have criticized the rights record of the Islamic Republic for hypocrisy saying that these countries economically oppress people in Third World countries and support despots and dictators. In response to Western complaints of human rights abuses in Iran he has stated that the American administration has committed many crimes and is therefore not fit to judge the Islamic Republic.
Protests during leadership
There have been several major protests during Khamenei's reign, including the 1994 Qazvin Protests—where, according to Al-Arabiya, around 40 people were killed and over 400 were injured— the 1999 Iranian student protests, the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, when protesters chanted "death to the dictator", and ripped down pictures of Khamenei, as well as the 2011–12 Iranian protests and 2017–18 Iranian protests, among others. In 2016, Khamenei, who outlines the elections guidelines "in line with Article 110 of Iran's Constitution", asked to maximize the amount of transparency in elections in Iran, using modern technologies.
During the Mahshahr massacre, protests expanded against "government corruption, failing institutions, lack of freedoms and the repressive rule of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei."
During the 2018–2019 Iranian general strikes and protests, Khameini demanded punishment for those “who disrupt economic security”. According to Reuters, the remarks were "clearly intended to send a message to Iranians who may plan more demonstrations".
During the 2019–2020 Iranian protests, Khamenei met with various officials and cabinet members, saying "he would hold the assembled officials responsible for the consequences of the protests if they didn't immediately stop them." According to an official, Khamenei "made clear the demonstrations required a forceful response" and that "rioters should be crushed."
During the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 protests, thousands of protesters demanded Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's resignation.
Minorities
The Baháʼí Faith is the largest religious minority in Iran, with around 300,000 members (8,000,000 members worldwide) and is officially considered a dangerous cult by Iranian government. It is banned in Iran and several other countries. Khamenei has approved new legislation against Baháʼís in Iran and lessen their influence abroad. According to a letter from the Chairman of the Command Headquarters of the Armed Forces in Iran addressed to the Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guard, and the Police Force, Khamenei has also ordered the Command Headquarters to identify people who adhere to the Baháʼí Faith and to monitor their activities and gather any and all information about the members of the Baháʼí Faith.
Relationship with the press
In 2000, he was listed by the Committee to Protect Journalists as "one of the top ten enemies of the press and freedom of expression", and was named to the Time 100 in 2007. Opposition journalists Ahmad Zeidabadi, Mohsen Sazegara, Mohammad Nourizad and Akbar Ganji were arrested and investigated for spreading critical articles containing unproven charges against Khamenei's policies as the leader and some organizations. According to the Iran's Press Law "spreading rumors and lies and distorts the words of others" is not allowed. Also, according to the law, "spreading libel against officials, institutions, organizations and individuals in the country or insulting legal or real persons who are lawfully respected, even by means of pictures or caricatures" is not allowed.
Among his controversial actions were his rejection of a bill presented by the Iranian parliament in 2000 that aimed to reform the country's press law, and the disqualification of thousands of parliamentary candidates for the 2004 Iranian legislative election by the Guardian Council he appointed.
In 2012, 2013, and 2014, Forbes selected Khamenei as the 21st, 23rd, and 19th most powerful person in the world, respectively, in the list of The World's Most Powerful People.
Trials of people for insulting Khamenei
Several journalists, bloggers, and other individuals were put on trial in Iran for the charge of insulting the Supreme Leader, often in conjunction with blasphemy charges.
In 1996, Abbas Maroufi was sentenced to 35 lashes and 6 months imprisonment for spreading lies and insulting Khamenei. Maroufi was also banned from working as a journalist and his literary monthly Gardoon was closed. Maroufi had compared Khamenei to former Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
In 2005, an Iranian was jailed for two years for insulting Khamenei and Imam Khomeini while being cleared of insulting the prophet.
In 2009, Iranian blogger Omid Reza Mir Sayafi who was arrested for insulting Khamenei in an internet post, died while in custody in Evin Prison.
In 2010, opposition activist Ahmad Gabel was sentenced to 20 months in jail for insulting Khamenei, as well as 3 additional years for possessing a satellite receiver, a 3-year exile and a fine.
In 2014, eight men including a Briton were sentenced for 19 to 20 years for insulting Khamenei and other charges relating to Facebook comments.
In 2017, Sina Dehghan was sentenced to death for insulting the prophet, with an additional 16-month sentence for insulting Khamenei in a messaging application.
Interpretation of Islamic law
In 2000, Ali Khamenei sent a letter to the Iranian parliament forbidding the legislature from debating a revision of the Iranian press law. He wrote: "The present press law has succeeded to a point in preventing this big plague. The draft bill is not legitimate and in the interests of the system and the revolution." His use of "extra-legislative power" has been criticized by reformists and opposition groups. In reaction to the letter, some Parliament members voiced outrage and threatened to resign. Kayhan and Jomhuri-ye Eslami are two newspapers published under the management of Khamenei.
In late 1996, following a fatwa by Khamenei stating that music education corrupts the minds of young children, many music schools were closed and music instruction to children under the age of 16 was banned by public establishments (although private instruction continued). Khamenei stated, "The promotion of music [both traditional and Western] in schools is contrary to the goals and teachings of Islam, regardless of age and level of study."
In 1999, Khamenei issued a fatwa stating that it was permitted to use a third-party (donor sperm, ova or surrogacy) in fertility treatments. This was different in "both style and substance" to the fatwa on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) by Gad El-Hak Ali Gad El-Hak of Egypt's Al-Azhar University in the late 1980s which permitted ART (IVF and similar technologies) as long there is no third-party donation (of sperm, eggs, embryos, or uteruses).
In 2002, he ruled that human stem cell research was permissible under Islam, with the condition that it be used to create only parts as opposed to a whole human.
In 2002, after protests erupted in the capital, Khamenei intervened against the death sentence given to Hashem Aghajari for arguing that Muslims should re-interpret Islam rather than blindly follow leaders. Khamenei ordered a review of the sentence against Aghajari and it was later commuted to a prison sentence.
Women's rights
In July 2007, Khamenei criticized Iranian women's rights activists and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW): "In our country ... some activist women, and some men, have been trying to play with Islamic rules in order to match international conventions related to women", Khamenei said. "This is wrong." Khamenei made these comments two days after Iranian women's rights activist Delaram Ali was sentenced to 34 months of jail and 10 lashes by Iran's judiciary.
Khamenei is an advocate of Islamic practice of Hijab. He believes that hijab is aimed at honoring women. To the Western objection to the compulsory hijab in Iran, he responds by pointing out the compulsory unveiling in certain western countries and obstacles created for veiled Muslim women who want to enter universities. He further argues that women in the West have lost their honor by pointing out perceived high rate of sexual violence in the West as well as the widespread exploitation of female sexual appeal for commercial purposes: "In effect, they have been treating women like a commodity, like another of their products. If you were to look at the magazines, which are published in the West, you would see that they advertise a commodity for sale next to the naked picture of a woman. Can you imagine a bigger insult to women? They [the West] must be answerable [not Islam]."
Ali Khamenei believes in gender segregation. Khamenei also believes that gender equality is a Zionist plot with the purpose to "corrupt the role of women in society".
Khamenei argues that "Today, homosexuality is a major problem in the western world. They [western nations] however ignore it. But the reality is that homosexuality has become a serious challenge, pain and unsolvable problem for the intellectuals in the west."
Literature and art
Khamenei has stated that "poetry must be the vanguard of the caravan of the [Islamic] revolution... [T]hrough the arts and literature, the revolution can be exported in an easier and more honest way.” It has been suggested (by Dexter Filkins) that this might explain his interest in banning books, prohibiting newspapers and imprisoning artists.
He has expressed interest in the study of the novels and stories since childhood and studied various world's credible novels. He was "fascinated by Jean-Paul Sartre and Bertrand Russell" in his youth. He praised the works of Mikhail Sholokhov, Alexei Tolstoy, Honoré de Balzac, and Michel Zévaco. However, Victor Hugo's Les Misérables "is the best novel that has been written in history." He explained:
He suggested reading The Grapes of Wrath to "an audience of writers and artists" and Uncle Tom's Cabin to the high-level state managers as he thought it shed light on the history of United States.
Isn't this the government that massacred the original native inhabitants of the land of America? That wiped out the American Indians? ... Today, one of the most tragic works of art is Uncle Tom's Cabin ... This book still lives after almost 200 years,
Khamenei is fluent in Arabic in addition to his native languages, Persian and Azerbaijani. He has translated several books into Persian from Arabic, including the works of the Egyptian Islamic theoretician Sayyid Qutb. He speaks Azerbaijani, his father's native language.
When it comes to poetry, in Mashhad he used to participate in the literary associations along with known poets and used to critique poems. Writing some poems himself, he chose pseudonym 'Amin' for himself.
In the field of music, he is known to have a good singing voice and plays the tar, a traditional Iranian stringed instrument.
Public diplomacy
Islamic awakening
In February 2011, Ali Khamenei supported the Egyptian uprising against their government, describing it as Islamic awakening instead of Arab Spring. Trying to communicate with Arab people, he addressed Egypt's protesters in Arabic. (Even though his native language is Persian.) He introduced himself as "your brother in religion", while praising the "explosion of sacred anger". Later, in "Islamic Awakening conferences" which were held in Tehran, Khamenei praised the Muslim youths of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain for what he described as Islamic awakening. He also paralleled these events with Islamic revolution in Iran during his Nowruz oration in 2011. However, major protests against the Iranian regime also broke out throughout Iran in 2011, and they became known as the 2011–12 Iranian protests.
Works
Four main books of Rijal
An Outline of Islamic Thought in the Quran
Honest leader
Discourse on Patience (translation by Sayyid Hussein Alamdar available online)
Iqbal: Manifestation of the Islamic Spirit, Two Contemporary Muslim Views
Iqbal, the Poet-Philosopher of Islamic Resurgence is one of the "Two Contemporary Muslim Views", the other one is Ali Shariati's.
Replies to Inquiries about the Practical Laws of Islam (PDF version)
Lessons from the Nahjul-Balaghah
Human Rights in Islam
The Charter of Freedom
Essence of Tawhid: Denial of Servitude but to God
Translations from Arabic:
Future in the realm of Islam
Collections:
A 250 Years Old Person
Palestine
See also
Khamenei family
Motto of years in Islamic Republic of Iran
Footnotes
References
External links
Official
The Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran
Official English-language Twitter account
Photo
Pictures in Iran-Iraq War, tarikhirani.ir
Ali Khamenei gallery in Khamenei's website
Media
Videos
Video Archive of Ayatollah Khamenei
Ayatollah Khamenei in the city of Ardabil reading different poems in Azerbaijani language about Imam Hussein and events in Karbala.
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1939 births
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Qom Seminary alumni | true | [
"How Men Propose is a 1913 American silent short comedy film, usually credited to Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley as directors and to Weber as writer and producer, although their definite authorship cannot be confirmed. The film has recently not been included in Weber's filmography by scholars, and the Library of Congress, while listing it as one of Weber's films notes that \"the director is unknown, but may be Lois Weber.\" It was produced by the Crystal Film Company and distributed by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company.\n\nCast \n\n Margarita Fisher as Grace Darling (uncredited)\n Chester Barnett (uncredited)\n Phillips Smalley (uncredited)\n Lois Weber (uncredited)\n\nPlot \nThree friends, without knowing it, successively propose to a woman named Grace Darling, all three receiving a photo from her as a sign of acceptance. Back at their shared apartment, the men proudly present the photos of what each of them thinks to be his future wife. Realizing that they have been duped, the men attempt to confront the woman who, in the meantime, has left her apartment, conveying through her maid a letter to each of them. The men learn that Grace Darling is a journalist writing an article on male courtship who has only been doing research on the question \"how men propose\".\n\nTrivia \nHow Men Propose is the earliest film with Margarita Fisher in a starring role that is available on DVD. The film and Fisher's performance in particular have been described as \"a playful energetic assertion of female power in which Margarita [Fisher] shows herself to be a gifted actress, entirely familiar with the unique requirements of performing on film.\"\n\nReferences \n\n1913 films\nAmerican silent short films\nAmerican films\nAmerican black-and-white films\nAmerican comedy films\n1913 comedy films",
"What Love Is is a 2007 romantic comedy film, written and directed by Mars Callahan and starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Matthew Lillard, Sean Astin, Anne Heche, and Gina Gershon.\n\nPremise\nThe film is shot one evening, mostly in a man's apartment (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) on the Valentine's Day he intends to propose to his girlfriend. Before he can pop the question, he arrives home to discover she has mostly moved out. Then, several childhood friends and later several women arrive for a planned Valentine's party, all of which give their takes on relationships, love and interacting.\n\nReception\nThe film has received 15% at Rotten Tomatoes and a 14 on Metacritic. It made roughly $19,000 at 42 theaters during its theatrical run.\n\nHome media\nThe film was released on DVD on April 1, 2008.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n \n \"What Love Is at Worst Previews\"\n \"IBC2006 Innovation Awards - Creation Category Shortlisted Project Title: Digital Cinematography - What Love Is\"\n \"FilmStream Production on What Love Is\", by Jon Silberg, Videography, May 14, 2006\n\n2007 films\nAmerican films\nEnglish-language films\n2007 romantic comedy films\nAmerican romantic comedy films"
]
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